View source for Emirate of Bukhara

{{Short description|1785–1920 state in Central Asia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Emirate of Bukhara
| native_name            = {{native name|fa|{{nq|امارت بخارا}}}}<br>{{native name|chg|{{nq|بخارا امیرلیگی}}}}
| common_name            = Bukhara
| status                 = Emirate
| status_text            = {{Plainlist}}
*[[Independence|Independent]] emirate (1785–1873)
*[[Protectorate#Russia's and the Soviet Union's protectorates and protected states|Quasi-independent Russian protectorate]] (1873–1920)
{{Endplainlist}}
| government_type        = [[Absolute monarchy]]
| year_start             = 1785
| event_start            = [[Shah Murad]] became Emir
| event_pre              = [[Manghit]] control
| date_pre               = 1747
| event1                 = {{nobr|Conquered by [[Russian Empire|Russia]]}}
| date_event1            = 1868
| event2                 = Russian [[protectorate]]
| date_event2            = 1873
| year_end               = 1920
| date_end               = 2 September
| event_end              = [[Bukhara operation (1920)|Fall of Bukhara]]
| capital                = [[Bukhara]]
| common_languages       = {{plainlist|
*[[Persian language|Persian]] (main literary and administrative language){{sfn|DeWeese|2019|p=137}}
*[[Chagatai language|Chagatai Turkic]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grenoble |first1=Lenore |title=Language Policy of the Soviet Union |date=2003 |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |isbn=1-4020-1298-5 |page=143}}</ref>}}
| largest_city           = [[Bukhara]]
| religion               = [[Sunni Islam]](Official), [[Sufism]] ([[Naqshbandi]])
| title_leader           = Emir
| leader1                = [[Shah Murad|Mir Masum Shah Murad]]
| year_leader1           = 1785–1799
| leader2                = [[Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan|Mir Muhammad Alim Khan]]
| year_leader2           = 1911–1920
| p1                     = Khanate of Bukhara{{!}}{{nobr|Khanate of Bukhara}}
| s1                     = Bukharan People's Soviet Republic{{!}}{{nobr|Bukharan People's}} Soviet Republic
| flag_s1                = Flag of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.svg
| image_flag             = Flag of Emirate of Bukhara-Buxoro Amirligi Bayrog'i.svg
| flag_border            = no
| image_map              = {{Continental Asia in 1800 CE|center|The Emirate of Bukhara and main polities in Asia {{c.|1800}}||Map of the Emirate of Bukhara.png|none}}
| image_map_caption      = 
| stat_year1             = 1875<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110703084651/http://az.lib.ru/m/mejendorf_e_k/text_0010.shtml Meyendorf E.K. Travel from Orenburg to Bukhara. Foreword N. A. Halfin. Moscow, The main edition of the eastern literature of the publishing house "Science", 1975. (in Russian:Мейендорф Е. К. Путешествие из Оренбурга в Бухару. Предисл. Н. А. Халфина. М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства "Наука", 1975.)]</ref>
| stat_pop1              = {{Circa|2,478,000}}
| stat_year2             = 1911<ref>Olufsen, Ole (1911). The emir of Bokhara and his country; journeys and studies in Bokhara. Gyldendal: Nordisk forlag. p. 282.</ref>
| stat_area1             = 
| stat_pop2              = {{Circa|3,000,000–3,500,000}}
| currency               = [[Pūl (coin)|Fulus]], tilla, and [[Bukharan tenga|tenga]]<ref>''ANS Magazine''. [http://numismatics.org/magazine/bukharaspring07/ "The Coinage of the Mangit Dynasty of Bukhara"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715160835/http://numismatics.org/magazine/bukharaspring07/ |date=15 July 2020 }} by Peter Donovan. Retrieved: 16 July 2017.</ref>
}}The '''Emirate of Bukhara''' ({{langx|fa|{{nq|امارت بخارا}}|Imārat-i Buxārā}},<ref>{{cite web |title=نگاهی به امارت بخارا در صد سالگی انقلاب اکتبر |url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/world-41880418?SThisFB |website=BBC News|date=5 November 2017 }}</ref> {{langx|chg|{{nq|بخارا امیرلیگی}}|Bukhārā Amirligi}}) was a [[Sunni Islam|sunni]] muslim polity of [[Uzbeks]] in Central Asia<ref>{{cite book |last1=Golden |first1=Peter B. |title=Central Asia in World History |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |page=115}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bregel |first=Yuri |date=17 Jan 2003 |title=A Historical Atlas of Central Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalatlasofcentralasiayuribregelbrill_642_T/mode/1up}}</ref> that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is now [[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)|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 Valley|Fergana]]. In 1920, it ceased to exist with the establishment of the [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic]].       The Turco-Mongolian tribe of Uzbeks known as "Mangits" were the rulers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Soucek |first=Svat |date=1 June 2012 |title=A History of Inner Asia - Cambridge University |url=http://elibrary.bsu.edu.az/files/books_400/N_23.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Bukharan Revolution|Bukhara operation (1920)}}
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|Manghit dynasty]]), and the khanate became the Emirate of Bukhara.<ref>[[Svat Soucek|Soucek, Svat]]. ''A History of Inner Asia'' (2000), p. 180.</ref>

