IXote hij the I'Alitur.— For the pnrpope of enabling our readers to nndcistiuirt more fully the present complicated boundaries of I'lirkey, we insert a ni:ip based upon the one recently issued by Stanford, of Charing Cross, Lon- don. It will be perceived that, in consequence of the late Rnsso-Turkish war, Turkey has lost far more than
half her European possessions, which are to be bounded heiicefonh by tlie Ihilkan Mountains instead of the Hiver Save and the eastern Carpathian chain. Itounia- nia, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, and Montenegro are whol- ly severed from her. Bulgaria has lost a slice of her territory on the west, given lu Servia, and another on the north-east, given to Uouniania. Montenegro has gained a i)iece on the noith-west from Bosnia, and another on
1 the south-east from Turkey. Bosnia, including the part of Croatia formerly in Turkey, together with Heizegoviua, has been occupied by Austria, and is not likely to be re-
I stored to Turkey. Greece gains a |)art of Albania and Thessaly ; and Kussia that part of Kouniania (bounded by the Pruih and the Danube) adjoining Bessarabia (which she already helil). In Asia Kussia also acquires a district of Armenia adjoining Batuni. Besides, there is created a quasi-indepeudeiu ilistricl of Eastern Koume- lia, within the above narrowed limits of Turkey. Turkey in Europe virtually now consists merely of a part of
! lioumelia and a part of Albania. The interior changes
I in territory and population made by the Berlin treaty are stated as follows in the London Athenanim. Estimates of other statisticians vary considerably from these figures.
Ceded to Koumania
Ceded to Servia
Ceded to Montenegro
Ceded to Austria
Ceded to Greece (?)
To be occupied and administered
by Austria
Formed into the principality of
Bulgaria
Included in Eastern Runmelia..
4,326
1,649
15
5,300
•28,125
24,404 13,646
246,000 1142,000
264,000
40,000
2,000
T50,000
1,061,000
1,773,000 746,000
75,000 9,000
40,000 513,000
681,500 265,000
Roumania, in exchange for the territory ceded, is called upon to surrender 3270 square miles, with 140,000 iiibabi-
Map of Turkey in Europe, showing the Territorial Cluiiiges made by the Treaty of Berlin.
TURKEY
581
TURKEY
tants to Russia. If we exclude the provinces " iiuleflnite- | ever restored, the number of Osmanlis will barely reach
ly" lo be occupied by Au!*liiii, and Eastern Kounielia, there remain to Tu:key in Europe only 74,7'.t() ;-quare miles, Willi 4,779,0(10 inhabitants, of whotn l,fi-Jl,5(i(i are Mohammednns. In Armenia Russia takes 10,<i(iu t^cnian; miles, Willi about 350,nu(i inhabitants. Cyprus, intrusted to the keeping of Eniilaiid, has an area of '2'28S square miles, and about 15(i,t)(i0 inhabitants. Many of these ac- cessions, however, are already the fruitful source of con- tention, and some of them will probal)ly have to be taken l)ossessioii of by force of arms. Greece is at the present moment (Aui,'. ISS(t) preparing to do so for her share. It is impossible now to predict what the issue will be.]
The former volumes of this Ci/clapwilid have special articles on Bulgakia, Egypt, Rol mania, Sekvia; and on some of the Eastern Churches which are wholly or ehietly found in Turkey, as the Jacobites, Nestokians, and Makonites. In the present article, after giving such preliminary information of a general character as the intense interest at present prevailing on the Oriental question seems to demand, we treat, more particularly, of the religions of Turkey proper, so far as they have not yet been discussed in the special articles which have just been referred to.
I. Geotjraphical and Ethnological Features. ^The geographical position of the Turkish empire is peculiar, and would, under a strong government, be most advan- tageous. It connects Europe with Asia, Asia with Afri- ca, the East with the West, the Mohammedan with the Christian world. It has an extensive seacoast, which is indented by numerous gulfs and bays, and embraces many excellent harbors. Some parts of this coast were in former times the seat of a very flourishing commerce, which would undonbtedh' be revived under favorable circumstances. Almost the entire territory which is subject to direct Tmkish rule is noted for its fertility ; but Turkish misrule has not only arrested, but dimin- ished, its productiveness. By far the greater portion of the Turkish possessions is situated in Asia. The Euro- pean possessions have always been much smaller, but as they contained the capital and seat of government, they have hitherto been of much greater political impor- tance. This importance has, however, of late been greatly reduced by the territorial losses which Turkey has sustained by the last Eastern war and the treaty of Berlin. The African part of the Turkish empire con- sists almost wholly of tributary states; and the farther the territory of one of these states, Egypt, is extended, the smaller becomes the hold the Turkish government has on it. Although ruling over portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Turkey is really an Asiatic power.
While the Turks aie the ruling race of the em- pire, they constitute a majority of the total population only in the Asiatic possessions. Even Asiatic Turkey can hardly be said to be an Ottoman land, for the bulk of the people are descendants of the old Seljukian 'I'urks who have been subjected by the Ottoman Turks. In the African dependencies the Turks are hardly rep- resented at all, and in Europe they are almost every- where in a minority. According to an elaborate article on the ethnographical relations of Turkey in Peter- manii's GeoyraphMie Mittheilinuiev, 1870, No. 7, the Turks are to be found as a compact population only in three sanjaks, those of Kustchuk, Tiilcha, and Varna. These three sanjaks formed part of the vilayet of the Danube. They are less numerous in the Rhodope Mountains. On the shores of the ^Egean Sea and the Sea of Marmora, and on the south-east shore of the Black Sea, they are greatly outnumbered by the Greeks, especially in the direction of Constantinople. It is a remarkable fact that all the sanjaks which contain the most compact Turkish population are now subject to the semi-independent prince of Christian Bidgaria and to the Christian governor of the autonomous province of Eastern Roumelia. The aggregate number of the Osmanli Turks in Europe, including Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, is estimated at about 2,000,000. Exclusive of these provinces, over which the authority of the sultan is not likelv to be