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, or alta s̲h̲ahr (the word "six" is always written alta in Chinese Turkistān), "six towns", a name for part of Chinese Turkistān (Sin-kiang) comprising the towns of Kuča, Aḳ Su, Uč Turfān (or Us̲h̲ Turfān), Kās̲h̲g̲h̲ar, Yārkand and Ḵh̲otan. It appears to have been first used in the 18th century (cf. M. Hartmann, Der Islamische Orient , i, 226, 278). Yangi Ḥiṣār, between Kās̲h̲g̲h̲ar and Yārkand, is sometimes added as the seventh town (though it also frequently counted as one of the six, in which case either Kuča or Uč Turfān is…

Arab. d̲j̲anza , the former Elizavetpol , now Kirovabad , the second largest town in the Azerbaijan S.S.R. ¶ The town was first founded under Arab rule, in 245/859 according to the Ta’rīk̲h̲ Bāb al-abwāb (V. Minorsky,A History of Sharvān and Darband , Cambridge 1958, 25 and 57). It is not mentioned by the oldest Arabic geographers like Ibn Ḵh̲urradād̲h̲bih and Yaʿḳūbī; it seems to have taken its name from the pre-Muslim capital of Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān (now the ruins of Tak̲h̲t-i-Sulaymān). Iṣṭak̲h̲rī. 187 and 193, mentions Gand̲j̲a only as a small town on the road from Bard̲h̲aʿa [ q.v.] to Tif…

or balāsaḳūn , a town in the valley of the Ču, in what is now Kirg̲h̲izia. The medieval geographers give only vague indications as to its position. Barthold, Otčet o poyezdke v Sredniya Aziyu , St. Petersburg 1897, 39, suggests its identity with Aḳ-Pes̲h̲in in the region of Frunze. A. N. Bernshtam, Čuyskaya dolina in Materialī i issledovaniya arkheologii S.S.S.R ., No 14 (1950), 47-55, agrees with Barthold and gives a description of the site. The town was a Soghdian foundation and in Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī’s time, i.e., in the second half of the 11th century, the Soghdian language still …

, a garrison town and administrative centre in Eastern Turkey, situated on 40°37′ N. and 43°06′ E., chef-lieu of the il (province) of the same name, which is bounded by the U.S.S.R. and the ils of Artvin, Erzurum and Aǧri̊ and contains the ilçes (districts) of Posof, Hanak, Çildir, Ardahan, Göle, Susuz, Arpaçay, Selim, Digor, Sarikamiş, Kaǧizman, Tuzluca and Aralik, with that of Kars itself. In 1960 the population of the provinces of Kars was 543,000; in 1965 (provisional), 606,521, of which 20% was urban and 80% agricultural or rural ( Kars Il yilliǧi 1967, Ankara n.d.). The etymologies su…

, in the Arabic sources frequently al-bāmiyān , a town in the Hindu-Kus̲h̲ north of the main range in a mountain valley lying 8,480 feet above sea level, through which one of the most important roads between the lands of the Oxus watershed and the Indus leads; the town is therefore naturally important as a commercial centre and was important in the middle ages as a fortress also. Although the valley, that of the Kunduz river, really belongs to the Oxus watershed and is separated from Kābul by high mountain passes, e.g., the Shibar and Unnai, its political association has often shifted…

, a small district on both sides of the middle Jaxartes at the mouth of its tributary, the Aris, which flows from Isfid̲j̲āb. It is also the name of the principal settlement in this district. The older Persian form Pārāb occurs in Ḥudūd al-ʿālam , (72, 118 ff., 122), the form Bārāb in Iṣṭak̲h̲rī (346) and Muḳaddasī (273; but also Fārāb) as well as in the later Persian sources. The extent of the district in both length and breadth was less than a day’s journey (Ibn Ḥawḳal, 390 ff.). According to Masʿūdī ( Tanbīh , 366) the region was flooded annually at the end of Ja…

