ANTROPOLOGY OF THE TURKISH AND TARTAR POPULATIONIN SOUTH DOBRUGJA

摘要

Due to its geographic position, Dobrudja was at the crossroad of important commercial, nautical andterrestrial roads that joined here, coming from the North-Pontic steppes, from Anatolia and from theMediterranean world. Dobrudja played in the history of civilization, the role of "bridge" and "gate"through which passed in both directions the goods of the natives' civilization and those from abroad. Dobrudja was the main entrance gate of the Christianity in Dacia (Vasile Parvan) "an extremly richlaboratory of comparative ethnology, through the extraordinary mosaic of races" (Eugen Pittard). TheTurkish colonized the Asian and Mongolian people, and the immigrations from Russia diversified thisethnical mosaic. For consolidating their power, the ottoman authorities populated Dobrudja with Tartars from theNorth of the Black Sea and with Turks from Asia Minor (Anatolia). Thanks to its geographic variety, Dobrudja attracted people of various races, ethnic groups,confessions, beliefs, and thus it remained an Europe and Asia in miniature, a "huge liveethnographical museum" (C. Bratescu). In this regard, the current paper represents the first anthropologic study on the Turkish population inDobrudja, from the beginnings of the settlement of these ethnic minorities on the Romanian teritory.