Turkestan

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For the town in southern Kazakhstan, see Hazrat-e Turkestan.

Turkestan (Persian: ترکستان; also spelled Turkistan or Türkistan in Turkish, which literally means "Land of the Turks" in Persian) is a region in Central Asia, which today is largely inhabited by Turkic people. It has been referenced in many Turkic and Persian sagas and is an integral part of Turan (though Turan dwarfs Turkestan in area). Oghuz Turks (also known as Turkmens), Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Khazars, Kyrgyz and Uygurs are some of the Turkic inhabitants of the region who, as history progressed, have spread further into Eurasia forming such Turkic nations as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Tatarstan.

It is subdivided into West (Russian) and East Turkestan (called Xinjiang Turkestan by the PRC, administered as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, titled Uyghuristan by Uyghur separatists), with the Tian Shan and Pamir ranges forming a rough division between the two.

1 History
2 Overview
- 2.1 Russian and Chinese influence
3 Things Turkestan has given its name to
4 Further reading
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

It has a rich history, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC and the 2nd millennium BC. Many artifacts were produced in that period, much trade was conducted; the region was a focal point for cultural diffusion, as the Silk Road traversed the region. Turkic Sagas, such as the Ergenekon, and written sources such as the Orkhon Inscriptions state that Turkic peoples originated from the nearby Altay Mountains and through nomadic settlement started their long journey westwards.

Turkic Empires flourished in the region, and more than once held the entire territories in their hands. Huns, Gokturks and the Timurid Empire not to mention the Mongols under the Chaghatai Khanate all one time or another united the region into a cohesive whole.

[edit] Overview

Known as Turan (Though Turan actually encompasses European Turkic holdings as well) to Iranians, western Turkestan has also been known historically as Sogdiana, Ma wara'u'n-nahr (by its Arab conquerors), and Transoxiana by Western travellers. The latter two names refer to its position beyond the River Oxus when approached from the south, emphasizing Turkestan's long-standing relationship with Iran, the Persian Empires and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates.

[edit] Russian and Chinese influence

The region became part of the Russian Empire in the 1860s, and is thus sometimes called Russian Turkestan or the Туркестанский Край (Turkestanskii Krai). After the Russian Revolution, a Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union was created, which was eventually split into the Kazakh SSR (Kazakhstan), Kyrgyz SSR (Kyrgyzstan), Tajik SSR (Tajikistan), Turkmen SSR (Turkmenistan) and Uzbek SSR (Uzbekistan). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these republics gained their independence.

Eastern Turkestan, often called Chinese Turkestan, is home to the oldest settled Turkic people in the region, the Uyghurs. It was conquered by the Qing Dynasty in the mid-18th century and was named Ice Jecen or Xinjiang (otherwise spelt Sinkiang), meaning new frontier. It was taken over by the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China by which it is now administered as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

[edit] Things Turkestan has given its name to

The Turkestan Shrike, a bird, is named after this region.

[edit] Further reading

V.V. Barthold "Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion" (London) 1968 (3rd Edition)
René Grousset "L'empire des steppes" (Paris) 1965
David Christian "A History Of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia" (Oxford) 1998 Vol.I
Svat Soucek "A History of Inner Asia" (Cambridge) 2000
Vasily Bartold "Работы по Исторической Географии" (Moscow) 2002
- English translation: V.V. Barthold "Work on Historical Geography" (Moscow) 2002
Baymirza Hayit. “Sowjetrußische Orientpolitik am Beispiel Turkestan.“ Köln-Berlin: Kiepenhauer & Witsch, 1956
Baymirza Hayit. “Documents: Soviet Russia's Anti-Islam-Policy in Turkestan.“ Dusseldorf: Gerhard von Mende, 2 vols, 1958.
Baymirza Hayit. “Turkestan im XX Jahrhundert.“ Darmstatdt: Leske, 1956
Baymirza Hayit. “Turkestan Zwischen Russland Und China.“ Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1971
Baymirza Hayit. “Some thoughts on the problem of Turkestan” Institute of Turkestan Research, 1984
Baymirza Hayit. “Islam and Turkestan Under Russian Rule.” Istanbul:Can Matbaa, 1987.
Baymirza Hayit. “Basmatschi: Nationaler Kampf Turkestans in den Jahren 1917 bis 1934. Köln: Dreisam-Verlag, 1993.