ECONOMIC RIVALRY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN  THE MARKETS OF CENTRAL ASIA: THE CASE OF THE KOKAND KHANATE (19TH  CENTURY)

Berdiyev Abduvali

Authors

Berdiyev Abduvali Associate Professor, Department of History, Shahrisabz State Pedagogical Institute

Keywords:

Great Britain, Russian Empire, Kokand Khanate, economic rivalry, parachi system, Peshawar-Kabul road, A.N. Teterevnikov, Tashkent, the Great Game

Abstract

This article analyses the economic rivalry waged by the British and Russian empires in the 19th century for control of the markets of Central Asia, and of the Kokand Khanate in particular, on the asis of the reports of Russian travellers and officials. Drawing on A.N. Teterevnikov's work "Ocherk vnutrenney torgovli Kirgizskoy stepi" (1867), the article examines the mechanism by which English
goods penetrated the markets of Central Asia along the Peshawar-Kabul-Bukhara-Kokand route through intermediaries known as "parachi," as well as Russia's active seizure of the Kokand market following the rapid development of Russian industry after 1861. The study demonstrates that the rivalry between the two empires unfolded not only on the military-political plane but, above all, at
the level of commodity prices, transport costs, and control over local intermediary networks, with geographical proximity and the short transport route running through Tashkent ultimately proving to be the decisive factor in Russia's gaining the upper hand.