History for ready reference, Volumes 1 to 5
Part 1180
The Chinese obtained possession of Kashgar or Chinese Turkestan (see TURKESTAN) about 1760, and held it for a century, overcoming much revolt during the last forty years of that period. In 1862, the revolt assumed a more formidable character than it had borne before. Its beginning was among a neighboring people called, variously, the Tungani, Dungani, or Dungans. These were "a Mahomedan people settled in the north-west province of Kansuh and in a portion of Shensi. Many of them had migrated westward at the time of the wars of Keen Lung, and had colonized various parts of the Chinese conquests. During a century this movement westward had continued, and in 1862 the Tungani represented the majority of the population, not only in parts of Kansuh, but also in the country to the west, as far as Ili and the city of Turfan. Although Mahomedans, they had acted as the soldiers of the Chinese. They had won their battles, laid down their roads, and held the Tartar population in check. From the Tungani the Chinese never for an instant expected danger. They were certainly heretics; but then they were part and parcel of themselves in every other respect. They hated the Khokandians and the people of Kashgar with a hatred that was more bitter than that they bore to the Khitay or Buddhist Chinese. In all essentials the Tungani were treated exactly like the most favoured children of the empire. … The only cause that it is possible to assign for their rebellion is that vague one of the religious revival which was then manifesting itself among the Mahomedans all over the world. But whatever the cause, the consequences were clear enough. In 1862 a riot occurred at a village in Kansuh. Order was restored with some small loss of life; and the momentary alarm which had been caused by it passed away. The alarm was, however, only too well founded. A few weeks afterwards a more serious riot took place at the town of Houchow or Salara. This was the signal for the rising of the Tungani in all directions. The unanimity shown by the various Tungani settlements proved that there had been a preconcerted arrangement amongst them; but the Chinese had known nothing of it. … The few Imperial troops remaining in the province of Kansuh were unable to withstand the desperate and unanimous assault of the Mahomedans. They were swept out of existence, and with them the larger portion of the Khitay population as well. The Mahomedan priests took the lead in this revolt, and the atrocities which they and their followers enacted were of the most horrible and blood-thirsty character. The butchery of tens of thousands of their Buddhist subjects in Kansuh appealed loudly to the Chinese Government for revenge; and it was not long before their troops restored Kansuh to its allegiance. Those of the Tungani who were captured were given over to the executioner. But a large number escaped, fleeing westward to those cities beyond the desert, where other Mussulmans had imitated, with like success, the deeds of their kinsmen in Kansuh. … No sooner then did the tidings of the events in Kansuh reach Hamil and Barkul, Turfan and Manas, than risings at once took place against the Khitay. In all cases the movement was successful. The Manchus were deposed: the 'mollahs' were set up in their stead. After a short interval the other cities of Karashar, Kucha, and Aksu, followed the example, with an identical result. The Tungan revolt proper had then reached its limit. … The communications between Pekin and Jungaria were cut, and a hostile territory of nearly 2,000 miles intervened. To restore those communications, to reduce that hostile country, would demand a war of several campaigns; and China was not in a condition to make the slightest effort. All that her statesmen could hope for was, that she would not go irretrievably to pieces. {3663} The Tungani flourished on the misfortunes of the empire. … During some months after the first successes of the Tungani, the people of Kuldja and Kashgaria remained quiet, for the prestige of China's power was still great. But when it became evident to all, that communication was hopelessly cut off between the Chinese garrisons and the base of their strength in China, both the Tungan element and the native population began to see that their masters were ill able to hold their own against a popular rising. This opinion gained ground daily, and at last the whole population rose against the Chinese and massacred them. … But no sooner had the Chinese been overthrown, than the victors, the Tungani and the Tarantchis, began to quarrel with each other. Up to the month of January, 1865, the rising had been carried out in a very irregular and indefinite manner. … It was essentially a blind and reckless rising, urged on by religious antipathy; and, successful as it was, it owed all its triumphs to the embarrassments of China. The misfortunes of the Chinese attracted the attention of all those who felt an interest in the progress of events in Kashgaria. Prominent among these was a brother of Wali Khan, Buzurg Khan [heir of the former