Khwarazmian Dynasty

When Muhammad b. Tekesh became Khwarazmshah in 1200, he needed some years to consolidate his position. In the process, a tactics of winning over local power-holders is particularly striking. The paper gives some examples and a brief analysis of the relationship between imperial ruler and local power-holders.

Mongolian campaign histories were used to justify the distribution of appanages (nuntuq) among the descendants of Chinggis Khan. The notably lackluster record of Jochi, Chinggis Khan's eldest son, as seen in many of the standard accounts of Mongol history, stand out as an anomaly, given that he inherited by far the largest territory in the steppe of any of Chinggis Khan's sons. The anomaly, however, was one created by partisan historians of Tolui after the 1251 coup d'etat that brought them to power. As this paper's careful examination shows, Jochi's leading role in the early Western campaigns was systematically excised from the historical record, thus making Jochi's large appanage look anomalous. But the anomaly was one created by Toluid historians, who, even while allied with the Jochid lineage, were creating the conditions for delegitimizing its hold on western lands.

Turkic speaking nomads were one of the main sources of military manpower for the Khwarazmshahs - but at the same time, the nomads followed their own agenda and tried to use their Khwarazmian allies for their purposes. The article analyses the relationship between the Khwarazmians on the one hand and the Qarluq and the Qipchap on the other.

بعد الإمام فخر الدين الرازي : تحقيق مقدمة كتاب حدائق الحقائق في المنطق والحكمة لزين الدين الكشي
A critical edition of the Introduction to Ḥadāʾiq al-ḥaqāʾiq, the philosophical summa of Zayn al-Dīn al-Kaššī (d. before 1228), one of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's  (d. 1210) major pupils.

The old capital of Chorasmia, situated by the Oxus/Āmu Daryā river. Kāṯ owes both its glory and demise to the Oxus, an unending source of sustenance as well as destruction in human history.

Borjian, Habib. 2012. “Kāṯ” (ancient capital of Choresmia, in Central Asia), Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 16, fasc. 2, 2012, pp. 119-121.

Laying the foundations of music of Uzbek Turkic’s in by many musicologists as Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Safiyuddin Urmevi, Abd al-Qadir Maraghi from 8th century to the present day has become a system through various stages. Today, it is possible to study Uzbek Turkic’s’ maqam music divided in three different groups. They are: Fergana-Tashkent, Bukhara-Samarkand and Khwarezm maqams. Eastern peoples who make up the traditional shashmaqam and twelve maqam music systems lay the basis of the maqams aforementioned. The period of Khiva khanate in the 19th century has seen increased studies about the scientific aspects of music by Khwarezmian scientists. Admittedly, the most beautiful result of these works is musical notation called "tanbur chizighi" found by Al-Khwarezmi. After the discovery of this notation system, all the shashmaqam songs had been written with this musical notation system and they have survived to the present day. These discoveries continue to increase interest in the science of music; new books and opinions have emerged as a result. Thus, thereafter, began an epoch of development of maqam music in Khwarezm and subsequently, the terminological studies gained momentum. Many terms as semi-maqam, whole-maqam and sesqui-maqam that describe characteristics of the maqam music and performances of aforementioned period is envisaged, but this situation has given rise to terminological controversy. A comparative analysis of the structural aspects of these types of maqams has shown that these terms used are inappropriate. Insomuch that these terminological problems have attracted the attention of a famous scientist Prof. Abdurauf Fitrat and led him to writing a book on this subject in the aforementioned period. As a result, we will examine problems of terminology emerged in the 20th century with development of Khwarezm maqam music in axis of the studies of Turk and Uzbek maqam music in this paper.

Atsiz (r. 1127-1156) was bent on safeguarding and expanding his influence among the nomads living between the Syr Darya and the Qaraqum; and he was prepared to challenge Sanjar the Great Seljuq for the sultanate as soon as an opportunity arose.

