Turan

The term Turan refers to the bulk of Eurasian landmass including the Siberian steppes, Central Asia including the Turkic republics, Mongolia, the Caucasus and other regions where historical Turkic, Hunnic, and Mongolic powers held sway.

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The constructed historical name was revived by European (German, Hungarian and Slovak) ethnologists, linguists and Romantics to designate the vast Eurasian area belonging to populations speaking Uralic or Altaic languages. This area is often broadened into including Korea and Japan, whose languages are thought to share fundamental common features with Ural-Altaic languages. The label Turanian languages was adoped to characterise this large group. Linguists no longer consider it to be a valid language group.

Related Topics:
German - Hungarian - Slovak - Ethnologists - Linguists - Eurasia - Uralic - Altaic - Korea - Japan - Ural-Altaic - Turanian languages - Language group

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Turan was a name originally used by the indigenous Iranian people of Central Asia. up until the 9th century the Turks were few and spread apart in Central Asia. The region was primarily inhabited by Iranian speaking Sakas (nomads) and settled/commercial Iranian speaking Sogdians and Khwarezmians. Also, Turan is a term used first in the Zoroastrian Gathas to refer to the non-settled, nomadic, Iranian peoples; that lived, and often fought, with the Iranian speaking farmers and pastrolist of the region. The Gathas specifically states that the Turanians were Aryan (meaning proto-Iranian) in speach and worshiped the old Aryan gods. The Gathas also states that the Turanians were eventually converted to Zoroastrianism, and adopted a settled lifestyle. Neither of these do the Turks have. Not only are they not Iranian in speach, but, aside from one tribe

Related Topics:
Sogdians - Khwarezmians - Gathas - Aryan - Aryan gods

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of the Pecheng Turks, the Turks were never Zoroastrian.

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