I just finished the introduction to The Muqaddimah and at the very end it says: “If you cannot travel to Samarqand, you can read the Muqaddimah. In it you will discover the marvel of a civilizational vision that exceeds both time and space, precisely because it is so attentive to each.".
Of course I had to check where Samarqant is….would you believe it, it is in Uzbekistan! I heard so much about the culture of Uzbekistan when I was in Kaz…Also I always use to go to this little uzbek restaurant in Atyrau where they had the best food. Uzbekistan food is known all over the FSU as being the best. And the Uzbek culture there is known as being one of the oldest culture in the world.
Turns out that Samarqant is roughly the same age than Rome (so maybe not the oldest city in the world) and was the capital city of Tamerlane…
How did I get to Tamerlane?
Also in the introduction of The Muqaddimah. Apparently Ibn Khaldun spend quite a bit of time with him, etc etc etc.
Here is the thing about Tamerlane (the guy in the picture):
Tamerlane (1336-1405), Turkmen Mongol conqueror, who established an empire extending from India to the Mediterranean Sea. The name Tamerlane, a European corruption of Timur Lang ("Timur the Lame") was given to him because his left side was partially disabled. Tamerlane was born April 10, 1336, at Kesh in Transoxiana (present-day Shakhrisyabz, Uzbekistan), and rose to prominence in the service of the Jagataid khan Tughluq Timur. Between 1364 and 1370 he won control of Transoxiana, and in the latter year declared the restoration of the empire of Genghis Khan, whom he falsely claimed as his ancestor. By 1394 he had conquered Iran, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Georgia. In 1389-95 he fought and weakened the Khanate of the Golden Horde. In 1398 Tamerlane invaded India, where he captured Delhi and massacred its inhabitants. In 1401 he took Syria from the Mamelukes, and the following year defeated the Ottoman sultan Bayazid I. Tamerlane died on February 18, 1405, near Shymkent (in present-day Kazakstan) while leading an expedition against China, and was buried in Samarqand, his capital city. His mausoleum, the Gur-e Amir, is one of Samarqand's great architectural monuments. Although he was notorious for his cruelty in war and for the many atrocities committed by his armies, Tamerlane was also a lover of scholarship and the arts. His dynasty, the Timurids, which ruled Transoxiana and Iran until the early 16th century, was noted for its patronage of Turkish and Persian literature. One of his descendants, Babur, founded the Mughal dynasty of India in 1526. He is the protagonist of Christopher Marlowe's dramatic epic, Tamburlaine the Great (1590). Source: Microsoft Encarta 97
Busy guy! (more here: http://www.silk-road.com/artl/timur.shtml)
Did you noticed “Tamerlane died on February 18, 1405, near Shymkent (in present-day Kazakstan)” …I’ve been to Shymkent and boy oh boy, I would say that now a days the most likely cause of death in Shymkent would be chemical poisoning from all the crap they have from the zinc and lead smelters.
For those who follow those kind of things this is the town where they held our cement hostage.
Wow, it seems like a lifetime ago…Well, it was a lifetime ago!
I just finished the introduction to The Muqaddimah and at the very end it says: “If you cannot travel to Samarqand, you can read the Muqaddimah. In it you will discover the marvel of a civilizational vision that exceeds both time and space, precisely because it is so attentive to each.". 
