The Emirate of Bukhara was an Uzbek absolute monarchy in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is now parts of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, known formerly as Transoxiana. Its core territory was the fertile land along the lower Zarafshon river, and its urban centres were the ancient cities of Samarqand and the emirate's capital, Bukhara. It was contemporaneous with the Khanate of Khiva to the west, in Khwarazm, and the Khanate of Kokand to the east, in Fergana. In 1920, it ceased to exist with the establishment of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic. The Turco-Mongol tribe of Uzbeks known as "Manghits" were the rulers.
Name
Local historiography did not refer to the realm as Emirate of Bukhara. Instead, it commonly referred to it as Māvarā’ al-nahr (Persian and Arabic: ما وراء النهر, lit. 'what is beyond the [Amu Darya / Oxus] river', Transoxiana), a long-standing name used for the region between Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Turan or Turkistan was also occasionally used, in contrast to the region south of the Amu Darya, which was called Iran or Khorasan (Persian: خراسان). The name vilāyat-i Bukhārā (ولایت بخارا, 'Dominion of Bukhara') was also sometimes used. In the 18th and 19th centuries, contradictory accounts of the realm's general layout were given by Bukharan court historians. Authors frequently differed in their accounts of both the number and names of the provinces, regions, and lands comprising the realm.
History
The Emirate of Bukhara was officially created in 1785, upon the assumption of rulership by the Manghit emir, Shah Murad. Shahmurad, formalized the family's dynastic rule (Manghit dynasty), and the khanate became the Emirate of Bukhara.
As one of the few states in Central Asia after the Mongol Empire not ruled by descendants of Genghis Khan (besides the Timurids), it staked its legitimacy on Islamic principles rather than Genghisid blood, as the ruler took the Islamic title of Emir instead of Khan. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Khwarazm (Khiva Khanate) was ruled by the Uzbek dynasty of Kungrats.
Over the course of the 18th century, the emirs had slowly gained effective control of the Khanate of Bukhara, from their position as ataliq; and by the 1740s, when the khanate was conquered by Nadir Shah of Persia, it was clear that the emirs held the real power. In 1747, after Nadir Shah's death, the ataliq Muhammad Rahim Bi murdered Abulfayz Khan and his son, ending the Janid dynasty. From then on the emirs allowed puppet khans to rule until, following the death of Abu l-Ghazi Khan, Shah Murad assumed the throne openly.
Fitzroy Maclean recounts in Eastern Approaches how Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly were executed by Nasrullah Khan in the context of The Great Game, and how Joseph Wolff, known as the Eccentric Missionary, escaped their fate when he came looking for them in 1845. He was wearing his full canonical costume, which caused the Emir to burst out laughing, and "Dr Wolff was eventually forced to leave Bokhara, greatly to the surprise of the populace, who were not accustomed to such clemency."
In 1868, the emirate lost a war with Imperial Russia, which had aspirations of conquest in the region. Russia annexed much of the emirate's territory, including the important city of Samarkand. In 1873, the remainder became a Russian protectorate, and was soon surrounded by the Governorate-General of Turkestan. The Russians forced the abolition of the Bukhara slave trade in 1873, though slavery itself was not formally abolished until 1885.
Reformists within the Emirate had found the conservative emir, Mohammed Alim Khan, unwilling to loosen his grip on power, and had turned to the Russian Bolshevik revolutionaries for military assistance. The Red Army launched an unsuccessful assault in March 1920, and then a successful one in September of the same year. The Emirate of Bukhara was conquered by the Bolsheviks and replaced with the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic. Today, the territory of the defunct emirate lies mostly in Uzbekistan, with parts in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. In the first half of the 19th century it had some influence in northern Afghanistan, as the emirs of the Chahar Wilayat (Maimana, Sheberghan, Andkhui, Sar-i Pol) nominally accepted Bukharan suzerainty.
