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THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ROLE OF BLACKSMITHING AND
HANDICRAFTS IN KHOREZM IN THE LATE 19TH – EARLY 20TH
CENTURY
Ismailov Bobur Baxramovich
Urganch State University
Teacher at the Department of History
E-mail: bi.ismailov@gmail.com
Phone: 998995011555
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15853862
Abstract.
This article explores the economic and social significance of
blacksmithing and artisanal production in Khorezm at the turn of the 20th
century. Drawing upon archival documents, local historical records, and Russian
sources, the study highlights the role of metalworking in both everyday life and
regional commerce. The findings demonstrate how village and urban centers
developed specialized workshops that contributed to the broader market
economy.
Keywords.
Khorezm,
Karakalpak,
blacksmithing,
craftsmanship,
metallurgy, 19
th
century, economic history, trade
Annotatsiya:
Mazkur maqolada XIX asr oxiri – XX asr boshlarida Xorazm
hududlarida
temirchilik,
anjomsozlik
va
boshqa
hunarmandchilik
tarmoqlarining rivojlanishi, ular orqali shakllangan ijtimoiy-iqtisodiy
munosabatlar tahlil qilinadi. Arxiv hujjatlari, zamonaviy tadqiqotlar hamda rus
manbalariga tayanilgan holda, temirsozlik sohasi nafaqat hayotiy ehtiyoj, balki
savdo va madaniyatning ajralmas qismi sifatida ko‘rsatiladi.
Kalit so‘zlar:
Xorazm, Qoraqalpoq, temirchilik, hunarmandchilik, XIX asr,
iqtisodiyot, ijtimoiy hayot, bozorshunoslik.
Аннотация
В статье рассматривается экономическая и социальная
значимость кузнечного и ремесленного дела в Хорезме в конце XIX –
начале XX веков. На основе архивных документов, полевых исследований и
российских
источников
раскрываются
функции
и
масштабы
металлургического производства в деревнях и городах региона, а также
его роль в торговле и быте населения.
Ключевые слова.
Хорезм, Каракалпак, кузнечное дело, ремесло,
экономика, XIX век, социальная структура, рынки
Introduction.
The second half of the 19th century and the early 20th
century marked a critical transitional period for artisanal industries across
Central Asia. In regions such as Khorezm and Karakalpakstan, traditional
crafts—especially metalworking—continued to play a central role in economic
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production, military provisioning, and rural livelihoods. As the Khanate of Khiva
gradually integrated into broader trade networks and came under increasing
Russian influence, the dynamics of artisanal work transformed, shifting from
purely subsistence-based production to partially market-oriented systems.
The expansion of blacksmithing workshops in both rural and urban areas,
the specialization of certain crafts in weaponry, horse tack, and iron tools, and
the documentation of these developments in archival and ethnographic sources
make this period particularly rich for historical study. This paper seeks to
investigate how blacksmithing and allied crafts served not only utilitarian needs
but also fostered socio-economic structures and community organization in pre-
Soviet Khorezm and Karakalpak regions.
Literature Review.
Historical interest in the material culture of Central
Asia has grown considerably over the last decades, with researchers such as V. V.
Stasov, M. I. Ivanin, and G. I. Danilevsky offering early descriptions of Khivan
craftsmanship and trade life. More recent scholarship, including the work of
Turganov (2024), Sadikov (1965), and Gulboev (n.d.), has refined our
understanding of regional artisanal production, its military applications, and
economic integration.
The ethnographic and archival work by A. Utemisov on Karakalpak
handicrafts provides a valuable local dimension to this field, especially in
understanding village-level craft specialization. Meanwhile, Soviet-era
catalogues of legal documents and inheritance records serve as key empirical
sources for understanding the presence and spread of metalworking facilities
across the Amu Darya basin.
Methodological Foundations.
