[1] See his sketch of the orography of East Siberia (French trans.,
with addenda, published by the _Institut Géographique_ of Brussels in
1902).
KHIVA, formerly an important kingdom of Asia, but now a much reduced
khanate, dependent upon Russia, and confined to the delta of the
Amu-darya (Oxus). Its frontier runs down the left bank of the Amu, from
40° 15´ N., and down its left branch to Lake Aral; then, for about 40 m.
along the south coast of Lake Aral, and finally southwards, following
the escarpment of the Ust-Urt plateau. From the Transcaspian territory
of Russia Khiva is separated by a line running almost W.N.W.-E.S.E.
under 40° 30´ N., from the Uzboi depression to the Amu-darya. The length
of the khanate from north to south is 200 m., and its greatest width 300
m. The area of the Khiva oasis is 5210 sq. m. while the area of the
steppes is estimated at 17,000 sq. m. The population of the former is
estimated at 400,000, and that of the latter also at 400,000 (nomadic).
The water of the Amu is brought by a number of irrigation canals to the
oasis, the general declivity of the surface westwards facilitating the
irrigation. Several old beds of the Amu intersect the territory. The
water of the Amu and the very thin layer of ooze which it deposits
render the oasis very fertile. Millet, rice, wheat, barley, oats, peas,
flax, hemp, madder, and all sorts of vegetables and fruit (especially
melons) are grown, as also the vine and cotton. The white-washed houses
scattered amidst the elms and poplars, and surrounded by flourishing
fields, produce the most agreeable contrast with the arid steppes.
Livestock, especially sheep, camels, horses and cattle, is extensively
bred by the nomads.
The population is composed of four divisions: Uzbegs (150,000 to
200,000), the dominating race among the settled inhabitants of the
oasis, from whom the officials are recruited; Sarts and Tajiks,
agriculturists and tradespeople of mixed race; Turkomans (c. 170,000),
who live in the steppes, south and west of the oasis, and formerly
plundered the settled inhabitants by their raids; and the Kara-kalpaks,
or Black Bonnets, a Turki tribe some 50,000 in number. They live south
of Lake Aral, and in the towns of Kungrad, Khodsheili and Kipchak form
the prevailing element. They cultivate the soil, breed cattle, and their
women make carpets. There are also about 10,000 Kirghiz, and when the
Russians took Khiva in 1873 there were 29,300 Persian slaves, stolen by
Turkoman raiders, and over 6500 liberated slaves, mostly Kizil-bashes.
The former were set free and the slave trade abolished. Of domestic
industries, the embroidering of cloth, silks and leather is worthy of
notice. The trade of Khiva is considerable: cotton, wool, rough woollen
cloth and silk cocoons are exported to Russia, and various animal
products to Bokhara. Cottons, velveteen, hardware and pepper are
imported from Russia, and silks, cotton, china and tea from Bokhara.
Khivan merchants habitually attend the Orenburg and Nizhniy-Novgorod
fairs.
_History._--The present khanate is only a meagre relic of the great
kingdom which under the name of Chorasmia, Kharezm (Khwarizm) and Urgenj
(Jurjaniya, Gurganj) held the keys of the mightiest river in Central
Asia. Its possession has consequently been much disputed from early
times, but the country has undergone great changes, geographical as well
as political, which have lessened its importance. The Oxus (Amu-darya)
has changed its outlet, and no longer forms a water-way to the Caspian
and thence to Europe, while Khiva is entirely surrounded by territory
either directly administered or protected by Russia.
Chorasmia is mentioned by Herodotus, it being then one of the Persian
provinces, over which Darius placed satraps, but nothing material of it
is known till it was seized by the Arabs in A.D. 680. When the power of
the caliphs declined the governor of the province probably became
independent; but the first king known to history is Mamun-ibn-Mahommed
in 995. Khwarizm fell under the power of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017, and
subsequently under that of the Seljuk Turks. In 1097 the governor
Kutb-ud-din assumed the title of king, and one of his descendants,
'Ala-ud-din-Mahommed, conquered Persia, and was the greatest prince in
Central Asia when Jenghiz Khan appeared in 1219. Khiva was conquered
again by Timur in 1379; and finally fell under the rule of the Uzbegs in
1512, who are still the dominant race under the protection of the
Russians.
