History of Khiva, brief overview<html>
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<p align="center"><b><font size="6">KHIVA</font></b></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">When speaking about Central Asia, history and
legends are indivisible from each other. History gives you dates and
describes important events, but legends bring you closer to the very
heart and soul, the unique character of places you travel through.
So, starting a story about a place in Central Asia with a legend is
something inevitabe, rather than a pursuit of extravagance.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">Khiva surely does have its own legends, and the
first one brings us twenty five centuries back in time to Shem, son
of Noah, who is said to have established this city in a green oasis
between two scorching deserts of Kara-kum and Kizil-kum. The legend
tells us that Shems people dug a well which got filled with sweet
water, so they called this place Khi-vakh, sweet water and this
is where Khiva got its name from.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">The earliest days of Khiva leave a lot for
further study. Some scriptures say that Alexander the Great did once
receive an emissary from Khiva, but he himself never went as deep
into Central Asia as to reach it. It is known, however, that at the
very beginning of the AD era it already was a flourishing center of
trade and culture. Khiva was favored by some of the prominent people
of Central Asian history: Al-Khorezmi, a mathematician whose works
became known in Europe after they were translated into Latin in the
Middle Ages, lived and worked here in the VIII century. Later, in
the beginning of the XI century Avicenna had started his famous
Canon of medical science while living in Khiva, and here he also
got acquainted with Abu Raikhon Beruni, another famous eastern
scientist; they worked closely together for many years.</span></p>
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<img border="0" src="http://arsenicson.smugmug.com/photos/141530935-L.jpg" width="400" height="276" align="left" hspace="8" vspace="8">Wars
and destruction did not hit Khiva as often and as strong as Bukhara,
for instance. For centuries it was enjoying relative stability and
its comfortable position at one of the Great Silk Roads branches.
Khiva was also a center of slavery; the major number of slaves was
Russian. This fact was of course irritating for Russia, but Khiva
was still too far for serious military countermeasures, although
some attempts were made in early XVIII century. In the middle of the
XVIII century it was overrun by Persians; the city sustained heavy
damage, and later, as restoration proceeded, began to look more and
more similar to what we can see today. In May 1873 Khiva was at last
taken by the Russian general Kaufmann as he was proceeding with the
conquest of Central Asia in response to British advancements from
India into Afghanistan during the times of the Great Game.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">Todays Khiva is unique in many respects, but the
first and the most obvious is that its historical center Ichan-Kala
is so small, less than one square kilometer, yet so dense and
diverse a magical jewel box in a palm of your hand. This small
area, surrounded by 2200 meters of well-preserved walls with over 40
massive built-in bastions, is packed with practically as many places
to visit as you would see, lets say, in the whole Samarqand.
Besides, Ichan-Kala has a permanent population of over 3000, mainly
craftsmen with their families, and observing those industrious
people at their home workshops is an exiting attraction by itself.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">
<img border="0" src="http://arsenicson.smugmug.com/photos/141530936-L.jpg" width="166" height="250" align="right" hspace="8" vspace="8"><img border="0" src="http://arsenicson.smugmug.com/photos/141530938-L.jpg" width="172" height="250" align="left" hspace="8" vspace="8">A
clear, absolutely unique landmark of Khiva, located in Ichan-Kala,
is Kalta-Minar. It was meant by Mohammad Amin Khan to be the tallest
one in the Muslim world, but its construction, started in 1851, was
stopped in 1855 with his death and was never resumed and completed.
However, two other minarets still provide spectacular views over the
city: a smaller one by Juma Mosque and, of course, wonderfully
decorated Islam Khodja minaret.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">
<img border="0" src="http://arsenicson.smugmug.com/photos/141530937-L.jpg" width="363" height="250" align="right" hspace="8" vspace="8"></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US">Another place worth to be specially mentioned in
even such a small overview is Juma Mosque. Its ceiling rests upon
over 200 wooden pillars, many of them are hundreds years old (one
even brought by Tamerlan himself from India), every pillar carved
uniquely from all others. Pillars are gradually replaced as their
wood is getting too old. There is a window in the center of the
mosques ceiling which makes the lightning of the mosques internal
space very special and unique.</span></p>
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<img border="0" src="http://arsenicson.smugmug.com/photos/141530941-L.jpg" width="172" height="250" align="left" hspace="8" vspace="8"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:14.2pt"> </p>
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<span lang="EN-US">A part of Ichan Kala forms a fortified citadel
inside the fortress Khans palace, Kunya Ark. Being well-preserved
from the destruction of the time, as is the rest of the city, it
would give you a bright picture of Central Asian rulers habitat.</span></td>
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