Society
Population and religion
Population estimates for Bukhara in the 19th century vary throughout authors. According to the Russian diplomat and orientalist Nikolay Vladimirovich Khanykov, the population was between 2.0–2.5 million. Another author estimates the population to have been around 3 million in the early 20th century. The Hanafi school of Sunni Islam was the most dominant belief amongst Bukharans. Sufi brotherhoods were popular, particularly the many sects of the Naqshbandi Order (Juybaris, Dahbidis, Ahraris). A large minority also followed the Twelver school of Shia Islam, mostly people from Iran who were slaves, former slaves, or their descendants. The eastern Pamir Mountains, under Bukharan rule from the late 19th century, were inhabited by followers of Ismailism. Bukharan Jews also lived in the emirate, mostly in Bukhara and Samarqand. There was also a small Hindu diaspora.
Ethnic groups and identity
The people of the Bukharan emirate were bilingual and often ethnically mixed. Sedentary and nomadic lifestyles sharply contrasted, reflecting the varied geography, which included deserts, steppes, mountains, urban centers, and oases. The phrase turk wa tājik ("Turk and Tajik") expressed this separation by representing the two primary elements of the society. The first element was the tribal nomadic clans of Turkic and Turco-Mongol heritage (Uzbek, Turkmen, Kazakh, Karakalpak, etc) that made up the military and ruling class. The second element were the peasants and townspeople who spoke Persian and Chagatai. Nomads and the settled population were rarely in conflict despite their notable socioeconomic differences.
The idea of tying a region to a certain ethnic or language group was unfamiliar to the Muslims of Central Asia. At that time, while terms such as Uzbek, Tajik, and Kyrgyz were recognized, they did not adequately describe the overlapping and shifting identities of the population. For these people, allegiances based on tribal, clan, local, or family ties were more significant than those based solely on ethnicity, since they had long intermixed. Due to years of interaction between Turks and Tajiks, the urban population of Central Asian cities developed a unique mixed identity, making it difficult to determine which linguistic community an urban inhabitant belonged to, since bilingualism was widespread. This is demonstrated in the bayaz, private journals wrapped in leather from the 16th to 19th centuries, where verses in both languages often appeared together. Unlike grandiose manuscripts made for the elite, these notebooks reflect popular readership. The most well-known poet at this time seems to have been the Persian poet Jami, who was followed by two other poets who also wrote in the same language, Hafez and Amir Khusrow. However, the Turkic poets Ali-Shir Nava'i and Fuzuli are also commonly cited. Because of this diverse population and their role in political, cultural, and economic affairs, the Emirate of Bukhara cannot be considered solely an "Uzbek state". In 1924, when the Soviet Union established national and ethnic boundaries in Central Asia, many of the locals of the present-day countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were unsure if they were Tajiks or Uzbeks.
In the Bukharan Emirate, the Uzbeks inhabited the center of Central Asia. The Lebap Region was populated by Turkmens, including the Salur in the Char Ju, and the Ersari and Saraq to the south of the town. During winter, the surroundings of the Syr Darya river and some of the Kyzylkum Desert was inhabited by Kazakh nomads. The surroundings of Bukhara and Qarakul had a small Arab population. The Karakalpak lived both in the desert west of Central Asia and near Samarqand.
The Tajiks, who were not tribal, were sometimes referred to as fārsīwān or fārsī-zabān ("Persian-speakers"). Usually, their place of origin or residence was represented by their nisba (such as Samarqandi, Bukhari, or Hisari). Persian speakers who lived in the mountains on the eastern and northern frontiers of Central Asia are sometimes referred to as "Ghalcha" by writers of the 18th century. There were many smaller groups in the emirate. Shia Farsi and Irani (Eroni) lived in Bukhara and Samarqand. Afghans, often from a merchant background, mostly populated the major cities, but also smaller towns such as Kulab, Tirmidh and Shirabad. There was also a Russian and Tatar community.