Russia established relations with Khiva in the 17th century. The
Cossacks of the Yaik during their raids across the Caspian learnt of the
existence of this rich territory and made more than one plundering
expedition to the chief town Urgenj. In 1717 Peter the Great, having
heard of the presence of auriferous sand in the bed of the Oxus,
desiring also to "open mercantile relations with India through Turan"
and to release from slavery some Russian subjects, sent a military force
to Khiva. When within 100 miles of the capital they encountered the
troops of the khan. The battle lasted three days, and ended in victory
for the Russian arms. The Khivans, however, induced the victors to break
up their army into small detachments and treacherously annihilated them
in detail. It was not until the third decade of the 19th century that
the attention of the Muscovite government was again directed to the
khanate. In 1839 a force under General Perovsky moved from Orenburg
across the Ust-Urt plateau to the Khivan frontiers, to occupy the
khanate, liberate the captives and open the way for trade. This
expedition likewise terminated in disaster. In 1847 the Russians founded
a fort at the mouth of the Jaxartes or Syr-darya. This advance deprived
the Khivans not only of territory, but of a large number of tax-paying
Kirghiz, and also gave the Russians a base for further operations. For
the next few years, however, the attention of the Russians was taken up
with Khokand, their operations on that side culminating in the capture
of Tashkent in 1865. Free in this quarter, they directed their thoughts
once more to Khiva. In 1869 Krasnovodsk on the east shore of the
Caspian was founded, and in 1871-1872 the country leading to Khiva from
different parts of Russian Turkestan was thoroughly explored and
surveyed. In 1873 an expedition to Khiva was carefully organized on a
large scale. The army of 10,000 men placed at the disposal of General
Kaufmann started from three different bases of operation--Krasnovodsk,
Orenburg and Tashkent. Khiva was occupied almost without opposition. All
the territory (35,700 sq. m. and 110,000 souls) on the right bank of the
Oxus was annexed to Russia, while a heavy war indemnity was imposed upon
the khanate. The Russians thereby so crippled the finances of the state
that the khan is in complete subjection to his more powerful neighbour.
(J. T. Be.; C. El.)
KHIVA, capital of the khanate of Khiva, in Western Asia, 25 m. W. of the
Amu-darya and 240 m. W.N.W. of Bokhara. Pop. about 10,000. It is
surrounded by a low earthen wall, and has a citadel, the residence of
the khan and the higher officials. There are a score of mosques, of
which the one containing the tomb of Polvan, the patron saint of Khiva,
is the best, and four large _madrasas_ (Mahommedan colleges). Large
gardens exist in the western part of the town. A small Russian quarter
has grown up. The inhabitants make carpets, silks and cottons.
KHNOPFF, FERNAND EDMOND JEAN MARIE (1858- ), Belgian painter and
etcher, was born at the château de Grembergen (Termonde), on the 12th of
September 1858, and studied under X. Mellery. He developed a very
original talent, his work being characterized by great delicacy of
colour, tone and harmony, as subtle in spiritual and intellectual as in
its material qualities. "A Crisis" (1881) was followed by "Listening to
Schumann," "St Anthony" and "The Queen of Sheba" (1883), and then came
one of his best known works, "The Small Sphinx" (1884). His "Memories"
(1889) and "White, Black and Gold" (1901) are in the Brussels Museum;
"Portrait of Mlle R." (1889) in the Venice Museum; "A Stream at Fosset"
(1897) at Budapest Museum; "The Empress" (1899) in the collection of the
emperor of Austria, and "A Musician" in that of the king of the
Belgians. "I lock my Door upon Myself" (1891), which was exhibited at
the New Gallery, London, in 1902 and there attracted much attention, was
acquired by the Pinakothek at Munich. Other works are "Silence" (1890),
"The Idea of Justice" (1905) and "Isolde" (1906), together with a
polychrome bust "Sibyl" (1894) and an ivory mask (1897). In quiet
intensity of feeling Khnopff was influenced by Rossetti, and in
simplicity of line by Burne-Jones, but the poetry and the delicately
mystic and enigmatic note of his work are entirely individual. He did
good work also as an etcher and dry-pointist.
