Hisar (Tajikistan)

The fort of Hisar, residence of the Bukharan governor, is said to date back to Cyrus the Great and to have been captured twenty one times.^[4]

In 1504 the region was conquered by Muhammad Shaybani.^[5] Babur briefly conquered Hisar in 1511, but came back under control of the Uzbeks not long after. Hisar became a semi-independent principality in the next few decades and was ruled by a sultan, furnishing troops for Bukhara's military campaigns.^[5] In the 17th century the Tajiks became the dominant power in the region, obtaining the governorship of Hisar. During this period the Bukharan khanate was split between the khan in Bukhara and the ruler (usually one of his relatives) in Balkh, and Hisar was generally subordinate to the latter. The decline of Bukharan power after the assassination of Ubaydullah Khan in 1711 resulted in Hisor asserting its independence.^[5]

Only after the signing of the conclusion of the Russian conquest of Bukhara with the signing of "Russian-Bukharan treaty of 1868", and with Russian military aid, was Bukhara able to reintegrate Hisar into its domain. With the dissolution of Bukhara and the National delimitation in the Soviet Union, the region (and Eastern Bukhara as a whole) was again separated and it officially became the core of the Tajik ASSR. The process was a result of practical consideration, as the Eastern half of Bukhara Emirate was more remote, more feudal, and less economically developed than the Western half (where the capital Bukhara was located), as well as the emergence of Tajik national identity, its divergence and clash with Uzbek national identity, and the result of intense debates and mutual compromise between the two emerging respective Tajik and Uzbek intelligentsias.

Hisar was made a city on June 26, 1993.

Before ca. 2018, Hisar was the seat of Hisar District, which covered the rural part of the present city of Hisar isor.^[6] The city of Hisar covers Hisar proper, the town Sharora and ten jamoats.^[7] These are as follows:^[8]