Pūl (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: , Tatar: پول) was a historical currency that circulated in

Russian Turkestan Russian Turkestan () was a colony of the Russian Empire, located in the western portion of the Central Asian region of Turkestan. Administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship, it comprised the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh Steppe, b ...

. Pūls were used in

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( 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 division of ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

Chagatai Khanate The Chagatai Khanate, also known as the Chagatai Ulus, was a Mongol and later Turkification, Turkicized khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants and successors. At its height in the l ...

Kokand Khanate The Khanate of Kokand was a Central Asian polity in the Fergana Valley centred on the city of Kokand between 1709 and 1876. It was ruled by the Ming tribe of Uzbeks. Its territory is today divided between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and ...

Dzungar Khanate The Dzungar Khanate ( Mongolian: ), also known as the Zunghar Khanate or Junggar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyz ...

, and other Eurasian principalities, it was a copper coin of very small denomination, 1/60 of an altyn.

Etymology

From

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

*pōl, Borrowing from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

ὀβολός (obolós).

In the Golden Horde

In the

pūl coins were officially set to a rate of 16 pūls per ''dannik'' as was escribed on many pūl coins, and were often struck by banks at the request of private customers who exchanged their raw copper for coins. The Khans, and their financial advisors often manipulated the market value of pūls by issuing new coins with the inscription “a new pūl” while declaring all other pūls in circulation to no longer be valid media of exchange, and the population was forced to exchange their old pūl coins for new ones. Generally speaking the newer pūl coins tended to be heavier, though their weights weren't standard. Officially they remained set at 16 pūls per ''dannik'' however this was purely symbolic and many local government issued their own exchange rates.

Dzungar pūls under Manchu rule

After the Manchu conquest of the Dzungar Khanate pūl coins were offered by the Qing government to be exchanged for ”Red Cash” at a ratio of 2 pūl for 1 cash, but after 1762 the exchange was altered to 1:1. Under the Qing dynasty pūl coins continued to be produced until 1745, and the Manchus stopped pulling them out of circulation to cast “Red Cash” in 1768. Small amounts of pūl coins returned to the market during the

Dungan Revolt (1862–77) Dungan revolt may refer to: * Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) The Dungan Revolt (1862–1877), also known as the Tongzhi Hui Revolt (, Xiao'erjing: تُ‌جِ خُوِ لُوًا, ) or Hui (Muslim) Minorities War, was a war fought in 19th-centur ...

Pūl coins of Yaqub Beg

The Tajik Dungan leader Yaqub Beg first issued pūl coins with the name of the late Kokandi leader Malla Khan (1858–1862), and despite being minted in Kashgar, Xinjiang they bore the inscription “Struck in the Mint of Kokand”, however from 1873 new coins produced under Yaqub Beg bearing the name of

Abdülaziz Abdulaziz (; ; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 1876 Ottoman coup d'état, overthrown in a government coup. He was a son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother ...

, Sultan of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, and this time these pūls did bear the inscription "Struck in the Mint of Kashgar, the Capital".

Pūl coins in the Kokand Khanate

The monetary system of the

Khanate of Kokand The Khanate of Kokand was a Central Asian polity in the Fergana Valley centred on the city of Kokand between 1709 and 1876. It was ruled by the Ming tribe of Uzbeks. Its territory is today divided between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, a ...

was dependent on the influx of foreign coins into its territory, particularly coins from

. However under the reign of Narbuta Beg monetary reforms were enacted to produce local coinage, pūl (or ''ful'') coins which were referred to as “black money”, and at the time of their introduction a single pūl could buy a

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

. The

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

of the khanate had a capacity to produce 1000 coins on a daily basis. The exchange between copper, silver, and gold coinages as well as the purchasing power of Kokandi pūls often changed, Kokandi pūls generally weighed 1 '' mithqāl'' (4.55 g), in the 1850s 6 pūls were needed for 1 ''Miri'', and 24 pūls for a silver coin. Silver coins minted by Mingbashi Musulmonqul were valued at 24–32 pūls, this the 1870s this fluctuated between 42 and 64 pūls with the highest exchange rate being at 100 pūls. Generally 3 Kokandi pūls were valued at 1 Russian silver '' kopeyka'', and Kokandi pūls also circulated in the

Khanate of Khiva The Khanate of Khiva (, , uz-Latn-Cyrl, Xiva xonligi, Хива хонлиги, , ) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarazm, Khorezm from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Afsharid Iran, Afsharid occupat ...

