The defeat of the emperor Romanus (1071) initiated a change in the condition of Asia Minor which was to be complete and lasting. A long succession of nomad Turkish tribes, pressing forward from central Asia, wandered over the rich country in search of fresh pastures for their flocks and herds. They did not plunder or ill-treat the people, but they cared nothing for town life or for agricultural pursuits, and as they passed onward they left the country bare. Large districts passed out of cultivation and were abandoned to the nomads, who replaced wheeled traffic by the pack horse and the camel. The peasants either became nomads themselves or took refuge in the towns or the mountains. The Mongols, as they advanced, sacked towns and laid waste the agricultural lands. Timur conducted his campaigns with a ruthless disregard of life and property. Entire Christian communities were massacred, flourishing towns were completely destroyed, and all Asia Minor was ravaged. From these disasters the country never recovered, and the last traces of Western civilization disappeared with the enforced use of the Turkish language and the wholesale conversions to Islam under the earliest Osmanli sultans. The recent large increase of the Greek population in the western districts, the construction of railways, and the growing interests of Germany and Russia on the plateau seem, however, to indicate that the tide is again turning in favour of the West.

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Bibliography.—1. General Authorities:—C. Texier, Asie Mineure (1843); P. Tchihatcheff, Asie Mineure (1853-1860); C. Ritter, Erdkunde, vols. xviii. xix. (1858-1859); W.J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor (1843); E. Reclus. Nouv. Géog. Univ. vol. ix. (1884); V. Cuinet, La Turquie d’Asie (1890); W.M. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of A. M. (1890); Murray’s Handbook for A. M. &c., ed. by Sir C. Wilson (1895). For Geology see Tchihatcheff, Asie Mineure, Géologie (Paris, 1867-1869); Schaffer, Cilicia, Peterm. Mitt. Ergänzungsheft, 141 (1903); Philippson, Sitz. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss. (1903), pp. 112-124; English, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (London, 1904), pp. 243-295; see also Suess, Das Antlitz der Erde, vol. iii. pp. 402-412, and the accompanying references.

2. A. Western Asia Minor.—J. Spon and G. Wheler, Voyage du Levant (1679); P. de Tournefort, Voyage du Levant (1718); F. Beaufort, Ionian Antiquities (1811); R. Chandler, Travels (1817); W.M. Leake, Journal of a Tour in A. M. (1820); F.V.J. Arundell, Visit to the Seven Churches (1828), and Discoveries, &c. (1834); C. Fellows, Excursion in A. M. (1839); C.T. Newton, Travels (1867), and Discoveries at Halicarnassus, &c. (1863); Dilettanti Society, Ionian Antiquities (1769-1840); J.R.S. Sterrett, Epigr. Journey and Wolfe Exped. (Papers, Amer. Arch. Inst. ii. iii.) (1888); J.H. Skene, Anadol (1853); G. Radet, Lydie (1893); O. Rayet and A. Thomas, Milet et le Golfe Latmique (1872); K. Buresch, Aus Lydien (1898); W.M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (1895), and Impressions of Turkey (1898).

B. Eastern Asia Minor.—W.F. Ainsworth, Travels in A. M. (1842); G. Perrot and E. Guillaume, Expl. arch, de la Galatie (1862-1872); E.J. Davis, Anatolica (1874); H.F. Tozer, Turkish Armenia (1881); H.J. v. Lennep, Travels (1870); D.G. Hogarth, Wandering Scholar (1896); Lord Warkworth, Notes of a Diary, &c. (1898); E. Sarre, Reise (1896); D.G. Hogarth and J.A.R. Munro, Mod. and Anc. Roads (R.G.S. Supp. Papers iii.) (1893); H.C. Barkley, A Ride through A. M. and Armenia (1891); M. Sykes, Dar ul-Islam (1904); E. Chantre, Mission en Cappadocie (1898).

C. Southern Asia Minor.—F. Beaufort, Karamania (1817); C. Fellows, Discoveries in Lycia (1841); T.A.B. Spratt and E. Forbes, Travels in Lycia (1847); V. Langlois, Voy. dans la Cilicie (1861); E.J. Davis, Life in Asiatic Turkey (1879); O. Benndorf and E. Niemann, Lykien (1884); C. Lanckoronski, Villes de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie (1890); F. v. Luschan, Reisen in S.W. Kleinasien (1888); E. Petersen and F. v. Luschan, Lykien (1889); K. Humann and O. Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien (1890).

D. Northern Asia Minor.—J.M. Kinneir, Journey through A. M. (1818); J.G.C. Anderson and F. Cumont, Studia Pontica (1903); E. Naumann, Vom Goldenen Horn, &c. (1893).

See also G. Perrot and C. Chipiez, Hist. de l’art dans l’antiquité, vols. iv. v. (1886-1890); J. Strzygowski, Kleinasien, &c. (1903). Also numerous articles in all leading archaeological periodicals, the Geographical Journal, Deutsche Rundschau, Petermann’s Geog. Mitteilungen, &c. &c.

3. Maps.—H. Kiepert, Nouv. carte gén. des prov. asiat. de l’Emp. ottoman (1894), and Spezialkarte v. Westkleinasien (1890); W. von Diest, Karte des Nordwestkleinasien (1901); R. Kiepert, Karte von Kleinasien (1901); E. Friederich, Handels- und Produktenkarte von Kleinasien (1898); J.G.C. Anderson, Asia Minor (Murray’s Handy Class. Maps) (1903).