Khwarazm (;
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large
oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
region on the
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...
river delta
A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...
in western
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, bordered on the north by the (former)
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
, on the east by the
Kyzylkum Desert
The Kyzylkum Desert ( uz, Qizilqum, Қизилқум, قىزىلقۇم; kk, Қызылқұм, Qyzylqūm, قىزىلقۇم) is the 15th largest desert in the world. Its name means ''Red Sand'' in Turkic languages. It is located in Central Asia, i ...
, on the south by the
Karakum Desert
The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...
, and on the west by the
Ustyurt Plateau
The Ustyurt or Ust-Yurt (from kk, Үстірт; uz, Ustyurt; tk, Üstyurt; — flat hill, plateau) is a transboundary clay desert shared by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The plateau's semi-nomadic population raises sheep, goats, an ...
. It was the center of the
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
Khwarezmian civilization, and a series of kingdoms such as the
Afrighid dynasty
The Afrighids ( Khwarazmian: ''ʾfryḡ'') were a native Khwarezmian IranianClifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996. dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Kh ...
and the
Anushtegin dynasty
The Anushtegin dynasty or Anushteginids (English: , fa, ), also known as the Khwarazmian dynasty ( fa, ) was a Persianate C. E. BosworthKhwarazmshahs i. Descendants of the line of Anuštigin In Encyclopaedia Iranica, online ed., 2009: ''"Li ...
, whose capitals were (among others)
Kath Kath or KATH may refer to:
* Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm
* Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska
* KATH (AM)
KATH (910 kHz) is a ...
, Gurganj (now
Konye-Urgench
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
) and – from the
16th century
The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582).
The 16th cent ...
on –
Khiva
Khiva ( uz, Xiva/, خىۋا; fa, خیوه, ; alternative or historical names include ''Kheeva'', ''Khorasam'', ''Khoresm'', ''Khwarezm'', ''Khwarizm'', ''Khwarazm'', ''Chorezm'', ar, خوارزم and fa, خوارزم) is a district-level city ...
. Today Khwarazm belongs partly to
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
and partly to
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
.
Names and etymology
Names
Khwarazm has been known also as ''Chorasmia'', ''Khaurism'',
''Khwarezm'', ''Khwarezmia'', ''Khwarizm'', ''Khwarazm'', ''Khorezm'', ''Khoresm'', ''Khorasam'', ''Kharazm'', ''Harezm'', ''Horezm'', and ''Chorezm''.
In
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
the name is ';
in
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
𐎢𐎺𐎠𐎼𐏀𐎷𐎡𐏁 or 𐎢𐎺𐎠𐎼𐏀𐎷𐎡𐎹 (/
hUvārazmī-/);
in
Modern
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Phil ...
fa, خوارزم ';
in ar, خَـوَارِزْم ';
in
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
* ();
in
Modern Chinese
Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standar ...
' ( /
Xiao'erjing
Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...
: خُوَلاذِمُوْ);
in tg, Хоразм, ''Xorazm'', خوارَزم;
in kk, Хорезм ('), حورەزم;
in uz, Xorazm, ''Хоразм'', خورەزم;
in tk, Horezm, ''Хорезм'', خوْرِزم;
in az, Xarəzm, ''Харәзм'';
in tr, Harezm;
in
Greek language
Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...
(') and (') by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
.
Etymology
![Mawara'nnahr, Khwarazm and Greater Khorasan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Mawara%27nnahr%2C_Khwarazm_and_Greater_Khorasan.png)
The Arab geographer
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...
in his ''Muʿǧam al-buldan'' wrote that the name was a Persian compound of ' (), and ' (), referring to the abundance of cooked fish as a main diet of the peoples of this area.
C.E. Bosworth
Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA (29 December 1928 – 28 February 2015) was an English historian and Orientalist, specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies.
Life
Bosworth was born on 29 December 1928 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire (now ...
, however, believed the Persian name to be made up of ' ( 'the sun') and ' ( 'earth, land'), designating 'the land from which the sun rises', although a similar etymology is also given for
Khurasan
Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
. Another view is that the
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
compound stands for 'lowland' from ' 'low' and ' 'land'.
Khwarazm is indeed the lowest region in
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
(except for the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
to the far west), located on the delta of the
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...
on the southern shores of the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
. Various forms of ' are commonly used also in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
to stand for tidal flats, marshland, or tidal bays (e.g.,
Khor Musa
Khormusan industry was a Paleolithic archeological industry in Egypt and Sudan dated at 42,000 to 18,000 BP.
The Khormusan industry in Egypt began between 42,000 and 32,000 BP. Khormusans developed tools not only from stone but also from animal b ...
,
Khor Abdallah
Khor is an ancient region located in the south of ancient Syria, probably around modern Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western A ...
,
Hor al-Azim
Hor Awibre (also known as Hor I) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty reigning from c. 1777 BC until 1775 BCK.S.B. Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period'', ''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publicatio ...
,
Hor al-Himar, etc.)
The name also appears in
Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
inscriptions as ''Huvarazmish'', which is declared to be part of the
Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
.
Some of the early scholars believed Khwarazm to be what ancient
Avestic
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
texts refer to as ('; later
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
'). These sources claim that
Old Urgench
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
, which was the capital of ancient Khwarazm for many years, was actually Ourva, the eighth land of
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the ''Yasna''. ...
mentioned in the
Pahlavi
Pahlavi may refer to:
Iranian royalty
*Seven Parthian clans, ruling Parthian families during the Sasanian Empire
*Pahlavi dynasty, the ruling house of Imperial State of Persia/Iran from 1925 until 1979
**Reza Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944 ...
text of
Vendidad
The Vendidad /ˈvendi'dæd/ or Videvdat or Videvdad is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the ''Vendidad'' is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual.
