Who were the Tatar-Mongols as an ethnic group? Where did the Tatars come from?
The history of Sarmatia is the most important issue in the history of Rus'. From the most primitive times, in the center of Eurasia there were three kingdoms: White Rus', Blue Rus' (or Sarmatia) and Red Rus' (or Golden Scythia). They were always inhabited by a single people. And today we have the same thing - Belarus, Russia (Sarmatia) and Ukraine (Scythia). The Bulgarian kingdom is one of the forms of existence of Blue Rus' at the beginning of our era. And from it we should derive the genealogy of many peoples who live today in different parts of the world: Tatars, Jews, Georgians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Poles, Turks, Basques and, of course, Russians.
Where did the Bulgars come from?
Byzantine historians often do not distinguish between the Bulgars and the Huns. But it should be noted that many Greek and Latin authors, for example: Kosmas Indikopeustes, Ioannes Malalas, Georgius Pisides, Theophanes, treat the Bulgars and Huns differently. This suggests that they should not be completely identified.
Ancient authors call the “barbarians” who lived along the banks of the Danube with the general word Huns, although among them there were many different tribes. These tribes, called Huns, actually have their own names. The fact that Greek and Latin authors considered the Bulgars as Huns suggests that the Bulgars and other tribes of the Huns were the same or similar in customs, languages, and race. Our research shows that the Bulgars belonged to the Aryan race and spoke one of the Russian military jargons (a variant of the Turkic languages). Although it is possible that people of the Mongoloid type were also present in the military groups of the Huns.
As for the earliest mentions of the Bulgars, this is the year 354, “Roman Chronicles” by an unknown author (Th.Mommsen Chronographus Anni CCCLIV, MAN, AA, IX, Liber Generations,), as well as the work of Moise de Khorene. According to these records, already before the Huns appeared in Europe in the middle of the 4th century, the presence of Bulgars was observed in the North Caucasus. In the 2nd half. IV century some part of the Bulgars penetrated into Armenia. Based on this, we can decide that the Bulgars are not Huns at all. According to our version, the Huns are a religious-military formation, similar to today’s Taliban in Afghanistan. The only difference is that this phenomenon then arose in the Aryan Vedic monasteries of Sarmatia on the banks of the Volga, Northern Dvina and Don.
Blue Rus' (or Sarmatia), after numerous periods of decline and rise, in the fourth century AD began a new rebirth into Great Bulgaria, which occupied the territory from the Caucasus to the Northern Urals. So the appearance of the Bulgars in the middle of the 4th century in the North Caucasus region is more than possible. And the reason that they were not called Huns is obviously that at that time the Bulgars did not call themselves Huns, and Westerners, naturally, could not use the word “Huns” to generally refer to the peoples who came from the east. A certain class of military monks called themselves Huns, who were the guardians of a special Vedic philosophy and religion, experts in martial arts and bearers of a special code of honor, which later formed the basis of the code of honor of the knightly orders of Europe. But since all the Hunnic tribes came to Europe along the same route, it is obvious that they did not come at the same time, but one by one, in batches. The appearance of the Huns is a natural process, a reaction to the degradation of the ancient world. Just as today the Taliban are a response to the processes of degradation of the Western world, so at the beginning of the era the Huns became a response to the decomposition of Rome and Byzantium. It seems that this process is an objective pattern of development of social systems.
Some believe that the works of Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum can be trusted. This means that at the beginning of the 5th century in the north-west of the Carpathian region, wars broke out twice between the Bulgars (Vulgars) and Langobards. At that time, all the Carpathians and Pannonia were under the rule of the Huns. But this indicates that the Bulgars were part of the union of Hunnic tribes and that they came to Europe together with the Huns. The Carpathian Vulgars of the early 5th century are the same Bulgars from the Caucasus of the mid-4th century. The homeland of these Bulgars is the Volga region, the Kama and Don rivers. Actually, the Bulgars are fragments of the Hunnic Empire, which at one time destroyed the ancient world, which remained in the steppes of Rus'. Most of the “men of long will,” religious warriors who formed the invincible religious spirit of the Huns, went to the West and, after the emergence of medieval Europe, disappeared into knightly castles and orders. But the communities that gave birth to them remained on the banks of the Don and Dnieper.
By the end of the 5th century, two main Bulgar tribes were known: the Kutrigurs and the Utigurs. The latter settle along the shores of the Azov Sea in the Taman Peninsula area. The Kutrigurs lived between the bend of the lower Dnieper and the Sea of Azov, controlling the Crimean steppes right up to the walls of Greek cities.
They periodically (in alliance with Slavic tribes) raid the borders of the Byzantine Empire. So, in 539-540, the Bulgars carried out raids across Thrace and Illyria to the Adriatic Sea. At the same time, many Bulgars entered the service of the Byzantine emperor. In 537, a detachment of Bulgars fights on the side of besieged Rome against the Goths. There are also known cases of enmity between the Bulgar tribes, which was skillfully incited by Byzantine diplomacy.
Around 558, the Bulgars (mainly Kutrigurs), led by Khan Zabergan, invaded Thrace and Macedonia and approached the walls of Constantinople. And only at the cost of great efforts did the Byzantines stop Zabergan. The Bulgars return to the steppes. Main reason- news of the appearance of an unknown warlike horde east of the Don. These were the Avars of Khan Bayan.
Byzantine diplomats immediately use the Avars to fight against the Bulgars. New allies are offered money and land for settlements. Although the Avar army numbers only about 20 thousand horsemen, it carries the same invincible spirit of the Vedic monasteries and, naturally, turns out to be stronger than the numerous Bulgars. This is also facilitated by the fact that another horde is moving after them, now the Turks. The Utigurs are the first to be attacked, then the Avars cross the Don and invade the lands of the Kutrigurs. Khan Zabergan becomes a vassal of Khagan Bayan. Further fate The Kutrigurs are closely related to the Avars.
In 566, the advanced detachments of the Turks reached the shores of the Black Sea near the mouth of the Kuban. The Utigurs recognize the power of the Turkic Kagan Istemi over themselves.
Having united the army, they captured the most ancient capital of the ancient world, Bosporus, on the shores of the Kerch Strait, and in 581 they appeared under the walls of Chersonesos.
Revival under the sign of Christ
After the departure of the Avar army to Pannonia and the beginning of civil strife in the Turkic Kaganate, the Bulgar tribes united again under the rule of Khan Kubrat. Kurbatovo station in the Voronezh region is the ancient headquarters of the legendary khan. This ruler, who led the Onnogurov tribe, was raised as a child at the imperial court in Constantinople and was baptized at the age of 12. In 632, he declared independence from the Avars and stood at the head of the association, which in Byzantine sources received the name Great Bulgaria.
It occupied the south of modern Ukraine and Russia from the Dnieper to the Kuban. In 634-641, the Christian Khan Kubrat entered into an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.
