'Tatars' (
Tatar: 'Tatarlar''/''Татарлар'), sometimes spelled 'Tartar' (''
more about the name''), is a collective name applied to the
Turkic people of
Eastern Europe and
Central Asia.
Most current day Tatars live in the central and southern parts of
Russia (the majority in
Tatarstan),
Ukraine,
Poland,
Moldova,
Lithuania,
Belarus and in
Bulgaria,
China,
Kazakhstan,
Romania,
Turkey, and
Uzbekistan. They collectively numbered more than 10 million in the late
20th century.
The majority - in European
Russia - are descendants of Eastern European
Volga Bulgars who were conquered by the
Mongol invasion of the
13th century and kept the name of their conquerors. Tatars of
Siberia are survivors of the numerous
Turkic population of the
Ural-
Altaic region, mixed to some extent with the speakers of
Uralic languages, as well as with Mongols.
The original Ta-ta Mongols inhabited the north-eastern
Gobi in the
5th century and, after subjugation in the
9th century by the
Khitans, migrated southward, there founding the Mongol empire under
Genghis Khan. Under the leadership of his grandson
Batu Khan they moved westwards, driving with them many stems of the
Turkic Ural-Altayans towards the plains of
Russia.
On the
Volga they mingled with remnants of the old Bulgarian empire (
Volga Bulgaria), and elsewhere with
Finno-Ugric speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient
Greek colonies in the
Crimea and Caucasians in the
Caucasus.
The name of Tatars, given to the invaders, was afterwards extended so as to include different stems of the same Turkic-Mongol branch in Russia, and even the bulk of the inhabitants of the high plateau of Asia and its northwestern slopes, described under the general name of '
Tartary'. This name has almost disappeared from geographical literature, but the name Tatars, in the above limited sense, remains in full use.
The present Tatar inhabitants of
Eurasia form three large groups:
★ those of
Crimea,
Bulgaria, European
Russia,
Lithuania,
Belarus,
Poland,
Romania and
Turkey.
★ those of the
Caucasus,
★ and those of
Siberia.
Due to the vast movements and intermingling of peoples along with the very loose utilization of the name Tatar, current day Tatars comprise a spectrum of physical appearance. As to the original Tatars from Mongolia, they most likely shared characteristics with the Turkic invaders from Central Asia.
Name
Kültigin Monument where first mention of Tatar people is inscribed
The name "Tatar" initially appeared amongst the nomadic
Turkic peoples of northeastern
Mongolia in the region around
Lake Baikal in the beginning of the 5th century.
[1] These people may have been related to the
Cumans or the
Kipchaks.
1 The Chinese term is Dada and is a comparatively specific term for nomads to the north, emerging in the late Tang. Other names include Dadan and Tatan.
As various of these nomadic groups became part of
Genghis Khan's army in the early
13th century, a fusion of Mongol and Turkic elements took place, and the invaders of
Russia and
Hungary became known to Europeans as Tatars (or Tartars).
1 After the break up of the
Mongol Empire, the Tatars became especially identified with the western part of the empire, which included most of European Russia and was known as the
Golden Horde.
1
Formerly, it was believed that the name Tatar derived from the name
Tartarus,
[2] the Greek name for the
underworld; this belief led to the frequent spelling and pronunciation of the name with an extra "r", to conform with the classical Greek word. However, this provenance is unlikely since the Tatars use this name for themselves. The name may be related to the old Chinese word "ta-tan" or "da-dan",
[3] and more specifically to the Ta-Ta
Mongols.
The majority of Turco-speaking "Tatar" ethnic groups call themself Tatarlar - Татарлар.
In Russia, where most Tatars live (
Tatarstan), they are called Татары ''Tatary'' in the
Russian language. In China, where they form an
officially recognized ethnic minority they are called ''Tataerzu'' (
Simplified: 塔塔尔族,
pinyin: ''Tǎtǎěrzú'').