See L. Dumont-Wilden, _Fernand Khnopff_ (Brussels, 1907).
KHOI, a district and town in the province of Azerbaijan, Persia, towards
the extreme north-west frontier, between the Urmia Lake and the river
Aras. The district contains many flourishing villages, and consists of
an elevated plateau 60 m. by 10 to 15, highly cultivated by a skilful
system of drainage and irrigation, producing fertile meadows, gardens
and fields yielding rich crops of wheat and barley, cotton, rice and
many kinds of fruit. In the northern part and bounding on Maku lies the
plain of Chaldaran (Kalderan), where in August 1514 the Turks under
Sultan Selim I. fought the Persians under Shah Ismail and gained a great
victory.
The town of KHOI lies in 38° 37´ N., 45° 15´ E., 77 m. (90 by road) N.W.
of Tabriz, at an elevation of 3300 ft., on the great trade route between
Trebizond and Tabriz, and about 2 m. from the left bank of the Kotur
Chai (river from Kotur) which is crossed there by a seven-arched bridge
and is known lower down as the Kizil Chai, which flows into the Aras.
The walled part of the town is a quadrilateral with faces of about 1200
yds. in length and fortifications consisting of two lines of bastions,
ditches, &c., much out of repair. The population numbers about 35,000, a
third living inside the walls. The Armenian quarter, with about 500
families and an old church, is outside the walls. The city within the
walls forms one of the best laid out towns in Persia, cool streams and
lines of willows running along the broad and regular streets. There are
some good buildings, including the governor's residence, several
mosques, a large brick bazaar and a fine caravanserai. There is a large
transit trade, and considerable local traffic across the Turkish border.
The city surrendered to the Russians in 1827 without fighting and after
the treaty of peace (Turkman Chai, Feb. 1828) was held for some time by
a garrison of 3000 Russian troops as a guarantee for the payment of the
war indemnity. In September 1881 Khoi suffered much from a violent
earthquake. It has post and telegraph offices.
KHOJENT, or KHOJEND, a town of the province of Syr-darya, in Russian
Turkestan, on the left bank of the Syr-darya or Jaxartes, 144 m. by rail
S.S.E. from Tashkent, in 40° 17´ N. and 69° 30´ E., and on the direct
road from Bokhara to Khokand. Pop. (1900), 31,881. The Russian quarter
lies between the river and the native town. Near the river is the old
citadel, on the top of an artificial square mound, about 100 ft. high.
The banks of the river are so high as to make its water useless to the
town in the absence of pumping gear. Formerly the entire commerce
between the khanates of Bokhara and Khokand passed through this town,
but since the Russian occupation (1866) much of it has been diverted.
Silkworms are reared, and silk and cotton goods are manufactured. A
coarse ware is made in imitation of Chinese porcelain. The district
immediately around the town is taken up with cotton plantations, fruit
gardens and vineyards. The majority of the inhabitants are Tajiks.
Khojent has always been a bone of contention between Khokand and
Bokhara. When the amir of Bokhara assisted Khudayar Khan to regain his
throne in 1864, he kept possession of Khojent. In 1866 the town was
stormed by the Russians; and during their war with Khokand in 1875 it
played an important part.
KHOKAND, or KOKAN, a town of Asiatic Russia, in the province of
Ferghana, on the railway from Samarkand to Andijan, 85 m. by rail S.W.
of the latter, and 20 m. S. of the Syr-darya. Pop. (1900), 86,704.