rulers, the exiled Khojas], who resolved to avail himself of the opportunity afforded by the civil war for making a bold attempt to regain the place of his ancestors. Among his followers was Mahomed Yakoob, a Khokandian soldier of fortune, already known to fame in the desultory wars and feuds of which Central Asia had been the arena. His previous career had marked him out pre-eminently as a leader of men, and he now sought in Eastern Turkestan that sphere of which Russian conquests had deprived him in its Western region. There is little to surprise us in the fact that, having won his battles, Yakoob deposed and imprisoned his master Buzurg. In several campaigns between 1867 and 1873 he bent back the Tungani from his confines, and established an independent government in the vast region from the Pamir to beyond Turfan, and from Khoten and the Karakoram to the Tian Shan. He treated on terms of dignity with the Czar, and also with the Government of India. He received English envoys and Russian ambassadors, and his palace was filled with presents from London and St. Petersburg. … Urged on by some vague ambition, he made war upon the Tungani, when every dictate of prudence pointed to an alliance with them. He destroyed his only possible allies, and in destroying them he weakened himself both directly and indirectly. In the autumn of 1876 Yakoob Beg had indeed pushed forward so far to the east that he fancied he held Barkul and Hamil in his grasp; and the next spring would probably have witnessed a further advance upon these cities had not fate willed it otherwise. With the capture of the small village of Chightam, in 92° E. longitude, Yakoob's triumphs closed. Thus far his career had been successful; it may then be said to have reached its limit. In the autumn of 1876, the arrival of a Chinese army on his eastern frontier changed the current of his thoughts. … From November, 1876, until March, 1877, the Chinese generals were engaged in massing their troops on the northern side of the Tian Shan range. … Yakoob's principal object was to defend the Devan pass against the Chinese; but, while they attacked it in front, another army under General Chang Yao was approaching from Hamil. Thus outflanked, Yakoob's army retreated precipitately upon Turfan, where he was defeated, and again a second time at Toksoun, west of that town. The Chinese then halted. They had, practically speaking, destroyed Yakoob's powers of defence. That prince retreated to the town of Korla, where he was either assassinated or poisoned early in the month of May. … Korla was occupied on the 9th of October without resistance; and towards the end of the same month, Kucha, once an important city, surrendered. The later stages of the war were marked by the capture of the towns of Aksu, Ush Turfan, and Kashgar. With the fall of the capital, on the 17th of December, 1877, the fighting ceased. The Chinese authority was promptly established in the country as far south as Yarkand, and after a brief interval in Khoten."
_D. C. Boulger, Central Asian Questions, chapter 12._
YALE COLLEGE.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1701-1717.
YAMASIS AND YAMACRAWS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.
YAMCO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
YANACONAS. MAMACONAS.
"The Yanaconas were a class existing [in Peru] in the time of the Incas, who were in an exceptional position. They were domiciled in the houses of their masters, who found them in food and clothing, paid their tribute, and gave them a piece of land to cultivate in exchange for their services. But to prevent this from degenerating into slavery, a decree of 1601 ordered that they should be free to leave their masters and take service elsewhere on the same conditions." The Mamaconas of Peru were a class of domestic servants.
_C. R. Markham, Colonial History of South America, (Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 8, page 296)._
YANAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: YANAN FAMILY.
YANKEE: Origin of the term.
"The first name given by the Indians to the Europeans who landed in Virginia was 'Wapsid Lenape' (white people); when, however, afterwards, they began to commit murders on the red men, whom they pierced with swords, they gave to the Virginians the name 'Mechanschican' (long knives), to distinguish them from others of the same colour. In New England they at first endeavoured to imitate the sound of the national name of the English, which they pronounced 'Yengees.'" After about the middle of the Revolutionary War the Indians applied the name "Yengees" exclusively to the people of New England, "who, indeed, appeared to have adopted it, and were, as they still are, generally through the country called 'Yankees,' which is evidently the same name with a trifling alteration. They say they know the 'Yengees,' and can distinguish them by their dress and personal appearance, and that they were considered as less cruel than the Virginians or 'long knives.' The proper English they [for 'they' read 'the Chippeways and some other nations.'—Editor's foot-note] call 'Saggenash.'"