Name
...
. However,
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witze ...
, a researcher in early Indo-European history, believes that Airyanem Vaejah was in what is now
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, the northern areas of which were a part of ancient Khwarazm and
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
. Others, however, disagree.
University of Hawaii
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
historian
Elton L. Daniel believes Khwarazm to be the "most likely locale" corresponding to the original home of the
Avesta
The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.
The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the litu ...
n people, and
Dehkhoda
Allameh Ali Akbar Dehkhodā ( fa, علیاکبر دهخدا; 1879–March 9, 1956) was a prominent Iranian linguist and lexicographer. He was the author of the Dehkhoda Dictionary, the most extensive dictionary of the Persian language pu ...
calls Khwarazm "the cradle of the
Arya
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
n tribe" ().
Legendary history
Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
(973–1048), a native Khwarezmian,
[” ĀL-E AFRĪḠ” IN Encyclopedia Iranica by C. E. Bosworth](_blank)
/ref>
says that the land belonging to the mythical king Afrasiab
Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi.
The mythical king ...
was first colonised 980 years before Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
(thus c. 1292 BC, well before the Seleucid
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
era) when the hero of the Iranian epic '' Siyavash'' came to Khwarazm; his son Kay Khusraw
Kay Khosrow ( fa, کیخسرو) is a legendary king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty and a character in the Persian epic book, ''Shahnameh''. He was the son of the Iranian prince Siavash who married princess Farangis of Turan while in exile. Be ...
came to the throne 92 years later, in 1200 BC Al-Biruni starts giving names only with the Afrighid
The Afrighids ( Khwarazmian: ''ʾfryḡ'') were a native Khwarezmian IranianClifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996. dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Kh ...
line of Khwarazmshahs, having placed the ascension of Afrighids in 616 of the Seleucid era, i.e. in 305 AD
Early people
Like Sogdia
Sogdia (Sogdian language, Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also ...
, Khwarazm was an expansion of the Bactria–Margiana culture during the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, which later fused with Indo-Iranians during their migrations around 1000 BC. Early Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
states arose from this cultural exchange. List of successive cultures in Khwarazm region 3000–500 BC:
* Kelteminar culture
The Kelteminar culture (5500–3500 BCE) was a Neolithic archaeological culture of sedentary fishermen occupying the semi-desert and desert areas of the Karakum and Kyzyl Kum deserts and the deltas of the Amu Darya and Zeravshan rivers in the ter ...
c. 3000 BC
* Suyarganovo culture c 2000 BC
* Tazabagyab culture
The Tazabagyab culture is from late Bronze Age, ca. 1850 BC to 1500 BC,Garner, Jennifer, (2020)"Metal sources (tin and copper) and the BMAC" in ''The World of the Oxus Civilization, Chapter 28, Routledge, Table 28.1:'' "Andronovo-Tazabag'jab, 18 ...
c. 1500 BC
* Amirabad Culture c 1000 BC
* Saka
The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...
c. 500 BC
During the final Saka phase, there were about 400 settlements in Khwarezm. Ruled by the native Afrighid dynasty
The Afrighids ( Khwarazmian: ''ʾfryḡ'') were a native Khwarezmian IranianClifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996. dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Kh ...
. It was at this point that Khwarezm entered the historical record with the Achaemenid expansion.
Khwarezmian language and culture
An East Iranian
The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian diale ...
language, Khwarezmian was spoken in Khwarezm proper (i.e., the lower Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...
region) until soon after the Mongol invasion, when it was replaced by Turkic languages. It was closely related to Sogdian. Other than the astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies ...
terms used by the native Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
Khwarezmian speaker Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
,[Bosworth, C.E. "Ḵh̲ W Ārazm." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill Online. Accessed at 10 November 2007 ] our other sources of Khwarezmian include al-Zamakhshari
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari (; 1074 –1143) was a medieval Muslim scholar of Iranian peoples, Iranian descent. He travelled to Mecca, Makkah and settled there for five years and has been known since then as Jar Allah ‘God's Ne ...
's Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
-Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
–Khwarezmian dictionary and several legal texts that use Khwarezmian terms to explain certain legal concepts.
For most of its history, up until the Mongol conquest
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the destruction under t ...
, the inhabitants of the area were from Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
stock and they spoke an Eastern Iranian language
The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau.
The Iranian languages are grouped ...
called Khwarezmian. The famous scientist Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
, a Khwarezm native, in his ''Athar ul-Baqiyah'', specifically verifies the Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
origins of Khwarezmians when he wrote (in Arabic):
("The people of the Khwarezm were a branch from Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
tree.")
The area of Khwarezm was under Afrighid
The Afrighids ( Khwarazmian: ''ʾfryḡ'') were a native Khwarezmian IranianClifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996. dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Kh ...
and then Samanid
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...
control until the 10th century before it was conquered by the Ghaznavids
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
. The Iranian Khwarezmian language
Khwārezmian (Khwarezmian: , ''zβ'k 'y xw'rzm''; also transliterated Khwarazmian, Chorasmian, Khorezmian) is an extinct East Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Khwarezm (Chorasmia), centered i ...
and culture felt the pressure of Turkic infiltration from northern Khwarezm southwards, leading to the disappearance of the original Iranian character of the province and its complete Turkicisation today, but Khwarezmian speech probably lasted in upper Khwarezm, the region round Hazarasp
Hazorasp ( uz, Hazorasp, Ҳазорасп), also known as Khazarasp (russian: Хазарасп), or by its more ancient name Hazarasp ( fa, هزار اسپ, meaning ''"thousand horses"''), is an urban-type settlement in Uzbekistan, administrative c ...
