Nasr-Allah bin Haydar Tora | |
Succession: | Emir of Bukhara |
Reign: | 24 April 1827 – 20 October 1860 |
Predecessor: | Umar bin Haydar |
Successor: | Muzaffar bin Nasrullah |
Birth Date: | 1806 |
Birth Place: | Bukhara |
Death Date: | 20 October 1860 |
House: | Manghit dynasty |
Father: | Haydar bin Shahmurad |
Religion: | Islam |
Nasrullah Khan, or Amir Muhammad Nasrullah Bahadur Khan,[1] was the Emir of Bukhara from 24 April 1827 to 20 October 1860. His father was Emir Haydar bin Shahmurad (1800–1826).
After Haydar's death, Mir Hussein bin Haydar came to power. He died two months later and was succeeded by Umar bin Haydar. Civil war erupted between the forces of Umar and Nasrullah. From personal experience, Nasrullah knew that in order to defeat Umar, he would need the support of the population of Samarqand and Miyankal (a region between Samarqand and Bukhara). One of his first actions was to enter Samarqand and gaining the support of the local leadership. Then he marched throughout the Zarafshan Valley, where local Uzbek tribes and clans submitted to him along the way.
Nasr-Allah bin Haydar Tora was ruler in a time when the Central Asian states were under pressure from the advance of the Russian Empire in the north and the British Indian Empire in the south. Nasr-Allah is best known in the West as the Emir who imprisoned and eventually executed in 1842 the British envoys Charles Stoddart and Arthur Conolly, and imprisoned but eventually released Joseph Wolff, who came in 1843 to seek news of them.
Nasrullah bin Haydar Tora organized several unsuccessful military campaigns against the Kokand Khanate. In 1839, he declared war against Kokand due to their building of the Pishagar fort near the Bukhara front. He conquered Khojand twice in 1839 and 1841, forcing the Khan of Kokand into a peace in his favour and took Ura Tepe and Khojend as compensation. The Khan of Kokand was also forced to pay a heavy amount and recognize him as lord, putting his name on the coins and the khutba. After a revolt in Khujent, the Emir's forces occupied Khojent and Kokand. Madali Khan, the Khan of Kokand, escaped to Marghilan, but was captured and executed in Bukhara at the end of April 1842. Nasrullah also personally ordered the execution of Ali-Khan and Nodira of Kokand along with most of their families. Bukharan forces in the Khanate of Kokand were expelled after a revolt in Kokand two months later.
Nasr-Allah bin Haydar Tora died on 20 October 1860, being succeeded by his son, Muzaffar bin Nasrullah.[2]
A Person from England and Other Travellers, 1958
Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara, in the years 1843-1845, to ascertain the fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly. London, J. W. Parker, 1845.