Paykent

 Paykent

One of most ancient Bukhara oasis centers is Paykent town, situated in Zarafshan’s lower reach, which appears in the end of the 2nd to 4th centurres BC. Paykent fortress played the great strategy role as frontier and trade point on the Great Silk Road; it connected India, Bactria, and Nashkhab with Khorezm and the North countries. The culmination growth of Paykent falls around the 6th to the 8th centuries AD. Paykent unlike other cities of Central Asia didn’t have a governor; it was an original “Merchant republic”, which prospered in the silk trade. In the 8th century almost the entire populace of the town was destroyed by nomads, and the town was plundered. After that, it wasn’t reconstructed.