Part 45

When Sultan Selim I., after defeating Shah Ismail, 1514, annexed Armenia and Kurdistan, he entrusted the organization of the conquered territories to Idris, the historian, who was a Kurd of Bitlis. Idris found Kurdistan bristling with castles, held by hereditary tribal chiefs of Kurd, Arab, and Armenian descent, who were practically independent, and passed their time in tribal warfare or in raiding the agricultural population. He divided the territory into sanjaks or districts, and, making no attempt to interfere with the principle of heredity, installed the local chiefs as governors. He also resettled the rich pastoral country between Erzerum and Erivan, which had lain waste since the passage of Timur, with Kurds from the Hakkiari and Bohtan districts. The system of administration introduced by Idris remained unchanged until the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. But the Kurds, owing to the remoteness of their country from the capital and the decline of Turkey, had greatly increased in influence and power, and had spread westwards over the country as far as Angora. After the war the Kurds attempted to free themselves from Turkish control, and in 1834 it became necessary to reduce them to subjection. This was done by Reshid Pasha. The principal towns were strongly garrisoned, and many of the Kurd beys were replaced by Turkish governors. A rising under Bedr Khan Bey in 1843 was firmly repressed, and after the Crimean War the Turks strengthened their hold on the country. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed by the attempt of Sheikh Obaidullah, 1880-81, to found an independent Kurd principality under the protection of Turkey. The attempt, at first encouraged by the Porte, as a reply to the projected creation of an Armenian state under the suzerainty of Russia (see ARMENIA), collapsed after Obaidullah's raid into Persia, when various circumstances led the central government to reassert its supreme authority. Until the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29 there had been little hostile feeling between the Kurds and the Armenians, and as late as 1877-1878 the mountaineers of both races had got on fairly well together. Both suffered from Turkey, both dreaded Russia. But the national movement amongst the Armenians, and its encouragement by Russia after the last war, gradually aroused race hatred and fanaticism. In 1891 the activity of the Armenian Committees induced the Porte to strengthen the position of the Kurds by raising a body of Kurdish irregular cavalry, which was well armed and called Hamidieh after the Sultan. The opportunities thus offered for plunder and the gratification of race hatred brought out the worst qualities of the Kurds. Minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at Sasun and other places, 1894-96, in which the Kurds took an active part.

AUTHORITIES.--Rich, _Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan_ (1836); Wagner, _Reise nach Persien und dem Lande der Kurden_ (Leipzig, 1852); Consul Taylor in _R. G. S. Journal_ (1865); Millingen, _Wild Life among the Koords_ (1870); Von Luschan, "Die Wandervolker Kleinasiens," in _V^n. d. G. für Anthropologie_ (Berlin, 1886); Clayton, "The Mountains of Kurdistan," in _Alpine Journal_ (1887); Binder, _Au Kurdistan_ (Paris, 1887); Naumann, _Vom Goldnen Horn zu den Quellen des Euphrat_ (Munich, 1893); Murray, _Handbook to Asia Minor, &c._ (1895); Lerch, _Forschungen über die Kurden_ (St Petersburg, 1857-58); Jaba, _Dict. Kurde-Français_ (St Petersburg, 1879); Justi, _Kurdische Grammatik_ (1880); Prym and Socin, _Kurdische Sammlungen_ (1890); Makas, _Kurdische Studien_ (1901); Earl Percy, _Highlands of Asiatic Turkey_ (1901); Lynch, _Armenia_ (1901); A. V. Williams Jackson, _Persia, Past and Present_ (1906). (C. W. W.; H. C. R.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See _Notices et Extraits des MSS._, xiii. 305. Of the tribes enumerated in this work of the 14th century who still retain a leading place among the Kurds, the following names may be quoted: _Guranieh_ of Dartang, modern Gurans; _Zengeneh_, in Hamadan hills, now in Kermanshah; _Hasnani_ of Kerkuk and Arbil, now in the Dersim mountains, having originally come from Khorasan according to tradition; _Sohrieh_ of Shekelabad and Tel-Haftun, modern Sohran, from whom descend the Baban of Suleimanieh; _Zerzari_ of Hinjarin mountains, modern Zerzas of Ushnu (cuneiform pillars of Kel-i-shin and Sidek noticed by author); _Julamerkieh_, modern Julamerik, said to be descended from the caliph Merwan-ibn-Hakam; _Hakkarieh_, Hakkari inhabiting _Zuzan_ of Arab geography; _Bokhtieh_, modern Bohtan. The _Rowadi_, to whom Saladin belonged, are probably modern Rawendi, as they held the fortress of Arbil (Arbela). Some twenty other names are mentioned, but the orthography is so doubtful that it is useless to try to identify them.

