Isfandiyar Khan, or Asfandiyar Khan (

Turki Chagatai (, ), also known as Turki, Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (), is an extinct Turkic language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia. It remained the shared literary language in the region until the early 20th century. It was ...

and ; 1871 – 1 October 1918), born Isfandiyar Jurji Bahadur, was the

Khan of Khiva The Khanate of Khiva (, , uz-Latn-Cyrl, Xiva xonligi, Хива хонлиги, , ) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khorezm from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Afsharid occupation by Nader Shah betwee ...

between September 1910 and 1 October 1918, the 53rd Khan of Khiva, and the 12th

Khongirad The Khongirad (; ; ; ) was one of the major divisions of the Mongol tribes. Their homeland was located in the vicinity of Hulun Lake, Lake Hulun in Inner Mongolia and Khalkha River in Mongolia,M. Sanjdorj, History of the Mongolian People's Repub ...

ruler of the Khiva. He was overthrown and executed by

Junaid Khan Junaid Khan may refer to: * Junaid Khan (Basmachi leader), political leader in the Khanate of Khiva and the Basmachi movement * Junaid Khan (cricketer) (born 1989), Pakistani cricketer * Junaid Khan (Pakistani actor) (born 1981), Pakistani singer ...

in 1918.

Biography

In 1910, after the death of his father, Muhammad Rahim Khan II, Isfandiyar Khan came to power in Khiva. Unlike his father, he did not have many special talents. Initially, the enlightened vizier

Islam Khodja Seyid Islam Khodja (1872 - 1913; ) was the Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) of the Khiva Khanate from 1898 until his death in 1913. Early life Seyid Islam Khodja was born to Seyid Ibrahim Khoja in 1872 in Khiva. Growing up in the family of an Isl ...

played a large role in the running of the state. Using his money, a cotton gin plant, a hospital, a post mail, a telegraph and a secular school were built. Between 1908 and 1910, Islam Khodja built an ensemble of buildings in the Southeast of

Itchan Kala Itchan Kala () is the walled inner town of the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan. Since 1990, it has been protected as a World Heritage Site. The old town retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, dating primarily from the eighteenth or ...

, consisting of the smallest

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

and the largest

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

in Khiva. Islam Khodja was later killed without Isfandiyar Khan's consent. Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

awarded Isfandiyar Khan with the Orders of Saint Stanislaus and

Saint Anna According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's na ...

. In 1910, Isfandiyar was awarded the title of Major-General of the Russian Empire. In 1911, he was enrolled in the Tsar's retinue. In 1913, he received the title of

Royal Highness Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Kings and their female consorts, as well as queens regnant, are usually styled ''Majesty''. When used as a direct form of a ...

from the Tsar. In 1912, the Khanate of Khiva faced a revolt by Yomud Turkomans. It ended in 1913. The

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

in Russia influenced the Khanate of Khiva. On April 5, 1917, the

Young Khivans The Young Khivans were a political movement that emerged in 1905-1907 among the Uzbeks of the Khiva Khanate within the framework of Jadidism, a cultural movement of Muslim modernist reformers. History At first, the Young Khivans were engaged i ...

presented Isfandiyar Khan with demands for reform. The Khan was forced to publish a manifesto in which he promised to create a representative body - the

Majlis (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...

, which also included members of the Young Khivans. The power of the Khan was limited by this document. The chairman of the Majlis was Young Khivan politician Boboahun Salimov. However, as Isfandiyar was a conservative, he hindered the reforms as much as he could. Many were dissatisfied with Isfandiyar Khan's actions, especially after the October Revolution, when Khivans learned about the reforms in Russia. Eventually, the political situation escalated to the point where reactionary forces took over. As a result, the Young Khiva government was overthrown and all the reforms Isfandiyar Khan announced were cancelled. However, the leader of the Turkmen Yomud tribe,

, had returned to Khiva. He launched a coup in Spring 1918 and was appointed commander of the armed forces of the Khanate, and took power almost effortlessly, soon concentrating all the power in his hands. With Isfandiyar Khan executed by Junaid Khan in Nurullabai Palace, his brother, Sayid Abdullah, became Khan.

Cultural policies

During the reign of Isfandiyar Khan, new madrasas and mosques were built in Khiva. In 1912, he built the complex of Narallabay Palace (also known as the Isfandiyar Palace), in the form of a separate building which housed several ceremonial halls in rooms of various shapes. Among them, there was the throne room, built and decorated in a modern Russian style. Isfandiyar Khan ordered many elements of the new building from the St. Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factory. Photographer and first Khivan film director Khudaibergen Devanov shot the first documentary about Isfandiyar Khan with his heir riding in the front of a car in 1910. Together with the

Emir of Bukhara The Emirate of Bukhara (, ) was a Muslim- Uzbek polity in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, known former ...

Mohammed Alim Khan Emir Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan ( Chagatai and , 3 January 1880 – 28 April 1944) was the last emir of the Uzbek Manghit dynasty, rulers of the Emirate of Bukhara in Central Asia. Although Bukhara was a protectorate of the Russian Empire ...

, Isfandiyar Khan took part in the opening of the

Saint Petersburg Mosque The Saint Petersburg Mosque (), when opened in 1913, was the largest mosque in Europe outside Turkey. The mosque is situated in downtown St Petersburg. Its two minarets are 49 meters high and the dome is 39 meters high. It can accommodate up to f ...

on February 22, 1913.

Awards

* Order of the White Eagle *

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...

Order of Saint Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Congress Poland, Kingdom of Pola ...

Gallery

File:Said Isfandiyarkhan.jpg, Portrait of Isfandiyar Khan File:Isfandiyar Jurji Bahadur (Gorskii 20154u).jpg, Isfandiyar Khan in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

'' S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky, May 26–30, 1911''

References

{{s-end 1871 births 1918 deaths Dethroned monarchs Khans of Khiva Uzbeks Imperial Russian Army generals Russian Muslims Politicians assassinated in the 1910s Muslims from the Russian Empire