Turkey
Turkey names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Turkey or the OTTOMAN EM- PIRE
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or the OTTOMAN EM- PIRE. Prior to the World War Turkey was composed of Turkey in Europe, Turkey in Asia, and certain islands in the Mediterranean. Considerable territory was lost following the conclusion of the First Balkan War (November, 1913). Turkey in Europe was in part divided among Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, and in part created into an independent state of Albania. Cyprus and Egypt, which formerly were included in the Ottoman empire, were annexed to the British empire, the first in November, 1914, and the second in January, 1915. By the terms of the Peace Treaty of the Allied nations, signed on May 11, 1920, the area of the empire was still further reduced. Turkey ceded practically all of Thrace to Greece, as well as Tenedos and Imbros, and the islands in the Ægean, occupied by Greece. Smyrna, with the surrounding strip of territory, was to be administered by Greece under Turkish sovereignty for five years, after which the territory might annex itself to Greece by plebiscite. By the terms of a later agreement, signed on March 17, 1921, Smyrna was returned to Turkey. Mesopotamia, Palestine, Armenia, and Hedjaz became independent. The first three were placed under mandatories. Kurdestan was to be autonomous. Several islands in the Ægean were ceded to Italy. Turkey retained Constantinople, but the coastal area of the Dardanelles, Marmora, and Bosporus was placed under the control of the Commission of the Straits appointed by the League of Nations. The area taken from Turkey was 438,757 square miles, with a population of about 12,000,000. The area of the remaining territory is 174,900 square miles. with a ap population of about 8,000,000. In the territory remaining under Turkish rule, Moslems greatly preponderate. In Asiatic Turkey there is a large Turkish element with about 4,000,000 Arabs, besides Greeks, Syrians, Kurds, Circassians, Ar- The menians, Jews, and other races. chief towns remaining under Turkish rule and their populations, are as follows: Constantinople, 1,000,000 ); Brus- ; sa, 110,000; Kerbela, 65,000; Sivas, 65,000; Trebizond, 55,000. Production and Industry.-Agriculture is carried on according to the most primitive methods in nearly all parts of the empire, although the soil, for the most part, is extremely ferti fertile. The chief products are tobacco, cereals, cotton, figs, nuts, almonds, grapes, olives, and other varieties of fruit. There are in Asiatic Turkey about 17,000,000 acres under cultivation. The principal tobacco districts are Samsun, Bafra, and Charchambe. The production in 1917 was valued at 650,363 Turkish pounds. The cotton output is about 200,000 bales annually. About 21,000,000 acres of land are under forest. Commerce. The latest figures available are for 1916 and 1917. In that year the imports were valued at 22,105,304 Turkish pounds, and the exports at 34,- 058,581 Turkish pounds. As Turkey was at that time under the practical rule of Germany, by far the largest portion of her exports were to that country. The imports were received chiefly from Germany and Austria-Hungary. England, prior to the war, had the largest proportion of trade. Industrial and commercial conditions during 1919 were normal and were marked by high prices, large production, and speculation. During that year nearly one half the trade of Constantinople was with Russia, and the remainder was with the Balkan states and with other parts of Turkey, The chief imports were cotton, wool, linen and silk textiles, ready-made clothing, leather goods, and food of all kinds. The chief exports were tobacco, wool and mohair, rugs and carpets, olive oil, castor beans, and nuts. Mineral Production. - The Turkish provinces of Asia are rich in n minerals, which, however, have been little worked. There are deposits of silver, manganese, zinc, antimony, borax, asphalt, coal, petroleum, and salt. Transportation. Prior to the World War there were in European Turkey 1,046 miles of railway, and in Asiatic Turkey, 2,865. The Bagdad railway had been extended into Cilicia. The total railway mileage in 1916 was 3,720. There are about 30,000 miles of telegraph line. Finance. The total revenue in 1918- 1919 was 33,965,698 Turkish pounds, and the expenditure was 51,762,761 Turkish pounds. By the Treaty of Peace with Turkey, it was provided that Turkish finances shall be controlled by a Finance Commission composed of representatives from Great Britain, France, and Italy. The total debt of Turkey on Aug. 31, 1919, was 465,673,338 Turkish pounds. Army. In August, 1914, the army consisted of 39 divisions, with a strength of about 150,000 men. During the war it was expanded to 70 divisions, and at the time of the armistice, nearly 2,700,000 men had been recruited. The strength during the was approximately war 650,000. By the Treaty of Peace, Turkey lost possession of all her fortresses in Europe and Asia. The defenses of the Dardanelles and Bosporus were demolished, and Great Britain, France, and Italy reserved the right to maintain naval, military, and air forces in the Straits. The armed forces were reduced to a maximum of 50,000 men, and compulsory service was abolished. Navy. By the terms of the Treaty of Peace, the Turkish navy was abolished, except for certain vessels retained for police and fishery duties. There are few vessels of real value. Religion and Education. -The established state religion is Mohammedan. The Sultan is the supreme head. The chief ecclesiastical official is the Sheikhul-Islam. His duties are judicial and legal, rather than spiritual. In Asiatic Turkey the Mohammedans form the great majority of the population. Elementary education is nominally compulsory for all children of both sexes. The state school is under the direct control of the Minister of Public Instruction. Schools of various kinds in the empire number about 40,000 and contain about 1,500,000 pupils. There are training schools for teachers, but the general level of efficiency in the schools is low. There are a large number of foreign schools conducted by French, English, and American missionaries. The University of Constantinople was reorganized in 1918. There are a number of state schools, including the Imperial Art School and a theological seminary. Government.