[2] The _Sheref-nama_, a history of the Kurds dating from the 16th century, tells us that "towards the close of the reign of the Jenghizians, a man named Baba Ardilan, a descendant of the governors of Diarbekr, and related to the famous Ahmed-ibn-Merwan, after remaining for some time among the Gurans, gained possession of the country of Shahrizor" and the Ardelan family history, with the gradual extension of their power over Persian Kurdistan, is then traced down to the Saffavid period.

[3] The Guran are mentioned in the _Mesalik-el-Absar_ as the dominant tribe in southern Kurdistan in the 14th century, occupying very much the same seats as at present, from the Hamadan frontier to Shahrizor. Their name probably signifies merely "the mountaineers," being derived from _gur_ or _giri_, "a mountain," which is also found in Zagros, i.e. _za-giri_, "beyond the mountain," or _Pusht-i-koh_, as the name is translated in Persian. They are a fine, active and hardy race, individually brave, and make excellent soldiers, though in appearance very inferior to the tribal Kurds of the northern districts. These latter indeed delight in gay colours, while the Gurans dress in the most homely costume, wearing coarse blue cotton vests, with felt caps and coats. In a great part of Kurdistan the name Guran has become synonymous with an agricultural peasantry, as opposed to the migratory shepherds.

[4] "The Kalhur tribe are traditionally descended from Gudarz-ibn-Gio, whose son Roham was sent by Bahman Keiani to destroy Jerusalem and bring the Jews into captivity. This Roham is the individual usually called Bokht-i-nasser (Nebuchadrezzar) and he ultimately succeeded to the throne. The neighbouring country has ever since remained in the hands of his descendants, who are called Gurans" (_Sheref-Nama_, Persian MS.). The same popular tradition still exists in the country, and [Greek: GÔTARZÊO GEOPOTHROS] is found on the rock at Behistun, showing that Gudarz-ibn-Gio was really an historic personage. See _Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc._ ix. 114.

KURDISTAN, in the narrower sense, a province of Persia, situated in the hilly districts between Azerbaijan and Kermanshah, and extending to the Turkish frontier on the W., and bounded on the E. by Gerrus and Hamadan. In proportion to its size and population it pays a very small yearly revenue--only about £14,000--due to the fact that a great part of the population consists of wild and disorderly nomad Kurds. Some of these nomads pass their winters in Turkish territory, and have their summer pasture-grounds in the highlands of Kurdistan. This adds much to the difficulty of collecting taxation. The province is divided into sixteen districts, and its eastern part, in which the capital is situated, is known as Ardelan. The capital is Senendij, usually known as Sinna (not Sihna, or Sahna, as some writers have it), situated 60 m. N.W. of Hamadan, in 35° 15´ N., 47° 18´ E., at an elevation of 5300 ft. The city has a population of about 35,000 and manufactures great quantities of carpets and felts for the supply of the province and for export. Some of the carpets are very fine and expensive, rugs 2 yards by 1½ costing £15 to £20. Post and telegraph offices have been established since 1879.

KURGAN, a town (founded 1553) of West Siberia, in the government of Tobolsk, on the Siberian railway, 160 m. E. of Chelyabinsk, and on the left bank of the Tobol, in a wealthy agricultural district. Pop. (1897), 10,579. Owing to its position at the terminus of steam navigation up the river Tobol, it has become second only to Tyumen as a commercial centre. It has a public library and a botanic garden. There is a large trade in cattle with Petropavlovsk, and considerable export of grain, tallow, meat, hides, butter, game and fish, there being three large fairs in the year. In the vicinity are a great number of prehistoric kurgans or burial-mounds.

KURIA MURIA ISLANDS, a group of five islands in the Arabian Sea, close under the coast of Arabia, belonging to Britain and forming a dependency of Aden. They are lofty and rocky, and have a total area of 28 sq. m., that of the largest, Hallania, being 22 sq. m. They are identified with the ancient _Insulae Zenobii_, and were ceded by the sultan of Muscat to Britain in 1854 for the purposes of a cable station. They are inhabited by a few families of Arabs, who however speak a dialect differing considerably from the ordinary Arabic. The islands yield some guano.