Historical meaning of ''Tatars''
★
Ta-ta Mongols
★ multi-ethnical population of
Mongol Empire
★
multi-ethnical Muslim population of late
Golden Horde (for neighboring peoples, for example, Russians)
★ Turkic Muslim population (
Volga Tatars,
Azeris) and some pagan Turkic and Mongolian peoples (such as
Khakass) in
Russian Empire
★ Russian term for some peoples, incorporated to
Muslim nation of Russia in late 19th century (for example,
Volga Tatars,
Nogais,
Azeri)
★ Some ethnic groups in Soviet Union after the policy of
korenizatsia, such as Volga Tatars (or simply Tatars),
Crimean Tatars,
Chulym Tatars, some groups such as
Lipka Tatars, whereas other "Tatar" named peoples switched their Russian names to their self-determination
European Tatars
The discrimination of the separate stems included under the name is still far from complete. The following subdivisions, however, may be regarded as established:
Tatars - ''Tatarlar'' or ''Татарлар''. In modern English only ''Tatar'' is used to refer to Eurasian Tatars; ''Tartar'' has offensive connotations as a confusion with the
Tartarus of Greek mythology, due in part to the popular association of the supposed bloodthirsty ferocity of the Mongol tribes with the Greek sub-underworld. In Europe the term ''Tartar'' is generally only used in the historical context for ''Mongolian'' people who appeared in the 13th century (the
Mongol invasion) and assimilated into the local population later.
Volga Tatars
Main articles: Volga Tatars
Volga Tatars live in the central and Eastern European parts of Russia. In today's Russia the term 'Tatars' refers to describe '
Volga Tatars' only. During the census of 2002, Tatars, or Volga Tatars were officially divided into common Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars, Keräşen Tatars. Siberian Tatars were incorporated into the census as Tatars. Other ethnic groups, such as
Crimean Tatars and
Chulyms, were not officially recognized as a part of Tatars and were counted separately.
Kazan (Qazan) Tatars
The majority of Volga Tatars are Kazan (Qazan) Tatars. They are the main and indigenous population of
Tatarstan, one of the constituent
republics of Russia.
During the 11-16th centuries, most
Turkic tribes lived in what is now Russia and Kazakhstan. The present territory of Tatarstan was inhabited by the
Volga Bulgars (considered by most to have been Turkic), who settled on the Volga in the
8th century and converted to Islam in
922 during the missionary work of
Ahmad ibn Fadlan. On the Volga, the Bulgars mingled with
Scythian and Finno-Ugric speaking peoples. After the
Mongol invasion, Bulgaria was defeated, ruined and incorporated in the
Golden Horde. Much of the population survived, and there was a certain degree of mixing between it and the
Kipchak Tatars of the Horde during the ensuing period. The group as a whole accepted the ethnonym "Tatars" (although the name
Bulgars persisted in some places) and the language of the Kipchaks; on the other hand, the invaders eventually converted to Islam. As the Horde disintegrated in the 15the century, the area became the territory of the
Kazan khanate, which was ultimately conquered by Russia in the 16th century.
There is some debate among scholars about the extent of that mixing and the "share" of each group as progenitors of the modern Kazan Tatars. It is relatively accepted that demographically, most of the population was directly descended from the Bulgars. Nevertheless, some emphasize the contribution of the Kipchaks on the basis of the ethnonym and the language, and consider that the modern Tatar ethnogenesis was only completed upon their arrival. Others prefer to stress the Bulgar heritage, sometimes to degree of equating modern Kazan Tatars with Bulgars. They argue that although the Volga Bulgars had not kept their language and their name, their old culture and religion -
Islam - have been preserved. According to scholars who espouse this view, there was very little mixing with Mongol and Turkic aliens after the conquest of Volga Bulgaria, especially in the northern regions that ultimately became
Tatarstan. Some voices even advocate the change of the ethnonym from "Tatars" to "Bulgars" - a movement known as
Bulgarism.
[4] [5]
In the
1910s they numbered about half a million in the
Kazan Governorate (
Tatarstan, the Kazan Tatars' historical motherland), about 400,000 in each of the governments of
Ufa, 100,000 in
Samara and
Simbirsk, and about 30,000 in
Vyatka,
Saratov,
Tambov,
Penza,
Nizhny Novgorod,
Perm and
Orenburg. Some 15,000 belonging to the same stem had migrated to
Ryazan, or had been settled as prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries in
Lithuania (
Vilnius,
Grodno and
Podolia). Some 2000 resided in
St. Petersburg, where they were mostly employed as coachmen and waiters in restaurants. In Poland they constituted 1% of the population of the district of
Plock.