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–19th centuries, [[Khwarazm]] (Khiva Khanate) was ruled by the Uzbek dynasty of [[Kungrats]].<ref>Bregel, Y. The new Uzbek states: Bukhara, Khiva and Khoqand: C. 1750–1886. In N. Di Cosmo, A. Frank, & P. Golden (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age (pp. 392–411). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2009</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvp|Soucek|2000|pp=179–180}}</ref>

[[Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet|Fitzroy Maclean]] recounts in ''[[Eastern Approaches]]'' how [[Charles Stoddart]] and [[Arthur Conolly]] were executed by [[Nasrullah Khan (Bukhara)|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."<ref>''[[Eastern Approaches]]'' ch 6 "Bokhara the Noble"</ref>

In 1868, the emirate lost a [[Russian Conquest of Bukhara|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]].<ref>{{harvp|Soucek|2000|p=198}}</ref> In 1873, the remainder became a Russian [[protectorate]],<ref>[http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/romeo/russobukharan1868.htm Russo-Bukharan War 1868], ''Armed Conflict Events Database'', OnWar.com</ref> and was soon surrounded by the [[Guberniya|Governorate-General]] of [[Russian Turkestan|Turkestan]]. The Russians forced the abolition of the [[Bukhara slave trade]] in 1873, though slavery itself was not formally abolished until 1885.<ref>Becker, S. (2004). Russia's Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Khiva, 1865–1924. Storbritannien: Taylor & Francis., p. 67-68</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvp|Soucek|2000|pp=221–222}}</ref> 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 Khanate|Maimana]], [[Sheberghan]], [[Andkhoy (city)|Andkhui]], [[Sar-e Pol, Afghanistan|Sar-i Pol]]) nominally accepted Bukharan suzerainty.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Jonathan L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYaamE_3kD4C |title=The "Ancient Supremacy": Bukhara, Afghanistan and the Battle for Balkh, 1731–1901 |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10399-3 |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:1872 Vereshchagin Triumphierend anagoria.JPG|The Emir of Bukhara and the notables of the city watch how the heads of Russian soldiers are impaled on poles. Samarkand
File:Chor Minor.jpg|[[Chor Minor]] Madrasah, Bukhara (built in 1807)
File:Gorskii 04653u.jpg|A bureaucrat in Bukhara, c. 1910
File:Large Medallion Suzani.jpg|Large Medallion [[Suzani (textile)]] from Bukhara, c. mid-18th century
</gallery>