(thus on his coins: Mong. Möngke-Temür, sometimes written also Mūngkā (e.g. Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn, ed. Blochet, 109); in Russian annals Mengutimer and Mengutemer, called also Külük “Glorious”, “Famous”), k̲h̲ān of the Golden Horde (665-79/1267-80), grandson of the k̲h̲ān Bātū [ q.v.] and son of Toḳūḳān (Tog̲h̲on). His predecessor Berke [ q.v.] died, according to al-D̲h̲ahabī, in Rabīʿ II 665/30 Dec. 1266 - 27 Jan. 1267 (see Tiesenhausen, 210-2; other Egyptian sources mention only the year). In Ṣafar 666/Oct.-Nov. 1267), an embassy left Cairo which w…

, district in Soviet Türkmenistān on the northern slope of the frontier-mountains of Ḵh̲urāsān (Kopet Dag̲h̲), between the modern railway ¶ stations Gjaurs and Dus̲h̲ak. The name is really Turkish, Etek, "edge border" (of the mountain-chain), and is a translation of the Persian name given to this district, viz. Dāman-i Kūh, "foot of the mountain"; but the word is always written Ātak by the Persians. During the Middle Ages no special name for Atek appears to have been in use; being a district of the town of Abīward [ q.v.] it belonged to Ḵh̲urāsān. In the 10th/16th and 11th/17th cent…

was between 1882 and 1890 the name of a district ( uězd ) in the Russian territory ( oblastʾ ) of Transcaspia, which had been conquered by the Russians in 1881. It comprised the subdistricts of Atek [ q.v.] (chief place: the village of Kaak̲h̲ka) and Durūn [ q.v.] (Darūn; chief place: Bak̲h̲arden). Since 1890 the district is called ʿAs̲h̲ḳābād [ q.v.]—The name Āk̲h̲āl (which is of modern origin) applies to the oases on the northern slope of the Kopet Dag̲h̲ and Küren Dag̲h̲; Tekke refers to the Tekke or Teke [ q.v.] Turkmen, the present inhabitants of this region. The Islamic geographe…

(alp tigin), the founder of the G̲h̲aznawid power. Like the majority of the praetorians of his time, he was a Turkish slave, purchased and enrolled in the Sāmānid body guard, who progressively rose to the rank of ḥād̲j̲ib al-ḥud̲j̲d̲j̲āb (commander-in-chief of the guard). In this capacity he wielded the real power during the reign of the young Sāmānid ʿAbd al-Malik I; the vizier Abū ʿAlī al-Balʿamī owed his appointment to him, and did not dare to take any action "without the knowledge and advice" of Alp Takīn. …

, prince of Marw 1197-1200/1783-1786, a member of the ruling branch of the house of Ḳād̲j̲ār which ruled there from the time of ʿĀbbās I [ q.v.]. In his own day, he was renowned as a valiant warrior. During a war against Murād-Bī (S̲h̲āh Maʿṣūm) of Buk̲h̲ārā, he was ambushed and killed. His second son, Muḥammad Karīm, succeeded him in Marw; his eldest son, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, dedicated his life to learning in Mas̲h̲had, and was regarded as the “Plato of his day” ( Aflāṭūn-i Waḳt ). (W. Barthold [B. Spuler]) Bibliography Mīr ʿAbd al-Karīm Buk̲h̲ārī, Histoire de l’Asie Centrale, ed. Schefer, i (t…

, occasionally Dūḳlāt , a Mongol tribe whose name, according to Abu ’l-G̲h̲āzī (ed. Desmaisons, St. Petersburg 1871, i, 65), derives from the plural of the Mongol word dog̲h̲olong (-lang) “lame”. The tribe appears to have played no part in the early period of the Mongol Empire, though it is supposed always to have supported Čingiz K̲h̲ān (Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn, ed. Berezin in Trudi̊ vost. otd. Imp. Russk. Ark̲h̲eol. obs̲h̲čestva , vii, 275, xiii/text 47, 52; tr. L. A. Khetagurov, Moscow-Leningrad 1952, i/1, 193). At that time the tribe apparently …