Situated at an altitude of 1375 ft., it has a severe climate, the
average temperatures being--year, 56°; January, 22°; July, 65°. Yearly
rainfall, 3.6 in. It is the centre of a fertile irrigated oasis, and
consists of a citadel, enclosed by a wall nearly 12 m. in circuit, and
of suburbs containing luxuriant gardens. The town is modernized, has
broad streets and large squares, and a particularly handsome bazaar. The
former palace of the khans, which recalls by its architecture the
mosques of Samarkand, is the best building in the town. Khokand is one
of the most important centres of trade in Turkestan. Raw cotton and silk
are the principal exports, while manufactured goods are imported from
Russia. Coins bearing the inscription "Khokand the Charming," and known
as _khokands_, have or had a wide currency.
The khanate of Khokand was a powerful state which grew up in the 18th
century. Its early history is not well known, but the town was founded
in 1732 by Abd-ur-Rahim under the name of Iski-kurgan, or
Kali-i-Rahimbai. This must relate, however, to the fort only, because
Arab travellers of the 10th century mention Hovakend or Hokand, the
position of which has been identified with that of Khokand. Many other
populous and wealthy towns existed in this region at the time of the
Arab conquest of Ferghana. In 1758-1759 the Chinese conquered Dzungaria
and East Turkestan, and the begs or rulers of Ferghana recognized
Chinese suzerainty. In 1807 or 1808 Alim, son of Narbuta, brought all
the begs of Ferghana under his authority, and conquered Tashkent and
Chimkent. His attacks on the Bokharan fortress of Ura-tyube were however
unsuccessful, and the country rose against him. He was killed in 1817 by
the adherents of his brother Omar. Omar was a poet and patron of
learning, but continued to enlarge his kingdom, taking the sacred town
of Azret (Turkestan), and to protect Ferghana from the raids of the
nomad Kirghiz built fortresses on the Syr-darya, which became a basis
for raids of the Khokand people into Kirghiz land. This was the origin
of a conflict with Russia. Several petty wars were undertaken by the
Russians after 1847 to destroy the Khokand forts, and to secure
possession, first, of the Ili (and so of Dzungaria), and next of the
Syr-darya region, the result being that in 1866, after the occupation of
Ura-tyube and Jizakh, the khanate of Khokand was separated from Bokhara.
During the forty-five years after the death of Omar (he died in 1822)
the khanate of Khokand was the seat of continuous wars between the
settled Sarts and the nomad Kipchaks, the two parties securing the upper
hand in turns, Khokand falling under the dominion or the suzerainty of
Bokhara, which supported Khudayar-khan, the representative of the
Kipchak party, in 1858-1866; while Alim-kul, the representative of the
Sarts, put himself at the head of the _gazawat_ (Holy War) proclaimed in
1860, and fought bravely against the Russians until killed at Tashkent
in 1865. In 1868 Khudayar-khan, having secured independence from
Bokhara, concluded a commercial treaty with the Russians, but was
compelled to flee in 1875, when a new Holy War against Russia was
proclaimed. It ended in the capture of the strong fort of Makhram, the
occupation of Khokand and Marghelan (1875), and the recognition of
Russian superiority by the amir of Bokhara, who conceded to Russia all
the territory north of the Naryn river. War, however, was renewed in the
following year. It ended, in February 1876, by the capture of Andijan
and Khokand and the annexation of the Khokand khanate to Russia. Out of
it was made the Russian province of Ferghana.
AUTHORITIES.--The following publications are all in Russian: Kuhn,
_Sketch of the Khanate of Khokand_ (1876); V. Nalivkin, _Short History
of Khokand_ (French trans., Paris, 1889); Niazi Mohammed, _Tarihi
Shahrohi_, or _History of the Rulers of Ferghana_, edited by Pantusov
(Kazañ, 1885); Makshéev, _Historical Sketch of Turkestan and the
Advance of the Russians_ (St Petersburg, 1890); N. Petrovskiy, _Old
Arabian Journals of Travel_ (Tashkent, 1894); _Russian Encyclopaedic
Dictionary_, vol. xv. (1895). (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
KHOLM (Polish _Chelm_), a town of Russian Poland, in the government of
Lublin, 45 m. by rail E.S.E. of the town of Lublin. Pop. (1897), 19,236.