-Turkey, prior to the World War, was nominally a constitutional monarchy, but in reality was an absolute monarchy. The formal constitution was adopted in 1876, which provided for a Parliament and other features of constitutional government. Under Abdul-Hamid II., however, this constitution became a dead letter. In 1908, the prevailing discontent, especially in the army, compelled the Sultan to issue an Imperial decree for a convocation of a new Parliament and a constitutional government was restored on July 23, 1908. Following the armistice in 1918, Turkey was practically under control of the Allied Powers, especially Great Britain, although the Sultan had nominal rule. History. The earliest notice of the Turks, or Turcomans, in history is about the year 800, when, issuing from various parts of Turkestan, they obtained possession of a part of Armenia, called from them Turcomania. They afterward extended their conquests over the adjacent parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, occupying Syria, Egypt, and eventually the territory that remained to the Greek empire. In 1453 Constantinople was taken by by Mohammed II., and became the capital of the empire. pire. The Morea and the islands were afterward overrun, with parts of Hungary, the Crimea, and the shores of the Black Sea. They next took the whole of the country now forming Turkey in Asia, the Hezja in Egypt, and the regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. From the accession of Mohammed IV. in 1648, the Turkish empire began rapidly to decline, the vice and profligacy of the harem and seraglio being reflected in every branch of the state. The shelter given to Charles XII. of Sweden, in 1711, led to the first war with Russia, which must have ended in the ruin of that empire but for the cupidity of the grand-vizier, who accepted a bribe to allow Peter the Great and his army to escape. From that time till 1774 the war with Russia was frequently renewed, and, by the peace of the latter year, a large extent of territory and the Black Sea were ceded by the Porte to Russia. In the campaign of 1787 the Turks were still more unfortunate, and, though in 1789, under Selim III., III., they retook Belgrade, they were elsewhere defeated. In 1807 the Emperor Alexander declared war against the Porte, and in the campaign advanced his frontier to the Pruth by the conquest of Bessarabia; the next severe loss the Turks sustained was from the revolt of the Greeks and the subsequent independence of their country. In 1854 war was once more declared against Turkey by Russia, when England, France, and Sardinia joined the Porte to enable the Sultan to resist the threatened invasion of his dominions; the burning of the Turkish fleet off Sinope, pe, the campaign on the Danube, the battles of Alma, Inkerman, Balaklava, and the bombardment and capture of Sebastopol, were some of the results of the two years' war with Russia; Turkey, for the first time in nearly a century, sheathing the sword without the loss of a foot of territory. Subsequently, Turkey engaged in a war with the Montenegrins, who sought to cast off her yoke; and, later, was concerned in suppressing revolutionary tendencies in the Danubian principalities. In 1875, an insurrection broke out in Herzegovina, and in October, Turkey declared her partial insolvency. In February, 1876, the six great European Powers proposed a scheme of reform which was largely accepted by the Sultan. On May 30 Sultan Abdul- Aziz was deposed. His nephew, Murad V., succeeded him, but was also deposed and followed, Aug. 31, by his brother, Abdul-Hamid II. On Jan. 18, 1877, the Grand Council of Turkey refused all interference by the European Powers and Russia declared war on April 21. Turkey was badly beaten and an armistice was signed in February, 1878. The terms of the treaty of peace at San Stephano (March 3) were subsequently modified at the Congress of Berlin. On April 19, 1897, Turkey was forced by Greece to declare war. The war was short and ended in Turkey's favor on June 3, Greece agreeing to pay a war indemnity of $2,000,000. In 1898 Crete was taken in charge by the Great Powers and the island was handed over for government to Greece. In the first decade of the 20th century, Turkey seemed on the point of collapse. There were revolts in Arabia and conditions of anarchy prevailed in Albania and Macedonia. In the latter country conditions led to foreign intervention, and the Sultan, much against his will, acceded to new reform schemes, which, however, were never carried out. In the meantime, the public debt was increasing and the railways, mines, and banks were falling into the hands of the foreign capitalists. Just as Turkey appeared on the point of collapse, a movement for the rejuvenation of the country was started by a body called the Young Turks, who for many years had been working to bring about reform measures. On July 23, 1908, the central body, called the Committee of Union and Progress, headed by Enver Pasha, proclaimed the restoration of the constitution of 1876. An attack on Constantinople was threatened and the Sultan, greatly terrified, issued a decree restoring parliamentary government. Taking advantage of