The Emirate of Bukhara was the state that governed central Uzbekistan from 1785 (when the Manghit dynasty took power) until the Bolshevik revolution abolished it in September 1920.
Key events:
- 1842: Emir Nasrullah Khan executes British envoys Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly in the Bug Pit at the Ark. The incident becomes a cause célèbre in Britain.
- 1868: Russian general Kaufman takes Samarkand and imposes a protectorate on Bukhara. The emir retains internal autonomy but loses foreign policy and military independence.
- 1868–1920: the emirate exists as a Russian/Soviet vassal. Last emir: Muhammad Alim Khan (r. 1911–1920).
- September 1920: Red Army general Frunze shells the Ark, overthrows the emirate. Alim Khan flees to Afghanistan with the treasury.
The emirate was deeply conservative: - Sharia law, including public executions and the Bug Pit. - No secular schools, no printing press, no telegraph. - The Jadid (modernist) reform movement was suppressed.
Its legacy is visible today in Bukhara's architecture: most of the extant madrasas, mosques, and covered markets were built or maintained under the emirs, and the Ark fortress was their seat until Frunze's artillery ended it.
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