Khwarazmian Empire خوارزمشاهیان Khwārazmshāhiyān | |||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
c. 1077–1231 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Territory of the Khwarazmian Empire c. 1215, on the eve of the Mongol conquests | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Empire | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Capital | Gurganj (1077–1212) Samarqand (1212–1220) Ghazna (1220–1221) Tabriz (1225–1231) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Largest city | Shahr-e Ray | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Common languages | Persian (official, court, spoken)[1][2] Arabic (theology, numismatics[3]) Kipchak Turkic (dynastic, spoken)[4] Oghuz Turkic (spoken)[5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Khwarazmshah | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1077–1096/7 | Anushtegin Gharchai | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1220–1231 | Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Historical era | Medieval | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• Established | c. 1077 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1219–1221 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1230 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1231 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1210 est.[6] or | 2,300,000 km2 (890,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1218 est.[7] | 3,600,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||||||||||||||
5,000,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Currency | Dirham | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Khwarazmian Empire[note 2] (English: /kwəˈræzmiən/),[10] also called the Empire of the Khwarazmshahs[11][note 3] or simply Khwarazm[note 4], was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim empire of Turkic mamluk origin.[12][13] Khwarazmians ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran from 1077 to 1231; first as vassals of the Seljuk Empire[14] and the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty),[15] and from circa 1190 as independent rulers up until the Mongol conquest in 1219–1221.
The Khwarazmian Empire eventually became "the most powerful and aggressively expansionist empire in the Persian lands", defeating the Seljuk Empire and the Ghurid Empire, even threatening the Abbasid caliphate. In the beginning of the 13th century, the empire is thought to have become the greatest power in the Muslim world.[16] It is estimated that the empire spanned an area of 2.3 to 3.6 million square kilometres.[17][18] The empire, which was modelled on the preceding Seljuk Empire, was defended by a huge cavalry army composed largely of Kipchak Turks.[19]
The Khwarezmian Empire was the last Turco-Persian Empire before the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. In 1219, the Mongols under their ruler Genghis Khan invaded the Khwarazmian Empire, successfully conquering the whole of it in just two years. The Mongols exploited existing weaknesses and conflicts in the empire, besieging and plundering the richest cities, while putting its citizens to the sword in one of the bloodiest wars in human history.
The date of the founding of the state of the Khwarazmshahs remains debatable. The dynasty that ruled the empire was founded by Anush Tigin (also known as Gharachai), initially a Turkic slave of the rulers of Gharchistan, later a Mamluk in the service of the Seljuks. However, it was Ala ad-Din Atsiz (r. 1127–1156), descendant of Anush Tigin, who achieved Khwarazm's independence from its neighbors.
John Man 2007. Page 180
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: year (link)
The empire of the Khwarazmshahs […]
Mahm ̄ud and Masc ̄ud I of Ghazna had appointed Turkish slave commanders from their own army, Altuntash and his sons, as governors there with the ancient title of Khwarazm Shah." (...) "In order to secure these important regions, Malik Sh ̄ah had appointed the keeper of the royal washing bowls (tast-d ̄ar), his slave commander An ̄ush-tegin Gharcha' ̄ı, as titular governor at least in Khwarazm. During Berkyaruk's reign, the sultan appointed in 1097 another Turkishghul ̄am, Ekinchi b. Kochkar, with the historic title of KhwarazmShah. When, in that same year, Ekinchi was killed, Berkyaruk nominated in his stead An ̄ushtegin's son Qutb al-D ̄ın Muhammad as governor, and Muhammad's tenure of power there (1097–1127) inaugurates the fourth and most brilliant line of hereditary KhwarazmShahs
This dynasty eventually built up, as the Seljuq empire in the east tottered to its close, the most powerful and aggressively expansionist empire in the Persian lands, in the end defeating their rivals for control of Khurasan, the Ghurids of Afghanistan, threatening western Persia and Iraq and the Abbasid caliphate itself, and only disintegrating under the overwhelming military might of the Mongol invaders in the opening decades of the thirteenth century.
Cite error: There are <ref group=note>
tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}}
template (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search