, a Tatar K̲h̲ān of Siberia, in whose reign this country was conquered by the Russians. Abu ’l G̲h̲āzī (ed. Desmaisons, 177), is the only authority to give information regarding his origin and his genealogical relation to the other descendants of Čingiz K̲h̲ān. According to this source, he reigned for forty years in “Tūrān”, lost his eyesight towards the end of his life, was driven from his kingdom by the Russians in 1003/1594-5, took refuge with the Mang̲h̲i̊t (Nogay) and died among them. Refer…

or āl barmak (Barmakids), an Iranian family of secretaries and wazīrs of the early ʿAbbāsid Caliphs. 1. Origins. The name Barmak , traditionally borne by the ancestor of the family, was not a propei name, according to certain Arab authors, but a word designating the office of hereditary high priest of the temple of Nawbahār, near Balk̲h̲. This interpretation is confirmed by the etymology which is now accepted, deriving the term from the Sanskrit word parmak — “superior, chief. The term Nawbahār, moreover, likewise derives from Sanskrit ( nōva vihāra —”new monast…

, the name of a land-locked river-system in the western part of what is now the Kazakhstan Republic and also of a town on the river Turgay (lat. 49° 38′ N., long. 63° 25′ E.) some 640 km/380 miles east-south-east of Orenburg. It lies in the steppe region now known as the Turgayskay̲a̲ Stolovay̲a̲ Strana. The main river Turgay is formed of the Kari̊nsaldi̊ Turgay, which receives the Tasti̊ Turgay, and the Kara Turgay, and flows into Lake Durukča; north of it runs the Sari̊ Turgay, which is called Ulkuntamdi̊ in its upper course and receives from the …

, the fifth in succession of the Mongol Il-Ḵh̲āns of Persia and a grandson of Hülegü, the founder of the dynasty. He reigned only for a few months since Gayk̲h̲atu, his predecessor, was strangled on Thursday 6 D̲j̲umādā II/21 April 1295 and he himself was put to death on Wednesday 23 D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda/5 October of the same year. Insulted by Gayk̲h̲atu, this young and apparently unimportant prince had become involved in a conspiracy of the Mongol amīrs against the Il-Ḵh̲ān whic…

(usually written K̲h̲ān Bālīḳ), the “K̲h̲ān’s town”, the name of Pekin, the capital of the Mongol Emperors after 1264 in Eastern Turkī and Mongol and afterwards adopted by the rest of the Muslim world and even by Western Europe ( Cambaluc and variants in S. Hallberg, l’Extrême Orient dans la littérature et la cartographie de l’Occident, Göteborg 1906, 105 f.). According to Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn (ed. Berezin, Trudi̊ Vost . Otd . Ark̲h̲ . Obs̲h̲č . xv, Persian text, 34), Pekin (Chinese, then Čūngdū, i.e. “the middle capital”) was called K̲h̲ānbāli̊ḳ even…

1. For all practical purposes the term Abk̲h̲āz or Afk̲h̲āz , in early Muslim sources covers Georgia and Georgians (properly Ḏj̲urzān , q.v.). The reason (cf. below under 2.) is that a dynasty issued from Abk̲h̲āzia ruled in Georgia at the time of the early ʿAbbāsids. A distinction between the Abk̲h̲ăzian dynasty and the Georgian rulers on the upper Kur is made by al-Masʿūdī, ii, 65, 74. The people properly called Abk̲h̲āz is possibly referred to only in the tradition represented by Ibn Rusta, 139: , read * Awg̲h̲az , see Marquart, Streifzüge , 164-76, and Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam …

, or burdas (in al-Bakrī furdās ), pagan tribe of the Volga basin. For an account of the Burṭās and their neighbours the Ḵh̲azars and the Bulg̲h̲ārs, to the north and south, see bulg̲h̲ār . Al-Masʿūdī ( Murūd̲j̲ , ii, 14 & Tanbīh , 62) lists Burṭās also as a river flowing into the Itil (Volga); Marquart identifies this stream with Samara ( Streifzüge , 336). The sources do not mention any adherents to Islam among the Burṭās, which contrasts with their accounts of the Ḵh̲azars and Bulg̲h̲ārs. Yāḳūt’s report on the Burṭās (i, 567) is base…

