KARS, a vilayet of Turkey. It is a mountainous, or rather a highland, country, being in reality a plateau, with ranges of mountains running across it. The northern border is formed by the Arzyan range, a branch of the Ajari Mts., which attains alti tudes of over 9,000 ft. In the south the Kara-dagh reach 10,270 ft. in Mount Ala-dagh, and the Agry-dagh 10,720 ft. in Mount Ashakh; and in the middle Allah-akhbar rises to 10,215 ft. The passes which connect valley with valley often lie at considerable altitudes, the average of those in the south-east being 9,00o ft. Chaldir-gol (altitude 6,52o ft.) and one or two other smaller lakes lie towards the north-east ; the Chaldir-gol is overhung on the south-west by the Kysyr-dagh (10,47o ft.). The east side of the province is throughout demarcated by the Arpa-chai, which re ceives from the right the Kars river, and as it leaves the province at its south-east corner joins the Aras. The Kura rises within the province not far from the Kysyr-dagh and flows across it west wards, then eastwards and north-eastwards, quitting it in the north-east. The winters are very severe. The towns of Kaghysh man (4,62o ft.) and Sarykamish (7,800 ft.) have a winter temper ature like that of Finland, and at the latter place, with an annual mean (35°) equal to that of Hammerfest in the extreme north of Norway, the thermometer goes down in winter to 4o° below zero and rises in summer to 99°. The annual mean temperature at Kars
is 40.5° and at Ardahan, farther north, 37°. The Alpine meadows (yailas) reach up to ',coo ft. and afford excellent pasturage in spring and summer. The province is almost everywhere heavily forested. Firs and birches flourish as high as 7,000 ft., and the vine up to above 3,00o ft. Cereals ripen well, and barley and maize grow up to considerable altitudes. Large numbers of cattle and sheep are bred. Extensive deposits of salt occur at Kaghysh man and Olty. The population in 1935 was 306,444. In remote antiquity the province was inhabited by Armenians, the ruins of whose capital, Ani, attest the ancient prosperity of the country. To the Armenians succeeded the Turks, while Kurds invaded the Alpine pasturages above the valley of the Aras ; and after them Kabardians, Circassians, Ossetes and Kara-papaks successively found a refuge in this highland region. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, this region was transferred to Russia by the treaty of Berlin; it was returned to Turkey by treaty with the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in 1921.