KURILES (Jap. _Chishima_, "thousand islands"), a chain of small islands belonging to Japan, stretching in a north-easterly direction from Nemuro Bay, on the extreme east of the island of Yezo, to Chishima-kaikyo (Kuriles Strait), which separates them from the southernmost point of Kamchatka. They extend from 44° 45´ to 50° 56´ N. and from 145° 25´ to 156° 32´ E. Their coasts measure 1496 m.; their area is 6159 sq. m.; their total number is 32, and the names of the eight principal islands, counting from the south, are Kunashiri, Shikotan, Etorofu (generally called Etorop, and known formerly to Europe as Staten Island), Urup, Simusir, Onnekotan, Paramoshiri (Paramusir) and Shumshiri. From Noshapzaki (Notsu-no-sake or Notsu Cape), the most easterly point of Nemuro province, to Tomari, the most westerly point in Kunashiri, the distance is 7(1/3) m., and the Kuriles Strait separating Shumshiri from Kamchatka is about the same width. The name "Kurile" is derived from the Russian _kurit_ (to smoke), in allusion to the active volcanic character of the group. The dense fogs that envelop these islands, and the violence of the currents in their vicinity, have greatly hindered exploration, so that little is known of their physiography. They lie entangled in a vast net of sea-weed; are the resort of innumerable birds, and used to be largely frequented by seals and sea-otters, which, however, have been almost completely driven away by unregulated hunting. Near the south-eastern coast of Kunashiri stands a mountain called Rausunobori (3005 ft. high), round whose base sulphur bubbles up in large quantities, and hot springs as well as a hot stream are found. On the west coast of the same island is a boiling lake, called Ponto, which deposits on its bed and round its shores black sand, consisting almost entirely of pure sulphur. This island has several lofty peaks; Ponnobori-yama near the east coast, and Chachanobori and Rurindake in the north. Chachanobori (about 7382 ft.) is described by Messrs Chamberlain and Mason as "a cone within a cone, the inner and higher of the two being--so the natives say--surrounded by a lake." The island has extensive forests of conifers with an undergrowth of ferns and flowering plants, and bears are numerous. The chief port of Kunashiri is Tomari, on the south coast. The island of Shikotan is remarkable for the growth of a species of bamboo (called Shikotan-chiku), having dark brown spots on the cane. Etorofu has a coast-line broken by deep bays, of which the principal are Naibo-wan, Rubetsu-wan and Bettobuwan on the northern shore and Shitokap-wan on the southern. It is covered almost completely with dense forest, and has a number of streams abounding with salmon. Shana, the chief port, is in Rubetsu Bay. This island, the principal of the group, is divided into four provinces for administrative purposes, namely, Etorofu, Furubetsu, Shana and Shibetoro. Its mountains are Atosha-nobori (4035 ft.) in Etorofu; Chiripnupari (5009 ft.) in Shana; and Mokoro-nobori (3930 ft.) and Atuiyadake (3932 ft.) in Shibetoro. Among the other islands three only call for notice on account of their altitudes, namely, Ketoi-jima, Rashua-jima and Matua-jima, which rise to heights of 3944, 3304 and 5240 ft. respectively.

_Population._--Not much is known about the aborigines. By some authorities Ainu colonists are supposed to have been the first settlers, and to have arrived there via Yezo; by others, the earliest comers are believed to have been a hyperborean tribe travelling southwards by way of Kamchatka. The islands themselves have not been sufficiently explored to determine whether they furnish any ethnological evidences. The present population aggregates about 4400, or 0.7 per sq. m., of whom about 600 are Ainu (q.v.). There is little disposition to emigrate thither from Japan proper, the number of settlers being less than 100 annually.

_History._--The Kurile Islands were discovered in 1634 by the Dutch navigator Martin de Vries. The three southern islands, Kunashiri, Etorofu, and Shikotan, are believed to have belonged to Japan from a remote date, but at the beginning of the 18th century the Russians, having conquered Kamchatka, found their way to the northern part of the Kuriles in pursuit of fur-bearing animals, with which the islands then abounded. Gradually these encroachments were pushed farther south, simultaneously with aggressions imperilling the Japanese settlements in the southern half of Sakhalin. Japan's occupation was far from effective in either region, and in 1875 she was not unwilling to conclude a convention by which she agreed to withdraw altogether from Sakhalin provided that Russia withdrew from the Kuriles.

