Ak-su, a town of Chinese Turkestan, 260 miles NE. from Yarkand, on an affluent of the Tarim, and at the southern base of the Thian-shan Mountains. It was formerly the capital of a separate khanate; in 1867 it became a part of the state of Eastern Turkestan, under Yakoob Beg, but was conquered again by China in 1877. It is celebrated for its manufactures of cotton cloth and saddlery, and is much resorted to by caravans, as an entrepôt of commerce between Russia, Tartary, and China. Pop. 20,000, besides a Chinese garrison as numerous.
Ak-su
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 1: A to Beaufort, p. 116
Source scan(s): p. 0131