KHIVA, a kingdom or khanat of Turkistan in Asia, bounded on the N. by Ust-urt and the Sea of Aral, N.E. by the Desert of Kizil Koum, E. by Bokhara, S. by Merve and Persia, and W. by the Caspian Sea. Its extent is variously estimated at 150,000 to 450,000 square miles. It is for the most part a series of arid steppes broken by oases of various magnitude. Of these, the most important—constituting the khanat properly so called—is a narrow tract lying on the W. bank of the Oxus (now called the Amou Deria, or Jihun), along the lower part of its course. It is in length about 150 miles, and in area about 4000 square miles, watered by innumerable canals, carefully cultivated, and thickly inhabited. The climate of Khiva is dry, and, on the whole, healthy, though the extremes of summer heat and winter cold are considerable. The clearness of the sky is specially remarkable. The soil is naturally arid, but irrigation and manure have rendered it very productive. Among the principal vegetable products are wheat, barley, rice, millet, cotton, the mulberry, vine, apple and apricot, peas, lentils, melons, potatoes, &c. The country generally is destitute of wood, but the region on the E. side of the Oxus produces forest trees. The Sheik-Djeli, a range of hills running parallel to the Oxus, between Lat. 42. 20. and 40. 35., are said to contain gold and copper, but these minerals are not worked. Limestone, salt, and sulphur, are found in quantities sufficient for economic use. The numbers of the population are very variously estimated—by some authorities at 200,000, by others at 2,000,000. Slavery is general; and the power of the khan is absolute. The capital, Khiva, is a collection of low mud houses, containing from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants. The manufactures and commerce of the country are inconsiderable, the stationary population being chiefly occupied in agriculture; while the Turkomans live, for the most part, by cattle-breeding and plunder. Some cotton, woollen, and silk stuffs, earthenware, &c., are made and exported; about 2000 camels' loads of agricultural produce, silk, &c., are annually sent to Orenburg, Astrakhan, and Cabul. The chief trade is with Russia and Bokhara, and none but Mohammedans are allowed to traffic within the khanat. The Khivans are of the Sunnite persuasion—one great cause of enmity between them and the Persians.
Khiva is part of the ancient Chorasmia, or Kharazm; which, after owning the sovereignty of China and Persia, was an independent kingdom from the tenth to the thirteenth century. In 1221 it was conquered by Genghis Khan, from whose descendant it was wrested by Timur in 1379. Early in the sixteenth century it was overrun, with the rest of Turkistan, by the Uzbeks, the race which has continued dominant there to this day. Their language is the Turkish. Nearly equal to them in numbers are the Tanjiks or Sarts, a Persian race, said to be the original inhabitants. The nomadic tribes are the Turkomans or
Trukmans, the Karakalpaks, and the Kirghiz. Of these, the Turkomans are the least subordinate to the khan. They rear large herds of horses (prized for their beauty), cattle, and sheep, but are still fond of plunder and kidnapping. The number of Russian subjects detained as captives in Khiva moved the Czar, in 1839, to send an expedition against the khan. The difficulties of the march prevented it from reaching its destination, but since then the Russians have been permitted to erect forts on the line of their caravan route into the territories of the khan. The extension of their frontier in this direction is probably only a matter of time.