Far East Kingdoms

Khwarazm

This was one of the oldest states in Central Asia and was situated in and around the river basin of the lower Amu Darya. It is now a region in north-western Uzbekistan.

c.550 BC

The region is drawn into Cyrus the Great's Achaemenid Empire.

4th cent BC

Becomes independent. The region is later inhabited by Zoroastrian Indians who use Aramaic script.

By AD 651

When Persia falls, the region is absorbed into the Islamic Empire.

995

The previous ruling Banu Iraq Dynasty is overthrown in a coup. The country is united under the Emirs of North Khwarazm, and gains a level of autonomy from the weak Persian Buyids.

Emirs of North Khwarazm / Khorezm
AD 995 - 1390s

The emirs (and later, shahs) had their capital at Urgench (pr. oorgyench), now Kunya-Urgench. It became a major seat of Arabic learning and a centre of agriculture and trade. The city was destroyed by the Mongols in the early thirteenth century, partially rebuilt, and then abandoned in the sixteenth century, following the Uzbek conquest of the region.

1017 - 1040

Khwarazm is conquered by the Ghaznavids. In 1040 they are defeated by Seljuq Turks at Dandanqan, and lose their western territories, including Khwarazm.

1098 - 1128

Qutb al-Din Muhammed

1128 - 1156

Ala al-Din Aziz / Shah Atsyz

Rebelled against the Seljuqs. Defeated & returned to vassal status.

1156 - 1172

Taj al-Dunya Arslan

1172 - 1193

Jalal al-Dunya Sultanshah

1193 - 1200

Ala al-Din Tekish / Tukush / Tekesh

Former Seljuq slave appointed governor of Khwarazm.

1194

Gains independence from the Persian Seljuq Turks by overthrowing them and occupying Khurasan.

1200 - 1220

Ala ad Deen Muhammed (ibn Tekesh)

Son. Died a fugitive.

1205 - 1212

Khwarazm rapidly expands its rule. In 1210 it takes Samarkand from the Qara-Khitai and this becomes the capital. By 1212 it rules from the Caspian Sea to Bukhara and Samarkand, eliminating the Qara Khitai and controlling all of modern Iran and, by 1215, Ghurid Afghanistan too.

1219 - 1221

The emirate is conquered by Chingiz Khan and the Mongol Golden Horde. Khwarazm profits from the Mongol control of the caravan trade.

1220 - 1231

Jalal al-Din Mingburnu

Son.

1221 - 1231

The Shahdom is reduced to its western part (northern Mesopotamia and western Persia) in the Mongol campaigns of 1220 and 1221. It reflourishes for a decade and even conquers Georgia and Azerbaijan, but is completely overrun by a renewed Mongol invasion in 1231.

1231 - 1353

The emirate is ruled by the Mongol Il-Khans.

1390s

Khwarazm and its vast irrigation system is destroyed by Timur. There follows a century of turmoil as the Timurids fight each other for control.

1500

The Timurids are overthrown by the Özbegs (Uzbeks), who conquer all of the Transoxiana territory. The remnants of Khwarazm become an independent Muslim Özbeg state, known as the Khanate of Khiva.

Khanate of Khiva
AD c.1511 - 1924

An independent Uzbek state, the capital was at Khiva. Originally an evolution of Khwarazm, by the mid-sixtenth century it was entirely Muslim Uzbek. It flourished in the early nineteenth century until Russian ambitions ended its independence.

1598

From this point, Khiva gradually takes over the former Özbeg empire in Samarkand.

1873

Khiva is conquered by Russia. The khans continue to rule under Russian protection.

1920 - 1924

Under the imposition of communism in Russia, the territory now comprises the Kwarazem / Khorezm Soviet People's Republic.

1924

Khiva is divided between the Uzbek SSR and Turkmen SSR.