The Land of Tajiks

History    Home   Language     Links   People    Map

Major Cities:                   Buchara  Dushanbe  Kashqar   Xojand   Merv  Panjakent    Samarqand   Shahrisabz

Xive(Khiva)

KHIVA, formerly an important kingdom of Asia, but now a much reduced khanate, and confined to the delta of the Amu-darya (Oxus).         Persian/Tajik architecture still dominate old town in this  ancient Tajik city. One of the greatest Tajik scientist, Al-Biruni was born here in 973. The present khanate is only a meagre relic of the great kingdom which under the name of Chorasmia, Kharezm (Khwarizm) and Urgenj (Jurjaniya, Gurganj) held the keys of the mightiest river in Central Asia. Its possession has consequently been much disputed from early times, but the country has undergone great changes, geographical as well as political, which have lessened its importance. The Oxus (Amu-darya).has changed its outlet, and no longer forms a water-way to the Caspian and thence to Europe, while Khiva was entirely surrounded by territory either directly administered or protected by Russia, during Soviet era.

		Chorasmia  is  mentioned by Herodotus, it being then one of the Persian provinces, over  which Darius placed satraps, but nothing material of it is known till it was seized by the Arabs in A.D. 680. When the power of the caliphs declined the governor of the province probably became independent; but the first king known to history is Mamun-ibn-Mahommed in 995. Khwarizm fell under the power of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017, and subsequently under that of the Seljuk Turks.  In 1097 the governor Kutb-ud-din assumed the title of king, and one of his  descendants, 'Ala-ud-din-Mahommed, conquered Persia, and was the greatest  prince in Central Asia when Jenghiz Khan appeared in 1219. Khiva was conquered  again by Timur in 1379; and finally fell under the rule of the Uzbeks in 1512, who are still the dominant people under the protection of the Russians.
	In October 1924,  the Soviet policy of cutting across existing  ethnic and  linguistic lines in the region to    create Uzbekistan and  the other  new republics also sowed tension and strife among the  Central Asian groups that inhabited the region. In particular, the   territory of Uzbekistan  was drawn to include the two main Tajik  cultural centers, Bukhara and Samarqand,     as well as Khiva, Shahrisabz , Sorxandarya, parts of the Fergana  Valley to which other ethnic groups could   lay  claim.        More About

  

Shahri sabz

Like Buchara, Samarkand and  Khojand,  Shahrisabz  is one of  the  most ancient Tajik cities in Central  Asia. Shahrisbaz  is the Tajik word  for "a green city".  It is a city of gardens, vieyards, parks and cool, murmuring fountains. Shahrisabz is 80 km from Samarqand .

In October 1924, the Soviet policy  of cutting  across existing  ethnic and linguistic lines in the region to  create Uzbekistan and the other  new republics also sowed tension and strife among the Central  Asian groups  that inhabited the region. In particular,  the territory of  Uzbekistan was drawn to include the two main Tajik cultural  centers, Bukhara  and Samarqand,   as well as Shakhrisabz , parts of the Fergana Valley to which other ethnic  groups could  lay claim.