Samarkand

Located at the center of the main Asian trade routes, Samarkand was part of the first Persian Empire during its history spanning some 2,700 years; later it was under Arab, then Timurid and Uzbek influence.
The city, whose etymology means "stone fortress" in the Sogdian language (samar = stone / rock and kand = fortress) is located along the Silk Road in the path between China and Europe, practically in the center of Eurasia. It is located at 702 meters above sea level. and, despite being in Uzbekistan, most of the inhabitants are Tajik, a dialect of Farsi. Since 2001 the city has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List under the title of Samarkand - Crossroads of cultures .
Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in the world, which has thrived due to its location along the Silk Road, the major overland trade route between China and Europe. Samarkand was once the richest city in Central Asia and for most of its history was part of the First Persian Empire. Founded between the 7th and 5th centuries BC, Samarkand was already the capital of the Sogdian satrapy under the Achaemenids of Persia when Alexander the Great (known as Iskander Khan in Persian culture) conquered it in 329 BC. Under the Sassanids, Samarkand flourished and became one of the major cities of their empire. From the 6th to the 13th century the population expanded and became more populous even than modern Samarkand. In those years the city experienced the Arab invasion (which brought its alphabet and converted its population to Islam), that of the Persians and several successive Turkish dynasties, which made it one of the richest cities in the entire Islamic world. It was sacked in the year 1220 by the Mongols and only a small part of the population survived, who also had to face a subsequent sack, led by another Mongol leader: Barak Khan. It took the city decades to recover from those disasters.

"Samarcan is a noble city, and there are Christians and Saracens"
Marco Polo, The Million

Samarkand State University

The university was originally organized in 1927 as the Uzbek Pedagogical Institute and in 1930, it was renamed the Uzbek State Pedagogical Academy and in 1933, upon merger of the Pedagogical Academy and the Uzbek State Medical Institute into the Uzbek State University. In 1941-2016, the University was named after poet and philosopher Ali-Shir Nava'i (alternative transliteration Alisher Navoi).

In 1961, the Uzbek State University was finally renamed the Samarkand State University, a name it keeps to date. The rector of the university since 2016 is Prof Rustam Ibragimovich Halmuradov.
Currently, the University comprises the following faculties: Philology; History and Philosophy; Teaching; Physics and Mathematics; Biology; Economy; Tajik Philology; Russian Philology; Law; Physical education.