(t. “Red sand”), a desert between the Si̊r-Daryā and Āmū-Daryā rivers [ qq. v., and also ḳarā-ḳum ], falling within the modern Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan SSRs. The country is less uniform, especially in the central part, than in the Ḳarā-Ḳum; the sand desert is crossed by several ranges of hills, and in some places is rocky. The Ḳi̊zi̊l-Ḳum ¶ becomes more and more inhospitable as one goes southwards. The region called Adam-Ḳi̊zi̊lg̲h̲an (“where man perishes”) between the Āmū-Daryā and the cultivated region of Buk̲h̲ārā, consisting of sandhills ( bark̲h̲ān ), is …

“White Mosque”, name of two towns: 1. Town in the Crimea (local pronunciation: Aḳ Mečet), founded in the 16th. century by the k̲h̲āns of the Crimea in order to protect their capital, Bāg̲h̲če Sarāy, from nomad incursions. It was the residence of the crown prince ( kalg̲h̲ay sulṭān ), whose palace was outside the town, according to Ewliyā Čelebi, vii, 638-41. The town was destroyed by the Russians in 1736, and rebuilt in 1784 under the name of Simferopol (although the local population continued to use the Turkish name). 2. A fortress on the Si̊r Daryā, which belonged to the Ḵh̲ānate …

There has been no satisfactory explanation of the origin of the word. The following have been suggested: 1) as late as the 7th/13th (!) century, borrowed by the Nestorian Mission from the Syrian ṣělībhā ‘cross’, which was subsequently taken to mean a worshipper of the crucifix (Aḥmed Wefīk Pas̲h̲a, Lehd̲j̲e , loc. cit.); the same, thoug̲h taken over considerably earlier: Viktor, Baron Rosen in Zapiski Vost. Otd. v, 305 ff.; xi, 310 ff.; with additional source references also found in P. Melioranskiy, Zapiski Vost. Otd. xv, 1904, 036 ff.; cf. also Menges, as in the bibliography;…

, S̲h̲irwān or S̲h̲arwān , a region of eastern Caucasia, known by this name in both mediaeval Islamic and modern times. S̲h̲īrwān proper comprised the easternmost spurs of the Caucasus range and the lands which sloped down from these mountains to the banks of the Kur river [ q.v.]. But its rulers strove continuously to control also the western shores of the Caspian Sea from Ḳuba (the modern town of Kuba) in the district of Maskat (< *Maskut, Mas̲h̲kut, to be connected with the ancient Eurasian steppe people of the Massagetes) in the north, to Bākū [ q.v.] (modern Baku) in the south. To the …

(Turkish “warm lake”), the most important mountain lake in Turkistan and one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, situated in between 42° 11′ and 42° 59′ N. Lat. and between 76° 15′ and 78° 30′ warm sea; the lake never freeze E. Long., 1605 m. (5,116 feet) above sea level; the length of the lake is about 115 miles, the breadth up to 37 miles, the depth up …

pre-Islamic title borne by the native princes of Us̲h̲rūsana. the mountainous district between Samarḳand and Ḵh̲ud̲j̲anda, including the upper course of the Zarafs̲h̲ān river (Barthold, Turkestan 2, 165-9). The province was subjected to the Arab governors of Ḵh̲urāsān by an expedition commanded by al-Faḍl b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī in 178/794-5, but it was only after an internal conflict and a second expedition under Aḥmad b. Abī Ḵh̲ālid in 207/822 that the ruling afs̲h̲īn Kāwūs accepted Islām. Kāwūs was succeeded by his son Ḵh̲…

