near Khoja Salih. They were once a very important tribe on the
upper Oxus. (i) The Ali-elis live near Andkhui.
11. The Turkish nomads scattered over Persian territory are often known by the name of Azerbaijanis or Adharbaijanis, though this name is strictly applicable only to the inhabitants of the province of Azerbaijan (q.v.), of which Tabriz is the capital. They are the descendants of various bodies of Turks who have wandered into Persia at various times, but more particularly of the Ghuzz tribes (the Οὔζοι of the Greeks) who invaded it during the Seljuk period. They are also known as Ilāt or Iliyāt, meaning tribes, and each tribe has its own chieftain or Ilkhani appointed by the shah.
Among the tribes are (1) The Kajars, who dwelt in Transcaucasia until Abbas the Great (1585-1628) forced a portion of them to settle near Astarabad. The present dynasty of Persian Shahs comes from this tribe. (2) The Afshars or Awshars are a very numerous tribe in the province of Azerbaijan. Another division of them is found in the Anti-taurus. (3) The Shekakis and Shah-seven. The latter is a political name which has become hereditary, “those who love the shah,” i.e. partisans of the Safawî dynasty (1499-1736), and of the Shiite faith. (4) The Karakoyunlu living near the town of Khoi. In the south of Persia are found (5) the Abulwerdis, (6) the Kara-Gözlü, (7) the Baharlu, (8) the Inamlu and (9) the Kashkai. These last perhaps include the Khalaches or Khalaj who were already settled near Herat before the arrival of the Seljuks, and from whom sprang the Indian dynasty known as Khalji (1290-1320).
12. The Turks now inhabiting the Turkish Empire fall into various categories and have entered it at various times.
a. The Osmanlis or Ottomans. This word is loosely used to mean any Mahommedan subject of the sultan, though even then it is not generally extended to Arabs and Albanians. Used more strictly it means the clan of Osman and their descendants as opposed to Seljuks and other Turks. The name is genealogical rather than ethnic; for though the exploits of the Osmanlis have given them an importance in modern history far exceeding that of all the other tribes, they are not distinguished from them in language or customs. According to tradition the clan came from Khorasan, supported the Seljuks and received in return the fief of Eskishehr. In the 14th century they took Brusa from the Byzantine Empire and established a kingdom there which withstood the shock of Timur's invasion (1402). In 1453 they captured Constantinople. Until recently Turkish Mahommedans always employed the words Osmanli and Osmanlija to describe themselves and their language, and avoided the expressions Türk and Türkche as signifying semi-civilized tribes, but in the last twenty years the older words have again come into use as national designations.
b. There must be many Turks in the Ottoman dominions who have no claim to be called Osmanlis in the strict sense. Byzantine authors mention a colony of 30,000 Turks on the river Vardar in Macedonia as early as the 9th century, and many Turks in Europe are still called Koniots or Konariots and claim to be descendants of the Seljuks. After the defeat of the emperor Romanus at Manzikert (1071) Turkomans and Turks of every description poured into Asia Minor. The Tatars of the Dobrudja also seem to be an ancient settlement.
c. The Kizil-Bash, or red-heads, who are found in the plains of Asia Minor about Angora, Tokat and Karahissar, differ somewhat from the surrounding Turkish population in both physique and customs. They appear to be immigrants from Persian territory, where some of them still remain. They are industrious agriculturists and their women enjoy unusual freedom. They call themselves Eski-Türk or old Turks, and have a secret religion in which Shiite tenets seem to be combined with older pagan (or possibly Christian) elements.
d. In various parts of western and southern Asia Minor, particularly the plains of Cilicia, are nomadic Turkoman tribes called by the Turks Yürük or Gyōchēbē. They are even found near Smyrna. They are a peaceful race, with fair complexions and a fine physique, and are great camel breeders. Though they do not appear to have a religion of their own like the Kizil Bash, they are only nominally Mahommedans.
