When carpets from East Turkestan first appeared on European markets, they were referred to as "Samarkand".

Samarkand was one of the most opulent and fascinating cities in Central Asia from the time of the Timurids. Tamerlane's city was one of the great trading centres on the Silk Road, and its bazaar was also home to the imported carpets from Kashgar, Yorkand, and Khotan, the three main weaving centres of East Turkestan. Travellers to Samarkand mistakenly assumed that the carpets on display in the bazaar came from the same city, and so the term Samarkand carpet has remained forever associated with the products of the three East Turkestan cities located a long way East.
Today, Samarkand is in Uzbekistan and Kashgar, Yorkand, and Khotan are in China's Xinjiang province.