Khiva

(anc. Chorasmia ), Khaurezm , Kharasm , or Urgunge . A khanate of Turkestan, in Central Asia. In ancient times it was nominally subject to the Selucidæ; subsequently it formed part of the kingdoms of Bactria, Parthia, Persia, and the Caliphate, and became an independent monarchy in 1092 under a Seljuk dynasty. The Khivans, or as they were then called, the Khaurezmians, after conquering the whole of Persia and Afghanistan, were obliged to succumb to the Moguls, under Genghis Khan, in 1221. In 1370 it came into the hands of Timur. Timur’s descendants were subdued in 1511 by Shahy Beg, chief of the Uzbeks, a Turkish tribe, and his succe ors still rule over Khiva. In 1717, Peter the Great attempted to conquer it, but his army was totally defeated; the attempt was renewed in 1839 by the czar Nicholas, with the same result; the greater part of the Ru ian army perished in the desert. From 1873 to 1875, however, it was continually invaded by the armies of Ru ia, who in the latter year occupied a portion of the principality, which is now ruled by the Ru ian government under the name of the Trans-Caspian Territory.