This study employs a historical-analytical
method grounded in interdisciplinary research. Archival documents from the
Oriental Studies Institute of Uzbekistan, combined with court records,
travelogues, and economic accounts from 19th-century Russian explorers, serve
as the primary data sources. Descriptive statistical data (e.g., number of
workshops per region) is used to support qualitative interpretations. The study
also adopts a comparative regional approach, contrasting the development of
blacksmithing in urban centers like Khiva and Hazorasp with smaller rural
settlements in the Amu Darya district. Emphasis is placed on integrating local
oral histories and recorded prices to reconstruct artisanal economies and their
role in everyday livelihoods.
By the end of the 19th century, blacksmiths in Karakalpak villages and
towns had not specialized in the production of specific items. However, nearly
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every village had one or two blacksmith workshopsIn his work
“Occupational
Crafts of the Karakalpaks,”
A. Utemisov, using archival sources, notes that in the
final quarter of the 19th century, there were 44 blacksmith workshops across
the villages of the Shorakhan and Chimboy districts of the Amudarya Division
[1].
Specifically, in the central areas of the villages in the Shorakhan district
alone, there were 14 blacksmith workshops, 2 coppersmith shops, 29 flour mills,
41 threshing facilities, 7 textile dyeing shops, 7 headwear tailoring workshops,
and 1 shoemaking workshop [2]. There were 10 artisan shops in the Qipchoq
fortress and nearly 50 craft and trade shops in the Rahim-Berdibiy market
fortress [3].
According to studies conducted in the Amudarya Division at the beginning
of the 20th century, there were a total of 1,445 artisans in the Shorakhan and
Chimboy districts, including 110 masters working as blacksmiths, iron casters,
and locksmiths [4]. Of these, 7 were based in the village of Dauqara, 32 in the
city of Chimboy and its surroundings, 9 in the village of Talliq, 53 in the city of
Shorakhan and surrounding areas, and 9 in the nomadic settlements of the
Kyzylkum region where blacksmith workshops were also present.
These sources indicate that the blacksmith trade had been established not only
in cities but also in rural areas.
According to V. Masalsky, in Turkestan, the central building of a village was
usually the hakim's house, which stood out from the surrounding homes due to
its height and prominence. “Next to it were a covered market, a mosque, and the
houses of merchants and artisans” [5]. It is well known that throughout all
periods, the central villages of Khorezm featured both trade shops and
functioning artisan workshops. In the larger villages of the Khanate, there were
usually one or two blacksmith workshops, and in some cases, coppersmiths as
well.
In the later medieval period, blacksmiths, saddle makers, and equipment
artisans were also common among the Khiva Turkmens [6]. Particularly
widespread among them was the production of saddles and horse tack. The
horse equipment made by them was decorated with refined ornamentation, and
some were even adorned with gold and silver elementsSome of these items were
also exported through foreign trade. The production of horse gear became one of
the most important sectors of the Khivan Turkmen economy [7]. Additionally,
the jewelry-making craft among the Khiva Turkmens developed to a high level.
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During the late medieval period, alongside trade shops, the city of Khiva
hosted workshops for blacksmithing, coppersmithing, and jewelry-making [8].
According to the 1874 account of Russian military officer M. I. Ivanin, artisans
made up a large portion of the population in Khiva. At the time, Khiva was a
central hub for handicrafts. Khivan craftsmen themselves were engaged in
weapon-making, blacksmithing, casting, and the production of gold and silver
items. They manufactured firearms such as rifles, sabers, and spears [9].
According to Ivanin’s records, by 1838, there were two well-known firearm
manufacturing workshops in the Khiva Khanate. One was located in the city of
Yangi Urgench, the other in Khazorasp. Khivan blacksmiths crafted various items
from iron and steel, including razors, knives, scissors, sickles, bushings for
wheels, saws, axes, shovels, hoes, and others.