The emergence of Bulgaria and the settlement of the Bulgars around the world
However, after the death of Kubrat (665), the empire collapsed, as it was divided between his sons. The eldest son Batbayan began to live in the Azov region as a tributary of the Khazars. Another son, Kotrag, moved to the right bank of the Don and also came under the rule of Jews from Khazaria. The third son, Asparukh, under Khazar pressure, went to the Danube, where, having subjugated the Slavic population, he laid the foundation for modern Bulgaria.
In 865, the Bulgarian Khan Boris converted to Christianity. The mixing of the Bulgars with the Slavs led to the emergence of modern Bulgarians.
Two more sons of Kubrat - Kuver (Kuber) and Altsekom (Altsekom) went to Pannonia to join the Avars. During the formation of Danube Bulgaria, Kuver rebelled and went over to the side of Byzantium, settling in Macedonia. Subsequently, this group became part of the Danube Bulgarians. Another group, led by Alzek, intervened in the struggle for succession to the throne in the Avar Khaganate, after which they were forced to flee and seek refuge with the Frankish king Dagobert (629-639) in Bavaria, and then settle in Italy near Ravenna.
A large group of Bulgars returned to their historical homeland of the Volga region and the Kama region, from where their ancestors had once been carried away by the whirlwind of the passionate impulse of the Huns. However, the population they met here was not much different from themselves.
At the end of the 8th century. Bulgar tribes in the Middle Volga created the state of Volga Bulgaria. Based on these tribes, the Kazan Khanate subsequently arose.
In 922, the ruler of the Volga Bulgars, Almus, converted to Islam. By that time, life in the Vedic monasteries, once located in these places, had practically died out. The descendants of the Volga Bulgars, in the formation of which a number of other Turkic and Finno-Ugric tribes took part, are the Chuvash and Kazan Tatars. From the very beginning, Islam took hold only in cities. The son of King Almus went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and stopped in Baghdad. After this, an alliance arose between Bulgaria and Baghdad.
The subjects of Bulgaria paid the king taxes in horses, leather, etc. There was a customs office. The royal treasury also received duties (a tenth of the goods) from merchant ships. Of the kings of Bulgaria, Arab writers mention only Silk and Almus; Frehn was able to read three more names on the coins: Ahmed, Taleb and Mumen. The oldest of them, with the name of King Taleb, dates back to 338.
In addition, Byzantine-Russian treaties of the 10th century. mention a horde of black Bulgarians living near Crimea.
Volga Bulgaria
Bulgaria Volga-Kama, state of the Volga-Kama, Finno-Ugric peoples in the X-XV centuries. Capitals: the city of Bulgar, and from the 12th century. city of Bilyar. By the 10th century, Sarmatia (Blue Rus') was divided into two khaganates: Northern Bulgaria and southern Khazaria.
The largest cities - Bolgar and Bilyar - were larger in area and population than London, Paris, Kyiv, Novgorod, Vladimir of that time.
Bulgaria played an important role in the process of ethnogenesis of modern Kazan Tatars, Chuvash, Mordovians, Udmurts, Mari and Komi.
Bulgaria at the time of the formation of the Bulgar state (beginning of the 10th century), the center of which was the city of Bulgar (now the village of Bolgars of Tataria) was dependent on the Khazar Khaganate, ruled by Jews.
The Bulgarian king Almus turned to the Arab Caliphate for support, as a result of which Bulgaria adopted Islam as the state religion. The collapse of the Khazar Kaganate after its defeat by the Russian prince Svyatoslav I Igorevich in 965 secured the de facto independence of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria becomes the most powerful state in Blue Rus'. The intersection of trade routes and the abundance of black soil - in the absence of wars, made this region prosperous. Bulgaria became a center of production. Wheat, furs, livestock, fish, honey, and handicrafts (hats, boots, known in the East as “bulgari,” leather) were exported from here. But the main income came from trade transit between East and West. Here since the 10th century. minted its own coin - the dirham.
In addition to Bulgar, other cities were known, such as Suvar, Bilyar, Oshel, etc.
Cities were powerful fortresses. There were many fortified estates of the Bulgar nobility.
Literacy among the population was widespread. Lawyers, theologians, doctors, historians, and astronomers live in Bulgaria. The poet Kul-Gali created the poem “Kysa and Yusuf”, widely known in the Turkic literature of its time. After the adoption of Islam in 986, some Bulgar preachers visited Kyiv and Ladoga and suggested that the Great Russian Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich convert to Islam. Russian chronicles from the 10th century distinguish between the Bulgars: Volga, Silver or Nukrat (according to Kama), Timtyuz, Cheremshan and Khvalis.
Naturally, there was a continuous struggle for leadership in Rus'. Clashes with princes from White Rus' and Kyiv were common. In 969, they were attacked by the Russian prince Svyatoslav, who ravaged their lands, according to the legend of the Arab Ibn Haukal, in revenge for the fact that in 913 they helped the Khazars destroy the Russian squad who undertook a campaign on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. In 985, Prince Vladimir also made a campaign against Bulgaria. In the 12th century, with the rise of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which sought to spread its influence in the Volga region, the struggle between the two parts of Rus' intensified. The military threat forced the Bulgars to move their capital inland - to the city of Bilyar (now the village of Bilyarsk in Tatarstan). But the Bulgar princes did not remain in debt. The Bulgars managed to capture and plunder the city of Ustyug on the Northern Dvina in 1219. This was a fundamental victory, since here from the most primitive times there were ancient libraries of Vedic books and ancient monasteries, patronized, as the ancients believed, by the god Hermes. It was in these monasteries that knowledge about ancient history peace. Most likely, it was in them that the military-religious class of the Huns arose and a code of laws of knightly honor was developed. However, the princes of White Rus' soon avenged the defeat. In 1220, Russian troops captured Oshel and other Kama cities. Only a rich ransom prevented the ruin of the capital. After this, peace was established, confirmed in 1229 by the exchange of prisoners of war. Military clashes between the White Rus and the Bulgars occurred in 985, 1088, 1120, 1164, 1172, 1184, 1186, 1218, 1220, 1229 and 1236. During the invasions, the Bulgars reached Murom (1088 and 1184) and Ustyug (1218). At the same time, a single people lived in all three parts of Rus', often speaking dialects of the same language and descending from common ancestors. This could not but leave an imprint on the nature of relations between fraternal peoples. Thus, the Russian chronicler preserved under the year 1024 the news that this year famine was raging in Suzdal and that the Bulgars supplied the Russians with a large amount of grain.
Loss of independence
In 1223, the Horde of Genghis Khan, who came from the depths of Eurasia, defeated the army of Red Rus' (Kievan-Polovtsian army) in the south in the Battle of Kalka, but on the way back they were badly beaten by the Bulgars. It is known that Genghis Khan, when he was still an ordinary shepherd, met the Bulgar brawler, a wandering philosopher from Blue Rus', who predicted a great fate for him. It seems that he transmitted to Genghis Khan the same philosophy and religion that gave rise to the Huns in his time. Now a new Horde has arisen. This phenomenon occurs in Eurasia with enviable regularity, as a response to the degradation of the social structure. And every time, through destruction, it gives birth new life Rus' and Europe.