_J. Heckewelder, History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations (Pennsylvania Historical Society Memoirs, volume 12) pages 142-143._
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"The origin of this term [Yankees]. so frequently employed by way of reproach to the New England people, is said to be as follows. A farmer, by name Jonathan Hastings, of Cambridge, about the year 1713, used it as a cant, favorite word, to express excellency when applied to any thing; as a Yankee good horse, Yankee cider, &c., meaning an excellent horse and excellent cider. The students at college, having frequent intercourse with Mr. Hastings, and hearing him employ the term on all occasions, adopted it themselves, and gave him the name of Yankee Jonathan; this soon became a cant word among the collegians to express a weak, simple, awkward person, and from college it was carried and circulated through the country, till, from its currency in New England, it was at length taken up and unjustly applied to the New Englanders in common, as a term of reproach: It was in consequence of this that a particular song, called 'Yankee doodle,' was composed in derision of those scornfully called Yankees."
_J. Thatcher, Military Journal during the Revolutionary War, page 19._
"Dr. William Gordon, in his History of the American War, edition 1789, volume i., pages 324,325, says it was a favourite cant word in Cambridge, Massachusets, as early as 1713, and that it meant 'excellent.' … Cf. Lowland Sc. 'yankie,' a sharp, clever, forward woman; 'yanker,' an agile girl, an incessant speaker; 'yanker,' a smart stroke, a great falsehood; 'yank,' a sudden and severe blow, a sharp stroke; 'yanking,' active, pushing (Jamieson). … If Dr. Gordon's view be right, the word 'yankee' may be identified with the Sc. 'yankie,' as above; and all the Scotch words appear to be of Scandinavian origin, due, ultimately Icel. 'jaga,' to move about. … The fundamental idea is that of 'quick motion'; see 'yacht.' But the word cannot be said to be solved."
_W. W. Skeat, Etymological Dictionary._
"The best authorities on the subject now agree upon the derivation of this term from the imperfect effort made by the Northern Indians to pronounce the word 'English.'"
_M. Schele de Vere, Americanisms, page 22._
ALSO IN: Notes and Queries, series 1, volume 6, page 57.
YANKTONS. The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.
YARD-LAND.
An ancient holding of land in England equivalent to the virgate.
See HIDE OF LAND; and MANORS.
YATASSEES. The.
See TEXAS: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
YEAR BOOKS, English.
See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1307-1509.
YEAR OF ANARCHY, The.
See ATHENS: B. C. 404-403.
YEAR OF METON, The.
See METON, THE YEAR OF.
YELLOW FEVER, Appearance of.
See PLAGUE: 18TH CENTURY.
YELLOW FORD, Battle of the (1598).
See IRELAND: A. D. 1559-1603.
YELLOW TAVERN, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (MAY: VIRGINIA) SHERIDAN'S RAID.
YELLOWS (of Venezuela) The.
See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1829-1886.
YEMAMA, Battle of.
See ACRABA.
YENIKALE, Attack on (1855).
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854-1856.
YEOMEN.
"A 'yeoman' is defined by Sir Thomas Smith (Rep. Anglor. lib. 1. c. 24) as he whom our law calls 'legalem hominem,' a free-born man that may dispend of his own free land in yearly revenues to the sum of forty shillings. But it had also a more general application, denoting like 'valet' a higher kind of service, which still survives in the current phrase to do 'yeoman's service.' In the household of the mediæval knight or baron the younger sons of yeomen would form a large proportion of the servitors, and share with the younger sons of knight or squire the common name of 'valetti.' The yeomen too who lived on their own land, but wore the 'livery of company' of some baron or lesser territorial magnate, would also be his 'valets.' The mediæval 'yeoman' was the tenant of land in free socage. The extent of his holding might be large or small."