The Kazan Tatars speak a
Turkic dialect (with a big complement of Russian and Arabic words; see
Tatar language). They have been described as generally middle-sized, broad-shouldered, and the majority have brown and green eyes, a straight nose and salient cheek bones
[1]. Because their ancestors number not only Turkic peoples, but
Eastern Iranian and
Finno-Ugric as well, many Kazan Tatars tend to have European faces. The population isn't homogeneous, around 33.5% belong to
Southern European subtype, 27.5% to
Northern European , 24.5% to
Finno-Ugric and 14.5% to
Southern Siberian [2]. Most Kazan Tatars practice
Sunni Islam.
Before
1917 in Russia, polygamy was practised only by the wealthier classes and was a waning institution. The
Bashkirs who live between the
Kama,
Ural and
Volga speak the
Bashkir language, which is similar to Tatar, and have converted to
Sunni Islam.
Because it is understandable to all groups of Russian Tatars, as well as to the
Chuvash and
Bashkirs, the language of the Kazan Tatars became a literary one in the 15th century (
İske Tatar tele). (However,
being written in Arabic alphabet, it was spelled variously in the different regions). The old literary language included a lot of Arabic and Persian words. Nowadays the literary language includes European and Russian words instead of Arabic.
Kazan Tatars number nearly 7 millions, mostly in Russia and the republics of the former
Soviet Union. While the bulk of the population is to be found in
Tatarstan (nearly 2 million) and neighbouring regions, significant numbers of Kazan Tatars live in Central Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus. Outside of Tatarstan, urban Tatars usually speak
Russian as their first language (in cities such as
Moscow,
Saint-Petersburg,
Nizhniy Novgorod,
Tashkent,
Almaty, and cities of the
Ural and western Siberia).
A significant number of Tatars emigrated during the
Russian Civil War, mostly to Turkey and
Harbin, China, but resettled to European countries later. Some of them speak Turkish at home.
According to the Chinese government, there are still 51,000 Tatars living in Xinjiang province.
See also:
Tatar language
Noqrat Tatars
Kazan Tatars live in Russia's
Kirov Oblast.
Perm Tatars
Kazan Tatars live in Russia's
Perm Krai. Some of them also have an admixture of
Komi blood.
Keräşen Tatars
Some Kazan Tatars were forcibly Christianized by
Ivan the Terrible during the 16th century and later in the 18th century.
Some scientists suppose that
Suars were ancestors of the Keräşen Tatars, and they had been converted to Christianity by
Armenians in the
6th century, while they lived in the Caucasus. Suars, like other tribes (which later converted to Islam) became
Volga Bulgars and later the modern
Chuvash (mostly Christians) and Kazan Tatars (mostly
Muslims).
Keräşen Tatars live all over
Tatarstan. Now they tend to be assimilated among
Russians,
Chuvash and Tatars with
Sunni Muslim self-identification. Eighty years of
atheistic Soviet rule made Tatars of both confessions not as religious as they were. As such, differences between Tatars and Keräşen Tatars now is only that Keräşens have Russian names.
Some Turkic (
Kuman) tribes in
Golden Horde were converted to Christianity in the 13th and 14th centuries (
Catholicism and
Nestorianism). Some prayers, written in that time in the ''
Codex Cumanicus'', sound like modern Keräşen prayers, but there is no information about the connection between Christian Kumans and modern Keräşens.
Nağaybäks
Main articles: Nağaybäk
Tatars who became
Cossacks (border keepers) and converted to
Russian Orthodoxy. They live in the
Urals, the Russian border with
Kazakhstan during the 17th-18th century.
The biggest Nağaybäk village is
Parizh, Russia, named after
French capital
Paris, due Nağaybäk's participation in
Napoleonic wars.
Tiptär Tatars
Like Noğaybaqs, although they are Sunni Muslims. Some Tiptär Tatars speak Russian or
Bashkir. According to some scientists, Tiptärs are part of the Mişärs.
Kazan Tatar language dialects
There are 3 dialects: Eastern, Central, Western.
The Western dialect (Misher) is spoken mostly by Mishärs, the Middle dialect is spoken by Tatarstan and Astrakhan Tatars ("
Volga Bulgarians"), and the Eastern (Siberian) dialect is spoken by some groups of Tatars in
Russia's
Tyumen Oblast. This latter, which was isolated from other dialects, is related to
Chulym, and some scientists believe that the Eastern dialect is an independent language. The
Bashkir language, for example, is better understood by Kazan Tatars than is the Eastern dialect of the Siberian Tatars.
