Khanate of Kokand

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Qo'qon Xonligi
Khanate of Kokand
1709 – 1876 →

Flag of Kokand

Flag of the Khanate of Kokand
Capital Kokand
40°31′N, 70°56′E
Language(s) Uzbek
Religion Sunni Islam
Government Monarchy
Khan
 - 1709-1721 Shahrukh Biy
 - 1875-1876 Nasr al-Din Khan
History
 - Established 1709
 - Disestablished 1876

The Khanate of Kokand (Uzbek: Qo'qon Xonligi) was a state in Central Asia that existed from 1709–1876 within the territory of modern Uzbekistan, southern Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It was established when the Shaybanid emir Shahrukh of the Minglar Uzbeks established an independent principality in the western part of the Fergana Valley. He built a citadel to be his capital in the small town of Kokand, thus starting the Khanate of Kokand.

The name of the city and the khanate is also often spelled as Khoqand in modern scholarly literature

His son Abd al-Karim and grandson Narbuta Beg enlarged the citadel. However, both Abd al-Karim and Narbuta Beg were forced to pay tribute to the Qing dynasty in China between 1774 and 1798, which to this day forms the basis for occasional Chinese claims of sovereignty over the Fergana Valley.

Narbuta Beg’s son Alim was both ruthless and efficient. He hired a mercenary army of Tajik highlanders, and conquered the western half of the Fergana Valley, including Khujand and Tashkent. He was assassinated by his brother Omar in 1809. Omar’s son, Mohammed Ali (Madali Khan) ascended to the throne in 1821 at the age of 12. During his reign, the Khanate of Kokand reached its greatest territorial extent. In 1841, the British officer Captain Arthur Conolly failed in an effort to persuade the various khanates to put aside their differences, in an attempt to counter the growing penetration of the Russian Empire into the area. He left Kokand for Bukhara in an ill-fated attempt to rescue fellow officer Colonel Charles Stoddart in November 1841 and both were executed in 1842.

Despite the best efforts of Omar’s widow, the famed poetess Nadira, Madali Khan excelled at cruelty and debauchery, giving Emir Nasrullah Khan of Bukhara an excuse to invade Kokand in 1842. Preferring their own cruel and debauched despots over outsiders, the people of Kokand soon rebelled, and installed Madali Khan’s cousin Shir Ali on the throne. Over the next two decades, the khanate was weakened by bitter civil war and ethnic conflicts, further inflamed by Bukharan and Russian incursions. Shir Ali’s son Khudayar ruled from 1845 to 1858, and, after another interlude under Emir Nasrullah, again from 1865. In the meantime, Russia was continuing its advance. On June 28, 1865 Tashkent was taken by Russian troops of General Chernyayev; loss of Khujand followed in 1867.

Shortly before the fall of Tashkent, Kokand’s most famous son, Yakub Beg, former lord of Tashkent, was sent by the then ruler of Kokand, Alimqul, to Kashgar, then in rebellion against the Chinese. As Alimqul was killed in 1865, and Tashkent was lost, many other Kokandian soldiers fled to join Yaqub Beg, helping him establish his dominion throughout the Tarim Basin until 1877.

Entrance to the Palace of Khuduyar Khan
Entrance to the Palace of Khuduyar Khan

In 1868, a commercial treaty turned Kokand into a Russian vassal state. The now powerless Khudayar Khan spent his energies improving his lavish palace. Western visitors were impressed by the city of 80,000 people, with some 600 mosques and 15 madrasahs. Insurrections against Russian rule and Khudayar’s oppressive taxes forced Khudayar into exile in 1875. He was succeeded by kinsman Pulad Khan, whose anti-Russian stance provoked the annexation of Kokand (after fierce fighting) by Generals Konstantin Petrovich Von Kaufman and Mikhail Skobelev in March 1876. Tsar Alexander II stated that he had been forced to "yield to the wishes of the Kokandi people to become Russian subjects." The Khanate of Kokand was declared abolished, and incorporated into the Fergana Province of Russian Turkestan.

[edit] Khans of Kokand (1800-1876)

[edit] Literature

  • "The Muslim World"; Part III, "The Last Great Muslim Empires": Translation and Adaptations by F.R.C. Bagley. (Originally published 1969). Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 9004021043.
  • Timur Beisembiev, "The Life of Alimqul: A Native Chronicle of Nineteenth Century Central Asia". Published 2003. Routledge (UK), 280 pages, ISBN 0700711147.
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