Tashkent is the biggest and one of the historical cities in Central Asia. Currently it is the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This city was firstly mentioned in “Avesto” and some ancient Chinese manuscripts. In 2009 the 2200 th anniversary of Tashkent was celebrated which states that the history of Tashkent totals more than 20 centuries.

In the past it was called with various names such as Yuni, Chach, Shash, Binkent and etc. in several periods of the history. The city was known as Binkath under the dynasty of Samanids (IX-X cc) and the Turkic name of present day Tashkent which means “ Stone City” appeared from the reign of Karakhanids in the IX-XIII centuries. In some Chinese source of information the city mentioned as “Shi” which means “stone”.

Throughout the history the city witnessed to a lot of constant confrontations which always caused great destructions. For instance, in the VI century Chach was conquered by Turkic Khaganate and in the VII century it was its summer capital. In the VIII century it was destroyed by Arabs. Later, at the beginning of the XIII century it was captured by Muhammad Kharezmshah. Even though the city was destroyed by Kharezmshah in 1214, the great conqueror Genghis Khan destroyed it in 1219 anew.

In the XIV century the city belonged to Temur’s empire which was later handed down to Ulugbek, the grandson of A. Temur. It belonged to Sheibanids in the XVI c. but a century later, in the XVII c. Imam Kulikhan, the Emir of Bukhara, conquered the city. From the beginning of XIX century till 1865 it was ruled by Kokand Khanate. Later the Russian empire took control on the city and made it as an administrative and political center of Soviet Turkestan region. In 1917 Tashkent became the capital of Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic after the Bolshevik Revolution.

At last, at the end of the XX century, exactly in 1991, Tashkent declared its independence after the collapse of Soviet Union.

Even though Tashkent isn’t very rich in historical monuments and traditional architectures due to a great much loss of such monuments during the civil wars and revolutions and a massive earthquake in 1966, there are few historical-architectural monuments preserved in the old part of the city which are very popular and interesting for foreign visitors. Below is a list of some modern and historical monuments:

• Ensemble Khazret Imam;
• Barrack-Khan Madrassah;
• Mosque Jami;
• Madrassah Kukeldash;
• Telyashayakh Mosque;
• Architectural Complex Zengi-Ata;
• Sheikhantahur Complex;
• Shash-Tepa Ancient Settlement;
• Courage Memorial;
• Museum of Applied Arts;
• Chorsu Bazaar;
• Amir Temur Square ;
• The Tashkent Metro.