Short answers, pulled from the story.
Researchers at the Institute of Archaeology of Samarkand date the city's founding around 700 BC, though some theories propose it was established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Archaeological excavations have unearthed 40,000-year-old evidence of human activity dating back to the Upper Paleolithic.
During the Battle of Talas in 751, two Chinese prisoners revealed the secret of papermaking to the Abbasids. This event led to the foundation of the first paper mill in the Islamic world at Samarkand, an invention that spread to the rest of the Islamic world and thence to Europe.
The conqueror Timur, also known as Tamerlane, made Samarkand his capital in 1370 and used urban planning to legitimize his rule. Over the next 35 years, he rebuilt most of the city, populated it with great artisans and craftsmen, and ordered walls 15 kilometers in circumference to separate the city from its surrounding neighbors.
Ulugh Beg built a madrasah in Samarkand between 1417 and 1420 and constructed an observatory in 1428. His observatory featured the Fakhri Sextant, a wall quadrant with a radius of 40 meters, which made Samarkand one of the world centers of medieval science.
The Mongols conquered Samarkand in 1220, and Genghis Khan killed all who took refuge in the citadel and the mosque. The Mongols pillaged the city completely and conscripted 30,000 young men along with 30,000 craftsmen.
UNESCO added Samarkand to its World Heritage List in 2001 as Samarkand, Crossroads of Cultures. The city hosted the 2022 SCO summit on the 15th and the 16th of September 2022 and has hosted the Samarkand Half Marathon since 2019.