Of the region sometimes called Chinese Turkestan, the name "Kashgaria," "lately current in Europe, has no raison d'être since the collapse of the independent state founded by Yakub of Kashgar. In the same way the expression 'Kingdom of Khotan' fell into disuse after the city of Khotan had ceased to be the capital. The term 'Little Bokhara,' still in use some thirty years ago, pointed at the former religious ascendancy of Bokhara, but is now all the less appropriate that Bokhara itself has yielded the supremacy to Tashkent. Lastly, the expressions Eastern Turkestan and Chinese Turkestan are still applicable, because the inhabitants are of Turki speech, while the Chinese have again brought the country under subjection." _E. Reclus, The Earth and its Inhabitants: Asia, volume 2, chapter 3._ See, also, YAKOOB BEG. TURKESTAN: Ancient. See SOGDIANA. TURKESTAN: 6th Century. Turkish conquest. See TURKS: 6TH CENTURY. TURKESTAN: A. D. 710. Mahometan conquest. See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 710. TURKESTAN: A. D. 1859-1865. Russian conquest. See RUSSIA: A. D. 1859-1876. ----------TURKESTAN: Start-------- TURKEY. See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1240-1326, and after; also, SUBLIME PORTE. ----------TURKS: Start-------- TURKS: 6th Century. Beginning of their career. "At the equal distance of 2,000 miles from the Caspian, the Icy, the Chinese, and the Bengal seas, a ridge of mountains is conspicuous, the centre, and perhaps the summit, of Asia, which, in the language of different nations has been styled Imaus, and Caf, and Altai, and the Golden Mountains, and the Girdle of the Earth. The sides of the hills were productive of minerals; and the iron-forges, for the purpose of war, were exercised by the Turks, the most despised portion of the slaves of the great khan of the Geougen. But their servitude could only last till a leader, bold and eloquent, should arise to persuade his countrymen that the same arms which they forged for their masters might become in their own hands the instruments of freedom and victory. They sallied from the mountain; a sceptre was the reward of his advice. … The decisive battle which almost extirpated the nation of the Geougen established in Tartary the new and more powerful empire of the Turks. … The royal encampment seldom lost sight of Mount Altai, from whence the river Irtish descends to water the rich pastures of the Calmucks, which nourish the largest sheep and oxen in the world. … As the subject nations marched under the standard of the Turks, their cavalry, both men and horses, were proudly computed by millions; one of their effective armies consisted of 400,000 soldiers, and in less than fifty years they were connected in peace and war with the Romans, the Persians, and the Chinese. … Among their southern