Samarkand is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. There is evidence of human activity in the area of the city from the late Paleolithic Era. Though there is no direct evidence of when Samarkand was founded, several theories propose that it was founded between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Prospering from its location on the Silk Road between China, Persia and Europe, at times Samarkand was one of the largest[2] cities of Central Asia.[3] Most of the inhabitants of the city are native speakers of the Tajik dialect of the Persian language. Samarkand is one of the historical centers of the Tajik people in Central Asia, and in the past was an important city of the great empires of Greater Iran.