In Khorezm, bladed weapons were mainly made from Khorasani iron or
steel. A sword-making workshop existed in the village of Begovat near Yangi
Urgench. At the end of the 19th century, the price of a sword ranged from 3 to 10
rubles [10]. Ivanin’s writings also contain price information from the Khiva
market:“The price of a camel was 4–8 rubles, a batman of wheat 60 kopeks to 1
ruble, millet 40–80 kopeks, barley 40–60 kopeks, rice 2–3 rubles per batman,
cotton 3–4 rubles, iron 8–10 rubles per batman (recently increased to 18–20
rubles), a simple plow tooth 1–1.5 rubles, a plow tooth made in Qo‘ng‘irot 2
rubles, sickles 50–75 copper coins, small axes 2–3 rubles (recently up to 5
rubles), and prices for many other products were also provided” [11]. This
suggests that cast iron and blacksmith products were reasonably priced during
that time. On average, one could purchase a plow tooth for the price of two
batmans of wheat. However, it is noticeable that, due to wartime circumstances,
the price of metal products began to rise.
At the end of the 19th century, in the cities of Khorezm, retail trade was
conducted in weapons, labor tools, carts, saddles, horse gear, ships, and various
other goods [12]. The production of these items was directly tied to
blacksmithing, weapon manufacturing, iron casting, equipment crafting, and
coppersmithing.
These facts confirm that in Khorezm, blacksmiths were engaged in the
large-scale production of agricultural tools, weapons, and horse gear as
commodities for the market
.
They also indicate the development of commodity-
money relations in the production of metalworking crafts
.
References:
1.
Utemisov, A.O. (1991) Qaraqalpaqlarning oner–kásipleri [Crafts and
industries of the Karakalpaks]. Nukus, pp. 12–13.
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2.
Tsentral'nyi Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Respubliki Uzbekistan (TsGA RUZ), f.
269, op. 1, d. 104, ll. 75–78.
3.
Kun, A.L. (n.d.) Kul’tura oazisa nizov’ev Amudar’i ot Kungarada do
Chimbaya [Culture of the Lower Amu Darya Oasis from Kungrad to Chimbay],
pp. 236–244.
4.
(1915) Materialy po obsledovaniyu kochevogo i osedlogo tuzemnogo
khozyaystva i zemlepol’zovaniya v Amudaryinskom otdel Sirdar’inskoy oblasti.
Tashkent, vyp. 1–2, p. 329.
5.
Masalsky, V.I. (1910) Turkestanskiy kray: Rossiya. Polnoye
geograficheskoye opisaniye nashego otechestva [Turkestan Region: Russia. A
Complete Geographical Description of Our Fatherland], vol. 19. St. Petersburg, p.
750.
6.
Bregel’, Yu.E. (1961) Khorezmskie turkmeny v XIX veke [Khorezm
Turkmens in the 19th century]. Moscow: IVL, p. 91.
7.
Yuldashev, M.Yu. (1966) K istorii krest’yan Khivy XIX veka [On the history
of Khivan peasants in the 19th century]. Tashkent: Fan, p. 12.
8.
Kalmykov, A. (1908) ‘Khiva’, in Protokoly zasedaniy soveshchaniya
chlenov Turkestanskogo kruzhka lyubiteley arkheologii [Protocols of the
Meetings of the Turkestan Archaeological Society], Tashkent, p. 55.
9.
Ivanin, M.I. (1873) Khiva i reka Amu-Darya [Khiva and the Amu Darya
River]. St. Petersburg: Obshchestvennaya Pol’za, pp. 48–49.
10.
Lunin, B.V. (1990) Istoriya Uzbekistana v istochnikakh [History of
Uzbekistan in sources], p. 151.
11.
Ivanin, M.I. (1873) Khiva i reka Amu-Darya [Khiva and the Amu Darya
River]. St. Petersburg, pp. 46–47.
12.
Ivanin, M.I. (1873) Khiva i reka Amu-Darya [Khiva and the Amu Darya
River]. St. Petersburg: Obshchestvennaya Pol’za, pp. 46–47.