== Government ==

=== Administrative and territorial structure ===
During the reign of [[Nasrullah Khan (Bukhara)|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, [[Istaravshan|Oratepa]], [[Tashkent (1784)|Tashkent]], [[Turkistan (city)|Turkestan]] and other neighboring regions were also temporarily included in the emirate during this period.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zamonov |first=Akbar |title=Buxoro Amirligi Tarix |publisher=Tamaddun |year=2022 |isbn=978-9943-5126-0-3 |location=Tashkent |pages=97 |language=Uz |trans-title=History of Emirate of Bukhara}}</ref>

By 1916 they were:
{{Administrative map of the Bukhara Emirate (1916)}}
# [[Baljuvon]] (now [[Khatlon Region]], [[Tajikistan]])
# [[Hisor|Hisar]] (now Tajikistan)
# Burdalik (now [[Lebap Region]], [[Turkmenistan]])
# [[Guzar, Uzbekistan|Guzar]] (now [[Qashqadaryo Region]], [[Uzbekistan]])
# [[Turkmenabad|Charjuy]] (now [[Lebap Region]], Turkmenistan)
# Darvaz (c 1878, now [[Darvoz district]], Tajikistan)
# [[Denov|Dehnav]] (now [[Surxondaryo Region]], Uzbekistan)
# Kabakli (now [[Lebap Region]], Turkmenistan)
# [[Qorakoʻl|Karakul]] (now [[Bukhara Region]], Uzbekistan)
# [[Karategin Beglik|Karategin]] (now [[Rasht district]], Tajikistan)
# [[Qarshi|Karshi]] (now Qashqadaryo Region, Uzbekistan)
# [[Kattakurgan]] (now [[Samarqand Region|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)
# [[Rushon|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 ===
{{Empty section|date=March 2025}}

== Foreign relations ==
{{Empty section|date=March 2025}}

== Society ==
{{Empty section|date=March 2025}}

== Economy ==
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the majority of the Emirate's exports consisted primarily of cotton, wool, silk and related products, wool and oils.  Bukhara was also considered the center of the Central Asian astrakhan trade, obtained from the skin of [[karakul sheep]].  These skins were brought from around the breeding regions in neighbouring Karakul, Chorjou, Karki, Karshi, [[Khorazm Region|Khorezm]] and [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yodgorovich |first=Qudratov Shukhrat |date=2019 |title=The trade relations of the emirate of Bukhara with the countries of Europe and Americas |url=https://www.historyjournal.net/article/18/2-1-5-147.pdf |journal=International Journal of History |pages=25–27}}</ref>

Trade for the most part largely interacted with western nations, predominantly the Russian Empire, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany ([[German Confederation|and its predecessor states]]) and in later years, the United States of America.

== Culture ==
{{refimprove section|date=June 2025}}
In the era of the Manghyt emirs in Bukhara, a large construction of madrasahs, mosques and palaces was carried out. Located along important trading routes, Bukhara enjoyed a rich cultural mixture, including [[Tajik people|Persian]], [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]], and [[Bukharan Jews|Jewish]] influences.

A local school of historians developed in the Bukhara emirate. The most famous historians were Mirza Shams Bukhari, Muhammad Yakub ibn Daniyalbiy, Muhammad Mir Olim Bukhari, Ahmad Donish, Mirza Abdalazim Sami, Mirza Salimbek.<ref>Anke fon Kyugel'gen, Legitimizatsiya sredneaziatskoy dinastii mangitov v proizvedeniyakh ikh istorikov (XVIII-XIX vv.). Almaty: Dayk press, 2004</ref>

The city of Bukhara has a rich history of Persian [[Iranian Architecture|architecture]] and [[Persian Literature|literature]], traditions that were continued into the Emirate Period. Prominent artists of the period include the poet [[Kiromi Bukhoroi]], the [[calligrapher]] [[Mirza Abd al-Aziz Bukhari]] and the scholar [[Rahmat-Allah Bukhari]]. Throughout this period, the [[madrasahs]] of the region were renowned.