Culture
Since the 8th and 9th centuries, the common culture of the locals was Persian and Muslim. Persian was the language of civilisation par excellence and the principal language of culture, serving as the official and court language of Emirate of Bukhara. In contrast to rural areas or the nomad-roaming steppes, Bukhara, along with Samarqand, was always a hub of Persianate court culture and religious life. Due to the religious education it offered, the city itself was also known as Bukhārā-yi sharīf ("Bukhara the Noble"). The Bukharan emirate was based on Perso-Islamic systems of government and dynasty patrimonialism, just like other city-states in Central Asia.
The centuries-old Persianate "mirrors for princes" literature, combined with newer juridical state precedents was invoked by the Bukharan rulers to defend their authority. Persianate poetry, written in both Persian and Turkic, was central to courtly culture. Military titles were based on Turkic customs. To ensure good fortune in warfare, the rulers sought advice from Sufi shrines.
Government
Administrative and territorial structure
During the reign of Amir Nasrullah, when the territory of the emirate was most expanded, Bukhara consisted of 30 regions (begliks). These were Karshi, Guzar, Chirakchi, Kitab, Shahrisabz, Yakkabog, Baysun, Denov, Sherabad, Hisar, Korategin, Darvoz, Baljuvan, Shugnon, Rushan, Kulob, Kurgantepa, Qobadiyon, Kalif, Karki, Burdalik, Kalakli, Narazm, Charjoi, Karmana, Ziyovuddin, Nurota, Khatirchi, Urgut and Samarkand regions. In addition to them, Jizzakh, Oratepa, Tashkent, Turkestan and other neighboring regions were also temporarily included in the emirate during this period.
By 1916 they were:
- Baljuvon (now Khatlon Region, Tajikistan)
- Hisar (now Tajikistan)
- Burdalik (now Lebap Region, Turkmenistan)
- Guzar (now Qashqadaryo Region, Uzbekistan)
- Charjuy (now Lebap Region, Turkmenistan)
- Darvaz (c 1878, now Darvoz district, Tajikistan)
- Dehnav (now Surxondaryo Region, Uzbekistan)
- Kabakli (now Lebap Region, Turkmenistan)
- Karakul (now Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan)
- Karategin (now Rasht district, Tajikistan)
- Karshi (now Qashqadaryo Region, Uzbekistan)
- Kattakurgan (now Samarkand region, Uzbekistan)
- Kulyab (now Khatlon Region, Tajikistan)
- Karshi (now Qashqadaryo Region, Uzbekistan)
- Kerki (now Lebap Region, Turkmenistan)
- Nurata (now Navoiy Region, Uzbekistan)
- Panjikent (now Sughd province, Tajikistan)
- Rushan (now Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous region, Tajikistan)
- Samarkand (now Samarqand Region, Uzbekistan – part of Russia since 1868
- Shahrisabz (c 1870, now Kashkadarya Region, Uzbekistan)
- Urgut (now Samarqand Region, Uzbekistan)
- Falgar (now Sughd province, Tajikistan)
Military
The highest military power and command of the army belonged to the Emir. The main command of all infantry and all artillery was concentrated in the hands of the tupchi-bashi (chief of artillery), who, in case of receiving the rank of commander-in-chief, became the head of the entire Bukhara army (including cavalry). The provision of the troops was under the jurisdiction of the Kush-Begi (Uzbek: qushbegi, 'vizier'), and the management of monetary and clothing allowances was entrusted to the durbin (state treasurer), and the in-kind allowance was entrusted to the Ziaetdin Bek. The militia came under the jurisdiction of the military authorities only after being called up for service.
From 1837 to 1845, the naib and head of the artillerymen, Abdusamatkhan, a native of Tabriz, enjoyed great influence in the political life of the Bukhara Emirate. Abdusamatkhan was the first organizer of a regiment of sarbazs and a detachment of artillerymen - topchi in Bukhara.
Those serving in the cavalry had to have their own horses, and the artillery was supplied with horses by the Ziaetdin Bek, who was also in charge of the treatment of horses and fodder provisions.
The Bukharan army had the following ranks (ranks):