=Turkish Possessions.=--Anatolia is the common name of the Turkish possession formerly known as Asia Minor. The name properly belongs, however, to only a small part of the region. The Asiatic possessions of the Ottoman Empire comprise Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. The Armenians are the commercial people of the greater part of this region, and although thousands have been massacred because of Turkish hatred of them, they practically wield the chief power because of their business enterprise. During the Roman occupation many miles of roads were built from Constantinople and other coast-points to the interior. One of these extended to Mesopotamia, and became a much-travelled route of the trade which centred at Constantinople. Within recent years German capitalists have built railways along these roads, thereby creating a considerable export trade in fruit, rugs, and mohair cloth. _Angora_ and _Konieh_ (_Iconium_) are important marts. _Trebizond_ is the chief port of the Black Sea, but it lacks railway connections with the interior. _Smyrna_ is the chief port of the Mediterranean, and from it are shipped to European and American markets the fruit and textile fabrics that have made its importance. In Syria, _Damascus_, one of the oldest cities in the world, is the centre of a considerable trade in textile manufactures. Rugs, dates, figs, and damask fabrics are exported to Europe through _Beirut_, its seaport, with which it is connected by rail. Much of the stuffs exported is gathered from Persia. _Yafa_ is the port of Jerusalem. _Bagdad_ is the chief trade-centre of Mesopotamia. =Arabia.=--Arabia is nominally a Turkish possession, but the coast-regions only are under the control of the Sultan. The interior is peopled by nomadic tribes, who do not acknowledge the sovereignty of Turkey. The province of Yemen, on the Red Sea, is about the only noteworthy part of the peninsula. Hides and Mocha coffee, gathered by Arab traders, are shipped from the port of _Hodeida_. _Mecca_ is the yearly meeting-place of thousands of Mohammedan pilgrims, who go thither as a religious duty; it is also the centre from which Asiatic cholera radiates. _Aden_, the chief coaling-station of the British Empire in the Indian Ocean, is also a free port, having a considerable trade in American cotton and coal-oil.