, till the end of the 8th/14th century.
The Khwarezmian language survived for several centuries after Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
until the Turkification of the region, and so must some at least of the culture and lore of ancient Khwarezm, for it is hard to see the commanding figure of Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
, a repository of so much knowledge, appearing in a cultural vacuum.
Achaemenid period
The Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
took control of Chorasmia possibly during the reign of Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
in the 6th century BC, and certainly by the time of King Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...
(ruled 550–486 BC). The son of Cyrus Smerdis/Bardiya became the governor of the region, along with Bactriana
Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, south ...
, Carmania, and the other eastern provinces of the empire. And the Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
poet Ferdowsi
Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...
mentions Persian cities like Afrasiab
Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi.
The mythical king ...
and Chach in abundance in his epic Shahnama. The contact with the Achaemenid Empire had a great influence on the material culture of Chorasmia, starting a period of rich economic and cultural development.
Chorasmian troops participated in the Second Persian invasion of Greece
The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion ...
by Xerxes in the 480 BC, under the command of Achaemenid general and later satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...
Artabazos I of Phrygia
Artabazos ( grc, Ἀρτάβαζος; fl. 480 BC - 455 BC) was a Persian general in the army of Xerxes I, and later satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia (now northwest Turkey) under the Achaemenid dynasty, founder of the Pharnacid dynasty of satraps. ...
. By the time of the Persian king Darius III
Darius III ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; c. 380 – 330 BC) was the last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC.
Contrary to his predecessor Artaxerxes IV Arses, Dar ...
, Khwarazm had already become an independent kingdom.
Hellenistic period
Chorasmia was involved in the conquests of Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
in Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. When the king of Khwarezm offered friendship to Alexander in 328 BC, Alexander's Greek and Roman biographers imagined the nomad king of a desert waste, but 20th-century Russian archeologists
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
revealed the region as a stable and centralized kingdom, a land of agriculture to the east of the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
, surrounded by the nomads of Central Asia, protected by its army of mailed horsemen, in the most powerful kingdom northwest of the Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...
(the Oxus
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...
River of antiquity). The king's emissary offered to lead Alexander's armies against his own enemies, west over the Caspian towards the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
(e.g. Kingdom of Iberia
In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; la, Hiberia) was an exonym for the Georgians, Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლი), known after its Kartli, core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the E ...
and Colchis
In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia (country), Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians a ...
). Alexander politely refused.
Khwarezm was largely independent during the Seleucid
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
, Greco-Bactrian
The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic-era Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the India ...
and Arsacid
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conqueri ...
dynasties. Numerous fortresses were built, and the Khwarazm oasis has been dubbed the " Fifty fortresses oasis". Chorasmia remained relatively sheltered from the interests of the Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
or Greco-Bactria, but various elements of Hellenistic art
Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period generally taken to begin with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the conquest of the Greek world by the Romans, a process well underway by 146 BCE, when the Greek mainlan ...
appear in the ruins of Chorasmian cities, particularly at Akchakhan-Kala
Akchakhan-Kala, or Akcha-khan Kala, also named after the locality Kazakly-Yatkan/ Kazakl'i-Yatkan, in modern Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, was an ancient fortress in Chorasmia built in the 4th/ 3rd century BCE and occupied until it was despoiled in ...
, and the influence of the Greco-Buddhist art
The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art of the north Indian subcontinent is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara.
The s ...
of Gandhara
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...
, reflecting the rise of Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, i ...
, appears at Toprak-Kala
Toprak-Kala, in modern Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, was an ancient palace city and the capital of in Chorasmia in the 2nd/3rd century CE, where wall paintings, coins and archives were discovered. Its history covers a period from the 1st to the 5th ...
. The early rulers of Chorasmia first imitated the coinage of the Greco-Bactrian ruler Eucratides I
Eucratides I the Great ( Koinē Greek: , ''Eúkratides Mégas'') (reigned 172/171–145 BC) was one of the most important Greco-Bactrian kings. Eucratides overthrew the Euthydemid dynasty and restored the Diodotids to power. He fought agains ...
. Parthian Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
artistic influences have also been described.
From the 1st century BC, Chorasmia developed original coins inspired from Greco-Bactrian, Parthian, and Indo-Scythian
Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th centur ...
types. Artav
Artav (''’rt’w'' “the just”, also spelled Artabanus) was a Khwarazmian king who ruled the Khwarazm region of Central Asia in the second half of the 2nd-century. He was the second king of an unnamed kingdom in Khwarazm, founded by his pre ...
(Artabanus), a Chorasmian ruler of the 1st–2nd century AD, whose coins were discovered in the capital city of Toprak-Kala, imitated the type of the Kushan Heraios
Heraios ( Bactrian: Ηλου ''Ēlou'', sometimes Heraus, Heraos, Miaos) was apparently a king or clan chief of the Kushans (reign: c. 1 –30 CE), one of the five constituent tribes of the Yuezhi, in Bactria, in the early 1st century CE.
