When is the Khanate of Khiva shown on the map?

The border data draws the Khanate of Khiva 1512–1872, 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 Khanate of Khiva?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Khanate of Khiva covered about 854,000 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 · Timur and the khanates

Khanate of Khiva

drawn on the map 1512–1872, 1918–1919

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Shown on the map: 1512–1872, 1918–1919 (2 periods)
Peak area: 854k km²
Region: Central Asia

Overview and identity

The Khanate of Khiva — called by its own inhabitants simply the vilayet Khwārazm ("country of Khwarezm"; "Khanate of Khiva" is a Russian exonym) — was an Uzbek monarchy in the lower Amu Darya (Oxus) delta, south of the Aral Sea, from 1511 to 1920, interrupted only by the Afsharid occupation of 1740–1746/47. Its capital was Konye-Urgench (1511–1598) and then Khiva (1599–1920). Before the Russian conquest it covered present-day western Uzbekistan, southwestern Kazakhstan, and much of Turkmenistan; its listed peak of roughly 854,000 km² reflects its 16th–18th-century reach over the Turkmen steppe. By 1911 the reduced protectorate covered only 67,521 km² with some 550,000 people.

Origins and ethnolinguistic background

The state was founded in 1511 when Ilbars I, of the Arabshahid (Yadigarid Shibanid) branch of the Shaybanids, expelled the Safavid garrison that had held Khwarezm since Shah Ismail's victory over Muhammad Shaybani at Merv (1510). The population mixed irrigated-zone agriculturalists (the settled Turkic "Sarts"), Uzbek tribal immigrants from the north whose dialects became modern Uzbek, Karakalpaks in the swampy lower delta, Kazakhs on the northern fringe, and Turkmen nomads who paid taxes and formed much of the army but frequently revolted. Chagatai Turkic and Persian were the languages of administration and culture; Turkmen was widely spoken.

Chronology and major rulers

The Arabshahid dynasty (1511–1804) included Haji Muhammad I (1558–1602), who fought Bukhara and spent years in Safavid exile; Arab Muhammad I (1602–1623), during whose reign Ural Cossacks raided and the Kalmyks twice invaded; Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur (1643–1663), twice victor over the Kalmyks and author of the famous Chagatai-language histories Shajare-i Turk and Shajare-i Tarākime; and Anusha Khan (1663–1685), whose reign saw urban growth before he was deposed and blinded. Khiva was briefly a Bukharan vassal after 1695. Shir Ghazi (1714–1727) treacherously destroyed Bekovich-Cherkassky's Russian expedition of 1717; Ilbars II was beheaded by Nader Shah (1740), who freed 12,000–20,000 slaves. After 1746 the Qungrat (Qongrat) tribe ruled through puppet khans and hereditary prime ministers (inaqs), formalized as the Qungrat dynasty by Iltuzar Khan in 1804. The khanate flourished under Muhammad Rahim Khan I (1806–1825) and Allah Quli (1825–1840/42), then declined amid a long Turkmen rebellion (1855–1867).

Government, economy, culture, religion

An absolute monarchy over a decentralized tribal-confederal landscape, the khanate rested on irrigated agriculture (wheat, barley, rice, melons, cotton) along the Amu Darya canals, steppe pastoralism, and transit trade between Central Asia, Persia, and Russia. Slavery was a major institution: Persian captives taken by Turkmen raiders, plus Russians and others, were sold in Khivan markets, taxed, and employed in agriculture and administration; the trade ended only with the Russian conquest (1873), when von Kaufman forced an emancipation edict. Sunni Islam (Hanafi) was the state religion; court historiography (Munis and Agahi's Firdaws al-iqbal) and a deliberate program of translating Persian works into Turkic marked its culture. The walled city of Itchan Kala, with its tilework and minarets, preserves the khanate's architectural profile. A Mennonite colony (from 1882) introduced photography and modern technology.

Military and conflicts

The army was tribal cavalry — Uzbek lineages plus Turkmen auxiliaries — with mud-brick fortifications guarding canals and crossings. Surrounded by desert, the khanate's only easy military approach was along the Oxus, producing repeated wars with Bukhara (1538–40, 1593, 1655, 1656, 1662, 1684, 1689, 1694, 1806, and others).

Decline and fall

Russian attacks failed in 1602, 1717, and 1839 (Perovsky's winter disaster), but in the Khivan campaign of 1873 General von Kaufman took the city (10 June); the treaty of 12 August 1873 made Khiva a reduced Russian protectorate with a 200,000-ruble annual indemnity. Internal reform under Isfandiyar Khan (1910–1918) foundered on Turkmen revolt (1912–13). After the Russian Revolution, the khanate collapsed in civil war; Sayid Abdullah abdicated on 2 February 1920, and the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic replaced the khanate, incorporated into the USSR in 1924.

Legacy

Khiva/Itchan Kala is a UNESCO-listed monument city in modern Uzbekistan; the khanate's lands are divided among Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan, Xorazm), Turkmenistan (Daşoguz), and Kazakhstan.

Common questions

What was the Khanate of Khiva?: The Khanate of Khiva — called by its own inhabitants simply the vilayet Khwārazm ("country of Khwarezm"; "Khanate of Khiva" is a Russian exonym) — was an Uzbek monarchy in the lower Amu Darya (Oxus) delta, south of the Aral Sea, from 1511 to 1920, interrupted only by the Afsharid occupation of 1740–1746/47. Its capital was Konye-Urgench (1511–1598) and then Khiva (1599–1920).
When is the Khanate of Khiva shown on the map?: The border data draws the Khanate of Khiva 1512–1872, 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 Khanate of Khiva?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Khanate of Khiva covered about 854,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled the Khanate of Khiva?: The Arabshahid dynasty (1511–1804) included Haji Muhammad I (1558–1602), who fought Bukhara and spent years in Safavid exile; Arab Muhammad I (1602–1623), during whose reign Ural Cossacks raided and the Kalmyks twice invaded; Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur (1643–1663), twice victor over the Kalmyks and author of the famous Chagatai-language histories Shajare-i Turk and Shajare-i Tarākime; and Anusha Khan (1663–1685), whose reign saw urban growth before he was deposed and blinded.
How did the Khanate of Khiva end?: Russian attacks failed in 1602, 1717, and 1839 (Perovsky's winter disaster), but in the Khivan campaign of 1873 General von Kaufman took the city (10 June); the treaty of 12 August 1873 made Khiva a reduced Russian protectorate with a 200,000-ruble annual indemnity. Internal reform under Isfandiyar Khan (1910–1918) foundered on Turkmen revolt (1912–13).
How was the Khanate of Khiva governed?: An absolute monarchy over a decentralized tribal-confederal landscape, the khanate rested on irrigated agriculture (wheat, barley, rice, melons, cotton) along the Amu Darya canals, steppe pastoralism, and transit trade between Central Asia, Persia, and Russia.
What did the economy and culture of the Khanate of Khiva rest on?: The army was tribal cavalry — Uzbek lineages plus Turkmen auxiliaries — with mud-brick fortifications guarding canals and crossings. Surrounded by desert, the khanate's only easy military approach was along the Oxus, producing repeated wars with Bukhara (1538–40, 1593, 1655, 1656, 1662, 1684, 1689, 1694, 1806, and others).
Why does the Khanate of Khiva still matter?: Khiva/Itchan Kala is a UNESCO-listed monument city in modern Uzbekistan; the khanate's lands are divided among Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan, Xorazm), Turkmenistan (Daşoguz), and Kazakhstan.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Khanate of Khiva en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Khiva

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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