Khiva in the context of "Khwarezm"

Wozdwizhenskaya Fortress (1742) on the Sakmara River was the second fort built as a part of Sakmara Distance by Ivan Neplyuyev during his governance of the Orenburg Commission. It was located on the Sakmara River, southeast of Orenburg, 100 miles (160 km) west of Orsk, and 30 miles (48 km) north of Werneozernaya Fortress. It was built for protection against raids by nomadic Kyrgyz tribes for capturing of slaves from the Russian frontiers on the Caspian Sea and slave trading to Khiva.

The Wozdwizhenskaya Cossacks supported the Imperial government during Pugachev's Rebellion in 1773–1775. The fortress was completely destroyed by the bombardment of the Red Guards units in May 1918 for supporting the counterrevolution of Alexander Dutov against the Soviet authorities.

The Bukhara slave trade refers to the historical slave trade conducted in the city of Bukhara in Central Asia (present-day Uzbekistan) from antiquity until the 19th century. Bukhara and nearby Khiva were known as the major centers of slave trade in Central Asia for centuries until the completion of the Russian conquest of Central Asia in the late 19th century.

The city of Bukhara was an important trade center along the ancient Silk Road, through which slaves were traded between Europe and Asia. In the Middle Ages, Bukhara came to lie in the religious border zone between the Muslim and non-Muslim world, which was seen as a legitimate target of slavery by Muslims, and referred to as the "Eastern Dome of Islam". It became the center of the massive slave trade of the Samanid Empire, who bought saqaliba (European) slaves from the Kievan Rus' and sold them on to the Middle East, and as such constituted one of the main trade routes of saqaliba slaves to the Muslim world. The conquests and plundering of the Ghaznavid Empire brought a large number of slaves from India into the markets of Bukhara in the 10th and 11th centuries. Bukhara was also a center for the trade of non-Muslim Turkic slaves from Central Asia to the Middle East and India, where they composed the main ethnicity of ghilman (military slaves) for centuries.

The Khanate of Khiva (Chagatay: خیوه خانلیگی, romanized: Khivâ Khânligi, Persian: خانات خیوه, romanized: Khânât-e Khiveh, Uzbek: Xiva xonligi, Хива хонлиги, Turkmen: Hywa hanlygy, Russian: Хивинское ханство, romanized: Khivinskoye khanstvo) was an Uzbek monarchy that existed in the historical region of Khorezm from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Afsharid occupation by Nader Shah between 1740 and 1746. Centred in the irrigated plains of the lower Amu Darya, south of the Aral Sea, with the capital in the city of Khiva. It covered present-day western Uzbekistan, southwestern Kazakhstan and much of Turkmenistan before the Russian conquest at the second half of the 19th century.

In 1873, the Khanate of Khiva was greatly reduced in size and became a Russian protectorate. The other regional protectorate that lasted until the Revolution was the Emirate of Bukhara. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Khiva had a revolution too, and in 1920 the Khanate was replaced by the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic. In 1924, the area was formally incorporated into the Soviet Union and today it is largely a part of Karakalpakstan, Xorazm Region in Uzbekistan, and Daşoguz Region of Turkmenistan.

Khorazm Region, also known as the Khorezm or Xorazm Region, (Uzbek: Xorazm viloyati, Хоразм вилояти, خوارزم ولایتی) is a viloyat (region) of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River. It borders with Turkmenistan, Karakalpakstan, and the Bukhara Region. It covers an area of 6,050 square kilometres (2,340 sq mi). The population is estimated at 1,959,300 (2023), with 67% living in rural areas. The capital is Urgench (pop. est. 147 300). Other major towns include Xonqa, Khiva, Shovot, and Pitnak.

The climate is a typically arid continental climate, with cold winters and extremely hot, dry summers.

Khorazm Region, also known as the Khorezm or Xorazm Region, (Uzbek: Xorazm viloyati, Хоразм вилояти, خوارزم ولایتی) is a viloyat (region) of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River. It borders with Turkmenistan, Karakalpakstan, and the Bukhara Region. It covers an area of 6,050 square kilometres (2,340 mi). The population is estimated at 1,959,300 (2023), with 67% living in rural areas. The capital is Urgench (pop. est. 147 300). Other major towns include Xonqa, Khiva, Shovot, and Pitnak.

The climate is a typically arid continental climate, with cold winters and extremely hot, dry summers.