these disturbances, Austria, in October, 1908, annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the same time Ferdinand of Bulgaria proclaimed the independence of that Government . The new Turkish country. try was obliged to agree. Albania became still more turbulent in 1909, and there were serious disturbances in Arabia and Macedonia. A counter-revolution started which, however, was promptly suppressed. Parliament now voted to depose Abdul-Hamid and placed him practically in captivity near Saloniki. His brother, Mohammed V., was made Sultan in his place. Measures were now taken on a large scale to Ottomanize the Turkish empire. The Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbians in Macedonia bitterly resented this, and Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia began to draw more closely together with the object of protecting their nationals in Macedonia. În 1911 Italy seized Tripoli and followed by a Cyrenaica. This was foll war between Turkey and Italy. Peace was not concluded until 1912, when Italy gained a large territory, including Tripoli and Cyrenaica. During the summer of 1912, the Balkan states formed the Balkan League, which resulted in the Balkan War. See BALKAN WARS. The outcome of this struggle was the loss of all Turkish possessions in Europe, except Constantinople, Adrianople, and a small adjacent territory. German influence had become strong in Turkey during these events. The Turkish army was armed and drilled by Germans, and the German Government secured the greater share of new concessions, including the Bagdad railroad. Germany's sympathy was shown toward Turkey during the Balkan War. It was no occasion for surprise, then, when Turkey chose to side with Germany and Austria against the Allied Powers in the World War. The Turkish Government, indeed, in the first days of the war, declared its neutrality, but mobilization of her military forces at once began. The commander-in-chief of the Turkish armies was Enver Pasha, who had been educated in Germany and whose ideals were those of his German associates. The German general, Liman von Sanders, had brought about the reorganization of the Turkish army on a modern basis. On the declaration of war between Germany and Russia, Turkey at once closed the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to all shipping, planting mines at the entrances. This effectively bottled up the Russian fleets in the Black Sea. On Oct. 30, 1914, Russia declared war against Turkey, and the Sultan at against Russia, once declared war France and England. On Nov. 17, ally declared a pro- Great Britain formally ypt. The Sultan entectorate over Egypt. deavored to foment a "Holy War" against the Allies, but this met with little response outside of the Turkish empire. The first military operations of importance took place in the Caucasus where a Turkish army advanced into Persia. This force was defeated by Russians There on Jan. 30, 1915. were other Russian successes in Persia and in the Caucasus. The main operations, however, were carried on in Transcaucasia, where, Dec. 26, 1914, on a great Turkish army was decisively beaten by Russian forces, and for some months Turkey was unable to carry on further operations in this field. The campaign was, however, conducted for the purpose of capturing the Suez Canal, in January, 1916. This was frustrated by prompt British resistance which drove back the Turkish forces, leaving the British in possession of the canal. Other operations early in the war occurred in the Persian Gulf. The British disembarked a force near Basra, which the Turks evacuated on their approach. Here the British prepared a base camp for an attack upon Bagdad, about 300 miles distant. 50 miles above Basra, the Turkish army had been mobilized. The British attacked this point and finally succeeded in defeating the Turkish army, which surrendered. The British then intrenched themselves, having cut off Turkey from any advance on India. The most spectacular operations in which Turkey was engaged during the first period of the war was the effort on the part of the French and British to force a passage of the Dardanelles. Great preparations having been made, the main attack upon the Gallipoli forts was begun on Feb. 19, 1915. It is probable that Turkey had concentrated half a million men on the peninsula. The British, after a severe bombardment 1 of the forts, landed marines, but these were attacked by superior forces of Turks and were compelled to re-embark. These attacks continued for months following, but with little success. The Allies, during the progress of the bombardment, lost several of their best battleships. In the meantime the Allies were preparing an expeditionary for force in Egypt which was later transferred to the island of Lemnos, which had been occupied by the Allies. On April 23, 1915, the first of these forces disembarked on the Gallipoli peninsula under cover of the guns of the warships. The Turkish troops, who were under the command of the German General yon opened a furious parti ing the hillsides, drove the Turks back and succeeded in obtaining a foothold. For the months following, almost continuous fighting went on, through which the Turks lost considerable ground. In the beginning of September, however, they began vigorous counter-attacks and succeeded in driving back the Allied troops at a high cost in killed and wounded. The attempt to capture the peninsula persisted and would probably have succeeded, but for serious blunders in the operation. In the autumn of 1916 it became obvious that the expedition was a failure, and the British troops were withdrawn in December. This concluded the most disastrous series of military operations carried on by the Allies during the first period of the war. In the meantime, the