It is a very old city and the see of a bishop, and has an archaeological
museum for church antiquities.
KHONDS, or KANDHS, an aboriginal tribe of India, inhabiting the
tributary states of Orissa and the Ganjam district of Madras. At the
census of 1901 they numbered 701,198. Their main divisions are into
Kutia or hill Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds; the landowners are known
as Raj Khonds. Their religion is animistic, and their pantheon includes
eighty-four gods. They have given their name to the Khondmals, a
subdivision of Angul district in Orissa: area, 800 sq. m.; pop. (1901),
64,214. The Khond language, Kui, spoken in 1901 by more than half a
million persons, is much more closely related to Telugu than is Gondi.
The Khonds are a finer type than the Gonds. They are as tall as the
average Hindu and not much darker, while in features they are very
Aryan. They are undoubtedly a mixed Dravidian race, with much Aryan
blood.
The Khonds became notorious, on the British occupation of their district
about 1835, from the prevalence and cruelty of the human sacrifices they
practised. These "Meriah" sacrifices, as they were called, were intended
to further the fertilization of the earth. It was incumbent on the
Khonds to purchase their victims. Unless bought with a price they were
not deemed acceptable. They seldom sacrificed Khonds, though in hard
times Khonds were obliged to sell their children and they could then be
purchased as Meriahs. Persons of any race, age or sex, were acceptable
if purchased. Numbers were bought and kept and well treated; and Meriah
women were encouraged to become mothers. Ten or twelve days before the
sacrifice the victim's hair was cut off, and the villagers having
bathed, went with the priest to the sacred grove to forewarn the
goddess. The festival lasted three days, and the wildest orgies were
indulged in.
See Major Macpherson, _Religious Doctrines of the Khonds_; his account
of their religion in _Jour. R. Asiatic Soc._ xiii. 220-221 and his
_Report upon the Khonds of Ganjam and Cuttack_ (Calcutta, 1842); also
_District Gazetteer of Angul_ (Calcutta, 1908).
KHORASAN, or KHORASSAN (i.e. "land of the sun"), a geographical term
originally applied to the eastern of the four quarters (named from the
cardinal points) into which the ancient monarchy of the Sassanians was
divided. After the Arab conquest the name was retained both as the
designation of a definite province and in a looser sense. Under the new
Persian empire the expression has gradually become restricted to the
north-eastern portion of Persia which forms one of the five great
provinces of that country. The province is conterminous E. with
Afghanistan, N. with Russian Transcaspian territory, W. with Astarabad
and Shahrud-Bostam, and S. with Kerman and Yezd. It lies mainly within
29° 45´-38° 15´ N. and 56°-61° E., extending about 320 m. east and west
and 570 m. north and south, with a total area of about 150,000 sq. m.
The surface is mountainous. The ranges generally run in parallel ridges,
inclosing extensive valleys, with a normal direction from N.W. to S.E.
The whole of the north is occupied by an extensive highland system
composed of a part of the Elburz and its continuation extending to the
Paropamisus. This system, sometimes spoken of collectively as the Kuren
Dagh, or Kopet Dagh from its chief sections, forms in the east three
ranges, the Hazar Masjed, Binalud Kuh and Jagatai, enclosing the
Meshed-Kuchan valley and the Jovain plain. The former is watered by the
Kashaf-rud (Tortoise River), or river of Meshed, flowing east to the
Hari-rud, their junction forming the Tejen, which sweeps round the
Daman-i-Kuh, or northern skirt of the outer range, towards the Caspian
but loses itself in the desert long before reaching it. The Jovain plain
is watered by the Kali-i-mura, an unimportant river which flows south to
the Great Kavir or central depression. In the west the northern
highlands develop two branches: (1) the Kuren Dagh, stretching through
the Great and Little Balkans to the Caspian at Krasnovodsk Bay, (2) the
Ala Dagh, forming a continuation of the Binalud Kuh and joining the
mountains between Bujnurd and Astarabad, which form part of the Elburz
system. The Kuren Dagh and Ala Dagh enclose the valley of the Atrek
River, which flows west and south-west into the Caspian at Hassan Kuli
Bay. The western offshoots of the Ala Dagh in the north and the
mountains of Astarabad in the south enclose the valley of the Gurgan
River, which also flows westwards and parallel to the Atrek to the
south-eastern corner of the Caspian. The outer range has probably a mean
altitude of 8000 ft., the highest known summits being the Hazar Masjed
(10,500) and the Kara Dagh (9800). The central range seems to be higher,
culminating with the Shah-Jehan Kuh (11,000) and the Ala Dagh (11,500).