, Ferg̲h̲ānā, a valley on the middle Jaxartes (Si̊r-Daryā), approximately 300 km. long and 70 km. wide, surrounded by parts of the Tians̲h̲an mountains: the Čatkal range (Ar. Ḏj̲adg̲h̲al. up to 3,000 m. high) on the north, the Ferg̲h̲ānā mountains (up to 4,000 m.) on the east, and the Alai mountains (up to 6,000 m.) on the south. The only approach (7 km. wide) accessible in all seasons is in the west, at the point where the Jaxartes leaves the valley and where the trade-route (and since 1899 the railway from Samarḳand to Ōs̲h̲) enters it. The Farg̲h̲ānā valley covers approximately 23,000 km.2; t…

, a city in a large oasis in present day Uzbekistān on the lower course of the Zarafs̲h̲ān River. The city is 722 ft. (222.4 m.) above sea level and is located at 64° 38′ E. long. (Greenw.) and 39° 43′ N. Lat. We have few references to the city in pre-Islamic times. In the time of Alexander the Great there was ariother town in Sogdiana besides Marakanda (Samarḳand) on the lower course of the river but it probably did not correspond to the modern city of Buk̲h̲ārā. The oasis was inhabited from early times and towns certainly existed there. The earliest literary occurrence of the name is in Chin…

(Turkish “black sand”), a desert in Russian Turkestan, between the Amū Daryā, the Üst Yurt and the ranges of hills on the Caspian, contrasted with Ḳi̊zi̊l-Ḳum (“red sand”), the desert between the Si̊r Daryā and the Āmū Daryā. The Ḳaraḳum (area ca. 300,000 sq. km.) is a still more dreary waste and possesses even fewer fertile areas than the Ḳi̊zi̊l-ḳum. The sandy stretches north of the Sir as far as Lake Čalkar are called “little Ḳarāḳum”; cf. F. Machatschek, Landeskunde von Russisch-Turkestan , Stuttgart 1921, 15 f., 285, and index. A good deal of the Ḳa…

, a river in the north of Ḵh̲urāsān, which has its source on the mountain of Hazār ¶ Masd̲j̲id on the Gulistān ridge of the Kopet Dag̲h̲, 37° 10′ N, ca. 59° E, NE of Kočan (Kūčān), 3,975 ft. above sea level. The Atrek has a course of some 320 miles (Mustawfī: 120 farsak̲h̲s ), running mainly westwards and runs, being some 32 ft. wide, 2-3 ft. deep, into the bay of Ḥasan Ḳulī in the SE of the Caspian Sea. On its upper reaches lie the fertile districts of Kočan and Bud̲j̲nurd (in the Middle Ages Ustuwā), which are inhabited by K…

, Gökče-göl or Gökče-deniz ; otherwise Sevan, from Armenian Sew-vank , ‘Black monastery’; a great lake in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, approx. 40° 20° N and 45′ 30′ E. Triangular in shape, Lake Gökče lies 6,000 feet/1830 metres above sea level and is surrounded by barren mountains; its area was formerly reckoned at 540 sq. miles and maximum depth 67 fathoms, but the level of the lake is being systematically …

, a prince of the house of Tīmūr, grandson of its founder. He was 12 years old at the death of his grandfather (S̲h̲aʿbān 807/February 1405) so he must have been born about 795/1392-3. His father ʿUmar S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ had predeceased Tīmūr. Bāyḳarā is celebrated by Dawlat-S̲h̲āh (ed. Browne, 374) for his beauty as a second Joseph and for his courage as a second Rustam; he was prince of Balk̲h̲ for a long period. In the year 817/1414 he was granted Luristān, Hamadān, Nihāwand and Burūd̲j̲īrd by S̲h̲āh…

, (for the vocalisation, see the preceding article), fak̲h̲r al-dīn abū sulaymān dāwūd b. abiʾl-faḍl muḥammad , Persian poet and historian (d. 730/1329-30). According to his own account, he was made malik al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ , or “king of poets”, in 701/1301-2 by the Mongol ruler of Persia, G̲h̲āzān Ḵh̲ān. Dawlats̲h̲āh ( Tad̲h̲kira , ed. Browne, 227) records one of his poems. His historical work, entitled Rawḍat ūli ’l-Albāb fī Tawārīk̲h̲ al-Akābir wa ’l-Ansāb , was written in 717/1317-8, under the Īlk̲h̲ān Abū Saʿīd; the preface is dated 25 S̲h̲awwā…

