Kyzyl-Kala, also Qyzyl Qala ("Red fortress"), in modern

Karakalpakstan Karakalpakstan, / officially the Republic of Karakalpakstan, / is an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. It occupies the whole northwestern part of Uzbekistan. The capital is Nukus (' / ). The Republic of Karakalpakstan has an area of , and ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

, was an ancient fortress in

Chorasmia Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...

built in the 1st-4th century CE. The small fortress of Kyzyl-Kala is located near

Toprak-Kala Toprak-Kala, in modern Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, was an ancient palace city and the capital of in Chorasmia in the 2nd/3rd century CE, where wall paintings, coins and archives were discovered. Its history covers a period from the 1st to the 5th ...

, about 1 km to the west, and was also built in the 1st-4th century CE, possibly as a fortified defense for the site of Toprak-Kala. Kyzyl-Kala was once restored in the 12th century CE. It has also been the subject of a modern renovation program, with the objective of showing what a fortress looked like originally. It is part of the "Fifty fortresses oasis" in modern-day

. It was last occupied by

Muhammad II of Khwarazm Ala ad-Din Muhammad II ( Persian: علاءالدین محمد خوارزمشاه; full name: ''Ala ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Abul-Fath Muhammad Sanjar ibn Tekish'') was the Shah of the Khwarazmian Empire from 1200 to 1220. His ancestor was Anushtegin Gha ...

(1169, 1200-20), before it fell to the

Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire The Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia ( fa, حمله مغول به خوارزمشاهیان) took place between 1219 and 1221, as troops of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan invaded the lands of the Khwarazmian Empire in Central Asia. The campa ...

. Kyzyl-Kala under restoration (cropped).jpg, Kyzyl-Kala under restoration (2018) File:Karakalpakstan Kyzyl Qala (Red Fortress) Fortified Residence 1st-2nd cent CE - 4th cent CE & restored 12th cent CE (4).jpg, Old and new walls File:Karakalpakstan Kyzyl Qala (Red Fortress) Fortified Residence 1st-2nd cent CE - 4th cent CE & restored 12th cent CE (5).jpg, Kyzyk-Kala, details of new walls File:Chorasmian oasis main fortresses.jpg, Location of the Kyzyl-Kala fortress, next to

in the

n oasis, in relation to other main fortresses File:Karakalpakstan Kyzyl Qala Cotton Picking.jpg, Cotton picking near Kyzyl-Kala.

References

{{Tourist attractions in Uzbekistan Central Asia Archaeology of Uzbekistan Archaeological sites in Uzbekistan Former populated places in Uzbekistan Kushan Empire