Sev ...
and were found together with coins of the Kushan rulers Vima Kadphises
Vima Kadphises (Greek: Οοημο Καδφιϲηϲ ''Ooēmo Kadphisēs'' (epigraphic); Kharosthi: 𐨬𐨁𐨨 𐨐𐨫𐨿𐨤𐨁𐨭 ', ') was a Kushan emperor from approximately 113 to 127 CE. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the ...
and Kanishka
Kanishka I (Sanskrit: कनिष्क, '; Greco-Bactrian: Κανηϸκε ''Kanēške''; Kharosthi: 𐨐𐨞𐨁𐨮𐨿𐨐 '; Brahmi: '), or Kanishka, was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign (c. 127–150 CE) the empire re ...
.
From the 2nd century AD, Chorasmia became part of the vast cultural sphere corresponding to the rise of the Kushan Empire in the east.
File:Koi Krylgan Kala (reconstruction).jpg, Koi Krylgan Kala
Koi Krylgan Kala ( Uzbek: ''Qoʻyqirilgan qalʼa''; Russian: ''Кой-Крылган-Кала'') is an archaeological site located outside the village of Taza-Kel'timinar in the Ellikqal'a District ( Uzbek: ''Ellikqalʼa tumani''; Russian: ' ...
fortress (4th-3rd century BC)
File:Ayaz Kala (Khorezm, Ouzbékistan) (5608883427).jpg, Ayaz Kala 1 fortress (4th-3rd century BC)
File:Toprak Kala (Khorezm, Ouzbékistan) (5609444698).jpg, Toprak-Kala
Toprak-Kala, in modern Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, was an ancient palace city and the capital of in Chorasmia in the 2nd/3rd century CE, where wall paintings, coins and archives were discovered. Its history covers a period from the 1st to the 5th ...
palace city (1st-2nd century AD)
Kyzyl-Kala under restoration (cropped).jpg, Fortress of Kyzyl-Kala, partially restored (1st-4th century AD)
Sassanid period
Under Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardas ...
, the Sasanian Empire spread as far as Khwarezm. Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...
verifies that Khwarezm was a regional capital of the Sassanid empire. When speaking of the pre-Islamic "'' khosrau'' of Khwarezm" (), the Islamic "amir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
of Khwarezm" (), or even the Khwarezmid Empire
The Khwarazmian or Khwarezmian Empire) or the Khwarazmshahs ( fa, خوارزمشاهیان, Khwārazmshāhiyān) () was a Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire that ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran in the app ...
, sources such as Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
and Ibn Khordadbeh
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
and others clearly refer to Khwarezm as being part of the Iranian (Persian) empire. During the reign of Khosrow II
Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩, Husrō), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling fr ...
, extensive areas of Khwarezm were conquered.
The fact that Pahlavi script
Pahlavi is a particular, exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The essential characteristics of Pahlavi are:
*the use of a specific Aramaic-derived script;
*the incidence of Aramaic words used as heterograms (called '' ...
which was used by the Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
bureaucracy
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
alongside Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
, passed into use in Khwarezmia where it served as the first local alphabet
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...
about the AD 2nd century, as well as evidence that Khwarezm-Shahs such as ʿAlā al-Dīn Tekish (1172–1200) issued all their orders (both administrative and public) in Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
, corroborates Al-Biruni's claims. It was also a vassal kingdom during periods of Kushans
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, wikt:貴霜, 貴霜 ) was a Sync ...
, Hephthalites
The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...
and Gokturks power before the coming of the Arabs.
Afrighids
Per Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
, the Afrighids of Kath Kath or KATH may refer to:
* Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm
* Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska
* KATH (AM)
KATH (910 kHz) is a ...
() were a native Khwarezmian Iranian dynasty[Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual, Columbia University, 1996.] which ruled as the Shahs of Khwarezm from 305 to 995 AD. At times they were under Sassanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
suzerainty.
In 712, Khwarezm was conquered by the Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
(Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
s and Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
s). It thus came vaguely under Muslim control, but it was not till the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 9th century that an Afrighid Shah first converted to Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
appearing with the popular convert's name of ʿAbdullah ('slave of God'). In the course of the 10th century—when some geographers such as Istakhri
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri () (also ''Estakhri'', fa, استخری, i.e. from the Iranian city of Istakhr, b. - d. 346 AH/AD 957) was a 10th-century travel-author and geographer who wrote valuable accounts in Arab ...
in his ''Al-Masalik wa-l-mamalik'' mention Khwarezm as part of Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
and Transoxiania—the local Ma'munids
The Maʾmunids ( fa, مأمونیان) were an independent dynasty of Iranian rulers in Khwarazm. Their reign was short-lived (995–1017), and they were in turn replaced by the expansionist Ghaznavids.
History
The ancient Iranian kingdom of Kh ...
, based in Gurganj
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
on the left bank of the Amu Darya, grew in economic and political importance due to trade caravans. In 995, they violently overthrew the Afrighids and themselves assumed the traditional title of Khwarazm-Shah.
Briefly, the area was under Samanid
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...
suzerainty, before it passed to Mahmud of Ghazni
Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...
in 1017. From then on, Turko-Mongolian invasions and long rule by Turko-Mongol dynasties supplanted the Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
character of the region although the title of Khwarezm-Shah was maintained well up to the 13th century.
