Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/637

* TURKESTAN. 555 TURKESTAN. and over 2,000,000 horses in the country. The domestic industries are widespread, and some of the native products, such as carpets and rugs, are highly vahied in liurope. The manufacturing industries properly so called are in their infancy. The exports consist chiefly of raw products, which go largely to Russia. The Transfas]iian Railway has been a great pacificator in Russian Turkestan. It reached Samarkand in 1888 and at present extends to Tashkent and Andijan. From Tashkent a line is building northwest to Oren- burg on the European frontier, and other lines are in contemplation. While the general admin- istration is intrusted to Russian officials, the na- tives sufl'cr little interference, and taxation is scarcely more than nominal. Public education is almost entirely in the hands of the native re- ligious bodies, although the Russian Government has shown considerable concern for the instruc- tion of the natives. Turkestan forms one educa- tional district, and had, in 1808, 125 schools with 5.560 pupils. The inhabitants are almost wholly Mohammedans. The Kirghizes form al)0ut 36 per cent., the Sarts 24 per cent., and the Usbegs and Kiptchaks together 19 per cent. The Rus- sians, therefore, constitute but a small element. The leading cities are Tashkent, the capital, Khokaiid. Namangan, and Samarkand. Andijan was ruined by an earthquake in 1902. CniXESE OR Eastern Tltrkestan. A depend- ency of China, bordered on the north by Sun- garia, on the east by Mongolia, on the south by Tibet, on the southwest by Kashmir, and on the west and northwest by the Pamir and Rus- sian Turkestan. The country is i.solated and forbidding in many aspects. It is in the main a large and elevated desert plateau, surrounded by lofty mountain ranges, of which the Tian Shan lines the northern frontier, and the Kuen- lun, Altyn Tag, and the spurs of the Karakorum the southern. The southern range reaches more than 18,000 feet. The desert of Gobi occupies a portion of the eastern section. The mean eleva- tion of Chinese Turkestan is assumed to be about 3500 feet, but there are a number of markedly low levels, and along the southern face of the Bogdo-Ola mountains, in the depression of Luk- tchun. the surface drops 200 feet or more below sea-level. The region is watered chiefly by the Tarim River (q.v. ), which rises in the west, and its tributaries. The Tashun-Gobi desert occupies the centre of the eastern part. At the foot of the frontier ranges there are chains of oases which mark the chief caravan routes of the region. Along the foot of the Tian Shan stretches a series of lakes, of which the largest is the Bagrach Kul. The climate is severe and extremely dry. Do- mestic animals abound, and the tiger, jackal, wild camel, bear, and wolf are found. The oases and the strips along the base of the mountain ranges alone offer conditions for permanent habi- tation. The people are engaged principally in agriculture, stock-raising, commerce, and hunt- ing. Cotton, silk, and animal products are ex- ported, and in some of the larger cities, such as Yarkand. Khotan, Aksu. and Kashgar, there are manufactured copper-ware, silk, carpet, felt, and leather goods. There are extensive mineral re- sources, but mining is engaged in only by the natives and accordingly in a primitive way. Asbestos, sulphur, and saltpetre are obtained. A heavy caravan commerce traverses Eastern Vol.. XIX.— 36. Turkestan en route to and from China, this region being in the direct central western route. Administratively. Eastern Turkestan has formed since 1885 a part of the Chinese Province of Sin- kiang, and is <Iivided into the three dao-tais of Kashgar, Aksu, and Urumehi (qq.v. ). The .seat of the administration is at Urumehi. The in- habitants are of mi.Ked Aryan and Turanian de- scent. The most numerous are the Kirghizes, Sarts, Kalmucks, Usbegs, and Tajiks. Tlie lan- guage is Eastern Turkish with an admixture of Chinese words. History. (See Bokhara, Khiva, Monuol Dy- XA.STIES, Samakka.nd, etc.) The invasion of Cen- tral Asia by Russia began soon after the eoiKjuest of Siberia, and desultory raids on Khia by pioneers from the north were made as early as the end of the sixteenth century. The expedition into Central Asia sent out by Peter the Great in 1714 ended in disaster, but the submission of the Kirghizes during the eigliteenth century gave Russia the territory between the Ural and the Lake of Balkhash. In 1839 a well-equipped Russian army sent against Khiva under the com- mand of Perovski succumbed to cold, hunger, and sickness. By the end of the first half of the nineteenth century Russian forts were establi-shed at the mouth of the Syr-Darya and during the following decades a chain of Russian forts was built along the southern frontier. In 1854 a second expedition under Perovski against Khiva met with success. In 1867 the Governor-General- ship of Turkestan was established with Tashkent as the capital. In the following year Samarkand was taken and a treaty of peace was concluded with the Ameer of Bokhara by which Russia ac- quired a considerable part of the Zerafshan Val- ley, and Bokhara became practically a vassal State of Russia. In 1873 a Russian expedition forced the Khan of Khiva to cede to Bokhara the Kliivan territories on the right bank of the Amu- Darya, which were soon annexed by Russia. In 1876 Russia annexed the Khanate of Khokand (Ferghana). The subjugation of the Tekke- Turkomans was terminated with the capture of Geiik-Tepe by Skobeleft' in 1881. The Turkomans of Merv submitted in 1884. In 1887 the Afghan boundary was demarcated by an Anglo-Russian commission. The authentic history of Chinese Turkestan can be traced almost to the beginning of the Christian Era. when the region was partly un- der the rule of China. Buddhism was then the predominating religion, but there were also sects of Nestorian Christians. In the seventh century the western part of the country fell under the sway of Tibet, whose rule had been ex- tended by the end of the century to the entire re- gion. Islam began to sjiread over Eastern Turkes- tan in the tenth century, but even with the con- quest of the eoimtry by Genghis Khan (q.v.) at the beginning of the thirteenth century there was perfect toleration. It was only with the arrival of the mollahs from Bokhara in the fourteenth century that Islam became a cause of strife, and gave rise to the two factions of White and Black Mountaineers, whose struggles gave China an opportunity to reconquer the country at the end of the eighteenth century. The history of Eastern Turkestan during the nineteenth century is largely made up of repeated attempts on the part of the followers of Islam to wrest the coun-