The southern ridges, although generally much lower, have the highest
point of the whole system in the Shah Kuh (13,000) between Shahrud and
Astarabad. South of this northern highland several parallel ridges run
diagonally across the province in a N.W.-S.E. direction as far as
Seistan.
Beyond the Atrek and other rivers watering the northern valleys a few
brackish and intermittent rivers lose themselves in the Great Kavir,
which occupies the central and western parts of the province. The true
character of the kavir, which forms the distinctive feature of east
Persia, has scarcely been determined, some regarding it as the bed of a
dried-up sea, others as developed by the saline streams draining to it
from the surrounding highlands. Collecting in the central depressions,
which have a mean elevation of scarcely more than 500 ft. above the
Caspian, the water of these streams is supposed to form saline deposits
with a thin hard crust, beneath which the moisture is retained for a
considerable time, thus producing those dangerous and slimy quagmires
which in winter are covered with brine, in summer with a treacherous
incrustation of salt. Dr Sven Hedin explored the central depressions in
1906.
The surface of Khorasan thus consists mainly of highlands, saline,
swampy deserts and upland valleys, some fertile and well-watered. Of the
last, occurring mainly in the north, the chief are the longitudinal
valley stretching from near the Herat frontier through Meshed, Kuchan
and Shirvan to Bujnurd, the Derrehgez district, which lies on the
northern skirt of the outer range projecting into the Akhal Tekkeh
domain, now Russian territory, and the districts of Nishapur and
Sabzevar which lie south of the Binalud and Jagatai ranges. These
fertile tracts produce rice and other cereals, cotton, tobacco, opium
and fruits in profusion. Other products are manna, suffron, asafoetida
and other gums. The chief manufactures are swords, stoneware, carpets
and rugs, woollens, cottons, silks and sheepskin pelisses (_pustin_,
Afghan _poshtin_).
The administrative divisions of the province are: 1, Nishapur; 2,
Sabzevar; 3, Jovain; 4, Asfarain; 5, Bujnurd; 6, Kuchan; 7, Derrehgez;
8, Kelat; 9, Chinaran; 10, Meshed; 11, Jam; 12, Bakharz; 13, Radkan;
14, Serrakhs; 15, Sar-i-jam; 16, Bam and Safiabad; 17, Turbet i
Haidari; 18, Turshiz; 19, Khaf; 20, Tun and Tabbas; 21, Kain; 22,
Seistan.
The population consists of Iranians (Tajiks, Kurds, Baluchis),
Mongols, Tatars and Arabs, and is estimated at about a million. The
Persians proper have always represented the settled, industrial and
trading elements, and to them the Kurds and the Arabs have become
largely assimilated. Even many of the original Tatar, Mongol and other
nomad tribes (_ilat_), instead of leading their former roving and
unsettled life of the _sahara-nishin_ (dwellers in the desert), are
settled and peaceful _shahr-nishin_ (dwellers in towns). In religion
all except some Tatars and Mongols and the Baluchis have conformed to
the national Shiah faith. The revenues (cash and kind) of the province
amount to about £180,000 a year, but very little of this amount
reaches the Teheran treasury. The value of the exports and imports
from and into the whole province is a little under a million sterling
a year. The province produces about 10,000 tons of wool and a third of
this quantity, or rather more, valued at £70,000 to £80,000, is
exported via Russia to the markets of western Europe, notably to
Marseilles, Russia keeping only a small part. Other important articles
of export, all to Russia, are cotton, carpets, shawls and turquoises,
the last from the mines near Nishapur. (A. H.-S.)
