Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/279

* BOKHABA. 245 BOKHARA. dry climate of Bokhara makes it necessary to utilize almost all the smaller rivers for irriga- tion. The chief agricultural products are wheat, rice, barley, tobacco, lucerne, flax, cotton, and dye- plants. There are also jiroduced large quantities of fruit, including several varieties of grapes, peaches, apricots, and nuts. Silk-culture is car- ried on. Cattle-raising has always been one of the most important occupations of Bokhara, the native sheep being especially known for the wool iised extensively in Russia for sheep- -skin coats. Horses, goats, and camels are also raised in large numbers. The manufactur- ing industries of Bokhara are chiefly confined to the production of textiles, and are carried on on a ver- small scale and by the most primitive methods. The chief products are cotton and voolen fabrics, silk, coarse cloth, and a kind of felt called Icoshma, leather goods, including footwear and saddles, and small metal products, such as knives, locks, etc. The mineral industry is as yet undeveloped, although Bokhara is sup- posed to be very rich in minerals. The chief minerals worked are salt and gold, the latter worked by the Russians in Safet-Darya. The foreign commerce of Bokhara is quite im- portant, owing to its central location, and Bok- hara, the capital, although it has lost a consider- able portion of its commercial importance and splendor, is still considered an important seat of commerce in Central Asia. The trade is chiefly with Russia, India, and Persia, and is carried on mostly by means of caravan routes and the Trans-Caspian Railway, as the wagon-roads of Bokhara are very few and in poor condition. The annual trade with Russia is estimated at about .$10,000,000, and the entire foreign trade of Bokhara at about $15,000,000. The I'rans- Caspian Railway, which runs through Bokhara for about ISO miles, has had a very good effect on the commerce of the country, which has consider- ably advanced under the protection of Russia. Bokhara, the capital, is connected by telegraph with Tashkent. In its form of government, Bo- khara is an absolute monarchy, the Ameer being invested with unlimited powers. The immediate administration is in the hands of several high ofBcials, each at the head of a separate depart- ment. For purposes of administration, Bokha- ra is divided into several districts, administered by beks, who are obliged to turn in a certain sum of money every year into the treasury of the Ameer, in addition to suitable gifts, con- sisting mostly of cattle and other products. The beks are not paid by the Government, but are e.xpected to get their share out of the taxes collected by them. The army consists of a regular force and a militia, and is recruited chiefly from volunteers; but in case of a holy war, every Mussulman capable of bearing arms is liable to military service. The standing army is estimated all the way from 15,000 to 30,000 men. There are about 20 guns, mostly made of copper, and the regular army is, to a certain extent, organized after European fashion. The population is estimated at from 2,500,000 to 3,000,000. It consists of Uzbcgs, Kirghizes, who are largely nomadic, Tadjiks, Turkomans, Arabs, .Afghans, Sarts, Persians, some .Jews and Russians. The prevailing religion is Moham- medan. With the exception of Bokhara (q.v.), the capital, and Samarkand, there are few towns of any importance. History. Under the name of Transoxiana, Bokhara was inhabited in antiquity by Iranian tribes professing Zoruastrianisui. At a very early period the country was invaded by Tu- ranian newcomers, who were Buddhists, and a long struggle ensued between tile two, in which the difference in religion played no less impor- tant part than that of race. Under the Arabs, wlio brought with them the faith of Islam, Bo- khara was a fteld of incessant contests and lighting, until, with the rise of the Samanid dynasty, in the latter part of the Xinth Century, it became a mighty iiionaichy, the bulwark of Islam, and a great centre of learning. The do- fninions of Bokhara at that time reached down into Afghanistan and Khorasan. At the begin- ning of the Kleventh Century, the country, to- gether with much of the ■Mohammedan world, was conquered by the Seljukian Turks. Under the rulers of that period (1004-1133), Iranian and Arabic continued as the languages of culture, Turkish being employed by the Court for conver- sation only. After that Bokhara was a bone of contention between competing rulers, until conquered by Genghis Khan in 1218, when the capital was burned to the ground, the kingdom deva.stated, and most of the inhabitants slain. For nearly two centuries the invaders ruled over Bokhara. Having embraced Mohammedanism, they favored their kindred, the Turks, so that the latter soon gained the ascendency. Under Tiniur, or Tamerlane (died 1405), Bokhara be- came of great political and commercial impor- tance, its capital, Samarkand, being full of gorgeous palaces, splendid mosques, and very extensive gardens. After his reign, however, it became the arena of bloodshed and wars for nearly a hundred years, until conquered by the Turko-Mongolian Uzbegs about the year 1500, which marks the beginning of Bokhara's decline. With the single exception of the scholarly Ab- dullah-Khan (in the Sixteenth Century), her monarchs have been typical Oriental rulers, cruel and steeped in fanaticism. Xasr-Ulla-Khan (1827-60) was perhaps the most infamous in a long series of infamous potentates. It was he who caused, in 1842, the death of Colonel Stoddartand Captain ConoUy, who went on a mission to Bo- khara. Dr. Wolff, who visited the country in 1844, with a view to ascertain their fate, narrow- ly escaped with his life, after a detention of some months. By the middle of the Nineteenth Cen- tury the steady, aggressive expansion of Russia in Central Asia cast a shadow on the Khanate of Bokhara, and a clash of arms became imminent, unless tlie Khan were to submit to the rule of the Czar without resistance. In 18G5 the Rus- sians occupied Tashkent, and Khan Mozaffar- Eddin, son of Xasr-Ulla, accepted this as a chal- lenge to open hostilities. He took the field in person, but his army was badly defeated at Irjar. on May 20, 1806. The Russians now pushed farther, and after many successful battles en- tered Samarkand, in May, 1868. The fortress of Katti-Kurghan was then stormed and taken, and on .lune 14 the Ameer was completely defeated on the Zerabulak Heights. By the terms of the peace concluded in July, 1808, Samarkand, and the Katti-Kurghan, I'enjekent, and Urgut districts — the best portions of the Zerafshan Valley — were ceded to Russia. Besides paying 500.000 rubles indemnity, the Ameer granted special privileges to Russian trade. This final blow brought Bo-