Bukharan People's Soviet Republic - Geography of Partition

Geography of Partition

The Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic (Bukharan PSR) had an area of 182,193 km2 (70,345 sq mi) and a population of more than 2.2 million people, mainly Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Turkmens. During its entire existence from 1920 to 1925, the Bukharan PSR was a large enclave within the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkestan ASSR) created in April 1918 on the territory of Russian Turkestan. Bukharan PSR, together with the Khorezm PSR, stretched from norh-west to south-east in a belt that cut Turkestan ASSR, into two separate parts: the small part in the south-west, corresponding to today's Turkmenistan (except a narrow strip along the southern bank of Amudarya, which was included in the Bukharan PSR), and the much larger part in the north-east, corresponding to sections of today's Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. The southern border of the Bukharan PSR stretched from north-west to south-east along the southern bank of Amudarya to Termez and then along the Panj into West Pamir, reaching Langar at its south-eastern extreme point. It bordered Samarkand Oblast to the north-east and the southern part of Fergana Oblast to the east in West Pamir. The northern border of the People’s Republic reached close to Khiva in the west and touched on what is today Karakalpakstan and Navoiy Province in Uzbekistan. The People’s Republic, like the Emirate of Bukhara that it succeeded, was divided into West Bukhara, including the cities of Bukhara and Karshi, and East Bukhara, roughly from Hisor to West Pamir. In the process of national delimitation of Central Asia in 1924, West Bukhara was included in the newly created Uzbek SSR (except for the south bank of Amudarya with the city of Chardjui, which went to Turkmen SSR), whereas East Bukhara, from Hisor to West Pamir, was ceded to Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik ASSR) and thus formed part of the Tajik SSR that was created later in 1929.