Khwarezm

Khwarezm, also Khwarazm, is a historic region centered on the lower Amu Darya delta, in what is today western Uzbekistan, northern Turkmenistan, and parts of Karakalpakstan. The heart of the area was the ancient city of Gurganj (Urgench), which served as a major urban center and capital at various times. The region was historically inhabited by the Khwarezmian people, an Iranian-speaking, Persianate community whose merchants and scholars contributed to Central Asian trade and culture.

From the late 12th to the early 13th centuries, the Khwarezmian Dynasty established a substantial polity that at its height controlled Khwarezm, parts of Transoxiana, and western Iran along the Silk Road. Its capital and cultural hub was Gurganj; other important cities included Kath and Otrar. In 1218, a Mongol envoy was killed at Otrar, prompting Genghis Khan to launch a campaign into the region. The ensuing invasion led to the rapid conquest of most Khwarezmian territories, widespread destruction, and the collapse of the Khwarezmian state, with its lands absorbed into the Mongol Empire.

In the centuries that followed, the region came under successive dominions, including the Timurid and later Uzbek states. The name Khwarezm endures as a geographic and historical designation, and the core area roughly corresponds to the modern Khorezm Region of Uzbekistan, along with adjacent parts of Turkmenistan and Karakalpakstan. The Khwarezmian language, an extinct Eastern Iranian tongue, was once spoken here, and the region was an important node on the Silk Road, contributing to medieval science, trade, and culture.