, Turkestan , a Persian term meaning “land of the Turks”.

1. As a designation for the Central Asian lands to the north of modern Persia and Afg̲h̲ānistān.

This roughly corresponded to the older Transoxania or Mā warāʾ al-nahr [q.v.] and the steppe lands to its north, although these last were from Mongol times onwards (sc. the 13th century) often distinguished as Mog̲h̲olistān [q.v.]. To the Persians, of course, only the southern frontier of the land of the Turks, the frontier against Īrān, was of importance and this frontier naturally depended on political conditions. On ¶ their very firs…