156

The Qungrats or Inaqids

1184–1338/1770–1920

The Khanate of Khiva (Khiwa)

1184/1770

Muḥammad Amīn as Ïnaq for puppet khāns of the Qazaq Chingizids

1204/1790

‘Awaẓ b. Muḥammad Amīn, Ïnaq

1218/1803

Eltüzer b. ‘Awaẓ, Inaq and then in 1219/1804 Khān

⊘ 1221/1806

Muḥammad Raḥīm b. ‘Awaẓ

⊘ 1240/1825

Allāh Qulī b. Muḥammad Raḥim

1258/1842

Raḥīm Qulī b. Allāh Qulī

⊘ 1261/1845

Muḥammad Amīn b. Allāh Qulī, Abu ‘l-Ghāzi, called Medemīn

1271/1855

‘Abdallāh b. ‘Ubaydallāh, great-grandson of ‘Awaẓ

1272/1856

Qutlugh Murād b. ‘Ubaydallāh

⊘ 1272/1856

Sayyid Muḥammad Bahādur b. Muḥammad Raḥīm

⊘ 1281/1864

Sayyid Muḥammad Raḥīm b. Sayyid Muḥammad Bahādur

1328/1910

Isfandiyār b. Sayyid Muḥammad Raḥīm

⊘ 1336–8/1918–20

Sa‘īd‘Abdallāh

1338/1920

Overthrow of the Khanate

By the mid-eighteenth century, power in the Khānate of Khiva, covering essentially the older province of Khwārazm, was disputed by two powerful families of the Qazaq Chingizids. In 1176/1763, the leader of the Qungrat tribe of the Özbegs, Muḥammad Amīn Ïnaq (the old title ïnaq ‘trusted adviser [of the ruler]’ was by now given to tribal chiefs), became chief of all the local Özbeg tribal chiefs. As Atalïq of Khiva, he subdued the Yomud Turkmens and became virtual ruler, installing puppet khāns from the Qazaq Chingizids. He and his son ‘Awaẓ nevertheless did not themselves assume the title of Khān, but Eltüzer b. ‘Awaẓ felt strong enough to dispense with Chingizid puppets and proclaim himself Khān, founding a new, and the ultimate, line of rulers in Khiva. As in the other two Central Asian khanates, the rulers were by now able to behave more despotically through a declining reliance on Özbeg and other tribal forces and the use of their own personal forces of guards. The Khāns of Khiva were for a while able to expand as far south as Merv (Marw); they continually raided Persian territory in northern Khurasan; and they expanded northwards into the Qazaq Steppe.

But the Khāns were totally unable to withstand Russian pressures. In 1290/1873, a Russian army occupied Khiva with minimal resistance, and stringent peace terms were imposed on what now became a vastly-reduced khanate. The Russians did not interfere internally at Khiva, but the Khāns had no independent status and were far more circumscribed than their fellow-Khāns of Bukhara. In April 1920 the last Khān Sa‘īd ‘Abdallāh was deposed and a ‘People’s Republic of Khiva’ proclaimed, to be replaced a year later by a Bolshevik regime.

Lane-Poole, 278–9; Zambaur, 275–6; Album, 64.

EI2 ‘Khīwa’ (W. Barthold and M. M. Brill), Suppl. ‘naimagesḳ’ (Y. Bregel); EIR ‘Central Asia. VII. In the 12th–13th/18th–19th centuries’ (Yuri Bregel).

Edward A. Allworth, Central Asia: 130 Years of Russian Dominance, 3rd edn.

If you find an error or have any questions, please email us at admin@erenow.org. Thank you!