, the

Emirate of Bukhara The Emirate of Bukhara (, ) was a Muslims, Muslim-Uzbeks, Uzbek polity in Central Asia 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 rive ...

, and the Chinese city of

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

Pūl coins of Tashkent

In 1784

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

became independent from the Kazakh Khanate, this was briefly followed by the concurrent rule of 4 ''ḥākims'' (circuit justice administrators), the ''ḥākim'' Shaykhantaur took control from the others and proclaimed himself as the only ruler of Tashkent. As the title of ''ḥākim'' was elected this period in Tashkent's history is sometimes referred to as the “Republic of Tashkent”, during this era Tashkent issued its own copper pūl (or ''Fulūs''), and silver ''tanga'' coins. Pūl coins produced in Tashkent generally had 2 sizes with the lower denomination pūl being between 14 and 17 millimeters in diameter, while those of higher value would be between 20 and 24 millimeters. The coins often contained the mint mark of Tashkent in Persian as “Coinage of Tashkent” (

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 ...

: ضرب تاشكند), and had a Persian blessing inscribed on them reading “May the future life be good” (Persian: عاقبت خير باد). The obverse of Tashkent's pūls often would not bear any

mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It is distinct from a mintmaster mark, the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a co ...

s but various images like

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, or mythological creatures.Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Latest Contributions to the Numismatic History of Central Asia (late 18 – 19th Century).
'' XIV International Numismatic Congress (Glasgow 2009), Section IV: Oriental and African Studies. By Dr. Vladimir Nastich. Published:

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, July 2009. Last Updated: 11 November 2010. Retrieved: 15 July 2017. These coins continued to be produced until Tashkent was annexed by the Khanate of Kokand in 1809.

References

{{reflist

Literature

* Uzdennikov V. Coins of Russia (1700—1917): Third edition. Moscow, Collector's Books; IP Media Inc., 2004 (Узденников В. Монеты России (1700—1917): Издание третье. — М.: Collector's Books; IP Media Inc., 2004). * Album, S. 1998. ''A Checklist of Islamic Coins, 2nd ed.'' * Bosworth, C. E. 1996. ''The New Islamic Dynasties''. New York:

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

. * Bregel, Y. 1988. S.v. “Mangit/Mangits” in Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed., 6: 417–419. * Burnasheva, R. 1967. Monety Bukharskogo Khanstva pri Mangytakh: Epigrafika Vostoka, 18: 113–128. 4 plates, 3 tables. (Shah Murad, Haydar Tora, and Husayn). * Burnasheva, R. 1972. Monety Bukharskogo Khanstva pri Mangytakh: Epigrafika Vostoka, 21:69-80. 4 tables (Nasr Allah, Muzaffar, ʿAbd al-Ahad, and ʿAlim Khan). * Davidovich, E. A. 1964. Istoriia Monetnogo Dela Srednei Azii XVII-XVIII vv. old and Silver of the Janids Dushanbe. * Fedorov, M. 2002. “Money circulation under the Janids and Manghits of Bukhara, and the Khans of Khoqand and Khiva.” Supplement to ONS Newsletter 171. * Kennedy, H., ed. 2002. ''An Historical Atlas of Islam''. Brill. * Krause, C. L., and C. Mishler. 2002. Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701–1800, 3rd ed. * Krause, C. L., and C. Mishler. 2004. Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801–1900, 4th ed. * Krause, C. L., and C. Mishler. 2005. Standard Catalog of World Coins, 32nd ed. * Lane-Poole, S. 1882. The Coinage of Bukhara in the British Museum: The Mangit Dynasty, 74–85. (No AE coins listed). * Torrey, C. C. 1950. “Gold coins of Khokand and Bukhara.” Numismatic Notes and Monographs 117. Modern obsolete currencies Business in Russia Economic history of Russia