Latest / The Story of Uzbekistan: Silk Road Kingdoms and Soviet Legacy — Fexingo History / The Khiva Slave Market: Central Asia's Human Traffic Hub
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Silk Road cities and the grand empires that ruled them, but there's a darker side to Central Asian commerce that we haven't really touched on yet. I'm thinking of the slave market in Khiva, which for much of the 19th century was one of the largest and most brutal in the world. Luna: Khiva — that's the old khanate in the west, near the Aral Sea, right? Lucas: Exactly. The Khanate of Khiva, centered on the oasis city of Khiva in the Khorezm region. It's a place we've mentioned in passing but never really dug into. And honestly, the slave trade there was central to its economy for decades. We're talking tens of thousands of people, mostly Persians and Russians, captured and sold in the bustling bazaar of Khiva. Luna: How did they get so many captives? Were they raiding into Persia? Lucas: Yes, and into Russian territory too. The main raiders were Turkmen tribes, especially the Yomut and the Chovdur, who would sweep down on villages in northern Persia and across the Russian steppe. They'd take entire families, march them across the desert to Khiva, and sell them in the slave market. It was a well-organized system. The Khivan khans took a cut of every sale, and the Turkmen got their share of the plunder. Lucas: The market itself was located in the center of Khiva, near the main mosque. Buyers could inspect captives like livestock, checking teeth and muscles. The price depended on age, health, and skill. A young woman might fetch a high price, especially if she was fair-skinned — Persian women were considered particularly desirable. Luna: That's horrifying. But what happened to them once they were sold? Lucas: Most ended up as domestic servants or agricultural laborers. Khorezm was a cotton-growing region, and slaves worked the fields alongside free peasants. Some were employed in construction, or as concubines in wealthy households. There's a famous account from a Russian serf named Fedor Vasilievich, who was captured in 1838 and spent ten years in slavery. He described being forced to work in the cotton fields from dawn to dusk, with only a piece of bread and water. If he slowed down, he was beaten. Lucas: There was also a small chance of ransom. The Russian government occasionally tried to buy back its subjects, and some religious orders — like the Armenian merchants in Astrakhan — would pool money to free captives. But most slaves never saw freedom. Luna: So why didn't Russia just invade Khiva and stop it? They had the military power. Lucas: They tried. Several times. The most famous attempt was in 1839, when General Vasily Perovsky led an expedition of about 5,000 men from Orenburg, aiming to march across the steppe and capture Khiva. But the winter was brutal — temperatures dropped to minus 40 Celsius. The camels died, supplies ran out, and Perovsky had to turn back after losing over a thousand men to cold and disease. It was a disaster. Lucas: The British also got involved. They saw the Khivan slave trade as a threat to their interests in India — they worried that Russian influence in Central Asia might extend toward the subcontinent. So in the 1840s, the British sent envoys to Khiva trying to negotiate the release of slaves. One of them, a Captain James Abbott, actually managed to secure the freedom of a few hundred Russian captives in 1840. But it was a drop in the ocean. Luna: So the trade continued until Russia finally conquered Khiva in 1873, right? Lucas: Exactly. By the 1860s, Russia had consolidated its hold on the rest of Central Asia — Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara — and Khiva was the last holdout. In 1873, General Konstantin von Kaufman led a well-equipped army of 13,000 men straight to Khiva. The khan, Muhammad Rahim Khan II, surrendered without much of a fight. And one of the first things the Russians did was abolish the slave market. Lucas: But here's the thing — abolition didn't mean freedom for everyone. The Russians freed the Persian slaves, but they allowed the Khivans to keep their Russian slaves, claiming they were 'domestic servants' who had to be repatriated gradually. And even after the official abolition, slavery persisted in the countryside for decades. It just went underground. Luna: Wait, they freed the Persians but not the Russians? That seems backwards. Lucas: It was political. The Russians wanted to maintain good relations with the new Khivan regime. They also feared that a sudden mass emancipation would destabilize the local economy, which relied on slave labor for cotton production. So they compromised. It wasn't until the Soviet era, in the 1920s, that slavery was truly eradicated in the region. Lucas: You know, it's a reminder that the Silk Road wasn't just about silk and spices — it was also a highway for human misery. And Khiva's slave market was one of its most brutal legacies. Luna: It really puts a different light on those beautiful blue-tiled domes we think of when we picture Samarkand and Bukhara. Lucas: It does. And it's a story that doesn't get told enough. Speaking of which, if you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you might have noticed we don't run ads. That's by design — we want these conversations to feel like two friends talking, not a product pitch. But it does mean we rely on listeners who find value in what we do. If that's you, and you'd like to help us keep going, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. And honestly, just knowing people are listening is the main thing. Luna: Absolutely. And it's because of that support that we can dive into these topics that aren't always in the mainstream history books. Lucas: Exactly. So back to Khiva — after the Russian conquest, the city itself became a kind of living museum. The khan's palace, the old slave market square, the minarets — they're still there today, and you can visit them. But the memory of what happened there is something the city carries quietly. Luna: Are there any memorials or museums that acknowledge the slave trade? Lucas: Not really. In modern Uzbekistan, the narrative tends to emphasize the grandeur of the Silk Road and the architectural achievements. The slave market is not something you'll find highlighted in tourist brochures. There is a small museum in Khiva's old fortress, the Kunya-Ark, but it focuses more on the khanate's rulers and daily life. The slave trade is mentioned in passing, but it's not a major exhibit. It's almost as if the city has chosen to move on. Luna: I guess that's understandable, but it also feels like a lost opportunity to teach about a dark chapter. Lucas: I agree. But there have been some recent efforts by historians, both in Uzbekistan and abroad, to document the trade more thoroughly. For example, there's a book called 'The Khivan Slave Trade: A History' by a scholar named Scott Levi, which draws on Russian, Persian, and local sources. It's a tough read, but it gives a voice to the thousands of people who passed through that market. Lucas: One story that sticks with me is that of a Persian woman named Gulnara, who was captured in 1852 when she was twelve. She was sold in Khiva to a wealthy landowner, and she spent the next twenty years as a servant in his household. When the Russians arrived in 1873, she was one of the Persians freed. She later returned to Persia, but she had no family left — her parents had died of grief, they said. She lived out her days in a village near Mashhad, always telling the story of her enslavement. Luna: That's heartbreaking. Lucas: It is. And it's a reminder that history isn't just about kings and battles — it's about ordinary people caught up in systems they didn't create. That's what makes this podcast, for me, so important. We try to bring those stories to light. Luna: And we couldn't do it without the listeners who support us. So if you're enjoying this, do consider checking out buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. So next time, I thought we could look at another side of Khiva — its role as a center of Islamic scholarship in the 18th and 19th centuries. There's a fascinating madrasa there that produced some amazing thinkers. Luna: That sounds great. I'm always up for more Khiva.