File:Ayaz Kala (Khorezm, Ouzbékistan) (5608879653).jpg, Ayaz Kala 2 fortress (6th to 8th century AD)
File:Karakalpakstan Tok-Kala Necropolis Ossuary Lid Alabaster 7th-8th cent.jpg, Ossuary Lid, Tok-Kala Necropolis, Alabaster. 7th-8th century AD
Khwarezmid Empire
The date of the founding of the Khwarazmian dynasty remains debatable. During a revolt in 1017, Khwarezmian rebels murdered Abu'l-Abbas Ma'mun and his wife, Hurra-ji, sister of the Ghaznavid
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
sultan Mahmud
Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''.
Siam Mahmud
*Mahmood (singer) (born 199 ...
. In response, Mahmud invaded and occupied the region of Khwarezm, which included Nasa and the ''ribat'' of Farawa. As a result, Khwarezm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ...
became a province of the Ghaznavid Empire
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate society, Persianate, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, ...
from 1017 to 1034. In 1077, the governorship of the province, which since 1042/1043 belonged to the Seljuqs
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
, fell into the hands of Anush Tigin Gharchai
Anushtegin Gharchai (also spelled Anush-Tegin; fa, , Anūštigin Ḡaṛčaʾī; died 1097) was a Turkic peoples, Turkic slave commander () of the Seljuk Empire, Seljuks and the governor of Khwarazm from approximately 1077 until 1097. He was the ...
, a former Turkic slave of the Seljuq sultan. In 1141, the Seljuq Sultan Ahmed Sanjar
Ahmad Senjer ( fa, ; full name: ''Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Adud ad-Dawlah Abul-Harith Ahmad Sanjar ibn Malik-Shah'') (''b''. 1085 – ''d''. 8 May 1157) was the Seljuk Empire, Seljuq ruler of Greater Khorasan, Khorasan from 1097 until in 1118, was defeated by the Qara Khitai
The Qara Khitai, or Kara Khitai (), also known as the Western Liao (), officially the Great Liao (), was a Sinicized dynastic regime based in Central Asia ruled by the Khitan Yelü clan. The Qara Khitai is considered by historians to be an ...
at the battle of Qatwan
The Battle of Qatwan () was fought in September 1141 between the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty) and the Great Seljuq Empire, Seljuq Empire and its vassal-state the Kara-Khanid Khanate. The Seljuqs were decisively defeated, which signalled the ...
, and Anush Tigin's grandson Ala ad-Din Atsiz became a vassal to Yelü Dashi
Yelü Dashi (; alternatively ), courtesy name Zhongde (), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Dezong of Western Liao (), was the founder of the Western Liao dynasty (Qara Khitai). He initially ruled as king from 1124 to 1132, then as e ...
of the Qara Khitan.
Sultan Ahmed Sanjar died in 1156. As the Seljuk state fell into chaos, the Khwarezm-Shahs expanded their territories southward. In 1194, the last Sultan of the Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turko-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total are ...
, Toghrul III
Toghrul III ( fa, طغرل سوم) (died 1194) was the last sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire and the last Seljuk Sultan of Iraq. His great uncle Sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud (1134–1152) had appointed Shams ad-Din Eldiguz (1135/36–1175) as a ...
, was defeated and killed by the Khwarezm ruler Ala ad-Din Tekish
Ala ad-Din Tekish (Persian: علاء الدين تكش; full name: ''Ala ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Abul Muzaffar Tekish ibn Il-Arslan'') or Tekesh or Takesh was the Shah of Khwarazmian Empire from 1172 to 1200. He was the son of Il-Arslan. His rule was ...
, who conquered parts of Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
and western Iran. In 1200, Tekish died and was succeeded by his son, Ala ad-Din Muhammad, who initiated a conflict with the Ghurids
The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the ...
and was defeated by them at Amu Darya (1204). Following the sack of Khwarizm, Muhammad appealed for aid from his suzerain
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is calle ...
, the Qara Khitai who sent him an army. With this reinforcement, Muhammad won a victory over the Ghorids at Hezarasp (1204) and forced them out of Khwarizm.
Mongol conquest by Genghis Khan
The Khwarezmid Empire ruled over all of Persia in the early 13th century under Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muhammad II (1200–1220). From 1218 to 1220, Genghis Khan
''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan''
, birth_name = Temüjin
, successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan
, spouse =
, issue =
, house = Borjigin
, ...
conquered Central Asia including the Kara-Khitai Khanate, thus ending the Khwarezmid Empire. Sultan Muhammad died after retreating from the Mongols near the Caspian Sea, while his son Jalal ad-Din, after being defeated by Genghis Khan at the Battle of Indus
The Battle of the Indus was fought on the banks of the Indus River, on 24 November 1221, by two armies commanded by Shah Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu of the Khwarezmian Empire, and Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire. The battle, which resulted in ...
, sought refuge with the Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526). , and was later assassinated after various attempts to defeat the Mongols and the Seljuks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
.
Khwarezm during the rule of Qunghrat dynasty (1360–1388)
In 1360 there arose in Ḵwarazm an independent minor dynasty of Qunghrat Turks, the Ṣūfīs, but Solaymān Ṣūfī was crushed by Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
in 1388.
The Islamization of Khwarazm was reflected in the creation of literary, scientific and religious works and in the translation of Arabic works into the Turkic language. In the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul, the Koran is kept with an interlinear translation into Turkic, written in Khwarazm and dated (January – February 1363).