Middle Tatar is the base of literary Kazan Tatar Language. The Middle dialect also has subdivisions.
Mişär Tatars
Mişär Tatars (or Mishers) are a group of Tatars speaking a dialect of the
Kazan Tatar language. They are descendants of
Kipchaks in the Middle
Oka River area and Meschiora where they mixed with the local
Finno-Ugric tribes. Nowadays they live in
Tambov,
Penza,
Ryazan oblasts of Russia and in
Mordovia. They lived near and along the Volga River, in Tatarstan.
Qasím Tatars
The Western Tatars have their capital in the town of Qasím (
Kasimov in Russian transcription) in
Ryazan Oblast, with a Tatar population of 500. See "
Qasim Khanate" for their history.
Astrakhan Tatars
The Astrakhan Tatars (nearly 70,000) are a group of Tatars, descendants of the
Astrakhan Khanate's agricultural population, who live mostly in
Astrakhan Oblast. For the 2000 Russian census 2000, most Astrakhan Tatars declared themselves simply as Tatars and few declared themselves as Astrakhan Tatars. A large number of common Volga Tatars (Kazan Tatars) live in Astrakhan Oblast and differences between them have been disappearing.
Text from Britannica 1911:
:The
Astrakhan Tatars number about 10,000 and are, with the Mongol
Kalmyks, all that now remains of the once so powerful Astrakhan empire. They also are agriculturists and gardeners; while some 12,000
Kundrovsk Tatars still continue the nomadic life of their ancestors.
While Astrakhan (Ästerxan) Tatar is a mixed dialect, around 43,000 have assimilated to the Middle (i.e., Kazan) dialect. Their ancestors are
Khazars,
Kipchaks and some
Volga Bulgars. (Volga Bulgars had trade colonies in modern
Astrakhan and
Volgograd oblasts of Russia.)
Chinese Tatars
Main articles: Chinese Tatars
The Tatars (塔塔尔族 ''Tǎtǎěrzú'') form one of the
56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of China. Their ancestors are Volga Tatar tradesmen who settled mostly in
Xinjiang.
Volga Tatars in the world
Places where Volga Tatars live include:
★
Ural and Upper
Kama (since 15th century) 15th century - colonization, 16th - 17th century - re-settled by Russians, 17th - 19th century - exploring of Ural, working in the plants
★ West Siberia (since 16th century): 16th - from Russian repressions after conquering of Khanate of Kazan by Russians, 17th - 19th century - exploring of West Siberia, end of 19th - first half of 20th - industrialization, railways constructing, 1930s -
Stalin's repressions, 1970s - 1990s oil workers
★ Moscow (since 17th century): Tatar feudals in the service of Russia, tradesmen, since 18th - Saint-Petersburg
★ Kazakhstan (since 18th century): 18th – 19th centuries - Russian army officers and soldiers, 1930s – industrialization, since 1950s - settlers on virgin lands - re-emigration in 1990s
★ Finland (since 1804): (mostly Mişärs) - 19th - from a group of some 20 villages in the Sergatch region on the Volga River. See
Finnish Tatars.
★ Central Asia (since 19th century) (
Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan,
Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Xinjiang ) - 19th Russian officers and soldiers, tradesmen, religious emigrants, 1920-1930s - industrialization, Soviet education program for Central Asia peoples, 1948, 1960 - help for Ashgabat and Tashkent ruined by earthquakes - re-emigration in 1980s
★ Caucasus, especially
Azerbaijan (since 19th century) - oil workers (1890s), bread tradesmen
★ Northern China (since 1910s) - railway builders (1910s) - re-emigrated in 1950s
★ East Siberia (since 19th century) - resettled farmers (19th), railroad builders (1910s, 1980s), exiled by the Soviet government in 1930s
★ Germany and Austria - 1914, 1941 - prisoners of war, 1990s - emigration
★ Turkey, Japan, Iran, China, Egypt (since 1918) - emigration
★ England, USA, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Mexico - (1920s) re-emigration from Germany, Turkey, Japan, China and others. 1950s - prisoners of war from Germany, which did not go back to the USSR, 1990s - emigration after the break up of USSR
★ Sakhalin, Kaliningrad, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Karelia - after 1944-45 builders, Soviet military personnel
★ Murmansk Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Northern Poland and Northern Germany (1945 - 1990) - Soviet military personnel
★ Israel - wives or husbands of Jews (1990s)
Tatars of Crimea, Ukraine and Poland
Crimean Tatars
Main articles: Crimean Tatars
The
Crimean Tatars constituted the
Crimean Khanate which was annexed by Russia in
1783. The war of
1853 and the laws of
1860-
63 and
1874 caused an exodus of the
Crimean Tatars.