Besides the peoples mentioned above, a number of extinct tribes may have been Turkish-speaking, though in the absence of linguistic records no certain conclusion is possible. Such are the Huns, Ephthalites, Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, Comans and Petchenegs. The name Hun is perhaps identical with the Chinese Hiung-nu or with the Turkish word for ten, on or un, meaning the ten tribes. Of the Avars really nothing is known: they were an extremely barbarous people who made no settlements and disappeared as suddenly as they came. They have been identified with the Jwen-Jwen of the Chinese. The name of the Khazars has a Turkish sound: they were a relatively civilized people and had a kingdom in the neighbourhood of Astrakhan and the north Caspian which lasted for several centuries. The original Bulgarians were certainly not Slavs, though they acquired a Slavonic language, but it is more probable that they were Finno-Ugrians than Turks. The Petchenegs, also called Πατζινάκαι or Πατζινακίται in Greek and Bisseni in Latin, are said to have been driven into Europe from the lower Ural by the Ghuzz (Οὔζοι) at the end of the 9th century, and wandered about the northern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire for about 300 years. Perhaps some of them settled in Hungary and Bulgaria. They were, like the Avars, very barbarous and were probably Turks, for Anna Comnena says they spoke the same language as the Comans. This dialect is known by the so-called Codex Cumanicus. Coman or Kuman is a name given by Europeans to the tribes who occupied Moldavia and the adjacent regions in the middle ages. Rubruquis speaks of the Coman Kipchaks, and it is probable that the Comans were a hybrid Turkish tribe.
History.—The invasions and conquests of the later Turkish dynasties form an important part of the history of the world and are treated in such articles as Turkey; Seljuks; Timur; Moguls. Here it is proposed to sketch the earlier wanderings and agglomerations (for they can hardly be called kingdoms) of Turkish tribes in eastern and central Asia. Much new information on this subject has been made accessible in the last twenty years by the discovery near the river Orkhon, to the south of Lake Baikal, of Turkish inscriptions dating from the 8th century A.D., and by the publication of materials furnished by Chinese writers. But authorities are still not entirely agreed as to the chronology of the events recorded or the identity of the names which appear in Turkish, Greek and Chinese forms, so that the following summary is for many periods tentative.
From 1400 B.C. onwards, but especially about 200 B.C., Chinese history contains notices of warlike nomads called Hiung-nu or Hsiung-nu, who were a danger to the empire. Their political power broke up in the early centuries of this era before the advance of the Sien-pi and Tobas, who appear to have been Tunguses, and from whom arose the Wei dynasty of northern China. In A.D. 433 a Hiung-nu clan called Asena or A-shih-na, disliking the rule of the Wei, moved eastwards and sought the protection of a people called Jeu-Jen or Jwen-Jwen, who were also a kind of Hiung-nu. They are the Geougen of Gibbon and others, and their identity with the Avars has been affirmed and disputed with equal confidence. The Asena served the Jwen-Jwen as workers in iron and lived not far from the modern city of Shan-Tan in Kan-suh. In this neighbourhood was a hill called from its shape Türkü, Dürkü or T'u-chüeh, meaning helmet, and this is said be to the origin of the national name which has become so celebrated. The name Tu-Kiue (Tou-Kiue) or Turk is first used by the Chinese in recording the events of A.D. 545, and the following years, when the Turks, or descendants of the Asena, revolted against the Jwen-Jwen. These latter were crushed and disappear from history, at least under that name. The victorious Turks advanced across their territory, came into collision with the Hephthalites or Ephthalites, whom they defeated, and are heard of on the Oxus about A.D. 560. The period 546-582 marks the first brilliant epoch of early Turkish history. The tribes were not divided and made the most astonishing advance under Tumen (who took the title of Ili-Khan), his brother Itsämi or She-ti-mi (perhaps the Stembis of Greek writers), his son Mokan and Istämi's son Tardu or Ta-t'eu. Though fifty years before only a servile clan in China, they sent an embassy in 567 to the East Roman emperor Justin II., as related by Menander Protector (C. Müller: Fragm. hist. graec., vol. iv.). The object of this mission was to open up commercial relations, especially in the silk trade, with the West, and to co-operate with the Greeks against the Persians, because the latter wished to make the Persian Gulf the only outlet for the silk trade, and with that object to hamper the communications of the Turks with Western powers. The ruler who sent this embassy is called in Greek
