The monograph makes the first step to generalize numerous materials on archaeology, history and architecture of Ustrushana, a medieval possession located in the geographical centre, between Sogd and Bactria, on the one hand, and Chach and Fergana, on the other. Note that this possession played a significant part in the social-economic and ethno-cultural transit between these regions, in particular, and the entire northern part of the Central Asia, as a whole.Not only did long-term archaeological explorations provide a great volume of historical data but also highlighted Ustrushana’s essential role in the process. Note that at present Ustrushana as a part of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan made its peculiar contribution to the treasury of Central Asian and the world civilization as a whole.The monograph is of interest not only to specialists, archaeologists and historians but also those who show interest in the past of Central Asian peoples.

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The present publication, apart from bringing to light new Timurid and Shaybanid copper hoards of the 15th – first quarter of the 16th centuries, aims at the same time to create a subsequent illustrated catalog based on the numbering system previously proposed by E.A. Davidovich. Modern technical facilities allow to reproduce color photographs and scans of coins, which previously could be shown only as drawing reconstructions, often with annoying.

The monograph is recommended for publication by the Academic Council of the Center for Oriental Manuscripts named after Beruni (Minutes No. 9 dated September 30, 2015). The monograph is being published as part of the project “The History of Central Asia in Manuscripts”, carried out by the International Institute of Central Asian Studies and the Center for Oriental Manuscripts named after Abu Rayhan al-Beruni at the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies. This work was carried out as part of the fundamental grant FA-F1-GO27: Studying the written heritage of the peoples of Central Asia: source study and textual research (based on the fund of the Institute of Law, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan). The book contains the scientific and critical text of Agahi’s work “Zubdat al-Tavarikh” (Cream of Chronicles), written in the 19th century in Central Asian Turki. The work sets out the history of the rule of Rahim Kuli Khan (1842–1846) from the Kungrad dynasty. The book is intended for historians, orientalists and Turkologists, students and undergraduates of universities, as well as for specialists interested in the history of Central Asia.

This publication has been prepared within the framework of a long-term program launched by the Abu Rayhan Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in 2007. The main purpose of the program is to facilitate textual research with a special emphasis on editing and publishing manuscript works (in their original language and script) relating the history of the Central Asia in the XVII – early XX centuries. The present work is the first of this series.