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For other uses, see Khwarezmian (disambiguation).
The Khwarazm oasis on a satellite image from 2009
Faravahar background
History of Greater Iran
Until the rise of modern nation-states

Khwarezm /kwəˈrɛzəm/ or Chorasmia /kəˈræzmiə/ (Persian: خوارزم) is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the east by the Kyzylkum desert, on the south by the Karakum desert, and on the west by the Ustyurt Plateau. It was the center of the (indigenous) Khwarezmian civilization and a series of kingdoms such as the Persian empire, whose capitals were (among others) Kath, Gurganj (the modern Köneürgenç) and, from the 16th century on, Khiva. Today Khwarezm belongs partly to Uzbekistan, partly to Kazakhstan and partly to Turkmenistan.

Names and etymology[edit]

Khwarezm has been known also as Chorasmia, Khwarezmia, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Khorezm, Khoresm, Khorasam, Harezm, Horezm, and Chorezm.[1]

In Avestan the name is Xvairizem, in Old Persian Huwarazmish, in Modern Persian خوارزم (Khwārazm), in Arabic خوارزم Khuwārizm, in Old Chinese *qʰaljɯʔmriɡ(呼似密), modern Chinese Huālázǐmó (花剌子模), in Kazakh Хорезм, in Uzbek Xorazm, in Turkmen Horezm, in Turkish Harezm, in Greek Χορασμία and Χορασίμα, by Herodotus.

The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in his Muʿǧam al-buldan wrote that the name was a compound (in Persian) of khwar (خوار), and razm (رزم), referring to the abundance of cooked fish as a main diet of the peoples of this area.[2]

C.E. Bosworth however, believes the Persian name to be made up of (خور) meaning "the sun" and (زم) meaning "Earth", designating "the land from which the sun rises",[3] although the same etymology is also given for Khurasan. Another view is that the Iranian compound stands for "lowland" from kh(w)ar "low" and zam "earth, land.".[1] Khwarezm is indeed the lowest region in Central Asia (except for the Caspian Sea to the far west), located on the delta of the Amu Darya on the southern shores of the Aral Sea. Various forms of khwar/khar/khor/hor are commonly used also in the Persian Gulf to stand for tidal flats, marshland, or tidal bays (e.g., Khor Musa, Khor Abdallah, Hor al-Azim, Hor al-Himar, etc.)


Some of the early scholars believed Khwarezm to be what ancient Avestic texts refer to as Airyanem Vaejah ("Ariyaneh Waeje"; later Middle Persian Iran vij).[4] These sources claim that Old Urgench, which was the capital of ancient Khwarezm for many years, was actually Ourva, the eighth land of Ahura Mazda mentioned in the Pahlavi text of Vendidad.[5] However, Michael Witzel, a researcher in early Indo-European history, believes that Airyanem Vaejah was located in what is now Afghanistan, the northern areas of which were a part of ancient Khwarezm and Greater Khorasan.[6] Others, however, disagree. University of Hawaii historian Elton L. Daniel believes Khwarezm to be the "most likely locale" corresponding to the original home of the Avestan people, and Dehkhoda calls Khwarezm "مهد قوم آریا" ("the cradle of the Aryan tribe").[7]

Legendary history[edit]

Biruni, a native speaker of Chorasmian (an Iranian language),[8][9][10] says that the land belonging to Afrasiab was first colonised 980 years before Alexander the Great, sc. before the Seleucid era, i.e. in 1292 B.C., when the hero of the Iranian epic Siyavash came to Khwarezm; his son Kay Khusraw was established on the throne 92 years later, in 1200 B.C. He starts giving names only with the Afrighid line of Khwarazmshahs, having placed the ascension of Afrighids in 616 of the Seleucid era, i.e. in 305 A.D.

Early people[edit]

Like Soghdiana, Khwarzem was an expansion of the BMAC culture during the Bronze Age which later fused with Indo-Iranians during their migrations around 1000 BC. Early Iron Age states arose from this cultural exchange. List of successive cultures in Khwarzem region 3000–500 BC:[11]

  • Keltiminar Culture c. 3000 BC
  • Suyargan Culture c 2000 BC
  • Tazabag’yab Culture c. 1500 BC
  • Amirabad Culture c 1000 BC
  • Saka c. 500 BC

During the final Saka phase, there were about 400 settlements in Khwarzem.[12] Ruled by the native Afighid Dynasty. It was at this point that Khwarzem entered the historical record with the Acheminide expansion (see also: Kyuzeli-gyr).

Khwarezmian language and culture[edit]

An East Iranian language, known as Khwarezmian language, was spoken in Khwarezm proper (i.e., the lower Amu Darya region) until soon after the Mongol invasion, when it was replaced by Turkic languages.[13][14][15][16] It was closely related to Sogdian. Other than the astronomical terms used by the native Iranian Chorasmian speaker Biruni,[10] our other sources of Khwarezmian include Zamakhshari's Arabic-Persian–Khwarezmian dictionary and several legal texts that use Khwarezmian terms to explain certain legal concepts.

In the very early part of its history, the inhabitants of the area were from Iranian[17][18] stock and they spoke an Eastern Iranian language called Khwarezmian. The famous scientist Biruni, a Khwarezm native, in his Athar ul-Baqiyah (الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية) (p. 47), specifically verifies the Iranian origins of Khwarezmians when he wrote (in Arabic):

أهل خوارزم [...] کانوا غصناً من دوحة الفرس

The people of the Khwarezm were a branch from Persian tree.