==List of emirs==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! style="background-color:#F0DC82" width=27% | Titular Name
! style="background-color:#F0DC82" width=25% | Personal Name
! style="background-color:#F0DC82" width=25% | Reign 
|-
|- style="background:lightpink"
| ''Ataliq''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|اتالیق}}}}
| Khudayar Bey<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|خدایار بیگ}}}}
| ?
|-
|- style="background:lightpink"
| ''Ataliq''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|اتالیق}}}}
| Muhammad Hakim<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|محمد حکیم}}}} 
| ?–1747
|-
|- style="background:lightgreen"
| ''Ataliq''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|اتالیق}}}}
| Muhammad Rahim<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|محمد رحیم}}}}
| 1747–1753
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| Muhammad Rahim<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|محمد رحیم}}}}
| 1753–1756
|-
| ''Khan''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|خان}}}}
| Muhammad Rahim<br>{{small|{{Nastaliq|محمد رحیم}}}}
| 1756–1758
|-
|- style="background:lightgreen"
| ''Ataliq''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|اتالیق}}}}
| [[Daniyal Biy]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|دانیال بیگ}}}}
| 1758–1785
|-
| ''Amir Masum''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر معصوم}}}}
| [[Shahmurad]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|شاہ مراد بن دانیال بیگ}}}}
| 1785–1799 
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [[Haydar bin Shahmurad]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|حیدر تورہ بن شاہ مراد}}}}
| 1799–1826
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [[Mir Hussein bin Haydar]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|حسین بن حیدر تورہ}}}}
| 1826–1827 
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [[Umar bin Haydar]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|عمر بن حیدر تورہ}}}}
| 1827
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [[Nasrullah Khan (Bukhara)|Nasr-Allah bin Haydar Tora]]<br/> {{small|{{Nastaliq|نصراللہ بن حیدر تورہ}}}}
| 1827–1860 
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [[Muzaffar bin Nasrullah]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|مظفر الدین بن نصراللہ}}}}
| 1860–1885
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [['Abd al-Ahad Khan|Abdul-Ahad bin Muzaffar al-Din]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|عبد الأحد بن مظفر الدین}}}}
| 1885–1911
|-
| ''Amir''<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|امیر}}}}
| [[Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan|Muhammad Alim Khan bin Abdul-Ahad]]<br/>{{small|{{Nastaliq|محمد عالم خان بن عبد الأحد}}}}
| 1911–1920 
|-
| colspan="3" | Overthrow of Emirate of Bukhara by [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic]].
|}

* ''Pink Rows denote progenitor chiefs serving as Tutors (Ataliqs) & Viziers to the Khans of Bukhara.''
* ''Green Rows denote chiefs who took over reign of government from the [[Janids]] and placed puppet Khans.''
* ''A photo of Mohammed Alim Khan, final emir 1911–1920, is shown at [[Emir]].''

== See also ==
{{History of Tajikistan}}{{History of Uzbekistan}}
* [[Khanate of Bukhara]]
* [[Khanate of Khiva]]
* [[Khanate of Kokand]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=DeWeese |first1=Devin|author-link1=Devin Deweese|editor1-last=Green |editor1-first=Nile |editor-link1=Nile Green|title=The Persianate World: The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca |chapter=Persian and Turkic from Kazan to Tobolsk: Literary Frontiers in Muslim Inner Asia |pages=131–158|date=2019 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520972100 }}
*{{cite book |last=Soucek |first=Svat |author-link=Svat Soucek |year=2000 |title=A History of Inner Asia |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521657044 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofinneras00souc}}
{{refend}}

==Literature==
* Malikov A., "The Russian conquest of the Bukharan Emirate: military and diplomatic aspects", ''Central Asian Survey'', Volume 33, issue 2, 2014, pp.&nbsp;180–198.

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Divisions of the Russian Empire}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bukhara, Emirate of}}
[[Category:Emirate of Bukhara| ]]
[[Category:1785 establishments in Asia]]
[[Category:1920 disestablishments in Russia]]
[[Category:Former countries in Central Asia]]
[[Category:Former emirates]]
[[Category:Former monarchies]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Asia]]
[[Category:Former Russian protectorates]]
[[Category:Mongol dynasties]]
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[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1920]]