Those of the south coast, mixed with Scyth, Greeks and Italians, were well known for their skill in gardening, their honesty, and their work habits, as well as for their fine features, presenting the Tatar type at its best. The mountain Tatars closely resemble those of Caucasus, while those of the
steppes - the Nogais - are decidedly of a mixed origin with Turks and Mongols.
During
World War II, the entire Tatar population in Crimea fell victims to
Stalin's oppressive policies. In
1944 they were accused of being Nazi collaborators and deported en masse to
Central Asia and other lands of the Soviet Union. Many died of disease and malnutrition. Since the 1980s late, about 250,000 Crimean Tatars have returned to their homeland in the Crimea
[3].
Lithuanian Tatars
After
Tokhtamysh was defeated by
Tamerlane, some of his clan sought refuge in
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were given land and nobility in return for military service and were known as
Lipka Tatars. They are known to have taken part in the
Battle of Grunwald.
Official site
Another group appeared in
Jagoldai Duchy (Lithuania's vassal) near modern
Kursk in 1437 and disappeared later.
Belarusian Tatars
Islam spread in Belarus from the 14th to the 16th century. The process was encouraged by the Lithuanian princes, who invited
Tatar Muslims from the
Crimea and the
Golden Horde as guards of state borders. Already in the 14th century the Tatars had been offered a settled way of life, state posts and service positions. By the end of the 16th century over 100,000 Tatars settled in Belarus and
Lithuania, including those hired to government service, those who moved there voluntarily, prisoners of war, etc.
Tatars in Belarus generally follow
Sunni Hanafi Islam. Some groups have accepted
Christianity and been assimilated, but most adhere to Muslim religious traditions, which ensures their definite endogamy and preservation of ethnic features. Interethnic marriages with representatives of Belarusian, Polish, Lithuanian, Russian nationalities are not rare, but do not result in total assimilation.
Originating from different ethnic associations, Belarusian (and also Polish and Lithuanian) Tatars back in ancient days lost their native language and adopted Belarusian, Polish and Russian. However, the liturgy is conducted in the
Arabic language, which is known by the clergymen. There are an estimated 20,000 Tatars in Belarus.
Polish Tatars
:''Main articles:
Lipka Tatars and
Islam in Poland''
From the 13th to 17th centuries various groups of Tatars settled and/or found refuge within the
Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth.
This was promoted especially by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, because of their deserved reputation as skilled warriors. The Tatar settlers were all granted with
szlachta (~ nobility) status, a tradition that was preserved until the end of the Commonwealth in the 18th century. They included the
Lipka Tatars (13-14 centuries) as well as Crimean and
Nogay Tatars (15th-16th centuries), all of which were noticeable in Polish military history, as well as
Kazan Tatars (16th-17th centuries). They all mostly settled in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, lands that are now in
Lithuania and
Belarus.
Various estimates of the number of Tatars in the Commonwealth in the 17th century range from 15,000 persons to 60 villages with mosques. Numerous royal privileges, as well as internal autonomy granted by the monarchs allowed the Tatars to preserve their religion, traditions and culture over the centuries. The Tatars were allowed to intermarry with Christians, a thing uncommon in Europe at the time. The
May Constitution of 1791 gave the Tatars representation in the Polish
Sejm.
Although by the 18th century the Tatars adopted the local language, the Islamic religion and many Tatar traditions (e.g. the sacrifice of bulls in their mosques during the main religious festivals) were preserved. This led to formation of a distinctive Muslim culture, in which the elements of Muslim orthodoxy mixed with religious tolerance and a relatively liberal society. For instance, the women in Lipka Tatar society traditionally had the same rights and status as men, and could attend non-segregated schools.