campaign in Mesopotamia was well under way. On June 3, 1916, the British captured Amara, 75 miles above Kurna. Kut-el-Amara, a strongly fortified post, still remained in the hands of the Turks. A four days' battle, which ended on Sept. 29, was ended by the defeat of the Turkish armies and the capture of Kut-el-Amara. The British, under General Townsend, now engaged upon a campaign for the capture of Bagdad. The advance began in the early days of October, and was strongly opposed. The Turks retired until they reached the vicinity near Ctesiphon, where they were strongly intrenched. After a severe struggle, the Turks were obliged to fall back. They received re-enforcements, however, and repelled the British forces. Further re-enforcements having been received, they were able to continue to force back the British troops until until they the finally reached Kut-el-Amara, with a loss of fully one-third of the strength with which they had started. Here the British were able to intrench themselves and hold back the Turkish army. They were, however, cut off from communication with the outside world. Attempts were made to send relief, and British forces defeated the Turkish army near Kutel-Amara, on Jan. 6, 1916. The conditions of the country, however, made it impossible for the troops to advance farther. They were subject to various attacks by the Turks and finally the British commander decided to move up the left bank of the Tigris and attack the Turkish position from the rear. The movement failed, and the British were obliged to withdraw. Attempts were made to relieve Kut during the next months. On April 8 a sharp battle was fought at Sanna-i-yat. Here the British were unable to advance. By this time the besieged army at Kut-el-Amara had reached the point where food had become scarce, and physical endurance was well nigh exhausted. On April 28, 1916, the British garrison surrendered to the Turks, thus ending the siege which lasted 143 days. The surrender caused a deep sensation throughout all the countries at war, and the British Government determined to make a further and more extensive attempt to capture Bagdad. A large army was gathered under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Maud. On Feb. 26, 1917, Kut-el-Amara was captured after a stubborn resistance. The British continued steadily on up the Tigris river, although the Turks re- On sisted with the utmost firmness. March 11, 1917, Bagdad surrendered. Large quantities of stores and war materials fell into the hands of the British. Campaigns continued in the Caucasus during the progress of the Mesopotamian operations. Turkey raised a large army for the purpose of seizing Kars and Tiflis and controlling the great Caspian oil fields. This army numbered about 140,000 men and was opposed by a Russian army of about 110,000. Operations began on Nov. 20, 1914, and were carried on with varying success during the following months. The Turks were decisively defeated in the second week of January, 1915, and the Turkish offensive in the Caucasus was effectively checked for the time being. Attempts by the Russians to carry on operations farther south were defeated by strong Turkish forces. The Russian armies were re-enforced, however, and checked further advances on the part of the Turks. Hostilities continued in Persia and the Caucasus during the first months of 1915. On May 23 the Russians occupied the city of Van and other places. By the autumn of this year, Russia was able to devote more strength to the Caucasus front and under the direction of Grand Duke Nicholas, a campaign was begun for the capture of Erzerum. The city was taken in the second week of February, 1916. The Russian advance continued toward Trebizond, the Turkish base of supplies on the Black Sea. On April 18 the city was captured. The larger part of Turkish Armenia was now in Russian hands. The Russians continued minor operations, but in the spring of 1917 disturbances in Russia, following the revolution, prevented active military operations. Following the capture of Bagdad, the British forces proceeded with the conquest of Syria and Palestine. Prior to the beginning of this campaign, it was finally announced that the country would be turned over to the Jews for their a political entity. sentenced many forworking for the This resulted in the of all the Bey, and Allied cause among the Jews countries. Operations Allied and neutral began on Oct. 27 with bombardment and French warof Gaza by English by land atships. This was followed cavalry and foot tacks by British were driven back soldiers. The Turks the city of Gaza with great loss, and 7. On Nov. 16 was taken on Nov. without opposition Jaffa was captured . of heavy resist- The British, in the face Jerusalem and ance, continued toward December, succeeded in the early part of which surrendered in isolating that city, the occupation of on Dec. 11. After continued their Jerusalem, the British surrounding country. operations in the in clearing it of They finally succeeded Turkish forces. The Arabs in the Hedjaz, that part of Red Sea, had in Arabia adjoining the arisen against Turkish the meantime insurgents derule. In July uly, 1917, the Turkish troops at Maan and feated the and Akaba, the occupied that town the head of the Red latter town being at the same name. Sea, on a gulf bearing Arabian forces, During September, the King of the Hedjaz, operating under the important operacarried on a series of and Arabians. tions against the Turks had been officially recog- King Hussein Governments and nized by the Allied an independent Hedjaz was declared kingdom. On Oct. 12, 1918, the Turkish Govfor a sepaernment opened negotiation the Allies, and on rate peace with arranged be- Oct. 30, an armistice was and the Allied tween the Turkish war ceased in the