In 1229 and 1232, the Bulgars managed to repel the attacks of the Horde again. In 1236, Genghis Khan's grandson Batu begins a new campaign to the West. In the spring of 1236, the Horde khan Subutai took the capital of the Bulgars. In the autumn of the same year, Bilyar and other cities of Blue Rus' were devastated. Bulgaria was forced to submit; but as soon as the Horde army left, the Bulgars left the alliance. Then Khan Subutai in 1240 was forced to invade a second time, accompanying the campaign with bloodshed and destruction.
In 1243, Batu founded the state of the Golden Horde in the Volga region, one of the provinces of which was Bulgaria. She enjoyed some autonomy, her princes became vassals of the Golden Horde Khan, paid him tribute and supplied soldiers to the Horde army. The high culture of Bulgaria became the most important component of the culture of the Golden Horde.
The end of the war helped revive the economy. It reached its greatest prosperity in this region of Rus' in the first half of the 14th century. By this time, Islam had established itself as the state religion of the Golden Horde. The city of Bulgar becomes the residence of the khan. The Bulgar attracted many palaces, mosques, and caravanserais. There were public baths, paved streets, and underground water supply. Here they were the first in Europe to master the smelting of cast iron. Jewelry and ceramics from these places were sold in medieval Europe and Asia.
The death of Volga Bulgaria
From the middle of the 14th century. The struggle for the Khan's throne begins, separatist tendencies intensify. In 1361, Prince Bulat-Temir seized a vast territory in the Volga region, including Bulgaria, from the Golden Horde. The khans of the Golden Horde only for a short time manage to reunite the state, where everywhere there is a process of fragmentation and isolation. Bulgaria splits into two virtually independent principalities - Bulgarian and Zhukotinsky, with their center in the city of Zhukotin. After the outbreak of civil strife in the Golden Horde in 1359, the army of Novgorodians captured the Bulgarian city of Zhukotin. Bulgaria suffered especially much from the Russian princes Dmitry Ioannovich and Vasily Dmitrievich, who took possession of the cities of Bulgaria and stationed their “customs officers” in them.
In the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries, Bulgaria experienced constant military pressure from White Rus'. Bulgaria finally lost its independence in 1431, when the Moscow army of Prince Fyodor the Motley conquered the southern lands, which became subordinate to Moscow. Only the northern territories, the center of which was Kazan, retained independence. It was on the basis of these lands that the formation of the Kazan Khanate began in the Middle Volga region and the degeneration of the ethnic group of the ancient inhabitants of Blue Rus' (and even earlier, the Aryans of the land of seven lights and lunar cults) into the Kazan Tatars. At this time, Bulgaria had already finally fallen under the rule of the Russian tsars, but exactly when it was impossible to say; in all likelihood, this happened under Ivan the Terrible, simultaneously with the fall of Kazan in 1552. However, the title of “sovereign of Bulgaria” was also borne by his grandfather, Ivan III.
The mortal blow to the Khazar Kaganate, which put an end to its independent existence, was dealt by Prince Svyatoslav, the son of Igor. Prince Svyatoslav - the most outstanding commander Ancient Rus'. Russian chronicles devote surprisingly sublime words to him and his campaigns. In them he appears as a true Russian knight - fearless in battle, tireless in campaigns, sincere with his enemies, faithful to his word, simple in everyday life.
From the age of five, Prince Svyatoslav is on a war horse and, as befits a prince, he is the first to begin battle with the enemy. “When Svyatoslav grew up and matured, he began to gather many brave warriors. And he easily went on campaigns, like a pardus, and fought a lot. On campaigns, he did not carry carts or cauldrons with him, did not cook meat, but thinly sliced horse meat or animal meat, or beef and fried it over coals, and ate it that way. He didn’t even have a tent, but he slept with a saddle blanket on his head and a saddle on his head. All his other warriors were the same. And he sent them to other lands with the words: “I want to attack you” ([I], p. 244).
Prince Svyatoslav undertook his first campaigns against the Vyatichi and against Khazaria.
In 964, Prince Svyatoslav “went to the Oka River and the Volga, and the Vyatichi climbed, and the Vyatichi spoke: “Who are you giving tribute to?” They decided: “We give Kozar a shlyag from the roll.”
In 965, “Svyatoslav went to the Kozars; Hearing the Kozar, he went against him with his prince Kagan, and began to fight, and after fighting, Svyatoslav overcame the Kozar and their city and took Bela Vezha. And conquer the jars and the obliques” ([I], p. 47).
After the campaign of Svyatoslav, Khazaria ceases to exist. Preparing an attack on Khazaria, Svyatoslav rejected the frontal onslaught across the Volga-Don interfluve and undertook a grandiose roundabout maneuver. First of all, the prince moved north and conquered the lands dependent on the Kaganate Slavic tribe Vyatichi, taking them out of the zone of Khazar influence. Having dragged the boats from the Desna to the Oka, the princely squad sailed along the Volga.
The Khazars did not expect an attack from the north. They were disorganized by such a maneuver and were unable to organize a serious defense. Having reached the Khazar capital - Itil, Svyatoslav attacked the army of the Kagan who was trying to save it and defeated it in a fierce battle. Next, the Kiev prince undertook a campaign in the North Caucasus region, where he defeated the Khazar stronghold - the Semender fortress. During this campaign, Svyatoslav conquered the Kasog tribes and founded the Tmutarakan principality on the Taman Peninsula.
After this, Svyatoslav’s squad moved to the Don, where they stormed and destroyed the eastern Khazar outpost - the Sarkel fortress. Thus, Svyatoslav, having made an unprecedented campaign thousands of kilometers long, captured the main strongholds of the Khazars on the Don, Volga and North Caucasus. At the same time, he created a base for influence in the North Caucasus - the Tmutarakan principality. These campaigns crushed the power of the Khazar Khaganate, which ceased to exist at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries. As a result of Svyatoslav’s campaigns, the Old Russian state achieved the security of its southeastern borders and became the main force in the Volga-Caspian region at that time. Rus' opened up a free road to the East.
We all know that our country is a multinational state. Of course, the bulk of the population is Russian, but, as you know, the Tatars are the second largest ethnic group and the largest people of Muslim culture in Russia. We should not forget that the Tatar ethnic group arose in parallel with the Russian one.
Today, Tatars make up just over half the population of their national republic, Tatarstan. At the same time, a considerable number of Tatars live outside the Republic of Tatarstan - in Bashkortostan -1.12 million, in Udmurtia -110.5 thousand, in Mordovia - 47.3 thousand, in Mari El - 43.8 thousand, Chuvashia - 35.7 thousand. In addition, Tatars also live in the regions of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia.
Where did the name of the ethnic group “Tatars” come from? This question is considered very relevant at the present time, since there are many different interpretations of this ethnonym. We will present the most interesting ones.
Many historians and researchers believe that the name “Tatars” comes from the name of the large influential family “Tata”, from which many Turkic-speaking military leaders of the “Golden Horde” came.