, Persian general, brother and successor of Yaʿḳūb b. al-Layt̲h̲ [ q.v.[, the founder of the Ṣaffārid [ q.v.] dynasty in Sid̲j̲istān. Said to have been a mule-driver in his youth, and later on a mason, he was associated with his brother’s campaigns and in 259/873 captured for Yaʿḳūb the Ṭāhirid capital Naysābūr. After Yaʿḳūb’s defeat at Dayr al-ʿĀkūl and subsequent death (S̲h̲awwāl 265/ June 879), ʿAmr was elected by the army as his successor. He made his submission to the caliph, and was invested with the provin…

, on the western bank of the Amu Daryā, site of the last capital of the k̲h̲ānate of K̲h̲wārazm, subsequently called the k̲h̲ānate of K̲h̲īwa. Its origins are bound up in the history of K̲h̲wārazm [ q.v.]. K̲h̲īwa was the third capital, after Gurgānd̲j̲ (385-515/995-1221) and Kāt̲h̲ [ q.vv.]; the latter was the capital during the 8th/14th century, in which period, with K̲h̲īwa. it was governed by the Čag̲h̲atay, and Gurgānd̲j̲ (subsequently called Urgenč) by the Golden Horde. After the restoration of unity (under the rule of the S̲h̲aybanids)…

or al-Ṣug̲h̲d, the name in early Islamic geographical and historical sources for the Soghdia of classical Greek authors, a region of Central Asia lying beyond the Oxus and extending across the modern Republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kirghizia in its wider acceptation. The same name (Old. Pers. Sugudu, late Avestan Sug̲h̲da, Greek Sogdioi or Sogdianoi (the people) and Sogdianē (the country) was applied in ancient times to a people of Iranian origin subject to the Persians (at least from the time of Darius I, 522-486 B.C.) whose lands stretched from the Oxus [see āmū daryā …

(Turkish "Father-Shepherd"), the name of a row of hills ½ mile long on the southern bank of the Zarafs̲h̲ān [ q.v.], close by the city walls of Samarḳand [ q.v.]. There is no written evidence for this name before the 19th century; up to the 18th century, it was referred to in written sources (Persian) as Kūhak (‘little mountain’), and the Zarafs̲h̲ān (only known as such in the written language since the 18th century) also sometimes carried this name. Under the name of Kūhak, the range is mentioned in Iṣṭak̲h̲ri ( BGA I, 318), and it contained quarries and clay pits for Samarkand. There is an aeti…

, Ḵh̲wārizms̲h̲āh [ q.v.] from 521-2/1127-8 to 551/1156, b. around 1098, followed his father as vassal of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ sultan Sand̲j̲ar in 521/1127 or 522/1128. All through his life it was his desire to make himself independent of this ruler, to maintain his position also with respect to the newly founded might of the Ḳara Ḵh̲iṭāy and to bring under his domain the districts in the north which in earlier centuries had been temporarily connected with the Ḵh̲w ārizm state in order thus to achieve an expansion of it. In effect he was able (according to …

(Turkish, “black hat”), a Turkic people whose language belongs to the western Og̲h̲uz division, and differs little from Āzerī and the Turkish of Turkey. In the Georgian S.S.R. it is often confused with Āzerī, and in Turkey itself Ḳarapapak̲h̲ is no longer spoken (having been replaced by Turkish). In 1828, the Ḳarapapak̲h̲ emigrated from the region along the Debeda or Borčala river in eastern Georgia partly to the region of Ḳars (where they formed about 15% of the population) and partly to the Su…

Afshīn was a title borne by a family of Central Asian rulers, dating from pre-Islamic times; one of these rulers, known in Arabic sources as al-Afshīn (d. 226/841), became a military leader under the caliphs al-Maʾmūn (r. 198–218/813–833) and al-Muʿtaṣim (r. 218–27/833–42). The rulers of Ushrūsana, the mountainous district between Samarqand and Khujanda (Barthold, 165–9), bore this title, and al-Yaʿqūbī ( Taʾrīkh, 2:479) lists the Afshīn of “Usrūshana” among the chiefs of Transoxania and Central Asia that pledged nominal loyalty to the caliph al-Mahdī. Th…

