The Turks of Central Asia
In History and at the Present Day
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7290844 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M A Czaplicka |
| Year | 1919 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 421-421 |
| Publication date | 1919-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geographical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-7398 • E-ISSN: 1475-4959 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1780419 |
| OpenAlex | W2324770737 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
Those who provide for us, on a subject such as this, information that is new, or who bring such information as already exists within easier reach?and Miss Czaplicka does both?deserve our gratitude even when their work is avowedly imperfect and, in some respects, little better than makeshift, a fact we lay stress on here for the reason that in what follows the critical somewhat largely outbulks the merely appreciative. The volume before us?242 pages in all?is divided into two halves, the first being devoted to An ethnographical enquiry into the Pan-Turanian problem the second, to Bibliographical Material relating to the Early Turks and the Present Turks of Central Asia. In an Appendix (A) Miss Czaplicka deals briefly with the results of the war as regards Turkey in and if it be true that the Pan-Turanian problem will remain one of the burning questions long after the peace settlement is achieved in Europe and Asia, the collocation of this vast apparatus of learning with what many have deemed a mere question of the day may prove to have been fully justified. The purely artificial nature of this movement is, however, not difficult to prove, and, for our own part, we are not greatly impressed by its chances of ultimate success. Miss Czaplicka herself tells us that the Turkic nations she has met in Asia would be surprised if any one proposed to unite' them in one local group on the ground of some remote tradition and, presumably, they would open their eyes still wider at the idea of being affiliated to the Osmanli, with their surplusage of foreign blood and foreign culture and their linguistic divergences. In the division of the Turkic-speaking peoples on p. 20 some slip seems to have occurred. The term Eastern we are told, is used to embrace the people of Turkestan and Central Asia as far as Mongolia and China. This would exclude the Siberian Tartars as well as the Yakuts, which, of course, is not intended (see pp. 47, 51 sq.). It is with the first of these groups that Miss Czaplicka is best acquainted, and what she has to tell us of them is full of interest. Incidentally, one is glad to hear that, since the Russian revolution, Siberian scholars and public men have taken in hand the protection of the Uriankhai, who were being driven from their territory wholesale by Russian colonists. The second half of the book is claimed?and for all we know rightly ?as the first attempt at dealing (broadly) with the bibliography of the subject. It gives the titles of several hundreds of books and articles, a large number of them in Russian ; and it is undoubtedly something to be thankful for. But it is a mere sketch of that complete bibliography which may one day be forthcoming, and why not from the industrious hands of Miss Czaplicka herself?? though, in regard both to Enquiry and Bibliographical Materials, we are tempted to question the wisdom, in the present state of human science, of any attempt to pursue the matter further. For, as all those who have had even slight occasion to deal with it know, there is not one single race or nation, of the many to whom the term is or has been applied, of which it can be affirmed with any degree of certainty that it is Turkic in blood, and Turkic only. Huns, Magyars, Avars, Khazars, Pechenegs, Bulgarians, Polovtsi, even Mongols and others, have all been called Turks, may all, indeed, have had, or still have, more or less of Turkic blood in their veins ; but as to the purity of that notable ichor, who nowadays would dare to dogmatize ? Howorth was strongly inclined to think Chenghis himself more than half a Turk, and we ourselves are like-minded ; the Torguts, an important branch of the Kalmuks, derive, by their own traditions and belief, from the Kerai't chief Ung-Khan, otherwise
Ancient history · Central asia · Geography · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Linguistics and Cultural Studies
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,19 |
| Citation span | 1994 - 2024 (31) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |