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the son of Yadigar Khan İlbars (1515-1525) as their khan. This dynasty,
known in the history as the Arapshahid or Yadigarids, ruled Khorezm until
1740 (Özaydin, 1997; Saray, 1997). In this way, with the participation of
the Uzbeks and the Yomud Turks, the Khorezm Khanate, known especial-
ly in Russia and Western Europe in the 18th century as the Khiva Khanate,
was established. In the beginning of the 17th century, this khanate's home-
land was extending from the Amu Darya lowers to Khorasan and Mang-
ishlak. In the Arap Muhammed Khan period (1602-1623), Khiva became
the capital of Khorezm. After the strong governance of Abu Al-Gazi Baha-
dir Khan (1643-1663) and his son Anusha Khan, Sheybanids of Bukhara
captured Khorezm in 1687 for a short period. Due to the internal conflicts
and the attacks led by Kalmyks and Dzungars, the domination of Iranian
ruler Nadir Shah (1736-1747) was accepted between 1740 and 1747.
The fights between the Khiva Khanate and Iran, especially for the Kho-
rasan region, continued until the second quarter of the 19th century. In
this difficult period, the Khiva Khanate, who was in rivalry with the Buh-
kara Emirate, also had a hostile relationship and underwent destructive
attacks (Saray, 1993). Khorezm was taken back by Gaib Han (1747-1758)
in 1747, but again, the sovereignty disputes started and resulted in the
change of the ruling dynasty in favor of the Qungrads. This dynasty ruled
Khorezm independently until 1873 and under Russian occupancy between
1873-1920 (Hayit, 1995). After the political regime change in Russia,
Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was established and survived between
1920-1924. In 1924, the eastern lands of the Khiva Khanate were given
to the Uzbekistan Soviet Socialist Republic while western lands were left
to the Turkmenistan Soviet Socialist Republic. The ethnic groups in the
Khiva Khanate were Uzbeks, Manghits, Qungrads, Turkmens and Kara-
kalpaks. Today, the historical Khorezm region is shared by Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan and the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic of Uzbekistan.
Due to its crossroards position, both import trade (watermelon, dried
melon, grapes, rice, dried fish, honey, cheese, silk and cotton fabrics) and
transit trade between Siberia, China, Iran, India, Russia and the Scandina-
vian countries (leather, paraffin, cloths, armor, sword, livestock) were very
colorful in Khorezm. All these products were sold in the Khorezm bazaars.
It is argued that the main reason for the Mongol invasion of Khorezm and
the eastern Islam lands in the 13th century was this lively trade environ-
ment (Özaydin, 1997).
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