THE GENGHISIDS AND THE KHANATE OF KHIVA

Аннотация

Since the beginning of the XVI century, a new Genghisid dynasty, which came from the Kipchak steppe, was established in Khorezm. This dynasty maintained its throne for two centuries, despite the constant pressure of the rulers of Transoxiana. The traditional alliance with the rulers of the Kazakh Khanate also helped Khorezm to survive. But in the late XVII- early XVIII centuries. Khiva was in a deep crisis. Coups followed coups, and the rulers fell from the throne like checkers taken off the board. Chroniclers called this period "the game of khans".
Only came to power in 1715. the khan of Shirgazy (who became famous in history mainly for the insidious extermination of the expedition of A. Bekovich-Cherkassky) managed to partially stabilize the situation in the khanate. But the northern part of the state, where the so-called Aral Khanate was located, the head of which in 1721 became the Bukhara protege Shah Timur Khan, was not actually subordinate to him. Shirgazy fought with the separatist for a long time, but could not achieve anything. Moreover, luck even began to lean on the side of Shah Timur. As a result, the Khiva people, disappointed by the obvious incompetence of their master, in 1728, they killed him and decided to turn to the Kazakh khan Abulkhair for protection.