Governments, and the accordance with Turkish empire. In , British troops the terms of the armistice peninsula were allowed to land on the on Nov. 13, 1918, of Gallipoli, and through the Dar- Allied warships passed troops in Constantidanelles and landed nople. During the progress of the war, the had suffered from people in Armenia the devastation repeated massacres, and alleviated as far in this country was expeditions sent as possible by relief States and other out by the United 1920, Mohamcountries. On March 7, a distinctly pro-Ally med VI. established David Pasha government, with 13, Kemal Grand Vizier. On April Bey, German commandone of the former proin Stamboul ers, was publicly hanged Armenian massafor complicity in the Turkey was represented at the Peace cres. Conference by a delegation, but this re ceived small consideration. On July 11 re-establishment as , the court martial officials, includmer prominent Turkish ing Enver Pasha, Talaat Djemel Pasha, to death. All three eshowever, was assascaped. Talaat Bey, March 15, 1921 sinated in Berlin, on . were practically in These three men during the war. The control of Turkey was handed to the treaty with Turkey , on May 11, Turkish delegates in Paris included mandates 1920. Its provisions Mesopotamia, while over Syria and a Jewish state under Palestine was to be was awarded British protection. Thrace , Turkey refused to Greece. In reply parts rts of Thrace, to cede Smyrna or once occupied by Greek and they were at called Turkish Nationalforces. The soterms of the treaty ists, directly after the established a sepahad been published, Anatolia, headed by rate government in and declared that the Mustapha Kemal would be resisted to terms of the treaty was disthe utmost. A Greek army against the Nationalists and patched on throughout hostilities were carried results on either 1920, with no decisive carried on operaside. The Turks also tions in Syria. The Turkish government did not until March sign the Treaty of Peace a conference in 1921, when, following representatives of the London between and the Turkish Govern- Allied countries , an agreement and Turkish Nationalists at. By the ment was finally arrived was returned to terms of this, Smyrna was made Turkey, and an agreement would be apwhereby a commission on ethnological pointed to determine , lines to whom military, and commercial belongs. Turkish sov- Thrace rightly was conereignty over Constantinople V. died on July 3, firmed. Mohammed by Mohammed 1918, and was succeeded is a list of the Sul- VI. The following of Othman): tans of Turkey (House Amurath IV., "The Othman, or Osman .....1623 Intrepid" 1299 1640 1326 Ibrahim I. Orchan Amurath I. 1360 Mohammed IV....1649 1687 Solyman III. Bajazet I., "The 1691 Achmet II... Thunderbolt,".. 1389 1695 Mustapha II. 1402 Solyman I.. 1703 Mohammed I.....1413 Achmet III. 1730 Mahmoud I. Amurath II.1421 1754 Osman III Mohammed II. (Con- .1757 Mustapha III. queror of Constan- 1774 Abdul-Hamid. 1451 tinople) 1788 Selim III. Bajazet II.1481 1807 Mustapha IV.. .1512 Selim I.... 1808 as Mahmoud II. Solyman II., "The .1839 Abdul-Medjid Magnificent,".. 1520 .1861 Abdul-Aziz 1566 1876 Selim II. Murad V.. 1574 Abdul-Hamid II..1876 Amurath III. Mohammed III... 1595 Mohammed V....1909 1603 Mohammed VI...1918 Achmet I. Mustapha I.1617 Osman II.. .1618
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
tur'ki, an empire in southeastern Europe and western Asia. It is called also the Ottoman Empire , from Othman, the founder of the ruling house. The Turks lay claim to Egypt and other territory in Africa. Turkey in Europe has an area of 65,350 square miles and a population of 6,130,000. The corresponding statistics for Turkey in Asia are 693,610 square miles, and a population of 16,898,700. Tripoli and other African territory, not counting Egypt, add 400,000 square miles of territory and 1,000,000 inhabitants. BOUNDARIES. It is putting it mildly to say the boundaries of Turkey are irregular. The empire lies on both sides of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus like a pair of saddlebags hung awry, save that saddlebags have shape and the two bundles of Turkish territory have none. The chief land mass of European Turkey extends from the Adriatic to the Black Sea . It is bordered on the north by the revolted Balkan states, and is bounded in part on the south by Greece and the Aegean. Turkey in Asia includes Asia Minor , and extends in general from the Mediterranean eastward to Persia, with arms running southward along the eastern coast of the Red Sea and the western coast of the Persian Gulf respectively. Long stretches of seacoast form natural boundaries, but the landward boundaries are everywhere artificial. SURFACE. The physical features of an empire extending from the Aegean Sea to Persia, and from the Caspian Sea to the sands of Africa, are necessarily varied. There are no stupendous mountain ranges in Turkey. The shores are bold; the interior is decidedly mountainous, with fertile plain and valley. Parallel ranges divide Turkey in Europe into Albania, Macedonia, and Thrace. The most noted peak in Asia is Mt. Ararat on the Russian border. Other mountains are the Taurus and the Lebanon ranges. The valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates is the greatest single tract of level, low land. There are several salt lakes in Asiatic Turkey, including the Dead Sea in Palestine and Lake Van in Armenia. Scutari Lake on the Montenegrin border is the largest body of water in the Balkan peninsula . The Tigris and the Euphrates are the only large rivers. The Jordan is noted in sacred geography. MINERALS. The empire possesses untold wealth in mines little worked. The more valuable ores are silver, zinc, iron, antimony, and copper. There are supplies of