Social and economic life in the Bukhara Khanate

The Shaybanids did not bring new relations of production: they accepted and adapted the system inherited from the Timurids. All land counted as state property, and the khan distributed it as mulk-i khass (the khan’s own land), mulk-i khalis (purchased land), suyurghal, tanho and waqf. Suyurghal was given to members of the dynasty and at first kept them loyal to the khan, but when it became hereditary it strengthened the drive to break away from the centre; tanho was land granted for service and was not the holder’s private property. The main tax was kharaj, reaching up to 30–40 percent of the harvest; there were also zakat, ikhrajat, zabitana and the labour duty yasaq, and in hard years even jizya was levied. In 1507 Shaybani Khan carried out a monetary reform, minting silver and copper coins of equal weight; Abdullah Khan II also reformed the coinage, issued gold coins and controlled their purity. Irrigation expanded greatly under Abdullah Khan II: water dividers were built on the Zarafshan, the Abdullah Khan dam was constructed near Nurata, and in 1577 the Abdullah Khan Tim was built in Bukhara.