TURKESTAN
1955
TURKEY
flow westward from the Pamir tableland, while the Yarkand and Kashgar are the most important rivers flowing eastward. The higher mountain-districts give fine pasturage in summer for flocks, and the upper valleys and plains are fertile and highly cultivated; but toward the Aral and Caspian Seas there are large regions of sandy and trackless wastes, many of them lower than the sea, where the wells are salt and both salt and sulphur are found. The portion of eastern Turkestan near the Pamir tableland is mountainous, and the center is a great plain, with fertile belts along the streams, but most of the country is a desert, except where it is irrigated. Gold, silver, iron, copper, niter, sulphur, asbestos, agate and j asper are found; while the field-products are cotton, rice, wheat, hemp, flax, barley, corn, tobacco and most of the common fruits. The great article of export is cattle. Manufactures of silk and cotton goods, sabers and knives exist. In western Turkestan the people are Turks or Tartars and Tajiks or Aryans. They also are divided into the settled population and the nomad or wandering tribes. The religion is Mohammedanism. The people are jealous of foreigners, so that the country has been very difficult of access by Europeans. The inhabitants of eastern Turkestan are varied, the Turanian element being the most prominent. The villages are a collection of walled inclosures, surrounding houses and gardens.
Turkestan has had an important part in Asiatic history. Most of the western part belonged to the Persian empire, and many of its large cities were built by the Persians. It went with Persia into the hands of the Macedonians, part of it becoming a Greek province. In the 8th century the Arabs had possession, and it was finally overrun by the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan (q. v.). Under Timur (q. v.) it was the center of a great empire, stretching from Moscow to the Ganges and from the Hellespont to China; its cities were adorned by the spoils of victory; and colonies of learned men and skilled artisans were brought to the country. The empire split into fragments on the death of Timur's youngest son, and various independent states were formed out of what now is Turkestan. In 1792 the present Uzbeg dynasty obtained the throne. The later history of Turkestan is a series of wars between Bokhara, Khiva and Khokan; of raids of the Turkomans along the Persian border; and of the progress of Russian conquest from the north and west. The Pamir tableland separates the acquisitions of Russia and England in Asia, and both countries have been contending for Turkestan, but so far Russia has succeeded in obtaining control of the larger part of the country, thus forming the Russian general government and prov-
inces of Turkestan, with an area of 400,770 square miles and a population of 6,250,000. Its capital is Tashkend (q. v.). Chinese or Eastern Turkestan belongs administratively to Sin-Kiang, ;the area being 550,340 square miles and the population 1,200,000.
Tur'key, a large bird related to the pheasants and originally inhabiting the New World. There are three species known: the North American, the Mexican and the Central American bird. The Mexican turkey was domesticated by the Indians before the discovery of Mexico by the European, and is the original from which the domesticated birds are descended. It was introduced into France and England in the 16th century, and is imported all over the world. The turkey of Central America excels all others in variety and splendor of plumage, which combines metallic green, blue, black, yellow and red. It lives in the open forest and the open country, rather than in the deep forests, like the wild turkey of North America. The male has no tuft on the neck. The common wild turkey of North America ranges from southern Canada to Florida and Mexico, but has been so persistently hunted that it is found only in remote swamp and woodland or mountain region far from haunts of man. It is about four feet long, being the largest game-bird; has plumage of a metallic bronze; the bill and head are red, the head and neck bare; from the center of the breast of the male hangs a beard-like tuft. The hen is a devoted mother, but her young have a serious struggle for existence, snakes, hawks and other enemies disturbing and destroying them.
Turkey=Buzzard, a bird belonging to the group of the New-World vultures. It abounds in the warmer parts of North and South America, and ranges throughout the United States, except in New England. This bird is about 27 to 30 inches long. It has a dark plumage, with a violet and greenish luster on the upper parts. The bill is white, and the head and upper parts of the neck, which are destitute of feathers, are reddish. It feeds on carrion. See BUZZARD and VULTURE.
Turkey up to the Balkan war (q. v.) consisted of those countries in Europe, Asia and Africa under the control of the sultan, though it is usually limited to Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia, called Turkey-proper. Including all subject states, it covered i ,565,000 square miles and had a population of 35,400,000. Turkey in Europe had been reduced to a territory stretching from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, from the J&ge&n Sea and Greece on the south to the Balkan Mountains. and north of them to about 43° north latitude, covering 65,350 square miles, with a population of 6,130,200, made up mainly of Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians. Turkey in Asia covers 693,610