, parfois Dūḳlāt, tribu mongole dont Abū l-G̲h̲āzī (éd. Desmaisons, St Pétersbourg 1871, I, 65) fait dériver le nom du pluriel du terme mongol dog̲h̲olong (- lang) «boîteux». La tribu semble n’avoir joué aucun rôle pendant la première période de l’empire mongol, bien qu’on puisse supposer qu’elle a constamment soutenu Čingiz Ḵh̲ān (Ras̲h̲īd al-dīn, éd. Berezin dans Trudi̊ vost. otd. Imp. Russk. Ark̲h̲eol. obs̲h̲čestva, VII 275, XlII/texte 47, 52; trad. L. A. Ḵh̲etaguro v, Moscou-Leningrad 1952, I/1, 193). Il semble qu’à cette époque la tribu presque tout en…

ou Balāsakūn, ville située dans la vallée du Ču, dans ce qui est actuellement la Kirghizie. Les géographes médiévaux ne donnent que de vagues indications sur sa position; Barthold, Otčet o poyezdke v Sradniya Aziyu, St Pétersbourg 1897. 39, suggère son identité avec Aḳ-Pes̲h̲in dans la région de Frunze; A. N. Bernchtam, Čuyskaya dolina, dans Materialϊ i issledovaniya arkheologii S.S.S.R., n° 14 (1950), 47-55, s’accorde avec Barthold et donne une description du site. La ville était une fondation soghdienne, et à l’époque de Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī, c’est-à-dire dans la seconde moitié du Ve/XIe …

(souvent sous la forme al-Bāmiyān dans les sources arabes), ville de l’Hindū-Kus̲h̲, au Nord de la chaîne principale, dans une vallée de montagne située à 2584 m. au-dessus du niveau de la mer, et à travers laquelle passe l’une des plus importantes routes reliant les bassins de l’Oxus et de l’Indus; la ville a donc de l’importance comme centre commercial; au moyen âge, s’y ajoutait son rôle de forteresse. Bien que la vallée, où coule la rivière Kunduz, appartienne en réalité au bassin de l’Oxus, et …

, d’après Radloff ( Versuch eines Wörterbuches der Tüirk-Dialecte, II, St. Pétersbourg 1899, 924) «race de Turcs du Turkestan»; dans son ouvrage, le mot kirghiz (c’est-à-dire ḳazaḳ) ḳurama (de ḳura = coudre ensemble des morceaux d’étoffe) est aussi cité avec le sens de «couverture faite de morceaux d’étoffe cousus ensemble». Dans un autre ouvrage ( Aus Sibirien 2, Leipzig 1893,1, 225), Radloff lui-même dit que les Ḳurama sont un peuple formé par «un mélange d’Özbeks et de Kirghiz» et que leur nom vientt d’après ce que disent les Kirghiz eux-mêmes, du fai) qu’ils sont formés ( kura = coudre…

(du turc «chapeau noir») peuple turc dont la langue appartient à la catégorie de l’og̲h̲uz occidental et ne diffère guère de l’azéri et du turc. En URSS, elle est souvent considérée comme étant de l’azéri et, en Turquie même, elle n’est plus parlée, ayant été remplacée par le turc. En 1828, les Ḳarapapak̲h̲ émigrèrent de la région qui longe le Debeda ou Borcala en Arménie septentrionale (près de la frontière de la Géorgie) pour se rendre les uns dans la région de Kars, les autres dans celle de Sulduz, en Perse, au Sud du lac Rezayeh. Dans le d…