But the famous Turkologist D.E. Eremev believes that the origin of the word “Tatars” is somehow connected with the ancient Turkic word and people. “Tat”, according to the ancient Turkic chronicler Mahmud Kashgari, is the name of an ancient Iranian family. Kashgari said that the Turks called “tatam” those who spoke Farsi, that is, the Iranian language. Thus, it turns out that the original meaning of the word “tat” was probably “Persian,” but then in Rus' this word began to designate all eastern and Asian peoples.
Despite their disagreements, historians agree on one thing - the ethnonym “Tatars” is certainly of ancient origin, but it was adopted as the name of modern Tatars only in the 19th century. The current Tatars (Kazan, Western, Siberian, Crimean) are not direct descendants of the ancient Tatars who came to Europe along with the troops of Genghis Khan. They formed into a single nation only after European peoples gave them the name “Tatars”.
Thus, it turns out that a complete deciphering of the ethnonym “Tatars” is still waiting for its researcher. Who knows, maybe you will one day give an accurate explanation of the origin of this ethnonym. Well, for now let's talk about the culture of the Tatars.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that the Tatar ethnic group has an ancient and colorful history.
The original culture of the Tatars, without a doubt, has entered the treasury of world culture and civilization. Judge for yourself, we find traces of this culture in the traditions and language of the Russians, Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, and the national Tatar culture synthesizes all the best achievements of the Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Indo-Iranian peoples. How did this happen?
The thing is that the Tatars are one of the most mobile peoples. Landlessness, frequent crop failures in their homeland and the traditional desire for trade led to the fact that even before 1917 they began to move to various regions Russian Empire. During the years of Soviet rule, this migration process only intensified. That is why, at present, there is practically no federal subject in Russia where representatives of the Tatar ethnic group live.
Tatar diasporas have formed in many countries around the world. In the pre-revolutionary period, Tatar national communities were formed in countries such as Finland, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and China. After the collapse of the USSR, Tatars who lived in the former Soviet republics also ended up abroad - in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Later, in the middle of the 20th century, Tatar national diasporas were formed in the USA, Japan, Australia, and Sweden.
According to most historians, the Tatar people themselves, with a single literary and practically common spoken language developed during the existence of such a Turkic state as the Golden Horde. The literary language in this state was the so-called “idel terkise”, that is, Old Tatar, based on the Kipchak-Bulgar language and incorporating elements of Central Asian literary languages. The modern literary language arose in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries on the basis of the middle dialect.
The development of writing among the Tatars was also gradual. Archaeological finds in the Urals and Middle Volga region indicate that in ancient times the Turkic ancestors of the Tatars used runic writing. From the moment of the voluntary adoption of Islam by the Volga-Kama Bulgars - the Tatars - they used Arabic writing, later, in 1929 - 1939 - Latin script, and since 1939 they have used the traditional Cyrillic alphabet with additional characters.
Modern Tatar language belongs to the Kipchak-Bulgar subgroup of the Kipchak group of the Turkic language family. It is divided into four main dialects: middle (Kazan Tatar), western (Mishar), eastern (language of the Siberian Tatars) and Crimean (language of the Crimean Tatars). Don’t forget that almost every district, every village has its own special mini-dialect. Nevertheless, despite dialectal and territorial differences, the Tatars are a single nation with a single literary language, a single culture - folklore, literature, music, religion, national spirit, traditions and rituals. It is noteworthy that the Tatar nation occupied one of the leading places in the Russian Empire in terms of literacy even before the 1917 coup. I would like to believe that the traditional thirst for knowledge has been preserved in the current generation.
The leading group of the Tatar ethnic group is the Kazan Tatars. And now few people doubt that their ancestors were the Bulgars. How did it happen that the Bulgars became Tatars? The versions of the origin of this ethnonym are very interesting.
Turkic origin of the ethnonym
For the first time, the name “Tatar” was found in the 8th century in the inscription on the monument to the famous commander Kül-tegin, which was erected during the Second Turkic Khaganate - a Turkic state located on the territory of modern Mongolia, but with a larger area. The inscription mentions the tribal unions "Otuz-Tatars" and "Tokuz-Tatars".
In the X-XII centuries, the ethnonym “Tatars” spread in China, Central Asia and Iran. The 11th century scientist Mahmud Kashgari in his writings called the space between Northern China and Eastern Turkestan “Tatar steppe”.
Perhaps that is why at the beginning of the 13th century the Mongols began to be called that way, who by this time had defeated the Tatar tribes and seized their lands.
Turkic-Persian origin
The learned anthropologist Aleksey Sukharev, in his work “Kazan Tatars,” published in St. Petersburg in 1902, noted that the ethnonym Tatars comes from the Turkic word “tat,” which means nothing more than mountains, and the word of Persian origin “ar” or “ ir”, which means person, man, inhabitant. This word is found among many peoples: Bulgarians, Magyars, Khazars. It is also found among the Turks.
Persian origin
Soviet researcher Olga Belozerskaya connected the origin of the ethnonym with the Persian word “tepter” or “defter”, which is interpreted as “colonist”. However, it is noted that the ethnonym “Tiptyar” is of later origin. Most likely, it arose in the 16th-17th centuries, when the Bulgars who moved from their lands to the Urals or Bashkiria began to be called this.
Old Persian origin
There is a hypothesis that the name “Tatars” comes from the ancient Persian word “tat” - this is how the Persians were called in ancient times. Researchers refer to the 11th century scientist Mahmut Kashgari, who wrote that
“Tatami the Turks call those who speak Farsi.”
However, the Turks also called the Chinese and even the Uyghurs tatami. And it could well be that tat meant “foreigner,” “foreign-speaking.” However, one does not contradict the other. After all, the Turks could first call Iranian-speaking people tatami, and then the name could spread to other strangers.
By the way, the Russian word “thief” may also have been borrowed from the Persians.
Greek origin
We all know that among the ancient Greeks the word “tartar” meant the other world, hell. Thus, “Tartarine” was an inhabitant of the underground depths. This name arose even before the invasion of Batu’s army in Europe. Perhaps it was brought here by travelers and merchants, but even then the word “Tatars” was associated by Europeans with eastern barbarians.
After the invasion of Batu Khan, Europeans began to perceive them exclusively as a people who came out of hell and brought the horrors of war and death. Ludwig IX was nicknamed a saint because he prayed himself and called on his people to pray to avoid Batu's invasion. As we remember, Khan Udegey died at this time. The Mongols turned back. This convinced the Europeans that they were right.
From now on, among the peoples of Europe, the Tatars became a generalization of all barbarian peoples living in the east.
To be fair, it must be said that on some old maps of Europe, Tartary began just beyond the Russian border. The Mongol Empire collapsed in the 15th century, but European historians until the 18th century continued to call all eastern peoples from the Volga to China Tatars.
By the way, the Tatar Strait, separating Sakhalin Island from the mainland, is called that because “Tatars” - Orochi and Udege - also lived on its shores. In any case, this was the opinion of Jean François La Perouse, who gave the name to the strait.
Chinese origin
Some scientists believe that the ethnonym “Tatars” is of Chinese origin. Back in the 5th century, in the northeast of Mongolia and Manchuria there lived a tribe that the Chinese called “ta-ta”, “da-da” or “tatan”. And in some dialects of Chinese the name sounded exactly like “Tatar” or “tartar” due to the nasal diphthong.
