Publication Details
Abstract
This paper is a thorough study of the population size and socio-ethnic profile of the city of Bukhara in the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, the era of the existence of the Bukhara Emirate. The main aim of the research is to determine the most significant aspects that predetermined the demographic growth of the city and provide further insight into the way the population structure of this city changed throughout the period. The study is based on the synthesis of methodological strategies, such as historical-comparative analysis, statistical reconstruction, and critical assessment of the written materials and travel accounts. Special consideration is provided to the problem of estimating population size when there are no centralized census systems. In this connection, the work is based on indirect sources, including tax registers, household data, neighborhood organization, and other proxy indicators that can be used to put together a more subtle reconstitution of demographic trends. The result indicates that the historical estimations of the population of Bukhara show that there are serious differences with the estimated population varying between 50,000 and 200,000 residents. These differences are much due to the absence of systematic methods of recording the populations at the time in question. Moreover, the paper emphasizes the fact that the constant rise in population in Bukhara was not just the result of natural growth but also the active migration mechanisms. The growth of trade and craftsmanship and taxation privileges, in particular, which were implemented under the reign of Emir Shahmurad, were significant factors that attracted new inhabitants and formed the social structure of the city. In general, the article helps to understand urban demographic processes in Central Asia in a more sophisticated way, placing Bukhara into the context of the general historical, economic, and social changes.