KHORREMABAD, a town of Persia, capital of the province of Luristan, in
33° 32´ N., 48° 15´ E., and at an elevation of 4250 ft. Pop. about 6000.
It is situated 138 m. W.N.W. of Isfahan and 117 m. S.E. of Kermanshah,
on the right bank of the broad but shallow Khorremabad river, also
called Ab-i-istaneh, and, lower down, Kashgan Rud. On an isolated rock
between the town and the river stands a ruined castle, the Diz-i-siyah
(black castle), the residence of the governor of the district (then
called Samha) in the middle ages, and, with some modern additions, one
of them consisting of rooms on the summit, called Felek ul aflak (heaven
of heavens), the residence of the governors of Luristan in the beginning
of the 19th century. At the foot of the castle stands the modern
residence of the governor, built c. 1830, with several spacious courts
and gardens. On the left bank of the river opposite the town are the
ruins of the old city of Samha. There are a minaret 60 ft. high, parts
of a mosque, an aqueduct, a number of walls of other buildings and a
four-sided monolith, measuring 9½ ft. in height, by 3 ft. long and
2(1/3) broad, with an inscription partly illegible, commemorating
Mahmud, a grandson of the Seljuk king Malik Shah, and dated A.H. 517, or
519 (A.D. 1148-1150). There also remain ten arches of a bridge which led
over the river from Samha on to the road to Shapurkhast, a city situated
some distance west.
KHORSABAD, a Turkish village in the vilayet of Mosul, 12½ m. N.E. of
that town, and almost 20 m. N. of ancient Nineveh, on the left bank of
the little river Kosar. Here, in 1843, P. E. Botta, then French consul
at Mosul, discovered the remains of an Assyrian palace and town, at
which excavations were conducted by him and Flandin in 1843-1844, and
again by Victor Place in 1851-1855. The ruins proved to be those of the
town of Dur-Sharrukin, "Sargon's Castle," built by Sargon, king of
Assyria, as a royal residence. The town, in the shape of a rectangular
parallelogram, with the corners pointing approximately toward the
cardinal points of the compass, covered 741 acres of ground. On the
north-west side, half within and half without the circuit of the walls,
protruding into the plain like a great bastion, stood the royal palace,
on a terrace, 45 ft. in height, covering about 25 acres. The palace
proper was divided into three sections, built around three sides of a
large court on the south-east or city side, into which opened the great
outer gates, guarded by winged stone bulls, each section containing
suites of rooms built around several smaller inner courts. In the centre
was the _serai_, occupied by the king and his retinue, with an extension
towards the north, opening on a large inner court, containing the public
reception rooms, elaborately decorated with sculptures and historical
inscriptions, representing scenes of hunting, worship, feasts, battles,
and the like. The harem, with separate provisions for four wives,
occupied the south corner, the domestic quarters, including stables,
kitchen, bakery, wine cellar, &c., being at the east corner, to the
north-east of the great entrance court. In the west corner stood a
temple, with a stage-tower (_ziggurat_) adjoining. The walls of the
rooms, which stood only to the height of one storey, were from 9 to 25
ft. in thickness, of clay, faced with brick, in the reception rooms
wainscoted with stone slabs or tiles, elsewhere plastered, or, in the
harem, adorned with fresco paintings and arabesques. Here and there the
floors were formed of tiles or alabaster blocks, but in general they
were of stamped clay, on which were spread at the time of occupancy mats
and rugs. The exterior of the palace wall exhibited a system of groups
of half columns and stepped recesses, an ornament familiar in Babylonian
architecture. The palace and city were completed in 707 B.C., and in 706
Sargon took up his residence there. He died the following year, and
palace and city seem to have been abandoned shortly thereafter. Up to
1909 this was the only Assyrian palace which had ever been explored
systematically, in its entirety, and fortunately it was found on the
whole in an admirable state of preservation. An immense number of
statues and bas-reliefs, excavated by Botta, were transported to Paris,
and formed the first Assyrian museum opened to the world. The objects
excavated by Place, together with the objects found by Fresnel's
expedition in Babylonia and a part of the results of Rawlinson's
excavations at Nineveh, were unfortunately lost in the Tigris, on
transport from Bagdad to Basra. Flandin had, however, made careful
drawings and copies of all objects of importance from Khorsabad. The
whole material was published by the French government in two monumental
publications.