The tribe was warlike and constantly disturbed its neighbors. Perhaps later the name Tartar spread to other peoples who were unfriendly to the Chinese.
Most likely, it was from China that the name “Tatars” penetrated into Arab and Persian literary sources.
According to legend, the warlike tribe itself was destroyed by Genghis Khan. Here is what Mongol expert Evgeniy Kychanov wrote about this: “This is how the Tatar tribe perished, which, even before the rise of the Mongols, gave its name as a common noun to all Tatar-Mongol tribes. And when in distant auls and villages in the West, twenty to thirty years after that massacre, alarming cries were heard: “Tatars!”, there were few real Tatars among the advancing conquerors, only their formidable name remained, and they themselves had long been lying in the land of their native ulus.” (“The Life of Temujin, Who Thought to Conquer the World”).
Genghis Khan himself categorically forbade calling the Mongols Tatars.
By the way, there is a version that the name of the tribe could also come from the Tungus word “ta-ta” - to pull the bowstring.
Tocharian origin
The origin of the name could also be associated with the Tocharians (Tagars, Tugars), who lived in Central Asia starting from the 3rd century BC.
The Tochars defeated the great Bactria, which was once a great state, and founded Tokharistan, which was located in the south of modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and in the north of Afghanistan. From the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. Tokharistan was part of the Kushan kingdom, and later broke up into separate possessions.
At the beginning of the 7th century, Tokharistan consisted of 27 principalities that were subordinate to the Turks. Most likely, the local population mixed with them.
The same Mahmud Kashgari called the huge region between Northern China and Eastern Turkestan the Tatar steppe.
For the Mongols, the Tokhars were strangers, “Tatars.” Perhaps, after some time, the meaning of the words “Tochars” and “Tatars” merged, and a large group of peoples began to be called that way. The peoples conquered by the Mongols adopted the name of their kindred aliens, the Tokhars.
So the ethnonym Tatars could also be transferred to the Volga Bulgars.
Introduction
Chapter 1. Bulgaro-Tatar and Tatar-Mongol points of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars
Chapter 2. Turkic-Tatar theory of ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. developed in the world and in the Russian Empire social phenomenon– nationalism. Which promoted the idea that it is very important for a person to classify himself as a member of a certain social group - a nation (nationality). A nation was understood as a common territory of settlement, culture (especially a common literary language), and anthropological features (body structure, facial features). Against the background of this idea, in each of the social groups there was a struggle to preserve culture. The emerging and developing bourgeoisie became the herald of the ideas of nationalism. At this time, a similar struggle was being waged on the territory of Tatarstan - global social processes did not bypass our region.
In contrast to the revolutionary cries of the first quarter of the 20th century. and the last decade of the 20th century, who used very emotional terms - nation, nationality, people, in modern science It is customary to use a more cautious term - ethnic group, ethnos. This term carries within itself the same community of language and culture, like people, nation, and nationality, but does not need to clarify the nature or size of the social group. However, belonging to any ethnic group is still an important social aspect for a person.
If you ask a passerby in Russia what nationality he is, then, as a rule, the passerby will proudly answer that he is Russian or Chuvash. And, of course, one of those who are proud of their ethnic origin will be a Tatar. But what will this word – “Tatar” – mean in the mouth of the speaker? In Tatarstan, not everyone who considers themselves a Tatar speaks or reads the Tatar language. Not everyone looks like a Tatar from a generally accepted point of view - a mixture of features of the Caucasian, Mongolian and Finno-Ugric anthropological types, for example. Among the Tatars there are Christians and many atheists, and not everyone who considers themselves a Muslim has read the Koran. But all this does not prevent the Tatar ethnic group from surviving, developing and being one of the most distinctive in the world.
Development national culture entails the development of the history of the nation, especially if the study of this history has been prevented for a long time. As a result, the unspoken, and sometimes open, ban on studying the region led to a particularly rapid surge in Tatar historical science, which is observed to this day. Pluralism of opinions and lack of factual material led to the formation of several theories trying to combine the greatest number known facts. Not just historical doctrines have been formed, but several historical schools that are conducting a scientific dispute among themselves. At first, historians and publicists were divided into “Bulgarists,” who considered the Tatars to be descended from the Volga Bulgars, and “Tatarists,” who considered the period of the formation of the Tatar nation to be the period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate and denied participation in the formation of the Bulgar nation. Subsequently, another theory appeared, on the one hand, contradicting the first two, and on the other, combining all the best of the available theories. It was called “Turkic-Tatar”.
As a result, we can, based on the key points outlined above, formulate the purpose of this work: to reflect the largest range of points of view on the origin of the Tatars.
The tasks can be divided according to the points of view considered:
Consider the Bulgaro-Tatar and Tatar-Mongol points of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars;
Consider the Turkic-Tatar point of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view.
The chapter titles will correspond to the designated tasks.
point of view ethnogenesis of the Tatars
Chapter 1. Bulgaro-Tatar and Tatar-Mongol points of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars
It should be noted that in addition to linguistic and cultural community, as well as general anthropological features, historians pay a significant role to the origin of statehood. So, for example, the beginning Russian history It is not the archaeological cultures of the pre-Slavic period that are considered, nor even the tribal unions of those who migrated in the 3rd and 4th centuries Eastern Slavs, and Kievan Rus, which developed by the 8th century. For some reason, a significant role in the formation of culture is given to the spread (official adoption) of the monotheistic religion, which happened in Kievan Rus in 988, and in Volga Bulgaria in 922. Probably, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory arose primarily from such premises.
The Bulgar-Tatar theory is based on the position that the ethnic basis of the Tatar people was the Bulgar ethnos, which formed in the Middle Volga and Urals region from the 8th century. n. e. (V lately Some supporters of this theory began to attribute the appearance of Turkic-Bulgar tribes in the region to the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. and earlier). The most important provisions of this concept are formulated as follows. The main ethnocultural traditions and features of the modern Tatar (Bulgaro-Tatar) people were formed during the period of Volga Bulgaria (X-XIII centuries), and in subsequent times (Golden Horde, Kazan Khan and Russian periods) they underwent only minor changes in language and culture. The principalities (sultanates) of the Volga Bulgars, being part of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde), enjoyed significant political and cultural autonomy, and the influence of the Horde ethnopolitical system of power and culture (in particular, literature, art and architecture) was purely external in nature, which did not have any impact significant influence on Bulgarian society. The most important consequence of the dominance of the Ulus of Jochi was the disintegration of the unified state of Volga Bulgaria into a number of possessions, and the single Bulgar nation into two ethno-territorial groups (“Bulgaro-Burtas” of the Mukhsha ulus and “Bulgars” of the Volga-Kama Bulgar principalities). During the period of the Kazan Khanate, the Bulgar (“Bulgaro-Kazan”) ethnos strengthened the early pre-Mongol ethnocultural features, which continued to be traditionally preserved (including the self-name “Bulgars”) until the 1920s, when it was forcibly imposed on it by Tatar bourgeois nationalists and the Soviet government ethnonym "Tatars".
