A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

Bukhara, Khiva, and Khoqand 189
We have seen how in Kashgaria the khwajas competed for power with
the last remnants of the Chaghatayids, and then lobbied for it at the
courts of the Dalai Lamas and Jungars before succumbing to the
Manchu conquerors of Sinkiang.In Fergana, they had to yield, by 1710,
to Shahrukh Biy, a chieftain of the Ming, one of the Uzbek tribes drifting
into Transoxania and adjacent areas from the Kipchak steppe.The
rise of the Ming Dynasty – thus called after the tribe, and of course
totally unrelated to the Ming Dynasty of China – from the position of
tribal leaders to that of rulers of an expanding khanate filled much
of the eighteenth century.It was associated with the growth of the city
of Khoqand from a site where the new rulers built a fortified palace.
Khoqand, situated in the western part of Fergana some distance to the
south of the Syr Darya, may have been chosen instead of an existing
capital like Andijan partly because it was farther from the Tianshan
mountains and thus less exposed to raids by the Kyrgyz and Kalmyks.
On the other hand, the new capital was closer to the possessions of the
emirs of Bukhara, and subsequently suffered in the wars between the
two khanates; but again, this could and did turn into an asset when
the Khoqandis were strong enough to become conquerors themselves in
their favorite direction, that is, southern Kazakhstan and the eastern
confines of the emirate of Bukhara.
The title that the Ming applied to themselves throughout the eighteenth
century was the relatively modest biy (local form of the pan-Turkic
title beg), but their possessions acquired the definite structure of a principality
under Irdana Biy (1740–69).With most of Fergana under his
control, Irdana Biy saw himself both forced and tempted to engage in
international politics and alliances.His reign coincided with upheavals
in both Bukhara and Sinkiang, a circumstance that may have facilitated
the evolution of Fergana into what would soon become the khanate of
Khoqand.Irdana Biy’s recognition of Manchu suzerainty, quoted by
scholars on the basis of Chinese sources, may have been more a clever
expression of respect for a mighty neighbor than an actual state of vassaldom,
and it harkened back to pre-Islamic times, when local rulers in
Fergana had had a similar relationship with Tang China.At the same
time, Irdana Biy formed a curious alliance with Ahmed Shah Durrani
of Afghanistan (1747–73), possibly against the troublesome Kyrgyz
tribes of the Tianshan rather than against China herself; in any case, the
Afghan connection was a short-lived episode overshadowed by
Khoqand’s lasting relations with its neighbors to the east, west, and
north.The consolidation continued under Narbuta Biy (1769–88), and