Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/841

 KHIVA 821 place between them and the Uzbecks. Before the recent war there were 40,000 Persians, many of them slaves. The Khivan constitu- tion is of Mongol origin. At the side of the khan stand a number of dignitaries whom he cannot remove from office. Other officials serve only in time of war. Justice is adminis- tered by karsis and muftis, either in their own houses or in the mosques. The political divi- sions of the khanate correspond to the number of large cities, which have their own beys or governors. The most interesting cities are Khiva, the capital, Yeni (New) Urgenj, and Kunya (Old) Urgenj, famous for having long been the capital of the khanate. Other towns of importance are Hazar-asp, Kungrad, Tash- hauz, Gurlen, Khoja Hi, Shah-Abat, Kilij-bay, Mangitj and Kiptchak, mostly within a short distance from the banks of the Amoo Darya. The khanate of Khiva anciently formed part of the Persian empire, and included the prov- inces of Chorasmia, Sogdiana, and Bactria. The shores of the sea of Aral were at that time inhabited by the Massagcta?, who, it is said, slew Cyrus, 529 B. C. North of the old course of the Oxus, which united the Caspian and Aral seas, lived the Aspasiacso, a Scythian tribe. Khiva probably formed part of the Parthian empire at the time of Arsaces VI. (or Mithri- dates I.), about 150 B. C. The tribes succeeded in throwing off the Parthian yoke between A. D. 50 and 100. From the 3d to the 10th cen- tury it was connected with Persia. It became afterward an independent kingdom under the name of Khovaresm or Kharesm, until con- quered by Genghis Khan early in the 13th century. At the end of the 14th it was taken by Tamerlane, and remained part of the king- dom of Samarcand until the beginning of the 16th century. Eventually it came under the rule of the Uzbecks, a Turkish tribe, who founded the khanate or kingdom of Khiva. Peter the Great sent an army under Gen. Bekevitch against the Khivans in 1717, which was defeated. Since that time the khans have taken every opportunity to display hostile feel- ings against Russians. Prominent among the recent khans, for his military skill and wise administration, was Rahim (1802-'26). Allah Kuli (1826-'41) toward the end of his reign successfully resisted a large Russian expedition under the command of Gen. Perovsky. He subdued also the tribe of the Goklens, whom he transferred into his territory. His son Rahim Kuli (1841 -'3) settled 10,000 tents of Jem- shidi, a Persian tribe, on the bank of the Amoo, near Kilij. His brother defeated the emir of Bokhara, and usurped the throne at his death. Mohammed Emin (1843-'55) ex- tended his territory by conquering the land of the Sariks and the Tekkes, who dwelt near Merv and Akhal. In a subsequent expedi- tion some daring enemies entered his tent, struck off his head, and sent it to the shah of Persia. His troops called to the throne one Abdullah, who was slain in a rebellion of the Yomuts (1856). He was succeeded by his younger brother Kutlug-Murad, who reigned only three months. His successor, Seid Mohammed, allowed the Yomuts to de- vastate the land, and the colonies founded by the previous khan became depopulated. Then a pretender to the throne, Mohammed Penah, instigated a rebellion, and implored the pro- tection of Russia, for which he was finally murdered by his own partisans. The expedi- tion undertaken by the Russian government against Khiva toward the close of 1872, under pretext of repressing brigandage and securing redress of grievances, met at first with a seri- ous reverse. A body of Khivans surprised the advancing Russians, and compelled them to retreat. The Khivan success, however, roused the Russians to new efforts. An army was sent out in two main divisions, one advancing against Khiva from Turkistan on the east, and another from Orenburg and the Caucasus on the west. The principal column was under the orders of Gen. Kaufmann, the command- er-in-chief of the whole expedition. On May 20, 1873, Kungrad was attacked and captured, and on June 10 the Russians entered the capi- tal of Khiva. The khan had fled, but a few days afterward he returned, signified his sub- mission, and signed a treaty of peace, which compelled him to pay an indemnity of 2,000,- 000 rubles by instalments extending over seven years, the Russian troops in the mean time oc- cupying Shurakhan and Kungrad. The inde- pendence of the khan was to be recognized, but the E. boundary of the territory was reduced to the river Amoo Darya. Slavery and the slave trade were prohibited in the khanate. Subsequently it was added that the khan should have no right to make treaties with foreign powers without Russian sanction. The popu- lation of the ceded territory may be roughly es- timated at 6,000 houses of settled inhabitants, and 37,000 kibitkas of nomads and semi-no- mads ; and taking the usual estimate of five persons to a house, with about 5,000 Persians previously slaves, the ceded population prob- ably amounts to about 220,000. II. A city, capital of the khanate, situated in the most fer- tile portion of the valley of the Amoo Darya, about 30 m. from its W. shore; lat. 41 22' N., Ion. 60 24' E. ; pop. about 6,000. The envi- rons of Khiva are beautifully cultivated, but the city itself is declared to be inferior to a Per- sian city of the lowest rank. The houses are built of mud, and stand in the most irregular manner. The city is divided into Khiva proper and the citadel, which can be shut off from ^ the outer city by four gates. The palace of the khan is an inferior building, and the bazaars are not equal to those of other oriental cities. Tim is the principal bazaar, where the articles imported from Russia, Bokhara, and Persia are exposed for sale. There are few mosques of much antiquity or artistic construction. The Polvan-Ata is an edifice about four centuries old, consisting of one large and two small