Foreign policy of the Bukhara Khanate

After Russia conquered the Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates, the Volga trade routes passed into its hands; an envoy went from Bukhara to Moscow in 1557–1558, and later Abdullah Khan II too sought better ties with Moscow for trade and political reasons. In 1558 Anthony Jenkinson, an envoy of the English Muscovy Company, came to Bukhara. Interests clashed over the Siberian Khanate: from 1581 a Russian force under Yermak attacked it, and in 1598 a Russian army won a decisive victory, ending Bukhara’s influence in Siberia. In the 18th century, under Peter I, Russia increased pressure: in 1718 a fortress-town (Semipalatinsk) was built on the Irtysh, and in 1721 Florio Beneveni arrived as envoy and gathered information until 1725. The struggle with Iran was mostly over Khorasan: Shaybani Khan, Ubaydullah Khan and Abdullah Khan II took Merv, Nishapur and Mashhad, but later Khorasan passed to Iran, and in 1740 Iran (Nadir Shah) made the Bukhara Khanate a dependent state. There were embassies and trade with the Mughals of India; Abdullah Khan II proposed that Akbar act jointly against Iran, but Akbar declined.