T U R 
147 
T U R 
lentina, another promenade along the Po, about a mile from 
the town, is little visited on account of its distance. 
The university of Turin was instituted in the beginning of 
the 15th century, and endowed for 24 professors, but was 
afterwards greatly enlarged. It has a public library, a mu¬ 
seum, with a large collection of statues, vases, and medals; 
an observatory, and an anatomical hall. The population 
amounted in 1820 to 90,000. The character of the inhabi¬ 
tants is, like their dialect, Italian, with a mixture of French. 
The dress differs little from that of the French, and their 
manners have received a polish from the long residence of 
the court; from which, and the consequent residence of the 
gentry, a number of inhabitants derive their support. 
The foundation of Turin is of very remote date, Hannibal 
having found on its site a town, which he sacked, because 
the inhabitants refused to join him against the Romans. It 
was subsequently rebuilt, and received from Caesar the name 
of Colonia Julia, changed by his successor into that of Au¬ 
gusta Taurinorum. Its modern history is closely connected 
with the wars of Italy, of which its situation rendered it al¬ 
most always the first theatre. It passed successively from the 
Romans to the Lombards, to Charlemagne, to the mar- 
quisses of Saluzzo, and lastly to the princes of Savoy (see 
Sardinia), who made it the capital of their states; 75 
miles west-south-west of Milan, 185 west-north-west of Flo¬ 
rence, and 320 north-west of Rome. Lat. 45. 4. 6. N. long. 
7. 40. 15. E. 
T U R 
TURKEY, a well-known empire, extending over the 
south-east of Europe and the contiguous parts of Asia and 
Africa; bounded by the Adriatic in the west, and by Persia 
in the east. It occupies a track of country extending from 
lat. 29. to 48. N. and from long. 16. to 50. E. 
History. 
The origin of this great nation is obscure. Most writers 
agree, however, that the Turks were a few rude barbarians, 
who, by successively conquering other tribes, and amalga¬ 
mating with them, gradually augmented to an immense num¬ 
ber, and obtained overwhelming power. The history of 
Arabia has already embraced the important subjects of the 
life and character of Mahomet, and of the general spread of 
the Koran over the East. The Turks, properly so called, 
came into warlike collision with the Saracens, who were the 
temporal subjects of Mahomet’s successors, about the year 
1300. These they conquered as well as the Tartars, whose 
vast but disunited hordes had spread far and wide over the 
finest provinces of Asia. Previous to this epoch the Turks 
had voluntarily embraced the creed of Mahomet, and had 
assisted the Saracens in various battles. 
Otiiman was the founder of the Ottoman empire. His 
original name was Athman, which he changed, and assumed, 
perhaps in imitation of Mahomet, the character of Envoy 
from God. He wrested Bithynia from the Greeks, and also 
many parts of the usurpations of Jenghis Khan from the 
Tartars. He died in 1326, and his son established the seat 
of his government at Prusa, the capital of Bithynia. 
1326—1360.— Orkhan succeeded his father at the age of 
thirty-five years. He introduced splendour and magnificence 
at his court, and assumed the title of Sultan. He coined 
money, improved the military discipline, collected the 
young Christian renegadoes, who had been stolen in their 
infancy from their parents, and trained them into soldiers, 
who became the firmest support of his power. He was also 
the first who assigned a daily pay to the infantry. Such of 
his subjects as possessed lands or other property were destined 
for the cavalry; he formed out of them the corps of spahys, 
or horse-soldiers, which still subsists. 
Andronicus, emperor of the Greeks, crossed the sea to 
oppose the incursions of the Turks; he was defeated and 
wounded in the hand by Orkhan, who took Nicomedia in 
1327, and Nicasa in 1333, after a siege of two years. The 
TURIN, a post township of the United States, in Lewis 
., county. New York, on Black river; 20 miles north of Rome, 
and 143 north-west of Albany. Population 856. 
TURINSK, a town of Tobolsk, in Asiatic Russia, capital 
of a district of the same name, situated along the banks of 
the river Tura. It was built about 1660, and contains 4000 
inhabitants. There is a separate suburb for the Tartars. 
Lat. 57. 56. N. long. 98. 40. E. 
TURINSKOI, a village of Tobolsk, in Asiatic Russia, on 
the Niznei-Tunguska; 132 miles east of Turuchansk. 
TUR1RANA, a river of Brazil, in the province of Para, 
which, springing from a branch of the Toccantines, and 
running almost due north, and serving as a line of division 
between the provinces of Para and Maranham, falls inlo 
the sea, forming a large port opposite the island of San 
Juan. 
TURIVICARY, a town of the south of India, province 
of Mysore. Lat. 13. 7. N. long. 76. 50. E. 
TIJRKAL, a town of Asia Minor, the ancient Sebasto- 
polis. It is situated near a high rock, crowned by an an¬ 
cient fortress; 24 miles north-west of Tokat. 
TURK-DEAN, a parish of England, in Gloucestershire; 
2 miles north-by-west of North Leach. 
TURKESTAN, the name often given to an extensive re¬ 
gion of Central Asia, the original or acquired seat of the 
great Tartar race called Turks or Toorks. 
KEY. 
latter then turned his arms against the children of the emirs, 
who had divided Anatolia with his father, and having first 
sown dissensions among those petty princes, he afterwards 
stripped them of almost all their possessions. Being now 
master of Anatolia and the shore of the Hellespont, Orkhan 
burned with impatience to pass that barrier, and to attack 
the Greeks in Europe. His son Sole'iman, a young prince 
full of ambition and courage, finding no other means of 
crossing the strait (for the Turks yet possessed not a single 
boat,) formed, one dark night, three rafts of planks fastened 
together upon cork, and, committing himself with eighty 
brave followers to this frail conveyance, arrived without 
accident at the foot of the castle of Ilanni, on the European 
side of the Hellespont. Here he found a peasant, who con¬ 
ducted him by a subterraneous passage into the castle; the 
garrison, being thus surprised, laid down its arms. Sole'iman 
assembled the principal inhabitants, who, seduced-by pro¬ 
mises or intimidated by threats, delivered to him the vessels 
which were upon the coast, and before the day was over, 
four thousand Turks landed in Europe, reduced the fortress, 
and proceeded to lay siege to Gallipoli. The garrison made 
a valiant defence, but their provisions being exhausted, and 
the fortifications in a bad state, the city was compelled to 
surrender. Thus this key of Europe fell into the hands of 
the Turks. 
About this time the Greek empire was distracted by fresh 
dissensions, by which the Turks knew how to profit. 
Sole'iman gradually extended his conquests towards the 
east, and took from the Tartars the cities of Ancyra and 
Cratoea. On his return, he reduced the rest of Thrace ; but 
while wholly intent on increasing his glory and the domi¬ 
nions to which he was heir, an unforeseen accident put a 
period to his life. Orkhan survived him only two months, 
and died in 1360, at the age of seventy years. 
1360—1389.— AMURATH,for thus have European writers 
disfigured the name of Murad, Orkhan’s second son, suc¬ 
ceeded his father at the age of forty-one. He at first affected 
the appearance of piety, for the purpose of gaining the vene¬ 
ration of the people, and assumed the title of envoy of God. 
After concluding a treaty with Paleologus, he fixed his resi¬ 
dence at Adrianople; but having received information that 
Asia manifested a disposition to shake off his yoke, he crossed 
the Bosphorus, marched against the rebels, and put them to 
flight. Returning to Europe, he took the town of Pheres, 
which 
