The history of Tajikistan in the XIII century begins with the conquest of Central Asia by the Mongol troops of Genghis Khan and ends in the XIX century with the division of Central Asia. During the era of the great commander Amir Temur (Tamerlane) in the second half of the XIV century, Central Asia experienced a new flourishing. Samarkand became the capital of the Timurid state, which split into two parts after Amir Temur’s death at the beginning of the XV century. From the middle of the XV century the phase of division began. At the end of the XV century, the last conquerors from the steppe were the Turkic tribes of the Shaybanids, led by the Uzbek Khan (hence the proper name of the Uzbeks), but their influence in present-day Tajikistan began to decline soon after the conquest.
In the first half of the XVI century the disintegration of the Sayibanid state began. The Khanate Khiva was founded. In the 1740 years Bukhara was conquered by the troops of the governor of Iran. At the head of the Bukhara Khanate in 1753 was Muhammad Rahim, who founded the dynasty that ruled the Bukhara Khanate until 1920. At the beginning of the XVIII century the Kokand Khanate was also formed. At the beginning of the XIX century the territory of today’s Tajikistan was divided between the Khanate Kokand (located in the Fergana Valley), the Khanate Bukhara and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, who were constantly fighting for these territories.
In the XVII to XVIII century, Central Asia experienced an economic and cultural crash. Not only the feudal dispute, but also the fact that the caravan trade route to Europe finally succumbed to the competition of the sea trade routes after the Great Geographic Discovery contributed to this decline.
