The objective of this study is to analyze the system of succession in the Emirate of Bukhara based on Anke von Kuegelgen’s monograph on the legitimation of the Manghit dynasty. The research focuses on identifying the process of selecting an heir, preparing him for rule, and the role of institutions such as the ataliqs and provincial governorships in this process. The primary methodology involves source-based analysis and a systematic approach. It examines Anke von Kuegelgen’s work, The Legitimation of the Central Asian Manghit Dynasty in the Works of Their Historians (18th–19th centuries), as the main source, synthesizing its scattered information on succession. The analysis reveals that the Emirate of Bukhara lacked a formally codified (de jure) order of succession. The transfer of power was, in practice (de facto), a politico-meritocratic selection process. The study proposes evaluating succession in the Emirate of Bukhara not merely as chaotic struggle or traditional inheritance, but as a complex set of informal political practices that emerged in response to the legitimation problem arising from the Manghit dynasty’s non-Chinggisid origins.

Emirate of Bukhara, Manghit dynasty, succession

Kuegelgen, Anke von. (2004). Legitimatsiya sredneaziatskoy dinastii mangitov v proizvedeniyakh ikh istorikov (XVIII–XIX vv.) [The Legitimation of the Central Asian Manghit Dynasty in the Works of Their Historians (18th–19th centuries)]. Almaty: Daik-Press. 516 p.

Dzhurabaev, D.Kh. (2015). Izuchenie politicheskoy istorii Bukharskogo emirata v sovetskiy i postsovetskiy periody [The Study of the Political History of the Bukhara Emirate in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods]. Vestnik Tadzhikskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta prava, biznesa i politiki. Seriya gumanitarnykh nauk [Bulletin of the Tajik State University of Law, Business and Politics. Humanities Series], (2), pp. 13–21.

Dzhurabaev, D.Kh. (2013). Otrazhenie istorii Bukharskogo emirata v issledovaniyakh zapadnykh avtorov [The Reflection of the History of the Bukhara Emirate in the Research of Western Authors]. Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya [Modern Problems of Science and Education], (6), pp. 1–7.

Rajabov, Q. (2005). Muhammad Rahimxon – mang’itlar sulolasi asoschisi [Muhammad Rahim Khan – The Founder of the Manghit Dynasty]. Buxoro mavjlari [Waves of Bukhara], (3), pp. 36–37.

Shodiev, J.M. (2010). Buxoro amirligi davlatchiligining rivojlanishi [The Development of Statehood in the Emirate of Bukhara]. (H.B. Boboev, Ed.). Tashkent: Tashkent State University of Law Publishing. 114 p.

Egamberdiyev, A. (2025). Muhammad Vafoyi Karminagiyning “Tuhfat ul-xoniy” asarida mang’itlar sulolasi hokimiyatining legitimligi masalasi [The Issue of the Legitimacy of the Manghit Dynasty’s Power in Muhammad Vafoi Karminagi’s «Tuhfat ul-Khoniy»]. Materials of the Republican scientific-practical conference on «Inter-civilizational dialogue: historical experience and philosophical approaches in modern international relations». Tashkent, pp. 79–82.