Turgot
ANNE ROBERT JACQUES, BLUES, a French statesman; born in Paris, France, May 10, 1727. He was educated for the Church, but renouncing this purpose he studied law, and in 1761 was appointed intendant at Limoges, which post he occupied for 12 years. Shortly after the accession of Louis XVI. in 1774 Turgot was appointed comptrollergeneral of France, and in order to reform the political and financial condition of the country, he moderated the duties on articles of the first recessity, freed commerce from many fetters, and encouraged industry by enlarging the rights of individuals, and abolishing the are numerous wide squares and gardens.
The chief buildings are the cathedral, a renaissance building, completed in the beginning of the 16th century, and re- markable for its marble façade; the , and remarkable for its marble façade; the royal palace, a plain brick building, which contains the king's private library, with valuable MSS., and the royal armory; the university, a fine edifice recently constructed, in which there is a large library; the Palazzo dell' Accademia delle Scienze, with a picture gallery and museums of natural histories antiquities; the Palazzo Carignano, used at one time by the Sardinian and and antiquities; the Palazzo Carignano, Italian Parliaments when they met here (1848-1865), and now given up to a collection of natural history; the Madama Palace, an old and interesting building, and several theaters.
The environs of the city are beautiful, and offer many objects of interest.
Among the educational establishments , in addition to the university, which is attended by over 2,000 students, are an episcopal seminary, a royal military academy, a polytechnic school, and various other colleges and schools. The manufactures consist, besides the staple of silk, chiefly of woolens, cottons, linens, paper, iron mongery, earthenware, and porcelain. Turin in recent years has become one of the chief manufacturing cities of Italy. Turin was anciently the capital of a tribe called the Taurini, and under the Roman empire was called Augusta Taurinorum. It was long the capital of Savoy, then of the Sardinian kingdom, and from 1861 to 1865 of United Italy. Pop. about 450,000.
TURKESTAN ("land of the Turks"), the name of a wide, longitudinal, depressed region in central Asia, which comprises the basins of the Amu-Darya and the Tarim; separated on the S. by the Kuen-Lun from Tibet, by the Karakorum (Mustagh) and Hindu Kush from India and Ladak, the latter chain continuing W. in the mountains of Afghanistan and Persia. In the N. it is separated from Zungaria and the Russian TURKESTAN province of Semipalatinsk by the Thian- Shan Mountains. Divided by the Pamir plateau, or "roofs of the world," into two distinct portions, it has a total estimated area of 1,576,400 square miles. Eastern Turkestan shades off into the desert of Gobi, while western Turkestan, sinking to the level of the Kirghis steppes, extends to the shores of the Caspian. These two regions have a very dissimilar character, the latter containing the Iranian khanates, now mainly embraced in Russia, the former from olden times, as now, the arena of Turkish adventurers, who have more or less successfully asserted their dominion against China.
Within western Turkestan are comprised the former Russian governmentgeneral of Turkestan, the former khanates of Bokhara and Khiva, the Turcoman steppes, and the hill districts of Karategin on the upper Oxus. The country is nearly synonymous with the basin of the Amu-Darya, and Russia formerly held both the right bank of the river in what used to be Khivan territory, and its delta, green with rice fields. The Amu valley and delta are covered with gray clay, impermeable to water, and therefore invaluable to the inhabitants for the construction of canal banks. The non-irrigated and far greater part of western Turkestan, with the exception of a few table-lands, is covered with black or yellow sands, and the only land fit for cultivation, in addition to the oases along the river, are the slopes of the hills. Khiva is the principal of the oases, and the Amu-Darya, at its greatest height in July, overflows the desert in the direction of the Caspian for 50 miles.
The climate is one of extremes, and the heat of autumn is aggravated by a wind laden with fine dust which is almost suffocating, and darkens the air for a week at a time. Gold is found in the Obi district, and in the Karatan Mountains are extensive coal deposits, besides valuable ores. Wheat and clover are the winter crops; all other cereals, such as maize, millet, barley, rice and peas, are sown in April and gathered in August. Grapes are cheaper than potatoes and yield a good wine. Bokhara cotton is of excellent quality. Tobacco and silk are also largely produced; some tobacco seed from Maryland is succeeding admirably. The chief races are Usbegs, who are purely Turkish; Tajiks, the Iranian and trading people; the predatory Turcomans, Turks with an Iranian infusion; and the nomad Kirghis and Kara-Kalpacks. The Russian government of Turkestan was formed in TURKEY 1867; it was divided into the provinces of Syr-Darya, Ferghana, and Samarkand; and had an area of 257,134 square miles, and pop. about 3,000,000. The prevalent language is akin to Turkish.
Eastern Turkestan is called Nan-ly by the Chinese, Altai-shar ("six towns") by adjoining Mohammedans, and Iitishar ("seven towns") by its Moslem rulers. It may be considered as identical with Kashgar. Till 1853, eastern Turkestan was a Chinese province, but that year witnessed a massacre by the natives of the Chinese who rejected Islam, and subsequently it was ruled by its despot liberator, Yakoob Beg, till his death in 1877. He was succeeded by his son, but the Chinese Government recovered its lost territory in 1879.