Let's go into a little more detail. Firstly, the migration of tribes from the foothills of the North Caucasus after the collapse of the state of Great Bulgaria. Why is it that at present the Bulgarians, the Bulgars assimilated by the Slavs, have become a Slavic people, and the Volga Bulgars are a Turkic-speaking people who have absorbed the population that lived in this area before them? Is it possible that there were much more newcomer Bulgars than local tribes? In this case, the postulate that Turkic-speaking tribes penetrated this territory long before the Bulgars appeared here - during the times of the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Khazars, looks much more logical. The history of Volga Bulgaria begins not with the fact that alien tribes founded the state, but with the unification of the door cities - the capitals of the tribal unions - Bulgar, Bilyar and Suvar. The traditions of statehood also did not necessarily come from alien tribes, since local tribes neighbored powerful ancient states - for example, the Scythian kingdom. In addition, the position that the Bulgars assimilated local tribes contradicts the position that the Bulgars themselves were not assimilated by the Tatar-Mongols. As a result, the Bulgar-Tatar theory is broken by the fact that the Chuvash language is much closer to the Old Bulgar than the Tatar. And the Tatars today speak the Turkic-Kipchak dialect.
However, the theory is not without merits. For example, the anthropological type of the Kazan Tatars, especially men, makes them similar to the peoples of the North Caucasus and indicates the origin of their facial features - a hooked nose, a Caucasian type - in the mountainous area, and not in the steppe.
Until the early 90s of the 20th century, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory of the ethnogenesis of the Tatar people was actively developed by a whole galaxy of scientists, including A.P. Smirnov, N.F. Kalinin, L.Z. Zalyay, G.V. Yusupov, T. A. Trofimova, M. Z. Zakiev, A. G. Karimullin, S. Kh. Alishev.
The theory of the Tatar-Mongolian origin of the Tatar people is based on the fact of the migration of nomadic Tatar-Mongolian (Central Asian) ethnic groups to Europe, who, having mixed with the Kipchaks and adopted Islam during the period of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde), created the basis of the culture of modern Tatars. The origins of the theory of the Tatar-Mongol origin of the Tatars should be sought in medieval chronicles, as well as in folk legends and epics. The greatness of the powers founded by the Mongolian and Golden Horde khans is spoken of in the legends of Genghis Khan, Aksak-Timur, and the epic of Idegei.
Supporters of this theory deny or downplay the importance of Volga Bulgaria and its culture in the history of the Kazan Tatars, believing that Bulgaria was an underdeveloped state, without urban culture and with a superficially Islamized population.
During the period of the Ulus of Jochi, the local Bulgar population was partially exterminated or, retaining paganism, moved to the outskirts, and the main part was assimilated by incoming Muslim groups, who brought urban culture and the language of the Kipchak type.
Here again it should be noted that, according to many historians, the Kipchaks were irreconcilable enemies with the Tatar-Mongols. That both campaigns of the Tatar-Mongol troops - under the leadership of Subedei and Batu - were aimed at the defeat and destruction of the Kipchak tribes. In other words, the Kipchak tribes during the Tatar-Mongol invasion were exterminated or driven to the outskirts.
In the first case, the exterminated Kipchaks, in principle, could not cause the formation of a nationality within the Volga Bulgaria; in the second case, it is illogical to call the theory Tatar-Mongol, since the Kipchaks did not belong to the Tatar-Mongols and were a completely different tribe, albeit Turkic-speaking.
The Tatar-Mongol theory can be called if we consider that Volga Bulgaria was conquered and then inhabited by Tatar and Mongol tribes that came from the empire of Genghis Khan.
It should also be noted that the Tatar-Mongols during the period of conquest were predominantly pagans, not Muslims, which usually explains the tolerance of the Tatar-Mongols towards other religions.
Therefore, it is more likely that the Bulgar population, who learned about Islam in the 10th century, contributed to the Islamization of the Ulus of Jochi, and not vice versa.
Archaeological data complement the factual side of the issue: on the territory of Tatarstan there is evidence of the presence of nomadic (Kipchak or Tatar-Mongol) tribes, but their settlement is observed in the southern part of the Tataria region.
However, it cannot be denied that the Kazan Khanate, which arose on the ruins of the Golden Horde, crowned the formation of the Tatar ethnic group.
This is strong and already clearly Islamic, which was of great importance for the Middle Ages; the state contributed to the development and, during the period under Russian rule, to the preservation of Tatar culture.
There is also an argument in favor of the kinship of the Kazan Tatars with the Kipchaks - the linguistic dialect is referred by linguists to the Turkic-Kipchak group. Another argument is the name and self-name of the people - “Tatars”. Presumably from the Chinese “da-dan”, as Chinese historians called part of the Mongolian (or neighboring Mongolian) tribes in northern China
The Tatar-Mongol theory arose at the beginning of the 20th century. (N.I. Ashmarin, V.F. Smolin) and actively developed in the works of Tatar (Z. Validi, R. Rakhmati, M.I. Akhmetzyanov, and more recently R.G. Fakhrutdinov), Chuvash (V.F. Kakhovsky, V.D. Dimitriev, N.I. Egorov, M.R. Fedotov) and Bashkir (N.A. Mazhitov) historians, archaeologists and linguists.
Chapter 2. Turkic-Tatar theory of ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view
The Turkic-Tatar theory of the origin of the Tatar ethnos emphasizes the Turkic-Tatar origins of modern Tatars, notes the important role in their ethnogenesis of the ethnopolitical tradition of the Turkic Kaganate, Great Bulgaria and the Khazar Kaganate, Volga Bulgaria, Kipchak-Kimak and Tatar-Mongol ethnic groups of the Eurasian steppes.
The Turkic-Tatar concept of the origin of the Tatars is developed in the works of G. S. Gubaidullin, A. N. Kurat, N. A. Baskakov, Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov, R. G. Kuzeev, M. A. Usmanov, R. G. Fakhrutdinov , A. G. Mukhamadieva, N. Davleta, D. M. Iskhakova, Y. Shamiloglu and others. Proponents of this theory believe that it in the best possible way reflects the rather complex internal structure of the Tatar ethnic group (characteristic, however, of all major ethnic groups), and combines the best achievements of other theories. In addition, there is an opinion that he was one of the first to point out the complex nature of ethnogenesis, which cannot be reduced to a single ancestor. After the unspoken ban on the publication of works that went beyond the decisions of the 1946 session of the USSR Academy of Sciences lost its relevance, and accusations of the “non-Marxism” of the multicomponent approach to ethnogenesis ceased to be used, this theory was replenished with many domestic publications. Proponents of the theory identify several stages in the formation of an ethnic group.
Stage of formation of the main ethnic components. (mid-VI - mid-XIII centuries). The important role of Volga Bulgaria and state associations in the ethnogenesis of the Tatar people is noted. At this stage, the formation of the main components occurred, which were combined at the next stage. The role of Volga Bulgaria is great, it laid the foundation for tradition, urban culture and writing based on Arabic script (after the 10th century), replacing the most ancient writing -. At this stage, the Bulgars tied themselves to the territory - to the land on which they settled. The territory of settlement was the main criterion for identifying a person with a people.
