1 Tenga – Khoqand Khanate

By 1866, the currency system of the Khoqand Khanate was in a state of severe crisis, reflecting the broader political and economic disintegration of the state. For decades, the Khanate had financed its administration and military through the debasement of its primary silver coin, the tanga. Successive khans, particularly in the mid-19th century, drastically reduced the silver content, leading to a proliferation of low-quality, lightweight coins that eroded public trust. This inflationary practice created a chaotic monetary environment where the nominal value of coins bore little relation to their intrinsic metal worth, disrupting trade and sowing economic instability.

This financial decay was exacerbated by intense external pressure. The Khanate was caught in the geopolitical struggle between the expanding Russian Empire and the British Empire, while also facing constant military threats from the Emirate of Bukhara. The costly wars of the 1850s and 1860s, especially against Russia, emptied the treasury and forced even more reckless currency debasement to pay troops. By 1866, Russian forces had already annexed much of the northern territory of the Khanate, including the key city of Tashkent in 1865, severely restricting Khoqand's economic base and tax revenues, which further accelerated the currency's downward spiral.

Consequently, by 1866, multiple currencies circulated in a fragmented economy. The debased Khoqandi tanga competed with older, full-weight tangas from earlier reigns, various Bukharan coins, and increasingly, Russian rubles and kopecks in occupied areas. The monetary chaos mirrored the Khanate's political reality: the authority of Khudayar Khan was crumbling, rebel factions controlled different regions, and Russian conquest was imminent. The currency situation, therefore, was not merely an economic issue but a potent symbol of the Khanate's loss of sovereignty, which would be fully extinguished by the Russian annexation in 1876.