The region of Khwarezm was split between the White Horde
The eldest son of Genghis Khan, (who established the Mongol Empire) Jochi had several sons. When he died, they inherited their father's dominions as fiefs under the rule of their brothers, Batu Khan, as supreme khan and Orda Khan, who, although t ...
and Jagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kh ...
, and its rebuilt capital Gurganj (modern Kunya Urgench
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
, "Old Gorganj" as opposed to the modern city of Urgench
Urgench ( uz, Urganch//, ; russian: Ургенч, Urgench; fa, گرگانج, ''Gorgånch/Gorgānč/Gorgânc/Gurganj'') is a district-level city in western Uzbekistan. It is the capital of Xorazm Region. The estimated population of Urgench in ...
some distance away) again became one of the largest and most important trading centers in Central Asia. In the mid-14th century Khwarezm gained independence from the Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
under the Sufid dynasty. However, Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
regarded Khwarezm as a rival to Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
, and over the course of five campaigns, destroyed Urganch in 1388.
Khwarazm during the reign Shibanids – Arabshahids
Control of the region was disputed by the Timurids and the Golden Horde, but in 1511 it passed to a new, local Uzbek dynasty, the ʿArabshahids.
This, together with a shift in the course of the Amu-Darya, caused the center of Khwarezm to shift to Khiva
Khiva ( uz, Xiva/, خىۋا; fa, خیوه, ; alternative or historical names include ''Kheeva'', ''Khorasam'', ''Khoresm'', ''Khwarezm'', ''Khwarizm'', ''Khwarazm'', ''Chorezm'', ar, خوارزم and fa, خوارزم) is a district-level city ...
, which became in the 16th century the capital of the Khanate of Khiva
The Khanate of Khiva ( chg, ''Khivâ Khânligi'', fa, ''Khânât-e Khiveh'', uz, Xiva xonligi, tk, Hywa hanlygy) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm in Central Asia from 1511 to 1920, except fo ...
, ruled over by the dynasty of the Arabshahids
The Khanate of Khiva ( chg, ''Khivâ Khânligi'', fa, ''Khânât-e Khiveh'', uz, Xiva xonligi, tk, Hywa hanlygy) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm in Central Asia from 1511 to 1920, except fo ...
.
Khiva Khanate is the name of Khwarazm adopted in the Russian historical tradition during the period of its existence (1512–1920). The Khiva Khanate was one of the Uzbek khanates. The term "Khiva Khanate" was used for the state in Khwarazm that existed from the beginning of the 16th century until 1920. The term "Khiva Khanate" was not used by the locals, who used the name Khvarazm. In Russian sources the term Khiva Khanate began to be used from the 18th century.
The rumors of gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
on the banks of the Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...
during the reign of Russia's Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
, together with the desire of the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
to open a trade route to the Indus (modern day Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
), prompted an armed trade expedition to the region, led by Prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky
Prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky (russian: Алекса́ндр Беко́вич-Черка́сский), born Devlet-Girei-mırza (russian: Девлет-Гирей-мурза; died 1717), was a Russian officer of Circassian origin who led t ...
, which was repelled by Khiva.
Khwarazm during the reign Uzbek dynasty of Qungrats
During the reign of the Uzbek Khan Said Muhammad Khan (1856–1864) in the 1850s, for the first time in the history of Khwarazm, a general population census of Khwarazm was carried out.
Khwarazm in 1873–1920
It was under Tsars Alexander II and Alexander III that serious efforts to annex the region started. One of the main pretexts for Russian military expeditions to Khiva was to free Russian slaves in the khanate and to prevent future slave capture and trade.
Early in The Great Game
The Great Game is the name for a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empi ...
, Russian interests in the region collided with those of the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
in the First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Afghanistan, Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking si ...
in 1839.
The Khanate of Khiva was gradually reduced in size from Russian expansion in Turkestan
Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.
Overview
Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...
(including Khwarezm) and, in 1873, a peace treaty was signed that established Khiva as a quasi-independent Russian protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
.
In 1912, the Khiva Khanate numbered up to 440 schools and up to 65 madrasah
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
s with 22,500 students. More than half of the madrasahs were in the city of Khiva (38).
Soviet period
After the Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
seizure of power in the October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, a short-lived Khorezm People's Soviet Republic
The Khorezm People's Soviet Republic ( uz, Хоразм Халқ Совет Республикаси; rus, Хорезмская Народная Советская Республика, r=Khorezmskaya Narodnaya Sovetskaya Respublika) was the st ...
(later the Khorezm SSR) was created out of the territory of the old Khanate of Khiva, before in 1924 it was finally incorporated into the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, with the former Khanate divided between the new Turkmen SSR
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
, Uzbek SSR
Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...
and Karakalpakstan ASSR (initially part of Kazakh ASSR
The Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (russian: Казахская Автономная Социалистическая Советская Республика; kk, Qazaq Aptonom Sotsijalistik Sovettik Respublikasь), abbreviated as K ...
as Karakalpak Oblast).
The larger historical area of Khwarezm is further divided. Northern Khwarezm became the Uzbek SSR
Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...
, and in 1925 the western part became the Turkmen SSR
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
. Also, in 1936 the northwestern part became the Kazakh SSR
; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы)
*1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы)
, linking_name = the ...
. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1991, these became Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
, Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
respectively. Many of the ancient Khwarezmian towns now lie in Xorazm Region
Xorazm Region (, خارەزم ۋىلايەتى, ) or Khorezm Region as it is still more commonly known, is a viloyat (region) of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River. It borders with Turk ...
, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
.
