Merv, the Queen of the
World;
and the Scourge of the Man-stealing Turcomans. With an
Exposition of the Khorassan Question:
By Charles Thomas Marvin, Published by W.H. Allen, 1881
CHAPTER III. THE ORIGIN OF THE Turkmen.
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE MINOR TRIBES.
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THE DECADENCE OF THE GOKLANS. 57
Kara Shoor, Dizagre, Ongoot, Kooshtohi, Khar, and
Gerkaz.* " According to their own traditions the
Goklans originated from two brothers : Dodourg and
Ali-Dagli. From the first are derived the Bayandeer,
Keereek, and Yangak Sagri; and from the second the
remaining three branches. "
The total number of Goklans, based upon information
collected by Gospodin Bakouline at Astrabad, is 4,000
families, although the ruler of Bujnurd reckons them only
at 1,800. Bode estimated the total in 1852 at 2,500
families, but there can be no doubt that this was
considerably below the mark. Bahrenberg, who traveled in Persia
in 1837-40, about the same time as Bode (1837 and 1848),
places the figure at 9,000. t Bode also says that
formerly the Goklans consisted of 12,000 tents, but that
the number diminished owing partly to the vengeance
exacted by the Khan of Khiva, who deported many of them
to his dominions, and partly to the ill-treatment
experienced by the Goklans at the hands of the Persian
soldiers, invading, under the leadership of Mohamed Khan,
their settlements along the Gorgon. This circumstance led
to a large migration of Goklans to Khiva, so much so that
of 9,000 families only 2,000 remained in the Gorgon region on the * Vambery enumerates 10
Goklan taife, or branches. See his Travels in Central
Asia. — C. M.
t Abbott, in 1840, put the total at 8,000; Burnes, in
1882, at 9,000; Ferrier, in 1845, at 12,000; and Vambery,
in 1868, at 10,000. The Caucasian Government has been at
work BO many years collecting information on the spot
about the Turkmen,
that Petroosevitch's figures throughout are probably the
beat to rely upon. — G. M.
| JBOC Note: |
Astrabad is present day Gorgon. |
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