The Khanate of Khiva controlled the historic region of Khorezm from 1511 until February 1920. Capital: first Urgench, then Khiva (from 1619).
The khanate went through several dynasties: - Shaybanids (1511–1695) - Ashtarkhanids/Arabshahids (1695–1740s) - Qongrats/Inaq dynasty (1763–1920)
Key moments: - 1717: Peter the Great sends Bekovich-Cherkassky's expedition; 4,000 Russian soldiers are massacred by Khivan forces. - 1839–40: Failed Russian expedition of Perovsky — wiped out by winter cold. - 1873: Russia finally conquers Khiva under General Kaufman. The khan becomes a Russian vassal. - 1920: Red Army takes over. Khan Sayyid Abdulla abdicates.
The vast majority of Ichan Kala's standing monuments (Kalta Minor, Kunya Ark, Tosh-Hovli, Islam Khoja complex) were built during the Qongrat dynasty period (1763–1920) — making Khiva paradoxically the youngest of the three great Silk Road cities in terms of surviving architecture.
The khanate was also one of the last centres of the Central Asian slave trade, only formally abolished under Russian pressure in 1873.
Uzbekistan in photos
A short visual companion to this entry — photographs from our Uzbekistan travel archive.
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