Our Series on Former Countries focuses on the Khanate of Khiva, an independent state of Central Asia that existed from the sixteenth Century until 1873, when it became a Russian protectorate. It formally joined Russia in 1920 as the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic.
The Khanate was centered around the fertile lands of the lower Amu Daria, in a region that was populated by Turkic tribes, namely Turkmens, Uzbeks and Karakalpaks. Today, it is split between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with Karakalpakstan being an autonomous Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Khanate of Khiva
