Feruz Khan was the first Khan to have his photograph taken and enjoyed the process immensely

Mohammed Rakhim Khan the Second came to the throne at the age of nineteen. He was to rule for 46 years through an age of monumental change for the Khanate. Known by his pen name, Feruz, he set about repairing the damage left by his father Said Mohammed. He had buildings repaired and introduced economic changes, as well as constructing an impressive madrassah opposite the Kunya Ark.

Keen to establish stronger ties with the outside world, he sent an envoy to India in 1872. Links with Russia were also rapidly established whether the Khan liked them or not; the Russian General Kaufmann, who had already conquered Kokand, Tashkent and Bukhara, had set his sights on Khiva.

Taken from 'Khiva Caught in Time'

Kaufmann advanced on the city from Tashkent while other regiments marched from Orenburg and Krasnavodsk. Surrounded, Feruz rather wisely fled the capital and Khiva was taken by the Russians. He then made his way to Kunya Urgench, where he had every intention of staying until Kaufmann threatened to give the Khanship over to someone else. Reluctantly, Feruz made his way to the village of Gandimyan, where his brother Ota Tura had a palace. Here a treaty was signed between Russia and Khiva stating that, though Feruz was still Khan, he had become a subject and vassal of the Tsar. A copy of the treaty can still be seen in the Mohammed Arab Khan Madrassah.

Taken from 'Khiva Caught in Time'

The Khan was stoic about his defeat, but sore about the payment of a huge war indemnity, as Captain Frederick Burnaby, reputedly the strongest man in Britain, found out. However, vassaldom had a few perks and the Khan was able to visit both St Petersburg and Moscow, bringing back a grand piano which he instructed his minister of finance to learn, and a telephone which, although unconnected, was given pride of place within the palace. He also returned with a lithographic printing press and proceeded to have the poetry of Alisher Navoi printed along with his own imaginatively titled anthologies: Feruz One, Feruz Two and Feruz Three. Two of his manuscripts are now in museums in London. Feruz was also a great enthusiast for Komil Khorezmi's musical annotation known as 'tanbur', and was himself an enthusiastic musician.

Taken from 'Khiva Caught in Time'

Feruz also visited Orenburg, Mashed, Merv, Istanbul and Tehran, and hospitably welcomed a community of German Mennonites seeking a place to live where they would not be expected to take arms in military service. He settled them in Okh Mejid where they remained until the 1930s.

In 1907 the Khan ordered a lavish banquet for the whole city in honour of his sixty-third birthday; the most important for a Muslim as the age when the Prophet died. Three years later, he died in the Nurullabeg Palace and was entombed in the Said Mugrumjan Ensemble.