The stage of the medieval Tatar ethnopolitical community (mid-XIII - first quarter of the 15th centuries). At this time, the consolidation of the components that emerged at the first stage took place in a single state - the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde); medieval Tatars, based on the traditions of peoples united in one state, not only created their own state, but also developed their own ethnopolitical ideology, culture and symbols of their community. All this led to the ethnocultural consolidation of the Golden Horde aristocracy, military service classes, Muslim clergy and the formation of the Tatar ethnopolitical community in the 14th century. The stage is characterized by the fact that on the basis of the Oguz-Kypchak language, the norms of the literary language (literary Old Tatar language) were established. The earliest surviving literary monument on it (the poem “Kyisa-i Yosyf”) was written in the 13th century. The stage ended with the collapse of the Golden Horde (XV century) as a result of feudal fragmentation. In the formed, the formation of new ethnic communities began, which had local self-names: Astrakhan, Kazan, Kasimov, Crimean, Siberian, Temnikov Tatars, etc. During this period, the established cultural community of the Tatars can be evidenced by the fact that there was still a central horde (the Great Horde, Nogai Horde) most of the governors on the outskirts sought to occupy this main throne, or had close ties with the central horde.
After the mid-16th century and until the 18th century, a stage of consolidation of local ethnic groups within the Russian state was distinguished. After the annexation of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia to the Russian state, the processes of migration of the Tatars intensified (as mass migrations from the Oka to the Zakamskaya and Samara-Orenburg lines, from the Kuban to the Astrakhan and Orenburg provinces are known) and interactions between its various ethno-territorial groups, which contributed to their linguistic and cultural rapprochement. This was facilitated by the presence of a single literary language, a common cultural, religious and educational field. To a certain extent, the unifying factor was the attitude of the Russian state and the Russian population, who did not distinguish between ethnic groups. There is a common confessional identity - “Muslims”. Some of the local ethnic groups that entered other states at this time (primarily) further developed independently.
The period from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century is defined by supporters of the theory as the formation of the Tatar nation. Just the same period mentioned in the introduction to this work. The following stages of nation formation are distinguished: 1) From the 18th to the mid-19th century - the stage of the “Muslim” nation, in which religion was the unifying factor. 2) From the middle of the 19th century to 1905 - the stage of the “ethnocultural” nation. 3) From 1905 to the end of the 1920s. - stage of the “political” nation.
At the first stage, the attempts of various rulers to carry out Christianization were beneficial. The policy of Christianization, instead of actually transferring the population of the Kazan province from one denomination to another, through its ill-consideration, contributed to the cementation of Islam in the consciousness of the local population.
At the second stage, after the reforms of the 1860s, the development of bourgeois relations began, which contributed to the rapid development of culture. In turn, its components (the education system, the literary language, book publishing and periodicals) completed the establishment in the self-consciousness of all the main ethno-territorial and ethnic class groups of the Tatars of the idea of belonging to a single Tatar nation. It is to this stage that the Tatar people owe the appearance of the History of Tatarstan. During this period of time, Tatar culture not only managed to recover, but also achieved certain progress.
From the second half of the 19th century century, the modern Tatar literary language began to form, which by the 1910s had completely replaced the old Tatar language. The consolidation of the Tatar nation was strongly influenced by the high migration activity of Tatars from the Volga-Ural region.
The third stage from 1905 to the end of the 1920s. - This is the stage of the “political” nation. The first manifestation was the demands made during the revolution of 1905-1907. Later there were ideas of the Tatar-Bashkir SR, the creation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. After the 1926 census, the remnants of ethnic class self-determination disappeared, that is, the social stratum “Tatar nobility” disappeared.
Let us note that the Turkic-Tatar theory is the most extensive and structured of the theories considered. It really covers many aspects of the formation of the ethnic group in general and the Tatar ethnic group in particular.
In addition to the main theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars, there are also alternative ones. One of the most interesting - Chuvash theory of the origin of the Kazan Tatars.
Most historians and ethnographers, just like the authors of the theories discussed above, are looking for the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars not where these people currently live, but somewhere far beyond the territory of present-day Tatarstan. In the same way, their emergence and formation as a distinctive nationality is attributed not to the historical era when this took place, but to more ancient times. In fact, there is every reason to believe that the cradle of the Kazan Tatars is their real homeland, that is, the region of the Tatar Republic on the left bank of the Volga between the Kazanka River and the Kama River.
There are also convincing arguments in favor of the fact that the Kazan Tatars arose, took shape as a distinctive people and multiplied over a historical period, the duration of which covers the era from the founding of the Kazan Tatar kingdom by the Khan of the Golden Horde Ulu-Mahomet in 1437 and up to the Revolution of 1917. Moreover, their ancestors were not the alien “Tatars”, but local peoples: Chuvash (aka Volga Bulgars), Udmurts, Mari, and perhaps also not preserved to this day, but living in those parts, representatives of other tribes, including those who spoke the language , close to the language of the Kazan Tatars.
All these nationalities and tribes apparently lived in those wooded regions since time immemorial, and partly perhaps also moved from Trans-Kama, after the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols and the defeat of Volga Bulgaria. In terms of character and level of culture, as well as way of life, this diverse mass of people, at least before the emergence of the Kazan Khanate, differed little from each other. Likewise, their religions were similar and consisted of the veneration of various spirits and sacred groves - kiremetii - places of prayer with sacrifices. This is confirmed by the fact that until the revolution of 1917 they remained in the same Tatar Republic, for example, near the village. Kukmor, a village of Udmurts and Maris, who were not touched by either Christianity or Islam, where until recently people lived according to the ancient customs of their tribe. In addition, in the Apastovsky district of the Tatar Republic, at the junction with the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, there are nine Kryashen villages, including the village of Surinskoye and the village of Star. Tyaberdino, where some of the residents, even before the Revolution of 1917, were “unbaptized” Kryashens, thus surviving until the Revolution outside of both the Christian and Muslim religions. And the Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts and Kryashens who converted to Christianity were only formally included in it, but continued to live according to ancient times until recently.
In passing, we note that the existence almost in our time of “unbaptized” Kryashens casts doubt on the very widespread point of view that the Kryashens arose as a result of the forced Christianization of Muslim Tatars.
The above considerations allow us to make the assumption that in the Bulgar state, the Golden Horde and, to a large extent, the Kazan Khanate, Islam was the religion of the ruling classes and privileged classes, and the common people, or most of them: Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts, etc. lived according to their ancient grandfathers customs.
Now let's see how, under those historical conditions, the Kazan Tatars as we know them at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries could arise and multiply.
In the middle of the 15th century, as already mentioned, on the left bank of the Volga, Khan Ulu-Mahomet, who had been overthrown from the throne and fled from the Golden Horde, appeared with a relatively small detachment of his Tatars. He conquered and subjugated the local Chuvash tribe and created the feudal-serf Kazan Khanate, in which the victors, the Muslim Tatars, were the privileged class, and the conquered Chuvash were the serf common people.
