Nasaf

Nasaf, also called Nakhshab, was a city of the Kashkadarya oasis in southern Transoxiana. Its walled town had a citadel, residential quarters and suburbs, with gates facing Bukhara, Samarkand and Kesh. Fruit from the fertile oasis reached distant markets, while its scholars won renown in the Islamic world. The old city's remains lie northwest of the later centre known as Qarshi.

In the early fourteenth century the Chagatai ruler Kebek built a palace in the oasis; the name Qarshi, meaning a palace or fortified residence, became attached to the growing settlement nearby. Houses of nobles, workshops and markets gathered around the new centre as the focus of urban life shifted. Under Timur and his successors the city continued to develop, and its Friday mosque became a principal place of worship. Later rulers built bridges, baths and religious buildings serving merchants and townspeople in the rich Kashkadarya country.