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Abd al-Karim Bukhari

Bukharan traveller, embassy scribe and historian, author of a history of Central Asia and Afghanistan from the age of Nadir Shah, published in French translation in Paris in 1876.

Occupation:
Scientist, Historian
Born:
c. 1762 — c. 1831
Birthplace:
Bukhara

Biography

Mir Abd al-Karim Bukhari was born in Bukhara, by the usual estimate in the early 1760s. Reference works count him among the sayyids of Bukhara; the year of his birth is not known exactly, so it is given here as approximate.

He travelled widely from youth. At sixteen he went to Kashmir and back, and in 1789–90 he set out on a second long journey that took him through Semey, Ili (Kulja), Aksu, Kashgar, Yarkand, Kashmir and Tibet.

In 1804–05 he accompanied a Bukharan embassy to Russia as the member in charge of provisions, spending about nine months in St Petersburg and visiting Moscow, Astrakhan and the Khanate of Khiva.

In October 1807 he reached Istanbul with a Bukharan embassy to the Ottoman court. His family died there of an infectious disease and he married again. In February 1814 he became chief scribe to the Bukharan ambassador and appears to have remained in Istanbul for the rest of his life.

In Istanbul he wrote his history of Central Asia. The work has no title of its own; it covers events from the time of Nadir Shah (the 1740s) down to 1818, chiefly the history of Bukhara and Afghanistan, with material on Khiva, Kokand, Eastern Turkestan, Kashmir, Khorasan, Badakhshan and other lands. It was completed in the mid-1810s, and the author added passages to it later, in 1830–31.

The text was printed in Egypt in 1873–74, and in 1876 the French orientalist Charles Schefer published a translation in Paris as “Histoire de l'Asie centrale (Afghanistan, Boukhara, Khiva, Khoqand)”. Nothing is known of the author’s life after 1830–31.

Career

Life path

  1. c. 1762
    Birth

    Born in Bukhara into a family of sayyids; the exact year is unknown.

  2. late 1770s
    First journey to Kashmir

    At sixteen he travelled to Kashmir and returned.

  3. 1789–1790
    Second long journey

    Travelled through Semey, Ili, Aksu, Kashgar, Yarkand, Kashmir and Tibet.

  4. 1804–1805
    With the embassy to Russia

    Spent about nine months in St Petersburg with the Bukharan envoys and visited Moscow, Astrakhan and Khiva.

  5. 1807
    Arrival in Istanbul

    Came to Istanbul with the Bukharan embassy to the Ottoman court and stayed there.

  6. 1814
    Chief scribe of the ambassador

    Became chief scribe to the Bukharan ambassador.

  7. mid-1810s
    Writing the history

    Completed the main part of his history of Central Asia from the time of Nadir Shah to 1818.

  8. 1830–1831
    Additions to the text

    Added passages on later events; nothing is known of his life afterwards.

  9. 1873–1876
    Publication

    The text was printed in Egypt (1873–74) and a French translation in Paris (1876).

Works

  • History of Central Asia (untitled work) (1815)
    Historical work

    History of Bukhara, Afghanistan, Khiva, Kokand and neighbouring lands from the time of Nadir Shah to 1818; supplemented in 1830–31.

  • “Histoire de l'Asie centrale” (Paris, 1876) (1876)
    French edition

    Translation with notes by Charles Schefer.

Legacy

Abd al-Karim Bukhari’s work serves as a source for the history of Bukhara, Afghanistan, Khiva and Kokand in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; the author drew on his own observations and on information gathered during his travels. Charles Schefer’s edition of 1876 made it available to European orientalists.

Era: Late 18th – early 19th century, the time of the Emirate of Bukhara and its contacts with the Ottoman court
  • Bukharan embassy in St Petersburg (1804)
  • Bukharan embassy arrives in Istanbul (1807)
  • French edition published in Paris (1876)
Abd al-Karim Bukhari (c. 1762–1831) — Scientist | Shaxs.uz