_T. P. Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, page 343, foot-note._
"At the period when the higher gentry began to absorb what remained of the feudal nobility, and established themselves definitely as an upper class, the small landowners—freeholders holding estates of inheritance or for life—long leaseholders and the larger copyholders made corresponding progress, and the yeomen (the common term applied to all of them) began in their turn to fill the position and take the rank of an agricultural middle class. The reign of Henry VI. had marked the zenith of their influence; they had by that time fully realized the fact of their existence as a body. The inferior limit of their class was approximately determined by the electoral qualification of the forty-shilling freeholder (under the Act of 1430), or by the £4 qualification for the office of juror. The superior limit was marked from a legal point of view by the property qualification of a magistrate, but socially there was not on this side any definite boundary line. In 1446 it was considered necessary to forbid the county electors to return 'valetti,' that is yeomen, to the House of Commons, a proof that custom and opinion left to themselves did not look upon the higher section of their class as unworthy of a seat in Parliament, an honour originally confined to the knights. Fortescue testifies almost with triumph to the fact that in no country of Europe were yeomen so numerous as in England."
_E. Boutmy, The English Constitution, part 2, chapter 4._
In later English use the word "yeoman" has signified "a man of small estate in land, not ranking among the gentry."
YEOMEN OF THE GUARD.
"This corps was instituted by Henry VII. in 1485. It now consists of 100 men, six of whom are called Yeomen Hangers, and two Yeomen Bed-goers; the first attending to the hangings and tapestries of the royal apartments, and the second taking charge of all beds during any royal removals. The yeomen of the guard carry up the royal dinner, and are popularly designated as 'beef-eaters, 'respecting the origin of which name some differences of opinion exist, for many maintain that they never had any duties connected with the royal beaufet. A yeoman usher and a party of yeomen attend in the great chamber of the palace on drawing-room and levee days, to keep the passage clear."
_C. R. Dodd, Manual of Dignities, part 2, section 1._
YERMOUK, Battle of (A. D. 636).
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639.
YEZID I., Caliph, A. D. 679-683.
Yezid II., Caliph, 720-724.
Yezid III., Caliph, 744.
YNCAS, INCAS.
See PERU.
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YNGAVI, Battle of (1841).
See PERU: A. D. 1826-1876.
YORK: The Roman capital of Britain.
See EBORACUM.
YORK: The capital of Deira and Northumbria.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 547-633.
YORK: A. D. 1189. Massacre of Jews.
See JEWS: A. D. 1189.
YORK: A. D. 1644.
Parliamentary siege raised by Prince Rupert.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (JANUARY-JULY).
YORK, Pennsylvania: A. D. 1777. The American Congress in session.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777 (JANUARY-DECEMBER).
YORKINOS, The.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1822-1828.
YORKISTS.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.
YORKTOWN: A. D. 1781. Surrender of Cornwallis and his army to Washington.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781 (MAY-OCTOBER).
YORKTOWN: A. D. 1862. McClellan's siege.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MARCH-MAY: VIRGINIA).
YOUNG, Brigham, and the Mormons.
See MORMONISM: A. D. 1830-1846, 1846-1847; and UTAH: A. D. 1849-1850, and 1857-1859.
YOUNG IRELAND MOVEMENT, The.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1841-1848.
YOUNG ITALY.
See ITALY: A. D. 1831-1848.
YPRES: A. D. 1383. Unsuccessful but destructive siege by the English.
See FLANDERS: A. D. 1383.
YPRES: A. D. 1648. Taken by the French.
See NETHERLANDS (SPANISH PROVINCES): A. D. 1647-1648.
YPRES: A. D.1659. Restored to Spain.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1659-1661.
YPRES: A. D. 1679. Ceded to France.
See NIMEGUEN, THE PEACE OF.
YPRES: A. D. 1713. Ceded to Holland.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1713-1715.
YPRES: A. D. 1744-1748. Taken by the French and restored to Austria.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743-1744; and AIX-LA-CHAPELLE: THE CONGRESS.
YPRES: A. D. 1794. Siege and capture by the French.
See FRANCE; A. D. 1794 (MARCH-JULY).
YUCATAN: The aboriginal inhabitants, their civilization and its monuments.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MAYAS, and QUICHES; also MEXICO, ANCIENT.
YUCATAN: Discovery. Disputed origin of the name.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1517-1518.
YUCHI.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: UCHEAN FAMILY.
YUGUARZONGO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
YUKIAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: YUKIAN FAMILY.
YUMAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: YUMAN FAMILY.
YUMAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: APACHE GROUP.
YUNCAS, The.
See PERU: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
YUNGAY, Battle of (1839).
See PERU: A. D. 1826-1876.
YUROKS, EUROCS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MODOCS.
Z.
