Kath

Kath, the old capital of Khwarazm on the lower Amu Darya, survived the loss of its political primacy as a smaller town. Ibn Battuta passed through in 1333 on the journey from Gurganj to Bukhara and described a prosperous settlement. Later in the fourteenth century Timur devastated Kath during his struggle with Tokhtamysh, before having its walls rebuilt. The river repeatedly proved as consequential as warfare. Shifting channels and floods had already damaged the old city, even while irrigation supported the surrounding fields. In the seventeenth century further flooding destroyed canals. Anusha Khan of Khiva, who ruled from 1663 to 1685, responded by digging the Yarmish canal and building a fortress on the opposite, left bank of the Amu Darya, moving Kath's remaining population there. The old right-bank ruins acquired the name of the local shrine of Shaikh Abbas Wali.