Ilistory.—The Turks-Osmanlis are a branch of the Asiatic Turks, who are thinly spread over an immense extent of Asia, from the desert of Gobi to the shores of the Mediterranean, and from the northern part of Siberia to the Persian Gulf. In some parts, as in South Siberia, in Turkistan, and in the greater part of Asia Minor, they form a compact population ; in others, as in Syria, Armenia, and Mesopotamia, they are much less numerous than the original inhabit ants. In Europe the Turkish population is compact in Rfim-ili, and in the government of Kazan and some adjacent tracts in Eastern Russia. In Africa there are only a few Turks-Osmanlis.
Herodotus (iv. 22) mentions a nation by the name of fur= (Itycat), which probably lived south-west of the present town of Kiew. A nation which lived in the same country is named Tunas, or Turks, by Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' vi. 7) and Pomponius Mela (i. 19). Some have proposed in the above-mentioned passage of Herodotus to read Wpsat, instead of Iiipser. But the names are the same, and Yiirtik, or Yuruk, is still the well-known name of all nomadic Turks in Asia Minor and Persia. Strabo mentions a nation called Urgi (Odcryoi), which occupied nearly the same tract as the Iurcem and Tomas.
The general opinion is, that the Turks became first known to the Europeans through the Byzantines, in tho 4th or 5th century ; they were known to the Chinese however several centuries before there was an historian in Europe.
The Turks have been divided from the remotest times into a number of different tribes, the most remarkablo of which in connection with the Turks-Osmanlis were the Oghuzes, the Seljuks, and the Osmanlis.
1. Ogktces.—Tradition says that Oghnz-khan, the son of Kir-it-khan, a descendant of Turk, who is the common ancestor of all the Turks, was a mighty king in the time of Abraham. His empire was the country called Turkistan [Turtxrarlsq, known to the Persians by the name of Turin. Under his successors the empire was divided : three khans, 'the three arrows,' ruled over the eastern Oghuzes, and extended their dominions towards China; three other khans, 'the three breakers,' were masters over the western Oghuzes, around the Oxus and the Jaxartes. The first of these 'three breakers' was the 'khan of the mountains : ' he is the ancestor of the younger Oghuzes, or that part of the Oghnzes which preserved their name in later times, and of the Turkomans. The second was the ' khan of the sea,' the
ancestor of the Seljuks; and the third was the ' khan of the heaven, the ancestor of the tribe Kepi, from which are descended the Osmanlis. For many centuries the Oghuzes were perpetually at war with the Persians, and afterwards with the Arabs, who (ass. 711) conquered Bokhars and Samarcand. Boghra-khan Harlin extended his dominions as far as China (999). His empire was broken up by civil troubles during the II th century, and became a prey to the Seljuks.
2. Se/Aka—Their ancestor Seljuk was a mighty under-khan of the Oghuzes, and lived towards the end of the 10th century. The influ ence of his family increased during the civil troubles by which the empire of the Oghuzes was shaken after the death of Boghra-khan Harlin. Toghrul-Bey, his grandson, who lived in the middle of the 11th century, was an independent Mohammedan princo. His power was felt at Baghdad, whose kalif, Al Kayim, he saved from the ambitious designs of his eon Besasiri, who was put to death by order of the khan of the Seljuks. The kalif rewarded his liberator with the title and power of the Amirn-l-ornra, or ' prince of the princes :' he married a sister of the khan, and Toghrul-Bey married a daughter of the kalif. In 1069 Toghrul-Bey was succeeded by his nephew Alp-Arshin, who also married a daughter of the kalif Al-Ktlyim. Alp-Arshin conquered a large part of Turkistan, the north-western part of Persia, Armenia, Qeorgia, Mesopotamia, and Syria. lie was involved in long wars with the Greeks, which he terminated success fully, 1071, by a victory over the emperor Romanus, who became a captive of the Turks. Alp-Arsidn's eon and successor, Melek-Shah, conquered the greater part of Asia Minor. His successors were the masters of Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, part of Persia, and Western Turkistan, during 130 years. Towards the end of the 13th century, their power was broken by civil dissensions. Mesud, who died in 1297, was only the shadow of a king. 'Alit-ea-din If., his successor, was the last Sultan of the empire of the Seljuks. He was killed by the Mongols in 1307, and tho Seljukian monarchy was divided into the following states, all, except one, governed by princes of the tribe of the Seljuks.