Bukharan Documents

The District Library in Bukhara holds about 2000 documents from the 16th to the ealy 20th century. The present paper offers a history of the collection, a detailed description of the holdings by types of documents and by chanceries. Appendixes supply a glossary of terms used in the documents, and five items are published here for the first time in facsimile and English translation: a decree issued by Nauruz Ahmad Khan (dated 1556), and three transactions concerning landholdings dated 1883, 1899 and 1920. Thus, the paper is a contribution to the administrative and social history of the Bukharan amirate, a subject which has been seriously neglected until present.