ZAB, Battle of the (A. D. 750).
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-750.
ZACHARIAS, Pope, A. D. 741-752.
ZAGONARA, Battle of (1424).
See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.
ZAHARA: A. D. 1476. Surprise, capture and massacre by the Moors.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1476-1492.
ZALACCA, Battle of (1086).
See ALMORAVIDES; and PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.
ZAMA, Battle of (B. C. 202).
See PUNIC WARS: THE SECOND.
ZAMBESIA.
See SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1885-1893.
ZAMINDARS, OR ZEMINDARS.
See TALUKDARS; also INDIA: A. D. 1785-1793.
ZAMZUMMITES, The.
See JEWS: EARLY HEBREW HISTORY.
ZANCLE.
See MESSENE IN SICILY, FOUNDING OF.
ZANZIBAR: A. D. 1885-1886. Seizure of territory by Germany.
See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891.
ZAPORO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
ZAPOTECS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ZAPOTECS, etc.
ZARA: A. D. 1203. Capture and Destruction.
See CRUSADES: A. D. 1201-1203.
ZARAGOSSA.
See SARAGOSSA.
ZARAKA, The.
See SARANGIANS.
ZARANGIANS, The.
See SARANGIANS.
ZARATHUSTRA, ZOROASTER.
See ZOROASTRIANS.
ZEA.
See PIRÆUS.
ZEALOTS, The.
A party among the Jews which forced on the great struggle of that people with the Roman power,—the struggle which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. A party of ardent patriots in its origin, and embracing the flower of the nation, it degenerated, by enlistment of the passions of the populace, into a fierce, violent, desperate faction, which Ewald (History of Israel, book 7) compares to that of the Jacobins of the French Revolution.
_Josephus, The Jewish War._
ZEEWAND.
See WAMPUM.
ZEGRIS, The.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1238-1273; and 1476-1492.
ZELA, Battle of (B. C. 47).
See ROME: B. C. 47-46.
ZEMINDARS, ZAMINDARS.
See TALUKDARS; also INDIA: A. D. 1785-1793.
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ZEMSTVO, The.
"The Zemstvo (in Russia] is a kind of local administration which supplements the action of the rural communes [see MIR], and takes cognizance of those higher public wants which individual communes cannot possibly satisfy. Its principal duties are to keep the roads and bridges in proper repair, to provide means of conveyance for the rural police and other officials, to elect the justices of peace, to look after primary education and sanitary affairs, to watch the state of the crops and take measures against approaching famine, and in short to undertake, within certain clearly-defined limits, whatever seems likely to increase the material and moral well-being of the population. In form the institution is parliamentary—that is to say, it consists of an assembly of deputies which meets at least once a year, and of a permanent executive bureau elected by the assembly from among its members. … Once every three years the deputies are elected in certain fixed proportions by the landed proprietors, the rural communes, and the municipal corporations. Every province (guberniya) and each of the districts (uyezdi) into which the province is subdivided has such an assembly and such a bureau."
_D. M. Wallace, Russia, chapter 14._
ZENDAVESTA, The.
See ZOROASTRIANS.
ZENDECAN, Battle of (1038).
See TURKS: A. D. 999-1183.
ZENGER'S TRIAL.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1720-1734.
ZENO, Roman Emperor (Eastern). A. D. 474-491.
ZENOBIA, The Empire of.
See PALMYRA.
ZENTA, Battle of (1697).
See HUNGARY: A. D. 1683-1699.
ZEPHATHAH, Battle of.
Fought by Asa, king of Judah, with Zerah the Ethiopian, whom he defeated.
_2 Chronicles, xiv. 9-15._
ZEUGITÆ, The.
See ATHENS: B. C. 594.
ZEUGMA.
See APAMEA.
ZIELA, Battle of.
A battle fought in the Mithridatic War, B. C. 67, in which the Romans were badly defeated by the Pontic king.
_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 5, chapter 2._
ZIGANI. ZIGEUNER. ZINCALI. ZINGARRI.
See GYPSIES.
ZINGIS KHAN, The conquests of.
See MONGOLS: A. D. 1153-1227; and INDIA: A. D. 977-1290.
ZINGLINS.
See HAYTI: A. D. 1804-1880.