Khwarezmid Empire

State · 1202–1235 CE · at its largest around 1216 CE

Its oasis cities of Urgench, Samarkand and Bukhara were a Persian-speaking world of scholars, caravans and fine ceramics. When Shah Muhammad's governor massacred a Mongol trade caravan, Genghis Khan's revenge devastated the region's great cities.

On its lands while it lasted

Ecbatana (c. 550 BCE – c. 1800 CE): Capital of Achaemenid Empire (550 BCE–330 BCE).
Silk Road (c. 130 BCE – c. 1450 CE): A network of overland caravan routes linking China with Central Asia, Persia and the Mediterranean, along which silk, spices, horses, religions, technologies and diseases travelled for more than 1,500 years.
Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 CE): The Abbasid dynasty, descended from Muhammad's uncle, took the caliphate from the Umayyads and ruled from Iraq, presiding over the Islamic Golden Age.
Kara-Khanid Khanate (c. 840–1212 CE): Turkic dynasty that ruled Transoxiana and the Tian Shan region and was among the first Turkic states to adopt Islam.
Balasagun (c. 850–1218 CE): Capital of Kara-Khanids (850–1045), Eastern Kara-Khanids (1046–1138), Western Karakhanid Khanate (1046–1084), and 1 more.
Ani (c. 886–1319 CE): Capital of Bagratid Armenia (886–1045).
Khwarazmian Empire (1077–1231 CE): Turko-Persian empire centred on Gurganj in Khwarazm that dominated Central Asia and Iran before its destruction by the Mongols.
Moinuddin Chishti (c. 1143 CE – 1236 CE): Sufi saint who established the Chishti order in India; his shrine at Ajmer is a major pilgrimage site.
Tamar of Georgia (c. 1160 CE – 1213 CE): Queen regnant of Georgia whose reign marked the height of the medieval Georgian kingdom's power and culture.
Mongols invade Khwarazm (1219–1221 CE): After the massacre of a Mongol trade caravan at Otrar, Genghis Khan invaded the Khwarazmian Empire, sacking Bukhara, Samarkand and other cities and pursuing Jalal ad-Din to the Indus.