Uzbekistan - Central Asia - page 197

8 Getting¨There¨&¨Away
The only way to explore elliq-Qala is with private
transport. Make absolutely sure your driver
knows this area well and negotiate hard. Most
drivers in Urgench and Khiva charge US$50 to
US$80 for an all-day excursion with unlimited
stops, or slightly less for an abbreviated tour of
two or three forts. Nukus drivers charge more.
The best strategy is to visit guldursun Qala irst
and go anticlockwise, but you may have to insist
on this! You can save money by travelling to
Beruni or Boston by public transport and hiring
a taxi there. A one-way taxi from Boston to Ayaz-
Qala costs approximately 15,000S.

It wasn't until well after Konye-Urgench
had been finished off by Timur that Khiva's
time came. When the Uzbek Shaybanids
moved into the decaying Timurid empire in
the early 16th century, one branch founded
a state in Khorezm and made Khiva their
capital in 1592.
The town ran a busy slave market that
was to shape the destiny of the Khivan
khanate for more than three centuries. Most
slaves were brought by Turkmen tribesmen
from the Karakum desert or Kazakh tribes
of the steppes, who raided those unlucky
enough to live or travel nearby.
Russian¨Interest¨Awakens
In the early 18th century, Khiva had offered
to submit to Peter the Great of Russia in re-
turn for help against marauding tribes. In
a belated response, a force of about 4000,
led by Prince Alexandr Bekovich, arrived in
Khiva in 1717.
Unfortunately for them, the khan at the
time, Shergazi Khan, had lost interest in be-
ing a vassal of the tsar. He came out to meet
them, suggesting they disperse to outlying
villages where they could be more comfort-
ably accommodated. This done, the Khiv-
ans annihilated the invaders, leaving just
a handful to make their way back with the
news. Shergazi Khan sent Bekovich's head to
his Central Asian rival, the Emir of Bukhara,
and kept the rest of him on display.
In 1740, Khiva was wrecked by a less
gullible invader, Nadir Shah of Persia, and
Khorezm became for awhile a northern out-
post of the Persian empire. By the end of the
18th century it was rebuilt and began tak-
ing a small share in the growing trade be-
tween Russia and the Bukhara and Kokand
khanates. Its slave market, the biggest in
Central Asia, continued unabated, augment-
ed by Russians captured as they pushed
their borders southwards and eastwards.
Russian¨Conquest
When the Russians finally sent a properly
organised expedition against Khiva, it was
no contest. In 1873 General Konstantin
Kaufman's 13,000-strong forces advanced
on Khiva from the north, west and east. Af-
ter some initial guerrilla resistance, mainly
by Yomud Turkmen tribesmen, Mohammed
Rakhim II Khan surrendered uncondition-
ally. Kaufman then indulged in a massacre
of the Yomud. The khan became a vassal of
the tsar and his silver throne was packed off
to Russia.

Khiva (Xiva)
% 62 / POP 50,000
Khiva's name, redolent of slave caravans,
barbaric cruelty, terrible desert journeys and
steppes infested with wild tribesmen, struck
fear into all but the boldest 19th-century
hearts. Nowadays it's a friendly and welcom-
ing Silk Road old town that's very well set up
for tourism, and a mere 35km southwest of
the major transport hub of Urgench.
The historic heart of Khiva has been so
well preserved that it's often criticised as life-
less - a 'museum city'. Even if you subscribe
to that theory, you'll have to admit that it's
one helluva museum. To walk through the
walls and catch that first glimpse of the fa-
bled Ichon-Qala (inner walled city) in all its
monotoned, mud-walled glory is like step-
ping into another era.
You can see it all in a daytrip from
Urgench, but you'll absorb it better by
staying longer. Khiva is at its best at dawn,
sunset and by night, when the moonlit
silhouettes of the tilting columns and me-
dressas, viewed from twisting alleyways,
work their magic.
History
Legend has it that Khiva was founded when
Shem, son of Noah, discovered a well here;
his people called it Kheivak, from which the
name Khiva is said to be derived. The original¨
well is in the courtyard of an 18th-century
house in the northwest of the old town (look
for a small white door in a mud wall).
Khiva certainly existed by the 8th century
as a minor fort and trading post on a side
branch of the Silk Road, but while Khorezm
prospered on and off from the 10th to the
14th centuries, its capital was at Old Ur-
gench (present-day Konye-Urgench in Turk-
menistan), and Khiva remained a bit player.