The area of Khwarezm was under Afrighid and then Samanid control until the 10th century before it was conquered by the Ghaznavids. The Iranian Chorasmian language and culture felt the pressure of Turkic infiltration from northern Khwarezm southwards, leading to the disappearance of the original Iranian character[10] of the province and its complete turkicisation today, but Khwarezmian speech[10] probably lasted in upper Khwarezm, the region round Hazarasp, till the end of the 8th/14th century.[10]


Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid era[edit]

During the Achaemenid period, Khwarezm was governed by Smerdis/Bardiya along with Bactriana, Carmania, and the other eastern provinces of the empire.[19] And the Persian poet Ferdowsi mentions Persian cities like Afrasiab and Chach in abundance in his epic Shahnama.


Although largely independent during the Arsacid and Seleucid dynasties, it is known that Khwarezm and neighboring Bactriana were part of the Sassanid empire during the time of Bahram II. Yaqut al-Hamawi verifies that Khwarezm was a regional capital of the Sassanid empire. When speaking of the pre-Islamic "Khosrau of Khwarezm" (خسرو خوارزم), or post-Islamic "Amir of Khwarezm" (امیر خوارزم), or even the Khwarezmid Empire, sources such as Biruni and Ibn Khordadbeh and others clearly refer to Khwarezm as being part of the Iranian (Persian) empire.[20] The fact that Pahlavi script which was used by the Persian bureaucracy alongside Old Persian, passed into use in Khwarezmia where it served as the first local alphabet about the AD 2nd century, as well as evidence that Khwarezm-Shahs such as ʿAlā al-Dīn Tekish (1172–1200) issued all their orders (both administrative and public) in Persian language (see A. A. Simonov), corroborates Biruni's claims. It was also vassal kingdom during periods of Kushans, Hephthalites and Gokturks before coming of Arabs.


Main article: Afrighids

The Afrighids (Persian: آفریغیان-آل آفریغ‎) were a native Chorasmian (i.g. Iranian) [8][22][23] dynasty which ruled over the kingdom of Khwarezm (according to Biruni) from 305 until 995 A.D. Sometimes it was under Sassanid control.


Khwarezmid Empire[edit]

Main article: Khwarezmid Empire

In the 12th century, the Khwarezmid Empire was founded and, in the early 13th century, ruled over all of Persia under the Shah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muhammad II (1200–1220). In 1141, Yelü Dashi won the battle of Qatwan against a Seljuk army commanded by Sanjar, as a result, Khwarezm became a vassal of the Kara-Khitan Khanate.[24] Then from 1218 to 1220 Genghis Khan and his Mongols launched the invasion of Central Asia and destroyed the Kara-Khitan Khanate and the Khwarezmid Empire, including the splendid capital of the latter, Gurganj.

"The Korasmins (i.e. Khwarezmids), a fierce, uncivilized race, thus driven from their homes, spread themselves, in their turn, over the south of Asia with fire and sword, in search of a resting place. In their impetuous course they directed themselves towards Egypt, whose Sultan, unable to withstand the swarm that had cast their longing eyes on the fertile valleys of the Nile... sent emissaries to Barbaquan, their leader, inviting them to settle in Palestine... they came, burning and slaying, and were at the walls of Jerusalem... they tore down every vestige of Christian faith..."[25]

"The Sultans of Syria preferred the Christians to this fierce horde for their neighbours. Even the Sultan of Egypt began to regret the aid he had given to such barbarous foes, and united with those of Emissa and Damascus to root them from the land. The Korasmins amounted to but twenty thousand men, and were unable to resist the determined hostility... The Sultans defeated them in several engagements, and the peasantry rose up in masses to take vengeance upon them. No mercy was shown them in defeat. Barbaquan was slain..."[25]

Modern age[edit]

Main article: Khanate of Khiva









In Persian literature[edit]

Emir Timur and his maiden from Khwarezm.



عالم جانها بر او هست مقرر چنانک
دولت خوارزمشاه داد جهان را قرار
The Khwarazmshahs have brought peace to the world.

Khaqani Shirvani

یکی پر طمع پیش خوارزمشاه
A greedy one went to Khwarezm-shah
شنیدم که شد بامدادی پگاه
early one morning, so I have heard



آخر ای خاک خراسان داد یزدانت نجات
Oh land of Khorasan! God has saved you,
از بلای غیرت خاک ره گرگانج و کات
from the disaster that befell the land of Gurganj and Kath

—Divan of Anvari


اگر آن ترک شیرازی به دست آرد دل ما را
If that Shirazi Turk can win my heart,
به خال هندویش بخشم سمرقند و بخارا را



Notables of Khwarezm[edit]


See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b Encyclopedia Iranica, Chorasmia, Yuri Aleksandrovich Rapoport
  2. ^ Yaqut al-Hamawi, Mu'jam al-buldān, Vol2, p395
  4. ^ Bahram Farahvoshi. Iranovich, Tehran University Press. 1991. p. 8
  11. ^ MacKenzie, D.N. (1996). "Encyclopedia Iranica". CHORASMIA. Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2009. 
  12. ^ MacKenzie, 1996
  13. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica, "The Chorasmian Language", D.N.Mackenzie
  16. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, "Iranian languages" (Retrieved on 29 December 2008)
  21. ^ British Museum Collection
  25. ^ a b Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay, p221
  • Robin Lane Fox. Alexander the Great, pp. 308ff etc.
  • Shir Muhammad Mirab Munis & Muhammad Reza Mirab Agahi. Firdaws al-Iqbal. History of Khorezm (Leiden: Brill) 1999, trans & ed. Yuri Bregel
  • Yuri Bregel. "The Sarts in the Khanate of Khiva", Journal of Asian History, Vol. 12, 1978, pp. 121–151

External links[edit]