See P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, _Monument de Ninive_ (Paris,
1849-1850; 5 vols. 400 plates); Victor Place, _Ninïve et l'Assyrie,
avec des essais de restauration par F. Thomas_ (Paris, 1866-1869; 3
vols.). (J. P. Pe.)
KHOTAN (locally ILCHI), a town and oasis of East Turkestan, on the
Khotan-darya, between the N. foot of the Kuen-lun and the edge of the
Takla-makan desert, nearly 200 m. by caravan road S.E. from Yarkand.
Pop., about 5000. The town consists of a labyrinth of narrow, winding,
dirty streets, with poor, square, flat-roofed houses, half a dozen
_madrasas_ (Mahommedan colleges), a score of mosques, and some _masars_
(tombs of Mahommedan saints). Dotted about the town are open squares,
with tanks or ponds overhung by trees. For centuries Khotan was famous
for jade or nephrite, a semi-precious stone greatly esteemed by the
Chinese for making small fancy boxes, bottles and cups, mouthpieces for
pipes, bracelets, &c. The stone is still exported to China. Other local
products are carpets (silk and felt), silk goods, hides, grapes, rice
and other cereals, fruits, tobacco, opium and cotton. There is an active
trade in these goods and in wool with India, West Turkestan and China.
The oasis contains two small towns, Kara-kash and Yurun-kash, and over
300 villages, its total population being about 150,000.
Khotan, known in Sanskrit as Kustana and in Chinese as Yu-than, Yu-tien,
Kiu-sa-tan-na, and Khio-tan, is mentioned in Chinese chronicles in the
2nd century B.C. In A.D. 73 it was conquered by the Chinese, and ever
since has been generally dependent upon the Chinese empire. During the
early centuries of the Christian era, and long before that, it was an
important and flourishing place, the capital of a kingdom to which the
Chinese sent embassies, and famous for its glass-wares, copper tankards
and textiles. About the year A.D. 400 it was a city of some
magnificence, and the seat of a flourishing cult of Buddha, with temples
rich in paintings and ornaments of the precious metals; but from the 5th
century it seems to have declined. In the 8th century it was conquered,
after a struggle of 25 years, by the Arab chieftain Kotaiba ibn Moslim,
from West Turkestan, who imposed Islam upon the people. In 1220 Khotan
was destroyed by the Mongols under Jenghiz Khan. Marco Polo, who passed
through the town in 1274, says that "Everything is to be had there [at
Cotan, i.e. Khotan] in plenty, including abundance of cotton, with
flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like. The people have vineyards and
gardens and estates. They live by commerce and manufactures, and are no
soldiers."[1] The place suffered severely during the Dungan revolt
against China in 1864-1875, and again a few years later when Yakub Beg
of Kashgar made himself master of East Turkestan.
The KHOTAN-DARYA rises in the Kuen-lun Mountains in two headstreams, the
Kara-kash and the Yurun-kash, which unite towards the middle of the
desert, some 90 m. N. of the town of Khotan. The conjoint stream then
flows 180 m. northwards across the desert of Takla-makan, though it
carries water only in the early summer, and empties itself into the
Tarim a few miles below the confluence of the Ak-su with the
Yarkand-darya (Tarim). In crossing the desert it falls 1250 ft. in a
distance of 270 m. Its total length is about 300 m. and the area it
drains probably nearly 40,000 sq. m.
See J. P. A. Rémusat, _Histoire de la ville de Khotan_ (Paris, 1820);
and Sven Hedin, _Through Asia_ (Eng. trans., London, 1898), chs. lx.
and lxii., and _Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia_,
1899-1902, vol. ii. (Stockholm, 1906). (J. T. Be.)