TURCOMANS, a nomadic Tartar race, who are spread over many districts of Western Asia. Their native seat seems to be in the regions east of the Caspian, in the vast plains between it and the Aral. In their wars with the Kalmucs, the latter often proved victorious, and they were in consequence forced to fly into the Russian governments of Astracan, Oufa, and Orenburg, and there they continued to reside till the year 1770, when they succeeded in freeing themselves from the Kalmuc yoke. The wandering tribes, who range over the unclaimed space that lies between the territories of Russia and China on the west
Turgot, and on the east, and which on the south is bounded by the kingdom of Persia and the lofty central mountains of Asia, are also known under the denomination of the Turcomans. These have from time immemorial followed a purely pastoral life, wandering from place to place, as the choice of pasture guided them, and have employed themselves entirely in feeding their flocks and herds, their whole means of subsistence, and who can never be persuaded to reside in towns or villages. They claim a hereditary right to the extensive and uncultivated tracts which they occupy, and which, being unfit for agriculture, and never having been the seat of a stationary population, afford to those who take advantage of them a sustenance for their cattle. For further details of this and the other barbarous tribes who occupy these tracts, see the article TARTARY.