Today, the area that was Khwarezm has a mixed population of Uzbeks
The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...
, Karakalpaks
The Karakalpaks or Qaraqalpaqs (; kaa, Qaraqalpaqlar, Қарақалпақлар, قاراقلپقلر), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Karakalpakstan in Northwestern Uzbekistan. During the 18th century, they settled in the lower reache ...
, Turkmens
Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-weste ...
, Tajiks
Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...
, Tatars
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different , and Kazakhs
The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...
.
In Persian literature
Khwarezm and her cities appear in Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
in abundance, in both prose and poetry. Dehkhoda
Allameh Ali Akbar Dehkhodā ( fa, علیاکبر دهخدا; 1879–March 9, 1956) was a prominent Iranian linguist and lexicographer. He was the author of the Dehkhoda Dictionary, the most extensive dictionary of the Persian language pu ...
for example defines the name Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
itself as "full of knowledge", referring to the fact that in antiquity, Bukhara was a scientific and scholarship powerhouse. Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
verifies this when he praises the city as such.
Other examples illustrate the eminent status of Khwarezmid and Transoxianian cities in Persian literature in the past 1500 years:
The world of hearts is under his power in the same manner that
The Khwarazmshahs
Khwarazmshah was an ancient title used regularly by the rulers of the Central Asian region of Khwarazm starting from the Late Antiquity until the advent of the Mongols in the early 13th-century, after which it was used infrequently. There were a to ...
have brought peace to the world.
:—Khaqani Shirvani
Afzal al-Dīn Badīl ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿOthmān, commonly known as Khāqānī ( fa, خاقانی, , – 1199), was a major Persian poet and prose-writer. He was born in Transcaucasia in the historical region known as Shirvan, where he served as ...
A greedy one went to Khwarezm-shah
early one morning, so I have heard
:— Saadi
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...
, who visited Khwarezm and its capital in 1219, wrote: "I have never seen a city more wealthy and beautiful than Gurganj
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
". The city, however, was destroyed during several invasions, in particular when the Mongol army broke the dams of the Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...
, which flooded the city. He reports that for every Mongol soldier, four inhabitants of Gurganj were killed. Najmeddin Kubra
Najm ad-Dīn Kubrà ( fa, نجمالدین کبری) was a 13th-century Khwarezmian Sufi from Khwarezm and the founder of the Kubrawiya, influential in the Ilkhanate and Timurid dynasty. His method, exemplary of a "golden age" of Sufi metaphy ...
, the great Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
master, was among the casualties. The Mongol army that devastated Gurganj was estimated to have been near 80,000 soldiers. The verse below refers to an early previous calamity that fell upon the region:
Oh land of Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
! God has saved you,
from the disaster that befell the land of Gurganj
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
and Kath Kath or KATH may refer to:
* Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm
* Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska
* KATH (AM)
KATH (910 kHz) is a ...
:—Divan of Anvari
Anvari (1126–1189), full name Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mohammad Khavarani or Awhad ad-Din 'Ali ibn Mahmud ( fa, اوحدالدین علی ابن محمد انوری) was a Persian poet.
Anvarī was born in Abivard (now in Turkmenistan) and died in ...
Notable people
The following either hail from Khwarezm, or lived and are buried there:
* Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
, outstanding scholar
* Ma'mun II
Abu'l-Abbas Ma'mun ibn Ma'mun (died March 1017) was the Ma'munid ruler of Khwarazm from 1009 until his death in 1017, having succeeded his brother Abu al-Hasan Ali in that post. He was the son of Ma'mun I ibn Muhammad.
The greatest threat to Ma'm ...
, Khwarezm Shah and founder of an academy
* Najm al-Din Kubra
Najm ad-Dīn Kubrà ( fa, نجمالدین کبری) was a 13th-century Khwarezmian Sufi from Khwarezm and the founder of the Kubrawiya, influential in the Ilkhanate and Timurid dynasty. His method, exemplary of a "golden age" of Sufi metaphy ...
, Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
mystic
* Rashid al-Din Vatvat
Rashid al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Jalil al-Umari ( fa, رشیدالدین محمد بن محمد بن عبد جلیل العمری; 1088/9 – 1182/3), better known by his nickname of Vatvat (; "the swallow"), was a Persians, Persian sec ...
, panegyrist
A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.
Etymology
The word originated as a compound of grc, ...
and epistolographer
* Fakhr al-Din Razi
* Ala al-Din Atsiz, Khwarezm Shah
* Ala al-Din Muhammad, Khwarezm Shah
* Jalal ad-Din Menguberdi, Khwarezm Shah
* Abu l-Hasan Sa'eedeh ibn Sa'deh
Abu or ABU may refer to:
Places
* Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan
* Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan
* Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria
* Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...
, commentary writer on the writings of Sibawayh
Sibawayh ( ar, سِيبَوَيْهِ ' or ; fa, سِیبُویه ' ; c. 760–796), whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri (, '), was a Persian leading grammarian of Basra and author of the earliest book on Arabic ...
.
* Abaaq al-Khwarazmi
* Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī ( ar, محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, Muḥammad ibn Musā al-Khwārazmi; ), or al-Khwarizmi, was a Persians, Persian polymath from Khwarazm, who produced vastly influential works in Mathematics ...
, mathematician (for whom the term algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...
is named.)
* Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi
Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās Abū Bakr al-Khwārazmī, better simply known as Abu Bakr al-Khwarazmi was a 10th-century Iranian peoples, Iranian poet and secretary, who throughout his long career served in the court of the Hamdanids, Samanids, Saffari ...
