State administration in the Khiva Khanate

The khanate’s territory was small at its founding and expanded through military campaigns in the 19th century; the population was about 800,000, with Uzbeks (about 65 percent) and Turkmens (26 percent) forming most and the rest Karakalpaks, Kazakhs and others — the figures are not exact. Abulghazi Bahadur Khan divided 32 Uzbek tribes into four groups: Uyghur-Nayman, Qungrat-Kiyat, Nukuz-Manghit and Kangli-Kipchak; each was led by an inaq. The khanate was divided into 23 administrative units (20 begliks, 2 naibliks and the capital district), and the lowest unit was the mosque community, headed by an elected aqsaqal. Khiva too was an absolute monarchy, but a Supreme and a Small Council worked beside the khan; the chief minister was the mehtar, followed by the qushbegi, and the devonbegi headed three devons (economic, socio-political and military). Under Muhammad Rahim Khan I the inaqs’ standing fell and the number of court officials was cut from 360 to 100. In the courts each beglik had qazis, the mufti issued fatwas, and in Khiva the qazi-kalan and qazi-urda were supreme judges; the army consisted of the roughly 2,000-man “khan’s navkars” formed under Muhammad Rahim Khan I and a people’s militia of 9–10 thousand.