e the town by placing the infantry and cavalry near the gates. He then ascended the wall and when he looked forward he bit his tongue because of his surprise by what he saw. As far as he could see the plain was full of a seething crowd and splendid troops while the air was full of shouting and noise made by the neighing of armored horses and the howling of chain-armored mules. The army settled itself around the fortress...
Despite a heroic defense of the city, its fate was sealed. The town was destroyed and its population was massacred and partially enslaved. Many of the towns in the oasis never recovered and were abandoned. However, Otrar city rose again and during the troubled years of civil wars, which followed Genghis Khan‘s death, the town again became an important political and economic center. By the middle of the 13th century it had returned as a large trade center on the way from the West to the East. During the second half of the 14th century Southern Kazakhstan was brought into the sphere of Timur‘s power. In February 1405, when Timur was visiting Otrar to gather his troops, he caught a cold and died in one of the Otrar palaces.
The death of Timur led to more struggles, which resulted in Abul Khayir conquering several tribes and placing himself at the head of a new Uzbek Khanate. Other descendants of Genghis Khan had claims over the area, and so for most of the 16th and 17th centuries there was nonstop feuding among these various parties for power over the Kazakh steppe and the Syr Darya valley, especially between the Kazakh Khanate and Dzungar feudal lords. Even so, a degree of stability was maintained in Otrar up until the Dzungars arrived in Kazakhstan.
These followed a prolonged period of revolt, which resulted in the economic decline of the area and its towns. As the Eurasian arm of the Silk Road gradually lost its importance, so did the city. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, the irrigation system slowly fell out of use,
