KIIIVA is the ancient Kharasm, the Corasmia of European writers, which was famous between the 10th and 13th centuries, but was overthrown by Chengiz Khan, and its last sovereign, Jalal-ud Din, fell in Mesopotamia (Kharasm), since which events the area of the territories have remained as at present, comprising a region along the Caspian from Persia north to the Kirghiz country and east to the Oxus and Lake Aral.
Khiva city lies about 40 miles west of the Oxus, distant from Mery 432 miles, from Herat and Orenburg 600. It is situated on a fertile plain near the Oxus, in lat. 41° 22' 40" N., and long. 60° 2' 57" E., and is about half a mile square, containing about 1500 houses, clay built and arranged in narrow streets, with a population of about 12,000 permanent inhabitants. It is surrounded by a wall and bastions and a broad belt of gardens. It has a few schools. The oasis is well watered by canals from the Oxus (Amu Darya), lying in a bend of both sides of that river at the southern shore of Lake .Aral at the Kizil Kum steppe, Bokhara on the S.E. and on the W. the Ust Urt and desert of the Tchaudor Turkoman. It is 120 miles from N. to S., and 115 from E. to W.= 13,800 square miles.
The dominion subject to the Khan of Khiva is more extensive, viz. from the Caspian to the Aral, i.e. from the Russian fort of Alexandrovski to a little south of lat. 44° N.
The area of these boundaries is about 410,000 square miles, but, except the oasis of Mery and banks of the Oxus, the entire country is an un broken expanse. The climate in winter is cold fur five months, frost intense, 4° to 8° F. below
zero. In summer the heat is intolerable, rain seldom falls; and in the autumn violent gales blow off the steppes and fill the air with impalpable dust, darkening the face of the land ; in a few hours new sandhills are heaped up and former ones disappear ; whole caravans are sometimes engulfed or suffocated in such sand storms, called Tebbad. The camels refuse to move, and lie stretched along the ground, and the travellers shelter themselves behind their beasts.
Tho population of the khanate consists of tribes of Uzbak, Turkoman, Karakalpak, Kazak or Kirghiz, Sart or Tajak, Persian, and Kurd slaves, mostly Persian and Kurd, with a few Russians, Jews, and Hindus. The settled popula tion of the khanato resided in 60,000 houses, and amounted to 300,000 individuals. The nomad° population dwelt in 12,000 Karakalpak huts, and were 160,000 in number.
Tho Bayat families tributary to Kliiva were 195,000, viz. : Yamut , 15,000 Kaiak, . . . . 40,000 Goklan, . • . 20,000 15,000 Chosdar, . . • 2,000 Sarokb, . . . 15,000 Kalpak , 30,000 Uzbak, . . . . 90,000 Khiva, in 1874, had 5000 population. The Chosdar are said to have been brought from the further borders of the Oxus by Muluunmad Rahim Khan. The silver tenga is 5.375 pence. The tila, a gold coin, is worth 12s. 6d.—Markham's Embassy ; Fraser; Ferrier ; Wors Bokhara ; Myna's Narrative; Illoravief; Vambery's Bokhara; Collett's Khiva ; Captain Valikhanof's Russians in Central Asia ; Invalide Russe.