, 10th century encyclopedist who wrote Mafatih al-'Ulum ("Key to the Sciences").
* Zamakhshari
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari (; 1074 –1143) was a medieval Muslim scholar of Iranian descent. He travelled to Makkah and settled there for five years and has been known since then as Jar Allah ‘God's Neighbor’. He was a Mu't ...
, scholar
* Qutb al-zaman Muhammad ibn Abu-Tahir Marvazi, philosopher
* Al-Marwazi, astronomer
* Mahmud Yalavach
Mahmud Yalavach was a MuslimGenghis Khan: Conqueror of the World By Leo De Hartog, pg. 85 administrator in the Mongol Empire who ruled over Turkestan as governor and eventually went on to be mayor of Taidu (now Beijing). He was a Khorezmian merch ...
, ambassador and governor of Mavaraunnahr (1224–1238)
* Abu l-Ghazi Bahadur, Khan and historian
See also
* Eurasian Avars Eurasian Avars may refer to:
* Avars (Caucasus), a people from the North East Caucasus
** Avar Khanate, Caucasus
* Pannonian Avars
The Pannonian Avars () were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples wer ...
, alliance of Eurasian nomads (6th–9th century AD)
* Karakalpakstan
Karakalpakstan, / officially the Republic of Karakalpakstan, / is an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. It occupies the whole northwestern part of Uzbekistan. The capital is Nukus (' / ). The Republic of Karakalpakstan has an area of , and ...
, autonomous republic within Uzbekistan
* Keraites
The Keraites (also ''Kerait, Kereit, Khereid''; ; ) were one of the five dominant Mongol or Turkic tribal confederations (khanates) in the Altai-Sayan region during the 12th century. They had converted to the Church of the East (Nestorianism) i ...
, 12th-century Turco-Mongol tribal confederation
* Khorezm People's Soviet Republic
The Khorezm People's Soviet Republic ( uz, Хоразм Халқ Совет Республикаси; rus, Хорезмская Народная Советская Республика, r=Khorezmskaya Narodnaya Sovetskaya Respublika) was the st ...
(1920–1923/25)
* Khwarezmian language
Khwārezmian (Khwarezmian: , ''zβ'k 'y xw'rzm''; also transliterated Khwarazmian, Chorasmian, Khorezmian) is an extinct East Iranian language closely related to Sogdian. The language was spoken in the area of Khwarezm (Chorasmia), centered i ...
, extinct East Iranian language
* Koi Krylgan Kala
Koi Krylgan Kala ( Uzbek: ''Qoʻyqirilgan qalʼa''; Russian: ''Кой-Крылган-Кала'') is an archaeological site located outside the village of Taza-Kel'timinar in the Ellikqal'a District ( Uzbek: ''Ellikqalʼa tumani''; Russian: ' ...
, archaeological site; Khwarezmian settlement (c. 400 BCE – c. 400 AD)
* Mount Imeon
Mount Imeon () is an ancient name for the Central Asian complex of mountain ranges comprising the present Hindu Kush, Pamir and Tian Shan, extending from the Zagros Mountains in the southwest to the Altay Mountains in the northeast, and linked to ...
, Hellenistic name for Hindu Kush, Pamir and Tian Shan mountains
* Uar
The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...
, tribal confederation linked to the Huns (5th–8th century AD)
* Zoroaster
Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label=New Persian, Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastria ...
(c. 1500–1000 BC), ancient Iranian prophet
* Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
, ancient Iranian religion, still practiced
Crusader-related
* Battle of La Forbie
The Battle of La Forbie, also known as the Battle of Hiribya, was fought October 17, 1244 – October 18, 1244 between the allied armies (drawn from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the crusading orders, the breakaway Ayyubids of Damascus, Homs, ...
(1244), with decisive Khwarezmian participation; ends Crusader power in Levant
* Siege of Jerusalem (1244)
The 1244 siege of Jerusalem took place after the Sixth Crusade, when a Khwarazmian army conquered the city on July 15, 1244.
Prelude
Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire led the Sixth Crusade from 1228 to 1229 and claimed the t ...
by Khwarezmian tribes
References
Sources
* Yuri Bregel
Yuri Enohovich Bregel (russian: Юрий Энохович Брегель; 13 November 1925 – 7 August 2016) was one of the world's leading historians of Islamic Central Asia. He published extensively on Persian- and Turkic-language history and h ...
. "The Sarts in the Khanate of Khiva", ''Journal of Asian History'', Vol. 12, 1978, pp. 121–151
* Robin Lane Fox. ''Alexander the Great'', pp. 308ff etc.
* Shir Muhammad Mirab Munis & Muhammad Reza Mirab Agahi. ''Firdaws al-Iqbal. History of Khorezm'' (Leiden: Brill) 1999, trans & ed. Yuri Bregel
Yuri Enohovich Bregel (russian: Юрий Энохович Брегель; 13 November 1925 – 7 August 2016) was one of the world's leading historians of Islamic Central Asia. He published extensively on Persian- and Turkic-language history and h ...
*
*
*
*
External links
Jona Lendering, ''Chorasmia'', on the ancient history of Khwarezmia
{{Authority control
Iranian countries and territories
Divided regions
Former countries in Central Asia
Historical regions of Iran
Geographic history of Uzbekistan
Empires and kingdoms of Iran
Historical regions
Aral Sea