emery, borax, coal, petroleum, arsenic, and mercury. The world's supply of meerschaum comes from Asia Minor. There are important sponge fisheries in the Mediterranean, mother of pearl in the Red Sea, and pearls in the Persian Gulf. MANUFACTURES. Turkey is celebrated for the manufacture of rugs, carpets, leather, oils, and soap. Half of the entire foreign trade is carried on with England. The United States comes fourth in the list of customers. TRANSPORTATION, ETC. During the last twenty-five years over 3,000 miles of railway have been built. Telephone and telegraph lines are being extended. American machinery is beginning to appear in harvest fields. Property and life are becoming more secure. With a decently responsible, energetic government, Turkey will take rank with the nations of western Europe. ANIMALS. The list of wild animals and notable plants would be a large one. The lion is found in the valley of the Euphrates and the bear in the mountains of Lebanon. The wild boar, squirrel, chamois, deer, beaver, hedgehog, wolf, marten, badger, and fox still linger in European Turkey. The hyena and the jackal are found in the Asiatic vilayets. The camel is a favorite beast of burden. The horse, ox, goat, ass, and sheep are common domestic animals. The buffalo is a common beast of burden in Asia. FLORA. The vegetation varies from the subtropical date of Mesopotamia and the coffee of Yemen to the fruits of southern Europe. There are 20,000,000 acres of neglected forests in the empire. Extensive plains bordering on Arabia in Asia are treeless and fit only for poor pasturage. The trees of the north are the oak, the ash, the beech, and the basswood. The apple, the apricot, the cherry, and the pear have their favorite valleys. There are olive and orange groves in Albania. The plum of Damascus and the Smyrna fig are noted. The walnut and the almond thrive in localities; cedars yet grow in Lebanon. The vine grows on many a hillside. The plains of Adrianople are famous for roses. The leaves of the mulberry feed the silkworm. A species of maize grows wild like a grass in warm, lowland regions. In fact, the Italians call corn the "Turkish grain." AGRICULTURE. Though there are sterile tracts lacking rainfall, Turkey includes some of the most fertile land on the globe. Owing to poor roads and poor markets, much fertile land is unoccupied nevertheless. Agriculture carried on in a rude way is the leading occupation. Here again the peasant is obliged to hand over a share of his produce to the tax-gatherer. The chief productions are tobacco, grain, cotton, figs, nuts, almonds, grapes, olives, orchard fruits, coffee, madder, opium, and gums. HISTORICAL. The Turks are an Asiatic people, possibly from the region west of China or around Lake Baikal. They are related distantly to the Chinese. They were converted to Mohammedanism by the Arabs and became in time masters of the Arabs and of the Mohammedan world. In 1453 they took possession of Constantinople. In the next century, under Solyman the Magnificent, they bade fair to overrun Europe, but were checked under the walls of Vienna. In consequence of the corruption and incapacity of many sultans, the power of the Turks has waned steadily. Greece revolted. The small states of the lower Danube have secured their independence one by one. Cyprus and Crete have been lost. Egypt is practically a British possession. The Turks would have been driven out of Europe before this but for the difficulty experienced by the powers in agreeing to a plan for the future. The Eastern Question, as it is called, is still an important one. In 1852 the Russian czar, Nicholas I, called the Ottoman emperor the "Sick man of the East," a fitting name. POPULATION, ETC. The dominant element in the empire is the Turks, but they do not comprise over a fourth of the population. There are 4,000,000 Arabs alone. The Turks and Arabs are Mohammedans. They worship in over 2,000 mosques. The language of the mosque is Arabic. The interpreters of the Koran are called Mufti. The government grants nominal freedom of worship to Catholics, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Maronites, Protestants, and Jews. All Mohammedan males over twenty years of age are held to military service up to the age of forty. Non-Mohammedan males of all ages are taxed a dollar and a half a year in place of service. The nomad Arabs neither pay nor serve, for the simple reason that the government cannot get at them. An army of 700,000 is kept under arms. The war strength of the empire is twice that number. The Turkish soldiers are considered brave fighters. GOVERNMENT. The empire is divided for administrative purposes into vilayets. Each is placed under a governor. The sultan is assisted by a grand vizier and a cabinet of ministers of war, navy, finance, foreign affairs, etc. High dignitaries are addressed as effendi, bey, or pasha. The rule of the sultan and his officials has been uncertain, oppressive, rapacious, and unjust. Tax gatherers are so grasping that there is little inducement to industry. A favorite form of punishment is the bastinado, or whipping the bare soles of the feet with a stick. Culprits are executed by strangling with a bowstring. Turkish atrocity and misgovernment exert a blighting effect on once smiling provinces. The "Unspeakable Turk" will neither thrive nor let anyone else thrive. The opinion in which the Turk has been held by Christendom was well expressed by Harry Pratt Judson writing twenty years ago: The Turks are an anachronism in modern Europe. They belong in the Middle Ages, and it is a pity they are not all there. These people are aliens to the ideas of European civilization. They are aliens in race and language. They are Turanians, with no share of Aryan blood or Aryan thought. They have no inheritance in the Greek and Roman