Bokhara
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Bokhara. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a khanate of central Asia, formerly vassal to Russia, bounded N. by Russian Turkestan, W. by Khiva and the Transcaspian Territory of Russia, S. by Afghanistan, and E. by Chinese Turkestan; area about 93,000 square miles. The country in the W. is to a great extent are nuoccupied by deserts; in the E. merous ranges of mountains. Cultivation is mainly confined to the valleys of the rivers, the chief of which is the Oxus or Amu Daria, forming the southern boundboundary and running close to the ary on the W. The climate is warm in summer, but severe in winter; there is very little rain, and artificial irrigation is necessary. Besides cereals, cotton and tobacco are cultivated, and also a good deal of fruit. The total population, about 1,250,000, consists of the Usbek Tartars, ruling race, and to whom the who are the Emir belongs; the Tajiks, who form the majority; Kirghiz, with Turcomans, Arabians, Persians, etc. The only two towns of importance are the capital, Bokhara, and Karshi. The rule of the Emir is theoretically absolute. The manufactures are unimportant, but there is very considerable caravan trade, cotton, rice, silk and indigo being exported, and woven goods, sugar, iron, etc., being imported. The Russian Transcaspian railway crosses the country and reaches Tashkent. History.-Bokhara was the ancient Sogdiana or Maracanda; capital, Samarkand; was conquered by the Arabs in the 8th century, by Genghis Khan in 1220, and by Timur in 1370; and was finally seized by the Usbeks in 1505. It has recently suffered much from the advances of the Russians, who, in 1868, compelled the cession of Samarkand and Since then important tracts of territory. the Emir Musaffer-Eddin has sunk more and more into a position of dependency dependency Russian expedition on Russia. After the to Khiva in 1873, an agreement was reached between Russia and Bokhara by which Bokhara received a portion of the territory ceded by Khiva to Russia, while the Russians received various privileges in return. The khanate was largely dominated by Russia until the World War. In 1917 the Emir promised a democratic constitution. Bokhara, the capital, is 8 or 9 miles in circuit, and surrounded by a mud wall. The streets are narrow and the houses poorly built; principal edifices: the palace of the khan, crowning a height near the center of the town and surrounded by a brick wall 70 feet high; and numerous mosques, schools, bazaars, and caravanseries. The trade was formerly large with India, but was later almost completely absorbed by Russia. Pop. about 90,000.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
bok-a'ra, a Russian dependency lying north of Afghanistan. The people are fanatical followers of Mohammed. The area is about that of Idaho. The population is estimated at 1,250,000. The country produces small grain, fruit, silk, tobacco, cotton, and hemp, and rears sheep, goats, horses, and camels. Gold, salt, alum, and sulphur are found in the hills. Bokhara, the capital city, has about 60,000 people. It is surrounded by mud walls. Trade is carried on chiefly by caravans, though the Trans-Caspian Railroad, from the direction of the Caspian, now passes through the country. American interest is confined chiefly to the rugs imported from Bokhara. See Afghanistan
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's went to press in 1921 reporting that "in 1917 the Emir promised a democratic constitution" — by then the emirate had already ceased to exist. Red Army forces took the city in September 1920; the last emir, Alim Khan, fled to Afghanistan and died in Kabul in 1944, and the short-lived Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was folded into the Uzbek SSR in the mid-1920s. Since 1991 Bukhara has been a provincial city of independent Uzbekistan, with a population several times the 60,000–90,000 the two accounts give, and its old town — the mud walls, mosques and caravanserais both entries describe — was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1993. The Trans-Caspian railway that Aiton's noted as a novelty is now one line among several, and the "Bokhara rugs" that were, for Aiton's, the limit of American interest are largely a tourist trade.
Written for this edition, 2026.