The task to which I address myself in this paper is the geographical distribution of the Túrki languages. But before doing so it might be well to glance at the whole Ugro-Altaïc family, in order to determine the position of the Túrki Branch in this great division of the languages of the human race.

Broadly speaking, but with sufficient accuracy, the Ugro-Altaïc languages are spoken over a region extending through more than 100 degrees of longitude, from the shores of the Adriatic to the Great Wall of China and the plateau of Tibet, and through 35 degrees of latitude, from the frozen steppes of Samoyéd and Yakút to the plains of Northern Persia and the head-waters of the Indus.