When is the Emirate of Bukhara shown on the map?

The border data draws the Emirate of Bukhara 1788–1867, 1918–1919, in 2 separate periods. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large was the Emirate of Bukhara?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Emirate of Bukhara covered about 371,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Central Asia · Russian and Qing conquest

Emirate of Bukhara

drawn on the map 1788–1867, 1918–1919

The Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920) was a Central Asian absolute monarchy ruled by the Uzbek Manghit dynasty, occupying Transoxiana (Māvarāʾ al-nahr) between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Its core was the fertile lower Zarafshan valley with the ancient cities of Bukhara (capital) and Samarkand; contemporaries were the Khanate of Khiva to the west and the Khanate of Kokand to the east.

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Shown on the map: 1788–1867, 1918–1919 (2 periods)
Peak area: 371k km²
Region: Central Asia

Overview and identity

Origins and chronology

The Manghits rose as ataliqs (regent-viziers) of the Janid khans of Bukhara. After Nadir Shah's conquest (1740s), ataliq Muhammad Rahim Bi murdered Abulfayz Khan in 1747, ending the Janids; puppet khans followed until Shah Murad openly assumed the throne in 1785 with the Islamic title of Emir — one of the few post-Mongol Central Asian states staking legitimacy on Islam rather than Chinggisid blood. Under Nasrullah (r. 1827–1860) the emirate reached its greatest extent (some 30 begliks, from Karshi and Hisar to the Pamirs, briefly including Tashkent) and became infamous in Britain for the 1842 execution of officers Stoddart and Conolly amid the Great Game. Defeated by Russia in 1868 (losing Samarkand), the emirate became a Russian protectorate in 1873; the slave trade was abolished that year and slavery itself in 1885. Reformist Young Bukharans, frustrated by the conservative last emir, Sayyid Alim Khan (r. 1910–1920), turned to the Bolsheviks; after a failed March 1920 assault, the Red Army took Bukhara on 2 September 1920 and installed the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.

Government and military

An absolute monarchy on Perso-Islamic patrimonial lines, it was divided into begliks under begs. A military reform from 1837 created sarbaz infantry and artillery (tupchi) alongside cavalry; by the late 19th century the standing army numbered roughly 10–14,000, with wartime mobilization up to 60,000.

Society, economy, religion, culture

Population estimates run from ~2.5 million (1875) to 3–3.5 million (1911). Society paired nomadic Turkic/Turco-Mongol tribes (the military-ruling class) with sedentary Persian- and Chagatai-speaking townsfolk and peasants — the turk wa tājik duality — plus Shia Iranians (many of slave descent), Ismaili Pamiris, Bukharan Jews, and a small Hindu merchant diaspora. Officially Sunni-Hanafi with powerful Naqshbandi Sufi brotherhoods, Bukhara styled itself Bukhārā-yi sharīf ("the Noble") and remained a hub of Persianate court culture and madrasa education. Exports ran to cotton, wool, silk, and karakul (astrakhan) pelts, traded with Russia, Britain, France, Germany, and later the United States.

Legacy

The emirate's fall ended 135 years of Manghit rule; Soviet national delimitation (1924) split its lands among the Uzbek, Tajik, and Turkmen SSRs, freezing the Turk–Tajik bilingual society into separate national republics. Bukhara's intact historic center (including the 1807 Chor Minor madrasa) is a UNESCO-listed testament to the emirate's era.

Common questions

What was the Emirate of Bukhara?: The Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920) was a Central Asian absolute monarchy ruled by the Uzbek Manghit dynasty, occupying Transoxiana (Māvarāʾ al-nahr) between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Its core was the fertile lower Zarafshan valley with the ancient cities of Bukhara (capital) and Samarkand; contemporaries were the Khanate of Khiva to the west and the Khanate of Kokand to the east.
When is the Emirate of Bukhara shown on the map?: The border data draws the Emirate of Bukhara 1788–1867, 1918–1919, in 2 separate periods. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large was the Emirate of Bukhara?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Emirate of Bukhara covered about 371,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
How did the Emirate of Bukhara end?: The emirate's fall ended 135 years of Manghit rule; Soviet national delimitation (1924) split its lands among the Uzbek, Tajik, and Turkmen SSRs, freezing the Turk–Tajik bilingual society into separate national republics. Bukhara's intact historic center (including the 1807 Chor Minor madrasa) is a UNESCO-listed testament to the emirate's era.
How was the Emirate of Bukhara governed?: An absolute monarchy on Perso-Islamic patrimonial lines, it was divided into begliks under begs. A military reform from 1837 created sarbaz infantry and artillery (tupchi) alongside cavalry; by the late 19th century the standing army numbered roughly 10–14,000, with wartime mobilization up to 60,000.
What did the economy and culture of the Emirate of Bukhara rest on?: Population estimates run from ~2.5 million (1875) to 3–3.5 million (1911). Society paired nomadic Turkic/Turco-Mongol tribes (the military-ruling class) with sedentary Persian- and Chagatai-speaking townsfolk and peasants — the turk wa tājik duality — plus Shia Iranians (many of slave descent), Ismaili Pamiris, Bukharan Jews, and a small Hindu merchant diaspora.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Emirate of Bukhara en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Bukhara

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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