Qarai Turks
The Karai or Qarai (Karāʾi / Qarāʾi / Qaraei / Karā or Qarā Tātār meaning Black Tatar) Turks, are a Turkic-speaking minority mostly found in Khorasan and Iran especially Torbat-e Heydarieh.
At the start of the Qajar dynasty, Qarai Turks were also scattered even beyond southern Khorasan through the desert zone of Sistan. Malcolm (1829) thought the Karai of Persia arrived from "Tartary" as a result of Timur's campaigns. Under Afsharid Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), they were settled in Khorasan. Before that time, the Karai seem also to have been found in Azerbaijan. Adam Olearius, who traveled in Azerbaijan in 1638, mentions Karai as one of the tribes of Mogan.
Origins
Their name (meaning "black") may ultimately derive from the Karaits, a Turco-Mongol polity in 11th-century Central Asia absorbed into the Mongol Empire and participating in the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but may also be connected to those of various other Central Asian groups.
Since "Black" (qara) is a Turkic designation for "north" it was a frequently used tribal identifier among the early Turkic peoples, and there are numerous, Kipchak Turkic groups known by this colour adjective. The earliest mention of these, not necessarily related, are the "Black Tatars" (Hei T'a-t'a 黑韃靼) are a subdivision of the Rouran in Tang period Chinese sources. Meanwhile, at the western end of the steppe more "black Tatars" (chrnyih' Tatar' ) were the Tatar troops serving the First Bulgarian Empire a more likely source of the Alsószentmihály inscription than any later "Karaits".
Turk
Turk or Turks most often refers to :
The terms may also refer to:
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Turkish people
Turkish people (Turkish: Türk milleti), or the Turks (Turkish: Türkler), also known as Anatolian Turks (Turkish: Anadolu Türkleri) are a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in Turkey and they speak Turkish, a Turkic language. They are the largest ethnic group in Turkey, as well as the largest ethnic group among the speakers of Turkic languages. Ethnic Turkish minorities exist in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. In addition, a Turkish diaspora has been established with modern migration, particularly in Western Europe.
Etymology and ethnic identity
The ethnonym "Turk" may be first mentioned in Herodotus' (c. 484–425 BCE) work "Targitas"; furthermore, during the first century CE., Pomponius Mela refers to the "Turcae" in the forests north of the Sea of Azov, and Pliny the Elder lists the "Tyrcae" among the people of the same area. They attest that these people are followers of Buddha. The first definite reference to the "Turks" come mainly from Chinese sources in the sixth century. In these sources, "Turk" appears as "Tujue" (Chinese: 突厥; Wade–Giles: T’u-chüe), which referred to the Göktürks. Although "Turk" refers to Turkish people, it may also sometimes refer to the wider language group of Turkic peoples. They are closely related to Azerbaijani people, also known as "Azerbaijani Turks", who live primarily in Azerbaijan Republic and Iran. Azeri Turkish and Istanbul Turkish are mutually intelligible.
Turkish wine
Turkish wine is wine made in the transcontinental Eurasian country Turkey. The Caucasus region, where Georgia and Iran are located, played a pivotal role in the early history of wine and is likely to have been one of the earliest wine-producing regions of the world.
Ampelographers estimate that Turkey is home to between 600–1200 indigenous varieties of Vitis vinifera (the European grapevine), though less than 60 of these are grown commercially. With over 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km2) planted under vine, Turkey is the world's fourth-leading producer of grapes.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's first president, established the country's first commercial winery in 1925. According to the OIV, the total wine production in 2005 was 287,000 hl. In the first half of 2009, wine consumption in Turkey reached 20,906,762 litres.
Climate and wine regions
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