Khwarazmian Empire

Khwarazmian Empire
خوارزمشاهیان
*Khwārazmshāhiyān*
Khwarazmian Empire خوارزمشاهیان; Khwārazmshāhiyān
c. 1077–1231
	GHURID EMPIRE CUMANS KIPCHAKS AYYUBID; SULTANATE ABBASID; CALIPHATE ZENGIDS GEORGIA RUM SELJUKS YADAVAS QARA KHITAI KARA-; KHANIDS ◁ ▷ 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); Arabic (theology, numismatics); Kipchak Turkic (dynastic, spoken); Oghuz Turkic (spoken)
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Absolute monarchy
Khwarazmshah
• 1077–1096/7	Anushtegin Gharchai
• 1220–1231	Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu
Historical era	Medieval
• Established	c. 1077
• Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire	1219–1221
• Battle of Yassıçemen	1230
• Disestablished	1231
Area
1210 est. or	2,300,000 km2 (890,000 sq mi)
1218 est.	3,600,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1220	5,000,000
Currency	Dirham
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Seljuk Empire
	Ghurid dynasty
	Qara Khitai
	Kara-Khanid Khanate
	Eldiguzids
	Ahmadilis
	Bavand dynasty
	Ghaznavids
Mongol Empire

The Khwarazmian or Khwarezmian Empire^{[note 2]} (English: /kwəˈræzmiən/)^[9] was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim empire of Turkic mamluk origin.^[10]^[11] Khwarazmians ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran from 1077 to 1231; first as vassals of the Seljuk Empire^[12] and the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty),^[13] 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.^[14] It is estimated that the empire spanned an area of 2.3 to 3.6 million square kilometres.^[15]^[16] The empire, which was modelled on the preceding Seljuk Empire, was defended by a huge cavalry army composed largely of Kipchak Turks.^[17]

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.

^ Babayan 2003, p. 14.
^ Katouzian 2007, p. 128.
^ Kuznetsov & Fedorov 2013, p. 145.
^ Gafurov, B.G. Central Asia:Pre-Historic to Pre-Modern Times, Vol. 2, (Shipra Publications, 1989), p. 359.
^ Vasilyeva, G.P. "Ethnic processes in origins of Turkmen people." Soviet Ethnography. Publishing house: Nauka, 1969. pp. 81–98.
^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
^ Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 497. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
^ Cite error: The named reference John Man 2007. Page 180 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Khwarazmian: definition". Merriam Webster. n.d. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
^ Bosworth, C.E. (1998). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. p. 164. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1. 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
^ C. E. Bosworth : Khwarazmshahs i. Descendants of the line of Anuštigin. In Encyclopaedia Iranica, online ed., 2009: "Little specific is known about the internal functioning of the Khwarazmian state, but its bureaucracy, directed as it was by Persian officials, must have followed the Saljuq model. This is the impression gained from the various Khwarazmian chancery and financial documents preserved in the collections of enšāʾdocuments and epistles from this period. The authors of at least three of these collections—Rašid-al-Din Vaṭvāṭ (d. 1182–83 or 1187–88), with his two collections of rasāʾel, and Bahāʾ-al-Din Baḡdādi, compiler of the important Ketāb al-tawaṣṣol elā al-tarassol—were heads of the Khwarazmian chancery. The Khwarazmshahs had viziers as their chief executives, on the traditional pattern, and only as the dynasty approached its end did ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad in ca. 615/1218 divide up the office amongst six commissioners (wakildārs; see Kafesoğlu, pp. 5–8, 17; Horst, pp. 10–12, 25, and passim). Nor is much specifically known of court life in Gorgānj under the Khwarazmshahs, but they had, like other rulers of their age, their court eulogists, and as well as being a noted stylist, Rašid-al-Din Vaṭvāṭ also had a considerable reputation as a poet in Persian." Norman M. Naimark, Genocide: A World History (Oxford University Press, 2017), 20 "The Persian-speaking and Islamic Khwarezmian empire, which was founded in Central Asia south of the Aral Sea around its capital of Samarkand, and included such remarkable centers of trade and civilizations as Bukhara and Urgench, ..."
^ Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia, Transl. Naomi Walford, Rutgers University Press, 1991, p. 159.
^ Biran, Michel, The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian history, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 44.
^ Bosworth, C.E. (1998). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. p. 164. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1. 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.
^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
^ Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 497. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
^ David Abulafia (2015). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, c. 1198–c. 1300. p. 610.

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).

[FOOTNOTEBabayan200314-1] Babayan 2003, p. 14.

[FOOTNOTEKatouzian2007128-2] Katouzian 2007, p. 128.

[FOOTNOTEKuznetsovFedorov2013145-3] Kuznetsov & Fedorov 2013, p. 145.

[4] Gafurov, B.G. Central Asia:Pre-Historic to Pre-Modern Times, Vol. 2, (Shipra Publications, 1989), p. 359.

[5] Vasilyeva, G.P. "Ethnic processes in origins of Turkmen people." Soviet Ethnography. Publishing house: Nauka, 1969. pp. 81–98.

[6] Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.

[7] Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 497. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.

[John_Man_2007._Page_180-8] Cite error: The named reference John Man 2007. Page 180 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[11] "Khwarazmian: definition". Merriam Webster. n.d. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

[12] Bosworth, C.E. (1998). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. p. 164. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1. 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

[13] C. E. Bosworth : Khwarazmshahs i. Descendants of the line of Anuštigin. In Encyclopaedia Iranica, online ed., 2009: "Little specific is known about the internal functioning of the Khwarazmian state, but its bureaucracy, directed as it was by Persian officials, must have followed the Saljuq model. This is the impression gained from the various Khwarazmian chancery and financial documents preserved in the collections of enšāʾdocuments and epistles from this period. The authors of at least three of these collections—Rašid-al-Din Vaṭvāṭ (d. 1182–83 or 1187–88), with his two collections of rasāʾel, and Bahāʾ-al-Din Baḡdādi, compiler of the important Ketāb al-tawaṣṣol elā al-tarassol—were heads of the Khwarazmian chancery. The Khwarazmshahs had viziers as their chief executives, on the traditional pattern, and only as the dynasty approached its end did ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad in ca. 615/1218 divide up the office amongst six commissioners (wakildārs; see Kafesoğlu, pp. 5–8, 17; Horst, pp. 10–12, 25, and passim). Nor is much specifically known of court life in Gorgānj under the Khwarazmshahs, but they had, like other rulers of their age, their court eulogists, and as well as being a noted stylist, Rašid-al-Din Vaṭvāṭ also had a considerable reputation as a poet in Persian." Norman M. Naimark, Genocide: A World History (Oxford University Press, 2017), 20 "The Persian-speaking and Islamic Khwarezmian empire, which was founded in Central Asia south of the Aral Sea around its capital of Samarkand, and included such remarkable centers of trade and civilizations as Bukhara and Urgench, ..."

[14] Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia, Transl. Naomi Walford, Rutgers University Press, 1991, p. 159.

[15] Biran, Michel, The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian history, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 44.

[16] Bosworth, C.E. (1998). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. p. 164. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1. 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.

[17] Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.

[18] Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 497. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.

[19] David Abulafia (2015). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, c. 1198–c. 1300. p. 610.

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