Khiva

History

How the city came to be

Archaeology shows the Khiva area was inhabited by the 6th century, and the city appears in Muslim travel accounts of the 10th century. In the early 17th century Khiva became the capital of the Khanate of Khiva. In the 19th century Muhammad Rahim Khan I, Allakuli Khan and Muhammad Amin Khan launched great building programmes; the Kalta Minor minaret begun by Muhammad Amin Khan was left unfinished when he died. Historically, Bukhara and Khiva were also centres of the Central Asian slave trade. In 1990 Itchan Kala became Uzbekistan's first World Heritage Site.

1. 6th centuryAlready inhabited
2. Early 17th centuryBecame capital of the Khanate of Khiva
3. 1845–1855Reign of Muhammad Amin Khan, who began the Kalta Minor
4. 1990Itchan Kala became a World Heritage Site