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BOKHARA (Bokhara-i-Sherif)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 158 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOKHARA (Bokhara-i-Sherif) , See also:capital of the See also:state of Bokhara, on the See also:left See also:bank of the Zarafshan, and on the See also:irrigation See also:canal of Shahri-rud, situated in a fertile See also:plain. It is 8 m. from the Bokhara station of the Transcaspian railway, 162 m. by See also:rail W. of See also:Samarkand, in 390 47' N. See also:lat. and 64° 27' E. See also:long. The See also:city is surrounded by a See also:stone See also:wall 28 ft. high and 8 m. long, with semicircular towers and eleven See also:gates of little value as a See also:defence. The See also:present city was begun in A.U. 830 on the site of an older city, was destroyed by Jenghiz See also:Khan in 1220, and rebuilt subsequently. The See also:water-See also:supply is very unhealthy. The city has no less than 36o mosques. Nearly ro,000 pupils are said to receive their See also:education in its 140 madrasas or theological colleges; See also:primary See also:schools are kept at most mosques. Some of these buildings exhibit very, See also:fine See also:architecture. The most notable of the mosques is the Mir-Arab, built in the 16th See also:century, with its beautiful lecture halls; the See also:chief See also:mosque of the emir is the Mejid-See also:kalyan, or Kok-humbez, See also:close by which stands a See also:brick See also:minaret, 203 ft. high, from the See also:top of which state criminals used to be thrown until 1871. Of the numerous squares the Raghistan is the See also:principal. It has on one See also:side the citadel, erected on an artificially made See also:eminence 45 ft. high, surrounded by a wall r m. long, and containing the See also:palace of the emir, the houses of the chief functionaries, the See also:prison and the water-cisterns.

The houses are mostly one-storeyed, built of unburned bricks, and have See also:

flat See also:roofs. Bokhara has for ages been a centre of learning and religious See also:life. The See also:mysticism which took hold on See also:Persia in the See also:middle ages spread;also to Bokhara, and later, when the Mongol invasions of the 13th century laid See also:waste Samarkand and other Moslem cities, Bokhara, remaining See also:independent, continued to be a chief seat of Islamitic learning. The madrasa See also:libraries, some of which were very See also:rich, have been scattered and lost, or confiscated by the emirs, or have perished in conflagrations. But there are still treasures of literature concealed in private libraries, and Afghan, See also:Persian, Armenian and See also:Turkish bibliophiles still repair to Bokhara to buy rare books. Bokhara is, in fact, the principal See also:book-See also:market of central See also:Asia. The See also:population is supposed by See also:Russian travellers not to exceed 50,000 or 60,000, but is otherwise estimated at 75,000 to 100,000. Amongst them is a large and See also:ancient See also:colony of See also:Jews. Bokhara is the most important trading See also:town in central Asia. In the city bazaars are made or sold See also:silk stuffs, See also:metal (especially See also:copper) wares, Kara-kul (i.e. See also:astrakhan) See also:lamb-skins and carpets. New Bokhara, or Kagan, a Russian town near the railway station, 8 m. from Bokhara itself, is rapidly growing, on a territory ceded by the emir. Pop.

2000. (P. A.

End of Article: BOKHARA (Bokhara-i-Sherif)

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