culture which has created modern life in the west. Their classic literature is in Arabic. They are Asiatic, not European. They are aliens in religion. The Mohammedan faith has from its inception been more hostile to Christianity than has any other creed. Christian missions to-day make practically no converts from Islam. And the Turks inherit a thousand years of war against the cross. They are aliens in social institutions. Polygamy and slavery, "twin relics of barbarism," are opposed to the instincts of advanced western life. But both thrive among the Turks. It is the Mohammedan natives who today keep alive the slave raids in the heart of Africa which Christian powers are striving to end. They are aliens in political ideas. Government with them is, as has been said of Russia, "despotism tempered by assassination." They simply have no conception of popular sovereignty. They are aliens in progress. The very essence of their institutions is changelessness. Their law book is the Koran--and that cannot be amended or repealed. Their attempts at reform are only on the surface--they may wear silk hats and Parisian coats, but they are Turks underneath. Napoleon said, "Scratch a Russian and you will find a Cossack under his skin." And the modern Turk, is, in fact, a medieval survival. In short, the Turks in Europe are a horde of Asiatic adventurers encamped in the fairest lands of the continent, and holding the native races practically in slavery. Until 1909 the government was an absolute monarchy. The ruler is known as the sultan. His will has been supreme, except that he was guided by the precepts of the Koran and the laws of his predecessors. He maintained a harem of women at Constantinople. At the death of a sultan he is succeeded ordinarily by the oldest living male born in the harem. Thus the successor may be an uncle, a brother, or a son of the dying sultan. The women of a harem come chiefly by purchase from Circassia. No regular marriage is deemed requisite. All children born in the harem have equal rights. There is no nobility. The humblest citizen of the empire is eligible to the highest office in the gift of the sultan. In 1909 a political party known as the Young Turks forced the sultan, Abdul Hamid, to grant a constitution; 42,000 political prisoners were set free. Later, finding the sultan treacherous, they deposed him and elevated an older brother, Mohammed V, to the throne. He had been kept under surveillance, a gilded prisoner, for 33 years. Receiving a deputation from the Assembly, he said: "I am pleased to become the first constitutional sovereign. Doubtless my successor will improve upon me, but you may rely upon my doing my best. I also have suffered oppression, and can therefore enter into the feelings of my fellow sufferers." Later speaking to the reporter of the London Chronicle, he said: Say that I have ever been the convinced and ardent supporter of the cause of enlightenment, liberty, and progress. By the help of Allah, the most high, I shall follow unswervingly the path of duty, seeking to act justly and honorably to all men, be they giaours or true believers. My voice has been silent for thirty-three years, but the voice of true conscience has never been stilled. You ask me what I think of the situation in modern Turkey as I find it today after the political resuscitation of long years. I will tell you that tho shut up here I have contrived, feebly perhaps, to keep in touch with the march of progress of the outside world. The few partizans who have been loyal to me through the dark days of adversity are aware that from my earliest years, while faithful to the precepts and teachings of the Koran, I have been an advocate of a constitutional charter and parliamentary institutions. From this opinion I have never deviated. I hold it today as strongly as I did when a young man, seeking to imbibe the knowledge of Western civilization and its methods. I am a firm supporter of the policy of young Turkey, with full enjoyment of political freedom. I see nothing in it incompatible with Mohammedan sacred law. The old sultan was required, as the price of his life, to surrender vast hoards of money. His harem was disbanded. The Young Turks announced a program of progress. They propose the abolition of polygamy, genuine religious toleration, and free education. If this program can be carried out there is prosperity ahead for Turkey and for the Turk. Already (1910) several thousand officials of the Hamidian period have been dismissed or pensioned. New governors have been appointed to many provinces. The reorganization of the ministry of finance, and the appointment of a finance commission, including a number of the European officers formerly engaged in Macedonia, promise the best results. The army has been overhauled, old Hamidian officers being sent down, even a commander being reduced to the rank of colonel. The throwing open of the army to non-Mussulmans and the appointment of several Christian governors to Mohammedan provinces are other courageous steps that go to justify the confidence with which Europe saw the recent rise of the Young Turks to power. STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources: Area, square miles 1,157,860 Population 24,813,700 Constantinople 1,106,000 Salonica 150,000 Adrianople 81,000 Smyrna 201,000 Bagdad 145,000 Damascus 250,000 Aleppo 200,000 Beirut 118,000 Mosul 61,000 Mecca 60,000 Medineh 48,000 Jerusalem 70,000 Jaffa 45,000 Gaza 40,000 Number vilayets 37 Bonded indebtedness $450,000,000 National revenue $112,000,000 Wheat, bushels 60,000,000 Tobacco, pounds 100,000,000 Silk, pounds 2,800,000 Cotton, pounds 37,000,000 Wine, gallons 18,700,000 Olives, pounds 150,000,000 Wool, pounds 75,000,000 Total exports $90,000,000 Forests, acres 21,000,000 Horses 1,400,000 Asses 2,500,000 Cattle 4,000,000 Sheep 55,000,000 Goats 9,000,000 Swine none Miles of railway 4,013 Number postoffices 1,376 Public schools 36,000 Pupils enrolled 1,330,000 See Constantinople ; Damascus ; Palestine ; Smyrna ; Armenia ; Syria ; Babylon ; Ararat ; Euphrates ; Koran ; Hellespont ; Crimea ; Rumania ; Belgrade ; Meerschaum ; Figs; Arabia ; Mecca Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