This Esri Story Map uses satellite imagery, maps, and photographs to illustrate and complement annotated translations from Yelu Chucai's (1190-1244) "Record of a Journey to the West" (Xiyou lu, 1228 CE) and Liu Qi's (1203-1250) "Account of a Mission to the North" (Beishi ji, ca. 1222 CE). Yelu Chucai was a participant in Chinggis Khan's conquest of the Khwarazm empire in 1219-1221 and later wrote a geographic-ethnographic description of Central Asia in Chinese. Liu Qi, a Chinese writer, recorded a description of Central Asia by Wugusun Zhongduan (d. 1233), who passed through Central Asia shortly after the Mongol conquest as an ambassador from the Jin dynasty to Chinggis Khan. These texts capture a moment when, as a result of the Mongol conquests, the Chinese and Central Asian worlds began to interact again after four centuries of effective separation.

[Click on this link to access the Story Map:
https://denisongis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=e0fe47ae592c4cab8930bbb37ce41269
Suggestions or corrections are very welcome. Please send them via message or via e-mail to yangs@denison.edu.]

Tarih öncesi devirlerden günümüze kadar Harezm bölgesi kültür ve sanat konusunda büyük zenginlikleri bünyesinde barındıran bir yer olmuştur. Bulunduğu bazı dönemler içerisinde, savaşlar ve göçler nedeniyle zaman zaman değişime uğramış, var olan medeniyet üzerine bir yenisi daha eklenerek kültürel mirasını zenginleştirmiştir. Yapılan arkeolojik kazılardan elde edilen bulgularda Harezm bölgesindeki kültür ve sanat hayatının, özellikle de müzik mirasının ne derece güçlü olduğunu görmek mümkündür. Harezm’in eski merkezlerinden olan “Toprak Kale” gibi abideler bizlere kayda değer müzikal bulguları sunan önemli yerden biridir. Harezm bölgesi, Türk halkları arasında ortak bir gelenek olan usta-çırak ilişkisine sıkı sıkıya bağlı bir yer olmasından dolayı, Özbek Türklerine ait birçok folklor ürünlerini günümüze kadar yaşatmış ve bizlere kadar ulaşmasını sağlamıştır. Günümüze ulaşan bu ürünlerin en önemlileri arasında yer alan müzik, Harezmli Özbek Türklerinin hayatında önemli bir yere sahiptir. Geleneksel Harezm müziğinin sosyal hayatta etkin rol oynaması, büyümesi ve gelişmesi kuşkusuz döneminde padişahların halkı müziğe karşı yönlendirme politikalarından kaynaklanmaktaydı. Bu teşvik politikaları sayesinde müzik çok önemli bir unsur haline gelmiş ve II. Muhammed Rehim Han tarafından zamanında ferman ile müzik öğrenimi yaygınlaşmıştır. Sonuç olarak, bildirimizde bir kültür başkenti olan Harezm’in Özbek Türkleri müzik mirasındaki yerinden bahsedilecektir.

Lecture #5 in the Bilimkent series presented at the Abu Rayhon Beruni Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Spring 2020.

Whereas many scholars have focused on Shāhnāma manuscripts from the Iranian heartland, limited attention has been given to the political and artistic connections between the regions flanking it: Ottoman-controlled Anatolia and the Shaybānid Uzbeks who ruled over Transoxiana (Central Asia). Scholarship up to now has held that the artists of Shaybānid-controlled Transoxiana seldom illustrated copies of Firdausī’s Shāhnāma, thus the impact of Firdausī’s Shāhnāma epic on the Shaybānids has by far received the least attention. The focus of this paper is on an isolated copy of the epic located today in the Topkapi library (H.1488). It was originally produced in Bukhara in 1564/65 and was gifted in 1594 by the Shaybānid ruler ʿAbdallāh Khan Uzbek to the Ottoman Sultan Murād III. Presented in Istanbul by an embassy arriving from Bukhara, this paper will discuss both the art and politics at play in this offering. It will also present an overview of Shāhnāma productions from Shaybānid workshops that span the 16th century. By isolating copies of this one title and dwelling on the Topkapi copy (H.1488) in particular, I aim to show that interactions across the Ottoman realm and Transoxiana in the early modern period are richer than we have previously thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxe9de68ZAk&feature=youtu.be

Ушбу мақолада мўғуллар томонидан босиб олинган Хоразмшоҳлар давлати босиб олингани ортидан Жалолиддин Мангуберди бошчилигидаги хоразмликларнинг 1231-1260 йилларда Яқин Шарқдаги ҳарбий ҳаракатлари, уларнинг айюбийлар ва мўғуллар, салибчилар билан курашлари тўғрисида маълумот берилади.