Merv

Merv stood on the oasis of the Murghab on the edge of the Karakum, a series of cities built side by side. In the twelfth century, as the Seljuk capital, it was one of the largest cities in the world, and Sultan Sanjar's tomb of fine brick and carved plaster remained its great monument. In 1221 Merv opened its gates to Tolui, son of Genghis Khan, and the Mongols killed most of its people. It was partly rebuilt, with new fortifications, but its prosperity was gone. As part of the Ilkhanate it was looted by the Chagatai Khanate; in the early fourteenth century, under the Kartids, it had a Christian archbishopric of the Eastern Church. By 1380 it belonged to Timur.

The Uzbeks occupied Merv in 1505, and Shah Ismail drove them out five years later. Abdullah Khan II of Bukhara took Merv in 1593, but Shah Abbas soon won it back and appointed a governor in 1600. From 1608 the Qajars governed the oasis; after Nader Shah's death they made it a principality of their own. In 1785 Shah Murad, Manghit amir of Bukhara, killed their ruler Bayram Ali Khan, and in 1788 and 1789 he razed Merv and broke the dams. Around 100,000 people were deported to Bukhara and Samarkand, where these Shia Marvis kept their separate identity.