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Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian peoples tribe of the Avestan period.
According to the legend (bottom right of the map), Turan encompasses regions including modern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, northern parts of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. This area roughly corresponds to what is called Central Asia today.
List of the areas mentioned in the map as part of Turan: 1. Khwarazm 2. Bukhara with Balkh 3. Shahrisabz (near Bukhara) 4. Hisor 5. Kokand 6. Durwaz 7. Karategin 8. Kunduz 9. Kafiristan 10. Chitral 11. Gilgit 12. Iskardu 13. Kyrgyzstan 14. The northern steppes (Kazakhstan).]]
In ancient Iranian mythology, Tūr or Turaj ( Tuzh in Middle Persian)Dehkhoda dictionary: Turaj is the son of the emperor Fereydun. According to the account in the Shahnameh, the nomadic tribes who inhabited these lands were ruled by Tūr. In that sense, the Turanians could be members of two Iranian peoples both descending from Fereydun, but with different geographical domains and often at war with each other. Turan, therefore, comprised five areas: the Kopet Dag region, the Atrek valley, parts of Bactria, Sogdia and Margiana.
A later association of the original Turanians with Turkic peoples is based primarily on the subsequent Turkification of Central Asia, including the above areas. According to C. E. Bosworth, however, there was no cultural relationship between the ancient Turkic cultures and the Turanians of the Shahnameh.
According to Mary Boyce, in the Farvardin Yasht, "In it (verses 143–144) are praised the fravashis of righteous men and women not only among the Aryas (as the "Avestan" people called themselves), but also among the Turiyas, Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis; and the personal names, like those of the people, all seem Iranian in character".M. Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism. 3V. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. ( Handbuch Der Orientalistik/B. Spuler)., pg 250 Hostility between Tuirya and Airya is indicated also in the Farvardtn Yast (vv. 37-8), where the Fravashis of the Just are said to have provided support in battle against the Danus, who appear to be a clan of the Tura people.G. Gnoli, Zoroaster's time and homeland, Naples 1980, pg 107 Thus in the Avesta, some of the Tuiryas believed in the message of Zoroaster while others rejected the religion.
Similar to the ancient homeland of Zoroaster, the precise geography and location of Turan is unknown.G. Gnoli, Zoroaster's time and homeland, Naples 1980, pg 99–130 In post-Avestan traditions they were thought to inhabit the region north of the Amu Darya, the river separating them from the Iranians. Their presence, accompanied by incessant wars with the Iranians, helped to define the latter as a distinct nation, proud of their land and ready to spill their blood in its defense.Ehsan Yarshater, "Iranian National History," in The Cambridge History of Iran 3(1)(1983), 408–409 The common names of Turanians in Avesta and Shahnameh include Frarasyan, Aghraethra, Biderafsh, Arjaspa Namkhwast. The names of Iranian tribes including those of the Turanians that appear in Avesta have been studied by Manfred Mayrhofer in his comprehensive book on Avesta personal name etymologies. Reviewed in
The continuation of nomadic invasions on the north-eastern borders in historical times kept the memory of the Turanians alive. After the 6th century the Turks, who had been pushed westward by other tribes, became neighbours of Iran and were identified with the Turanians. The identification of the Turanians with the Turks was a late development, possibly made in the early 7th century; the Turks first came into contact with the Iranians only in the 6th century.
The terms Turk and Turanian became used interchangeably during the Islamic era. The Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings, the compilation of Iranian mythical heritage, uses the two terms equivalently. Other authors, including Al-Tabari, Hakim Iranshah and many other texts follow like. A notable exception is the al-Masudi, an Arab historian who writes: "The birth of Afrasiyab was in the land of Turks and the error that historians and non-historians have made about him being a Turk is due to this reason". By the 10th century, the myth of Afrasiyab was adopted by the Qarakhanid dynasty. During the Safavid Iran era, following the common geographical convention of the Shahnameh, the term Turan was used to refer to the domain of the Uzbeks in conflict with the Safavids.
Some linguists derive the word from the Indo-Iranian root proto=yes 'strong, quick, sword', Pashto turan (thuran) 'swordsman'. Others link it to old Iranian proto=yes 'dark, black', related to the New Persian tār(ik), Pashto tor (thor), and possibly English dark. In this case, it is a reference to the "dark civilization" of Eurasian nomads in contrast to the "illuminated" Zoroastrianism civilization of the sedentism Ārya.
Some examples from the Shahnameh:
The phrase Turan Plain or Turan Depression became a geographical term referring to a part of Central Asia.
Max Müller (1823–1900) identified different sub-branches within the Turanian language family:
Müller also began to muse whether Chinese language belonged to the Northern branch or Southern branch.
The main relationships between Dravidian, Uralic, and Altaic languages were considered typological. According to Crystal & Robins, "Language families, as conceived in the historical study of languages, should not be confused with the quite separate classifications of languages by reference to their sharing certain predominant features of grammatical structure."
linguists classify languages according to the method of comparative linguistics rather than using their typological features. According to ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Max's Müller's "efforts were most successful in the case of the Semites, whose affinities are easy to demonstrate, and probably least successful in the case of the Turanian peoples, whose early origins are hypothetical"."religions, classification of." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. the scholarly community no longer uses the word ''Turanian'' to denote a classification of language families. The relationship between Uralic and Altaic, whose speakers were also designated as Turanian people in 19th-century European literature, remains uncertain."Ural–Altaic languages." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2007
Combined with physical anthropology, the concept of the Turanian mentality has a clear potential for cultural polemic. Thus in 1838 the scholar J.W. Jackson described the Turanid or Turanian race in the following words:"The Iran and Turan", Anthropological Review 6:22 (1868), p. 286
Polish philosopher Feliks Koneczny claimed the existence of a distinctive Turanian civilization, encompassing both Turkic and some Slavs, such as Russians. This alleged civilization's hallmark would be militarism, anti-intellectualism and an absolute obedience to the ruler. Koneczny saw this civilization as inherently inferior to Latin (Western European) civilization.
In recent times, the word Turanian has sometimes expressed a pan-Altaic nationalism (theoretically including Manchu people and Mongols in addition to Turkic peoples), though no political organization seems to have adopted such an ambitious platform.
Turan is also a common name in the Middle East, and as family surnames in some countries including Bahrain, Iran, Bosnia and Turkey.
The Ayyubid dynasty ruler Saladin had an older brother with the name Turan-Shah.
Turaj, whom ancient Iranian myths depict as the ancestor of the Turanians, is also a popular name and means Son of Darkness. The name Turan according to Iranian myths derives from the homeland of Turaj. The Pahlavi pronunciation of Turaj is Tuzh, according to the Dehkhoda dictionary. Similarly, Iraj, which is also a popular name, is the brother of Turaj in the Shahnameh. An altered version of Turaj is Zaraj, which means son of gold.
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