(écrit ordinairement Ḵh̲ān Bālīḳ) «ville du k̲h̲ān», mot turc oriental adopté plus tard par le reste du monde musulman et même par l’Europe occidentale ( Cambaluc et var., dans Hallberg, l’Extrême Orient dans la littérature et la cartographie de l’Occident, Göteborg 1906, 105-6), pour désigner Pékin, résidence de l’empereur mongol depuis 1264. Selon Ras̲h̲īd al-din (éd. Berezin, Trudi̊ Vost. Otd. Ark̲h̲. Obs̲h̲č.. XV, texte persan, 34), Pékin (chin. d’alors Čūngdū, c’est-à-dire «capitale du milieu» était nommé auparavant Ḵh̲ānbali̊ḳ par les Mongols et con…

, Turkestan, mot persan signifiant «territoire des Turcs». 1. Pour désigner les terres d’Asie Centrale situées au nord de la Perse moderne et de l’Afg̲h̲ānistān. Cela correspond plus ou moins à l’ancienne Transoxiane ou Mā warāʾ al-Nahr [ q.v.] et aux territoires steppiques s’étendant vers le Nord, bien qu’à partir de l’époque mongole (depuis le XIIIe siècle), ceux-ci furent souvent désignés comme Mog̲h̲olistān [ q.v.]. Pour les Persans, naturellement, seule comptait la frontière sud du territoire des Turcs, la frontière face à l’Īrān, et son tracé variait s…

, grand - k̲h̲ān mongol de 1260 à 1294, qui était le frère de Möngke [ q.v.] à qui il succéda. Né en 1215, il fut chargé par son frère, en 1251, de l’administration de la Chine septentrionale et prit part à la guerre engagée par Möngke contre les Sung qui régnaient dans le Sud. La conquête de leur royaume ne fut achevée que sous son propre règne (en 1279), et toute la Chine fut alors placée sous l’autorité d’un seul souverain, pour la première fois depuis le Xe siècle. Dès 1260, il avait transféré la capitale de l’empire de Ḳaraḳorum [ q.v.] à Pékin (en mongol: Ḵh̲ān-Balig̲h̲ [ q.v.] = la ville du ḳhān) et,…

, «Mosquée blanche», nom de deux villes: 1 — Ville de Crimée (prononciation locale: Ak Mecet), fondée au XVIe siècle par les Ḵh̲āns de Crimée pour protéger leur capitale, Bāg̲h̲če Sarāy, des incursions des nomades. Elle fut la résidence du prince héritier ( Kalg̲h̲ay sulṭān) dont le palais se trouvait en dehors de la ville, d’après Ewliyā Čelebi, VII, 638-41. La cité fut détruite par les Russes en 1736, et rebâtie en 1784 sous le nom de Simferopol (mais la population locale continue d’employer le nom turc). 2 — Forteresse sur le Siʾr Daryā, faisant partie du k̲h̲ānat de Ḵh̲ūḳand. …

, attesté pour la première fois dans les langues turques au VIIIe/XIVe siècle avec le sens d’«indépendant, vagabond», est également conservé, ainsi que d’autres acceptions voisines telles que «homme libre et indépendant, vagabond, aventurier, etc.», dans ces langues à l’époque moderne. Durant les troubles de la période tīmūride, ce terme désignait, par opposition aux souverains réels, les prétendants, et leurs partisans, qui menaient une vie d’aventuriers ou de voleurs à la tête de leurs hommes. A la même époque, ḳazaḳ commença aussi à s’appliquer aux groupes nomades qui s…

, district du Turkmenistan soviétique occupant le versant septentrional de la chaînefrontière du Ḵh̲urāsān (Kopet Dag̲h̲), entre les stations de chemin de fer actuelles de Gjaurs et de Dus̲h̲ak. Le nom est en réalité le turc Etek «bord, lisière» (de la chaîne de montagnes), traduction du nom persan de la même région Dāman-i Kūh «pied de la montagne»; cependant les Persans écrivent toujours ce mot Ātak. Il ne semble pas qu’au moyen âge on eût l’habitude de désigner ce territoire par un nom spécial. L’Atek, en qualité de district de la ville d’Abīward [ q.v.], dépendait du Ḵh̲urāsān. Aux Xe/XVI…