An officer of the Japanese navy, Lieut. Gunji, left Tokyo with about forty comrades in 1892, his intention being to form a settlement on Shumshiri, the most northerly of the Kurile Islands. They embarked in open boats, and for that reason, as well as because they were going to constitute themselves their country's extreme outpost, the enterprise attracted public enthusiasm. After a long struggle the immigrants became fairly prosperous.

See Capt. H. J. Snow, _Notes on the Kurile Islands_ (London, 1896).

KURISCHES HAFF, a lagoon of Germany, on the Baltic coast of East Prussia, stretching from Labiau to Memel, a distance of 60 m., has an area of nearly 680 sq. m. It is mostly shallow and only close to Memel attains a depth of 23 ft. It is thus unnavigable except for small coasting and fishing boats, and sea-going vessels proceed through the Memeler Tief (Memel Deep), which connects the Baltic with Memel and has a depth of 19 ft. and a breadth of 800 to 1900 ft. The Kurisches Haff is separated from the Baltic by a long spit, or tongue of land, the so-called Kurische Nehrung, 72 m. in length and with a breadth of 1 to 2 miles. The latter is fringed throughout its whole length by a chain of dunes, which rise in places to a height of nearly 200 ft. and threaten, unless checked, to be pressed farther inland and silt up the whole Haff.

See Berendt, _Geologie des Kurischen Haffs_ (Königsberg, 1869); Sommer, _Das Kurische Haff_ (Danzig, 1889); A. Bezzenberger, _Die Kurische Nehrung und ihre Bewohner_ (Stuttgart, 1889); and Lindner, _Die Preussische Wüste einst und jetzt, Bilder von der Kurischen Nehrung_ (Osterwieck, 1898).

KURNOOL, or KARNUL, a town and district of British India, in the Madras presidency. The town is built on a rocky soil at the junction of the Hindri and Tungabhadra rivers 33 m. from a railway station. The old Hindu fort was levelled in 1865, with the exception of one of the gates, which was preserved as a specimen of ancient architecture. Cotton cloth and carpets are manufactured. Pop. (1901), 25,376, of whom half are Mussulmans.

The DISTRICT OF KURNOOL has an area of 7578 sq. m., pop. (1901), 872,055, showing an increase of 6% in the decade. Two long mountain ranges, the Nallamalais and the Yellamalais, extend in parallel lines, north and south, through its centre. The principal heights of the Nallamalai range are Biranikonda (3149 ft.), Gundlabrahmeswaram (3055 ft.), and Durugapukonda (3086 ft.). The Yellamalai is a low range, generally flat-topped with scarped sides; the highest point is about 2000 ft. Several low ridges run parallel to the Nallamalais, broken here and there by gorges, through which mountain streams take their course. Several of these gaps were dammed across under native rule, to form tanks for purposes of irrigation. The principal rivers are the Tungabhadra and Kistna, which bound the district on the north. When in flood, the Tungabhadra averages 900 yards broad and 15 ft. deep. The Kistna here flows chiefly through uninhabited jungles, sometimes in long smooth reaches, with intervening shingly rapids. The Bhavanasi rises on the Nallamalais, and falls into the Kistna at Sungameswaram, a place of pilgrimage. During the 18th century Kurnool formed the _jagir_ of a semi-independent Pathan Nawab, whose descendant was dispossessed by the British government for treason in 1838. The principal crops are millets, cotton, oil-seeds, and rice, with a little indigo and tobacco. Kurnool suffered very severely from the famine of 1876-1877, and to a slight extent in 1896-1897. It is the chief scene of the operations of the Madras Irrigation Company taken over by government in 1882. The canal, which starts from the Tungabhadra river near Kurnool town, was constructed at a total cost of two millions sterling, but has not been a financial success. A more successful work is the Cumbum tank, formed under native rule by damming a gorge of the Gundlakamma river. Apart from the weaving of coarse cotton cloth, the chief industrial establishments are cotton presses, indigo vats, and saltpetre refineries. The district is served by the Southern Mahratta railway.

KUROKI, ITEI, COUNT (1844- ), Japanese general, was born in Satsuma. He distinguished himself in the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95. He commanded the I. Army in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), when he won the opening battle of the war at the Yalu river, and afterwards advanced through the mountains and took part with the other armies in the battles of Liao-Yang, Shaho and Mukden (see RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR). He was created baron for his services in the former war, and count for his services in the latter.

