Sawran, about 43 km north-west of Yasi (Turkestan), was in the tenth century a large town "surrounded by seven walls" and a frontier fortress against the Oghuz and the Kimek.
In 1200 it faces the Qipchaq of Sighnaq downstream. Its lord is not recorded.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not pinned (perhaps the lord of Otrar)
- Title
- Not pinned
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
Not pinned: perhaps the lord of Otrar; drawn with Otrar.
How things stand that morning
Quiet; lord not pinned.
Council
Not recorded for 1200.
Communities
Muslims; nomads round it.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded for 1200.
Militia
Not recorded for 1200.
Walls and castle
Strong walls (seven circuits in the tenth-century description).
Trade and crafts
Trade with the nomads.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No record for 1200.
Primary sources for Khanate of Samarkand
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
- History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
- History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
- Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online
- Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.