About 5,500 Tatars lived within the inter-war boundaries of Poland (1920-1939), and a Tatar cavalry unit had fought for the country's independence. The Tatars had preserved their cultural identity and sustained a number of Tatar organisations, including a Tatar archives, and a museum in Wilno (
Vilnius).
The Tatars suffered serious losses during
World War II and furthermore, after the border change in 1945 a large part of them found themselves in the
Soviet Union. It is estimated that about 3000 Tatars live in present-day Poland, of which about 500 declared Tatar (rather than Polish) nationality in the 2002 census. There are two Tatar villages (
Bohoniki and
Kruszyniany) in the north-east of present-day Poland, as well as urban Tatar communities in
Warsaw,
Gdańsk,
Białystok, and
Gorzow Wielkopolski. Tatars in Poland sometimes have a Muslim surname with a Polish ending: ''Ryzwanowicz, Jakubowicz''.
The Tatars were relatively very noticeable in the Commonwealth military as well as in Polish and Lithuanian political and intellectual life for such a small community. In modern-day Poland, their presence is also widely known, due in part to their noticeable role in the historical novels of
Henryk Sienkiewicz, which are universally recognized in Poland. A number of Polish intellectual figures have also been Tatars, e.g. the prominent historian Jerzy Łojek.
A small community of Polish speaking Tartars settled in
Brooklyn,
New York City in the early 1900s. They established a mosque that is still in use today.
Caucasian Tatars
These are Tatars who inhabit the upper
Kuban, the
steppes of the lower
Kuma and the
Kura, and the
Araks. In the
19th century they numbered about 1,350,000. This number includes a number of Kazan Tatar oil workers who came to the Caucasus from the Middle Volga in the end of the 19th century.
Now this term is used to describe Volga Tatars, settled in Caucasus. Other explanations, like followers, can be found only in historical context.
Nogais on the Kuma
The
Nogais on the
Kuma River show traces of a mixture with
Kalmyks. They are nomads, supporting themselves by cattle-breeding and fishing; a few are agriculturists.
Today Nogais is an independent ethnos, living in the North of
Dagestan, where they lived after
Nogai Horde's defeating in was against Russia and settling
Kalmyks in their lands in 17th century. Nogais was replaced to ''Black Lands'' in the North of
Daghestan. Another part merged with
Kazakhs.
In 16th century Nogais supported
Crimean Khanate and
Ottoman Empire, but sometimes robbed
Crimean,
Kazan Tatar and
Bashkir lands, although their rulers supported them. In 16th-17th century some defensive walls was constructed in modern
Tatarstan and
Samara Oblast.
One of the Kazan Tatars national heroes,
Söyembikä, was ethnically Nogai.
Today ''Nogais'' are not included to ''Tatars'' term, ''Nogais'' are independent ethnos.
Qundra Tatars
Some groups of Nogais emigrated to Middle Volga, where were (are) assimilated by Volga Tatars (in terms of language).
Karachays
The
Karachays who number 18,500 in the upper valleys about
Elburz live by agriculture.
Today Karachays are the independent ethnos, one of the main nation in
Karachay-Cherkessia.
Mountain Tatars
The mountain Tatars number about 850,000 (1911), and they are divided into many tribes and of an origin still undetermined, and are scattered throughout
Azerbaijan,
Armenia,
Georgia and
Dagestan.
They are certainly of a mixed origin, and present a variety of ethnological types, all the more so as all who are neither Armenians nor Russians, nor belong to any distinct Caucasian tribe, are often called Tatars (for example, in the 19th century
Chechens were often called Tatars by Russians). Some of these people are not even Turkic, mountain Tatars thus being more of an umbrella term. As a rule, they are well built and little behind (?) their Caucasian brethren. They are celebrated for their excellence as gardeners, agriculturists, cattle-tenders and artisans. Although most fervent
Shi'ites, they are on very good terms both with their
Sunnite and Russian Orthodox neighbours.
Today the term ''Mountain Tatars'' is obsolete, and all the peoples have their own names.
