Bokhara is the name given to the countries of Independent Tartary under the rule of the khan (or emir) of Bokhara. The most important part of it formed the ancient Sogdiana. The extent of the khanate of Bokhara has been constantly undergoing changes. Until recently it included the whole basin of the Zarafshan; but the Russians have now annexed Samarkand, and the lower basin of the river forms the essential part of the territory. The population of the present khanate has been estimated at from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000; its area is about 90,000 sq. m.
Only in the neighbourhood of the rivers is cultivation possible. The rest of the soil is composed of a stiff arid clay, interspersed with low sand-hills. Bokhara has only three rivers of any importance—the Amu-Daria or Oxus, the Zarafshan, and the Karshi. Entering Bokhara at Koshtupa, the Amu flows through the country in a north-west direction to the Sea of Aral. Its banks in some parts are very fertile, especially in the neighbourhood of Balkh. The Zarafshan, which rises among the glaciers of the Alai range, issues out into the plain near Samarkand, and fertilises the district thence to the city of Bokhara. Before reaching the city, it sends out a northern branch, which, after a fertilising course of several miles, is absorbed in the sand. The southern branch, which passes Bokhara to the north, formerly extended to the Lake of Kara-köl, a salt-water sheet about 25 miles in circumference, which is connected with the Amu by irrigating canals; but of recent years its volume has been seriously lessened for purposes of irrigation, and now it, too, is lost among the ever-encroaching sands. Its upper banks, however, have been benefited by the process, and its valley is the richest as well as the most populous in Bokhara. The Karshi has a course of about 60 miles before it is also lost in the desert. Outlying provinces of Bokhara, separated by mountains, are Darwaz, Karategin, Hissar, and Kulab.
The climate is healthy, but subject to great extremes of heat and cold. The rains usually commence and end with February. Violent sandstorms are frequent, and occasion ophthalmia among the inhabitants. Minerals are scarce. The sands of the Oxus yield gold. Salt deposits are numerous. Alum and sulphur are found in the vicinity of Samarkand, and sal-ammoniac in the mountainous districts. The other products include rice and cotton, wheat, barley, beet-root, vegetables, hemp—only used in the preparation of bhang—silk, fruits in immense abundance, and tobacco. The camel's thorn, a plant that grows luxuriantly in Samarkand and Karshi, exudes a saccharine gum or manna, extensively used as sugar.
Sheep and goats form a great source of wealth. Camels are numerous and valuable; the horses are celebrated for their strength and endurance; and the breed of asses is excellent. Myriads of silk-worms are fed on the mulberry-trees that clothe the banks of every stream. The industry includes the manufacture of silk-stuffs, cotton-thread, shagreen, jewelry, cutlery, and firearms. Its geographical position secures Bokhara the transit-trade between Russia and the south of Asia; and the Transcaspian Railway has probably increased the commercial prosperity of the country in proportion as it has lessened its prospect of maintaining its independence. The population, like that of the other khanates of Turkestan, consists chiefly of the aboriginal Tajiks of Persian, and of the dominant Uzbeks and
Turkomans of Turkish origin. Nomadic Arabs and Persian slaves are also numerous. The army numbers about 30,000, formerly badly armed, but since 1885 vigorously drilled by Russian officers, and armed with Berdan rifles.
Bokhara was conquered in the beginning of the 8th century by the Arabs, who were dispossessed of it in 1232 by Genghis Khan. It fell into the hands of Timur in 1403, and in 1505 was taken by the Uzbeks, its present masters. During the 18th century the khans were characterised by the worst abominations of eastern vice and fanaticism; and Bokhara lost its political pre-eminence among the khanates of Turkestan. The canals, which alone gave fertility to the country, were neglected; large areas were again overspread by the desert; and the population diminished. With the accession of the Khan Nasrullah (1826), a barbarous and incapable tyrant, the country became an object of rivalry to England and Russia, who sent envoys to cultivate his friendship (see BURNES); but he and his successor, Mozaffar-ed-din, treated both with equal insolence and contempt. After the capture of Tashkend by the Russians in 1865 (see TURKESTAN), a religious war was preached against the Russians, and the khan was compelled to oppose them. He was defeated at the battle of Irdjar, May 20, 1866; and in May 1868 Samarkand (q.v.), one of the most important cities of Bokhara, was taken. The command of the upper course of the Zarafshan, which fertilises the central part of the country, placed the khan entirely under the power of Russia. In July 1868 a peace was concluded by which Samarkand was ceded to the czar, and stipulations were entered into favourable to Russian trade. The treaty caused great dissatisfaction to the fanatic Mussulmans of Bokhara. They rose in rebellion, placing at their head Abd-ul-Melik Töre, the son and heir of the khan. The Russians aided the khan at his request; and in October the rebels were defeated near Karshi. The rebel prince sought refuge in Afghanistan. Shere Ali, the Afghan ruler, gave him a warm welcome, and would have invaded Bokhara had he not been restrained by Lord Mayo, the Indian viceroy, who told him that England could not encourage him in any attack on his neighbours. While Shere Ali was meditating this invasion, Abdurrahman, his nephew, who had married a daughter of the khan of Bokhara, endeavoured to obtain Russian aid in invading Afghan Turkestan with a Bokharian army. But, in this case, Russia opposed the enterprise (see AFGHANISTAN). During the invasion of Khiva in 1873 the khan efficiently assisted the Russians, and was rewarded by a large addition to his territory from the Khivan possessions on the right bank of the Oxus, under the treaty entered into between Russia and Khiva in July 1873. On the death of Mozaffar-ed-din in 1882 he was succeeded by Abd-ul-Ahad, his younger son, whose mental and physical weakness has rendered him anxious to secure the protection of Russia, and her assistance in governing his country. Since his accession, a Russian political agent has been appointed, and a Russian bank established in Bokhara, and everything points to the early absorption of the country into Russian Turkestan, in which the annexation of Merv in 1884 has practically inclosed it. See Vambéry's History of Bokhara (1873), and Lansdell's Russian Central Asia (1885).