Khiva (Uzbek: Xiva, Хива, خیوه; other names) is a district-level city of approximately 93,000 people in Khorazm Region, Uzbekistan.

The astronomer, historian and polymath, Al-Biruni[4] (973–1048 CE) was born in either Khiva or the nearby city of Kath.

A traditional story attributes the name to one of the sons of the prophet Noah: "It is said that Shem, after the flood, he found himself wandering in the desert alone.

On waking up, he was pleased with this omen, he founded the city with outlines in the form of a ship mapped out according to the placement of the torches, about which he had dreamt.

In the early part of its history, the Aryan inhabitants spoke an Eastern Iranian language called Khwarezmian.

Turks replaced the Iranian ruling class in the 10th century AD, and the region gradually turned into an area with a majority of Turkic speakers.

Following the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917, a short-lived (1920-1924) Khorezm People's Soviet Republic formed out of the territory of the old Khanate of Khiva before its incorporation into the USSR in 1924.

Djuma Mosque, for instance, was established in the 10th century and rebuilt in 1788–89, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures.

[10] In the town, activities such as the "KhivaCarpet" joint-stock company, cotton cleaning, ginning factories, carpet weaving, the "Khiva Gilami" joint-stock company, and other carpet weaving enterprises, as well as a bread factory, a farmer's market, cultural, trade, and service establishments are operational.

There are branches of Urgench University specializing in agro-management, the Uzbek Academy of Sciences Khorezm Mamun Academy, the Qoraqum Scientific Research Station, pedagogical, medical, and tourism colleges, vocational lyceums, a gymnasium, 15 general education schools, a house of culture, 2 special boarding schools, a regional puppet theater, an art school, 2 libraries and their branches, and cultural and recreational gardens.

The town is a prominent center for global tourism, attracting over 200,000 tourists every year, including nearly 7,000 international visitors.

Bus and minibus routes connect Khiva to Tashkent, Bukhara, Navoi, Samarkand, Urgench, Qo'shko'pir, Yangiariq, Bog'ot, Hazorasp, and other major cities and population centers in the region.

The unique values of world significance include architectural monuments of Khiva, which has rightfully earned the title of "museum city".

But archaeological excavations underway here show that at the base of a number of relatively "young" remains of buildings are ancient layers dating back to the III and even earlier centuries BC.

Its massive trunk, exquisitely decorated with wide and narrow belts of glazed brick, indicates that it was conceived as a grandiose, majestic structure, the main vertical of the city.

Very close to the Kalta Minar is the Muhammad Aminxon Madrasah, the largest of the preserved buildings of higher theological educational institutions.

On the territory of Konya Ark (Old Fortress) there is the palace of Muhammad Rahimxon I with rich and unusual interior decoration.