See
#
Balkars
#
Kumyks
#
Ossetians
#
Circassians
Siberian Tatars
Main articles: Siberian Tatars
The
Siberian Tatars were estimated (
1895) at 80,000 of Turkic stock, and about 40,000 had Uralic or Ugric ancestry. They occupy three distinct regions—a strip running west to east from
Tobolsk to
Tomsk—the
Altay and its spurs—and South Yeniseisk. They originated in the agglomerations of Turkic stems that, in the region north of the Altay, reached some degree of culture between the 4th and the 5th centuries, but were subdued and enslaved by the
Mongols. They are difficult to classify for they are the result of somewhat recent minglings of races and customs, and they are all, more or less, in process of being assimilated by the Russians, but the following subdivisions may be accepted provisionally.
Baraba Tatars
Sometimes Siberian Tatars refers only to Baraba Tatar, as a part of Tatar nation, a Muslim people that speak dialects of
Tatar language, but not another.
The Baraba Tatars take their name from one of their stems (Barama) and number about 50,000 in the government of
Tobolsk and about 5000 in
Tomsk. After a strenuous resistance to Russian conquest, and much suffering at a later period from
Kyrgyz and Kalmyk raids, they now live by agriculture—either in separate villages or along with Russians.
After colonisation of Siberia by Russian and Kazan Tatars, Baraba Tatars used to call themselves ''people of Tomsk'', later ''Moslems'', and came to call themselves ''Tatars'' only in 20th century.
Chulym Tatars
Main articles: Chulyms
The Chulym, or Cholym Tatars live on the
Chulym, and both of the rivers
Yus. They speak a Turkic language with many Mongol and Yakut words and are more like Mongols than
Turks. In the 19th century they paid a tribute for 2550 arbaletes, but they now are rapidly becoming fused with Russians.
See:
Chulym language
Abakan Tatars
Minusinsk Tatars
The
Abakan (or ''Minusinsk'') Tatars occupied the steppes on the
Abakan and
Yus in the 17th century, after the withdrawal of the
Kyrgyz, and represent a mixture with
Kaibals (whom
Castrén considers as partly of
Ostiak and partly
Samoyedic origin) and
Beltirs—also of
Finnic origin. Their language is also mixed. They are known under the name of
Sagais, who numbered 11,720 in
1864, and are the purer Turkic stem of the 'Minusinsk Tatars',
Kaibals, and
Kizil (or ''Red'') Tatars. Formerly shamanists, they now are, nominally at least, adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church and support themselves mostly by cattle-breeding. Agriculture is spreading, but slowly, among them. They still prefer to plunder the stores of bulbs of ''Lilium martagon, Paeonia'', and ''
Erythronium dens-canis'' laid up by the steppe mouse (''Mus socialis''). The
Soyotes (or ''Soyons''), of the
Sayan mountains (estimated at 8000), who are
Finns mixed with
Turks; the
Uryankhes of north-west
Mongolia, who are of Turkic origin but follow
Buddhism; and the
Karagasses, also of Turkic origin and much like the
Kyrgyz, but reduced now to a few hundreds, are akin to the above.
Today ''Abakan Tatars'' of ''Kirghiz'' terms are extinct, used own names only.
See more:
Khakass,
Tuvans,
Altays
Northern Altay Tatars
The Tatars of the northern slopes of the
Altay (nearly 20,000 in number) are of Finnish origin. They comprise some hundreds of Kumandintses, the Lebed Tatars, the Chernevyie or Black-Forest Tatars and the
Shors (11,000), descendants of the Kuznetsk or Iron-Smith Tatars. They are chiefly hunters, passionately loving their
taiga, or wild forests, and have maintained their shaman religion and tribal organization into suoks. They also live partly on
pine nuts and
honey collected in the forests. Their traditional dress is that of their former rulers, the Kalmucks, and their language contains many Mongol words.
Altayans
The Altay Tatars, or ''Altayans'', comprise
★ the ''Mountain Kalmyks'' (12,000), to whom this name has been given by mistake, and who have nothing in common with the
Kalmyks except their dress and mode of life. They speak a Turkic dialect.
★ the ''
Teleutes'', or ''
Telenghites'' (5800), a remainder of a formerly numerous and warlike nation, who have migrated from the mountains to the lowlands where they now live along with Russian peasants.
Term ''Tatars'' is also extinct for this peoples.
Although
Turkestan and Central Asia were formerly known as Independent Tartary, it is not now usual to call the Sarts, Kyrgyz and other inhabitants of those countries Tatars, nor is the name usually given to the
Yakuts of Eastern Siberia.
