Coin Uzbekistan Bukhara, Alim Khan - 3 Tenga - 1337 AH (1918 / 1919) Bukhara

This 3 tenga coin was issued by the Emirate of Bukhara under the reign of Alim Khan, and bears the date 1337 of the Hijri calendar, corresponding to the years 1918-1919 of the Gregorian calendar.

The tenga was the monetary unit in use across the Central Asian states during this period. Copper issues of low face value, such as this 3 tenga, circulated primarily for everyday transactions within the emirate.

Alim Khan, whose full name was Muhammad Alim Khan, was the last emir of Bukhara. Having ascended to the throne in 1911, he attempted to maintain the independence of his Emirate in the face of growing pressure from Soviet Russia. The period corresponding to this strike is particularly critical: the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 upended the regional order, and the forces of the Red Army were advancing into Central Asia. The Emirate of Bukhara, although placed under Russian protectorate since 1868, sought to preserve its traditional political and administrative structures. In 1920, the Red Army definitively overthrew Alim Khan's regime, forcing him into exile in Afghanistan. This coin thus stands as one of the last monetary testimonies of a state in decline, struck in a context of severe geopolitical instability where the survival of the emirate was already far from assured.