KUROPATKIN, ALEXEI NIKOLAIEVICH (1848- ), Russian general, was born in 1848 and entered the army in 1864. From 1872 to 1874 he studied at the Nicholas staff college, after which he spent a short time with the French troops in Algiers. In 1875 he was employed in diplomatic work in Kashgaria and in 1876 he took part in military operations in Turkistan, Kokan and Samerkand. In the war of 1877-78 against Turkey he earned a great reputation as chief of staff to the younger Skobelev, and after the war he wrote a detailed and critical history of the operations which is still regarded as the classical work on the subject and is available for other nations in the German translation by Major Krahmer. After the war he served again on the south-eastern borders in command of the Turkestan Rifle Brigade, and in 1881 he won further fame by a march of 500 miles from Tashkent to Geok-Tepe, taking part in the storming of the latter place. In 1882 he was promoted major-general, at the early age of 34, and he henceforth was regarded by the army as the natural successor of Skobelev. In 1890 he was promoted lieutenant-general, and thirteen years later, having acquired in peace and war the reputation of being one of the foremost soldiers in Europe, he quitted the post of minister of war which he then held and took command of the Russian army then gathering in Manchuria for the contest with Japan. His ill-success in the great war of 1904-5, astonishing as it seemed at the time, was largely attributable to his subjection to the superior command of Admiral Alexeiev, the tsar's viceroy in the Far East, and to internal friction amongst the generals, though in his history of the war (Eng. trans., 1909) he frankly admitted his own mistakes and paid the highest tribute to the gallantry of the troops who had been committed to battle under conditions unfavourable to success. After the defeat of Mukden and the retirement of the whole army to Tieling he resigned the command to General Linievich, taking the latter officer's place at the head of one of the three armies in Manchuria. (See RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.)

KURO SIWO, or KURO SHIO (literally blue salt), a stream current in the Pacific Ocean, easily distinguishable by the warm temperature and blue colour of its waters, flowing north-eastwards along the east coast of Japan, and separated from it by a strip of cold water. The current persists as a stream to about 40 N., between the meridians of 150° E. and 160° E., when it merges in the general easterly drift of the North Pacific. The Kuro Siwo is the analogue of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic.

KURRAM, a river and district on the Kohat border of the North-West Frontier province of India. The Kurram river drains the southern flanks of the Safed Koh, enters the plains a few miles above Bannu, and joins the Indus near Isa-Khel after a course of more than 200 miles. The district has an area of 1278 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 54,257. It lies between the Miranzai Valley and the Afghan border, and is inhabited by the Turis, a tribe of Turki origin who are supposed to have subjugated the Bangash Pathans five hundred years ago. It is highly irrigated, well peopled, and crowded with small fortified villages, orchards and groves, to which a fine background is afforded by the dark pine forests and alpine snows of the Safed Koh. The beauty and climate of the valley attracted some of the Mogul emperors of Delhi, and the remains exist of a garden planted by Shah Jahan. Formerly the Kurram valley was under the government of Kabul, and every five or six years a military expedition was sent to collect the revenue, the soldiers living meanwhile at free quarters on the people. It was not until about 1848 that the Turis were brought directly under the control of Kabul, when a governor was appointed, who established himself in Kurram. The Turis, being Shiah Mahommedans, never liked the Afghan rule. During the second Afghan War, when Sir Frederick Roberts advanced by way of the Kurram valley and the Peiwar Kotal to Kabul, the Turis lent him every assistance in their power, and in consequence their independence was granted them in 1880. The administration of the Kurram valley was finally undertaken by the British government, at the request of the Turis themselves, in 1890. Technically it ranks, not as a British district, but as an agency or administered area. Two expeditions in the Kurram valley also require mention: (1) The Kurram expedition of 1856 under Brigadier Chamberlain. The Turis on the first annexation of the Kohat district by the British had given much trouble. They had repeatedly leagued with other tribes to harry the Miranzai valley, harbouring fugitives, encouraging resistance, and frequently attacking Bangash and Khattak villages in the Kohat district. Accordingly in 1856 a British force of 4896 troops traversed their country, and the tribe entered into engagements for future good conduct. (2) The Kohat-Kurram expedition of 1897 under Colonel W. Hill. During the frontier risings of 1897 the inhabitants of the Kurram valley, chiefly the Massozai section of the Orakzais, were infected by the general excitement, and attacked the British camp at Sadda and other posts. A force of 14,230 British troops traversed the country, and the tribesmen were severely punished. In Lord Curzon's reorganization of the frontier in 1900-1901, the British troops were withdrawn from the forts in the Kurram valley, and were replaced by the Kurram militia, reorganized in two battalions, and chiefly drawn from the Turi tribe.