Generic meaning
The name Tatars was originally applied to both the Turkic and Mongol tribes which invaded Europe six centuries ago, and gradually extended to the Turkic tribes mixed with Mongolian or Uralic-speaking peoples in
Siberia. It is used at present in two senses:
★ Quite loosely, to designate any of the Muslim tribes whose ancestors may have spoken Uralic or Altaic languages. Thus some writers talk of the Manchu Tatars.
★ In a more restricted sense, to designate Muslim Turkic-speaking tribes, especially in Russia, who never formed part of the Seljuk or
Ottoman Empire, but made independent settlements and remained more or less cut off from the politics and civilization of the rest of the Islamic world.
★ Linguistically, Kazan (Volga) Tatars are closely related to the
Bashkirs and other Turkic peoples. Tatars are the direct descendants of the
Volga Bulgars. Volga Bulgars were a mixed people, whose ancestors may have included speakers of Scythian, Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages. (In Turkic ''bolğar'' means ''mixed''). After coming to the Middle Volga, Bulgars mixed with Finno-Ugric speaking tribes.
★
Bashkirs speak a language very similar to the Kazan
Tatar language.
Bashkirs (just like the Chuvash and Maris) lived in a state where
Tatar was the official language (
Khanate of Kazan). Nowadays,
Bashkortostan's officials pursue a policy of forced "Bashkirization" of
Tatars. However, the number of Tatars in Bashkortostan is higher than the number of
Bashkirs in their own republic.
Authorities
Bibliographical indexes may be found in the Geographical Dictionary of P. Semenov, appended to the articles devoted respectively to the names given above, as also in the yearly Indexes by M. Mezhov and the Oriental Bibliography of Lucian Scherman. Besides the well-known works of Castren, which are a very rich source of information on the subject, Schiefner (
St Petersburg Academy of Sciences), Donner, Ahlqvist and other explorers of the Uralic and Altaic languages and peoples, as also those of the Russian historians
Soloviev,
Kostomarov, Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Schapov, and
Ilovaiskiy, the following containing valuable information may be mentioned:
★ the publications of the Russian Geographical Society and its branches;
★ the Russian Etnographicheskiy Sbornik;
★ the Izvestia of the Moscow society of the amateurs of natural science;
★ the works of the Russian ethnographical congresses;
★ Kostrov's researches on the Siberian Tatars in the memoirs of the Siberian branch of the geographical society;
Radlov's Reise durch den Altay, Aus Sibirien', "Picturesque Russia" (Zhivopisnaya Rossiya);
★ Semenov's and Potanin's " Supplements " to Ritter's Asien; Harkavi's report to the congress at Kazan;
★ Hartakhai's "Hist, of Crimean Tatars," in Vyestnik Evropy, 1866 and 1867;
★ "Katchinsk Tatars," in Izvestia Russ. Geogr. Soc., xx., 1884.
Various scattered articles on Tatars will be found in the Revue orientale pour les Etudes Oural-Altaïques, and in the publications of the
university of Kazan. See also E. H. Parker, A Thousand Years of the Tartars, 1895 (chiefly a summary of Chinese accounts of the early Turkic and Tatar tribes), and Skrine and Ross, Heart of Asia (1899). (P. A. K.; C. EL.)
See also
★
Tatar language
★
Tatar alphabet
★
Tatarstan
★
Volga Bulgaria
★
Tartary
★
Crimea
★
Finnish Tatars
★
Lipka Tatars
★
Islam in Poland
★
List of Tatars
★
Steak tartare
References & Notes
★
1. 'Tatar'. (2006). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved October 28, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9071375
2. 'Mongolia'. (2006). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved October 28, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-27420
3. ''China Knowledge Web Encyclopedia:'' Tatars
4. Rorlich, A. The origins of the Volga Tatars. (Stanford University, 1986)
5. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, article on ''Tatarstan''.
External links
★
Tatar Horsebow and Thumbring Discussion Forum
★
Qirim Tatar Community of Canada
★
Tatars in Congress Library (1989)
★
The Origins of the Volga Tatars
★
Crimean Tatars. By H. B. Paksoy
★
Tatar.Net
★
Polish Tatars
★
Polish Tatars web portal
★
Tatar world-wide server
★
Anthropology of Tatars. By R.K. Urazmanova and S.V. Cheshko
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