Turkey a large bird allied to the peacock
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a large bird allied to the peacock, pheasant, and Asiatic jungle fowl, hence to our common barnyard fowls. There are five wild turkeys, all American, one in Yucatan and four in Mexico and the United States . The wild turkey of most writers is a bird of the Eastern States. The Florida turkey is somewhat smaller. The Texan turkey and the Mexican turkey, from which the domestic breeds of Europe are derived, complete the list. A writer in the International Bulletin says: The colors of the North American turkey are black, beautifully shaded with a rich bronze, the breast plumage being dark bronze, illuminated with a lustrous finish of coppery gold. . . . The full-grown, healthy bird is a beautiful picture of bronze, black, copper, and gold. The Mexican turkey, wild throughout that republic, is short in shank, the feathers of its body are metallic black, shaded only slightly with bronze, while all its feathers are tipped with white. . . . It is thought that the white markings of its plumage appear in the variety known as the Narragansett domestic turkey. The Honduras turkey is scattered well over most of Central America . . . . It is extremely wild and its coloring is the most beautiful of all the family. The head and neck are naked, and no breast tuft is present. The ground color of the plumage is a beautiful bronze-green, banded with gold-bronze, blue, and red, with some bands of brilliant black. The name "Ocellated" is given to it on account of the large spots on the longer feathers, giving them a fanciful resemblance to eyes. A few scattered flocks of the common wild turkey are yet to be found in the forests of a wide range extending from Wisconsin and Texas to the Atlantic, but they are confined chiefly to the Alleghany Mountains . Except when nesting, wild turkeys feed in flocks and roost in tall timber to which they are accustomed to return each night. The adult male has a length of fifty inches and weighs from sixteen to forty pounds. Its plumage is iridescent. In domestication the turkey has undergone changes in color and varies greatly in size. It has lost in part its power of flight, but it retains the voice and the love of trees of its wild ancestors. If seen in the woods it would not be easy to tell our large dark turkeys from their untamed cousins. The bare head and neck, large wattles, finger-like fleshy lobe on the forehead, curious tuft of hair on the breast, the choked-up cry, and drumming strut of the barnyard gobbler are all faithful reproductions of the more alert Alleghany bird whose eye and ear are depended upon to guard the flock against the gunner's approach. A method of gleaning stubble fields and examining meadows for grasshoppers must also be an inheritance from the wild. An old gobbler, leader of the barnyard, conducts the flock in a military way. He goes ahead determining the course. His favorite hen comes next, a few feet at his right and as many feet in the rear, a third turkey follows at her right and in the rear, then a fourth and fifth in like order until the whole flock falls in on a slant line and is in motion, in echelon, as military men say. If a turkey is delayed a moment in catching a grasshopper or in gathering a few kernels, it hastens to regain its place in the advancing, slanting line. The hen is prone also to hide her nest in wildwood fashion. The young are very tender and are likely to be drabbled in the morning dew, but as they grow older they become much more hardy than chickens. The turkey was first introduced into England as a park bird. Chambers states that over two thousand roamed the woods of Richmond park in the early half of the eighteenth century. In America a roast turkey with cranberry sauce is the traditional center of the Thanksgiving dinner. To supply this demand there are about 9,000,000 turkeys in the United States, one for each nine or ten persons. Turkeys raised by Europeans among the foothills of the Himalayas for the Calcutta market are sold at the Christmas season for $5 and even $10 each. In the United States there are six standard varieties,--the bronze, Narragansett, buff, slate, white, and black. The chief differences are in size and color of plumage. See Poultry ; Pheasant ; Bustard
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's wrote this in 1921 at the very bottom of the Ottoman story, and almost every arrangement it describes was swept away within two years. Mustafa Kemal's nationalists drove the Greek army out of Anatolia in 1922 (Smyrna, which Collier's notes as "returned to Turkey," burned that September), the sultanate was abolished in November 1922, the Treaty of Lausanne replaced the 1920 settlement in July 1923, and the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923 with its capital at Ankara rather than Constantinople — renamed Istanbul, and no longer the seat of government. The caliphate went in March 1924, ending the religious office Collier's still lists the Sultan as holding, and the Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 removed most of the Greek communities the entry counts among Anatolia's peoples. Today's republic is a NATO member since 1952 with roughly 85 million people, ten times the 8,000,000 Collier's left it, and since 2022 asks to be called Türkiye internationally.
Written for this edition, 2026.