In the latest edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, we read the following in more detail about the internal structure of the state in its finalized period: “Kazan Khanate, a feudal state in the Middle Volga region (1438-1552), formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde on the territory of Volga-Kama Bulgaria. The founder of the dynasty of Kazan khans was Ulu-Muhammad.”
The highest state power belonged to the khan, but was directed by the council of large feudal lords (divan). The top of the feudal nobility consisted of Karachi, representatives of the four most noble families. Next came the sultans, emirs, and below them were the Murzas, lancers and warriors. A major role was played by the Muslim clergy, who owned vast waqf lands. The bulk of the population consisted of “black people”: free peasants who paid yasak and other taxes to the state, feudal-dependent peasants, serfs from prisoners of war and slaves. The Tatar nobles (emirs, beks, murzas, etc.) were hardly very merciful to their serfs, who were also foreigners and people of other faiths. Voluntarily or in pursuit of goals related to some benefit, but over time, the common people began to adopt their religion from the privileged class, which was associated with the renunciation of their national identity and with a complete change in their way of life and way of life, in accordance with the requirements of the new “Tatar” faith - Islam. This transition of the Chuvash to Mohammedanism was the beginning of the formation of the Kazan Tatars.
The new state that arose on the Volga lasted only about a hundred years, during which raids on the outskirts of the Moscow state almost did not stop. In the internal life of the state, frequent palace coups took place and proteges found themselves on the khan’s throne: either from Turkey (Crimea), then from Moscow, then from the Nogai Horde, etc.
The process of forming the Kazan Tatars in the above-mentioned way from the Chuvash, and partly from other, peoples of the Volga region occurred throughout the entire period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate, did not stop after the annexation of Kazan to the Moscow state and continued until the beginning of the twentieth century, i.e. almost up to our time. The Kazan Tatars grew in number not so much as a result of natural growth, but as a result of the Tatarization of other nationalities of the region.
Let us give another rather interesting argument in favor of the Chuvash origin of the Kazan Tatars. It turns out that the Meadow Mari now call the Tatars “suas”. From time immemorial, the Meadow Mari were close neighbors with that part of the Chuvash people who lived on the left bank of the Volga and were the first to become Tatars, so that in those places not a single Chuvash village remained for a long time, although according to historical information and scribal records of the Moscow State there were them there many. The Mari did not notice, especially at the beginning, any changes among their neighbors as a result of the appearance of another god among them - Allah, and forever retained the former name for them in their language. But for distant neighbors - the Russians - from the very beginning of the formation of the Kazan kingdom, there was no doubt that the Kazan Tatars were the same Tatar-Mongols who left a sad memory of themselves among the Russians.
Throughout the relatively short history of this “Khanate,” continuous raids by “Tatars” on the outskirts of the Moscow state continued, and the first Khan Ulu-Magomet spent the rest of his life in these raids. These raids were accompanied by the devastation of the region, the robberies of the civilian population and the deportation of them “in full”, i.e. everything happened in the style of the Tatar-Mongols.
Thus, the Chuvash theory is also not without its foundations, although it presents us with the ethnogenesis of the Tatars in the most original form.
Conclusion
As we conclude from the material considered, at the moment even the most developed of the available theories - the Turkic-Tatar one - is not ideal. It leaves many questions for one simple reason: the historical science of Tatarstan is still extremely young. A lot of historical sources have not yet been studied; active excavations are underway on the territory of Tataria. All this allows us to hope that in the coming years the theories will be replenished with facts and will acquire a new, even more objective shade.
The material reviewed also allows us to note that all theories are united in one thing: the Tatar people have a complex history of origin and a complex ethnocultural structure.
In the growing process of world integration, European states are already striving to create a single state and a common cultural space. Tatarstan may not be able to avoid this either. The trends of recent (free) decades indicate attempts to integrate the Tatar people into the modern Islamic world. But integration is a voluntary process, it allows you to preserve the self-name of the people, language, and cultural achievements. As long as at least one person speaks and reads Tatar, the Tatar nation will exist.
List of used literature
1. R.G.Fakhrutdinov. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. (Antiquity and Middle Ages). Textbook for secondary schools, gymnasiums and lyceums. - Kazan: Magarif, 2000.- 255 p.
2. Sabirova D.K. History of Tatarstan. From ancient times to the present day: textbook / D.K. Sabirova, Ya.Sh. Sharapov. – M.: KNORUS, 2009. – 352 p.
3. Kakhovsky V.F. Origin of the Chuvash people. – Cheboksary: Chuvash Book Publishing House, 2003. – 463 p.
4. Rashitov F.A. History of the Tatar people. – M.: Children's book, 2001. – 285 p.
5. Mustafina G.M., Munkov N.P., Sverdlova L.M. History of Tatarstan XIX century - Kazan, Magarif, 2003. – 256c.
6. Tagirov I.R. History of the national statehood of the Tatar people and Tatarstan - Kazan, 2000. – 327c.
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TATARS, Tatarlar(self-name), people in Russia (second in number after the Russians), main population of the Republic of Tatarstan .
According to the 2002 Census, 5 million 558 thousand Tatars live in Russia. They live in the Republic of Tatarstan (2 million people), Bashkiria (991 thousand people), Udmurtia, Mordovia, the Mari Republic, Chuvashia, as well as in the regions of the Volga-Ural region, Western and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. They live in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. According to the 2010 Census, 5,310,649 Tatars live in Russia.
History of the ethnonym
For the first time an ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes in the 6th-9th centuries, but became established as a common ethnonym only in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the 13th century, the Mongols who created the Golden Horde included the tribes they conquered, including the Turks, called Tatars. In the 13-14 centuries, the Kipchaks, who were numerically dominant in the Golden Horde, assimilated all the other Turkic-Mongol tribes, but adopted the ethnonym “Tatars”. The population of this state was also called by European peoples, Russians and some Central Asian peoples.
In the khanates formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, noble layers of Kipchak-Nogai origin called themselves Tatars. It was they who played the main role in the spread of the ethnonym. However, among the Tatars in the 16th century it was perceived as derogatory, and until the second half of the 19th century other self-names were in use: Meselman, Kazanly, Bulgarian, Misher, Tipter, Nagaybek and others - among the Volga-Ural and Nugai, Karagash, Yurt, Tatarly and others- among the Astrakhan Tatars. Except for Meselman, all of them were local self-names. The process of national consolidation led to the choice of a self-name that unites everyone. By the time of the 1926 census, most Tatars called themselves Tatars. IN recent years a small number in Tatarstan and other Volga regions call themselves Bulgars or Volga Bulgars.
Language
Tatar language belongs to the Kipchak-Bulgar subgroup of the Kipchak group of the Turkic branch of the Altai language family and has three main dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). The literary norm was formed on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect with the participation of Mishar. Writing based on Cyrillic graphics.
Religion
The majority of Tatar believers are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. The population of the former Volga Bulgaria was Muslim since the 10th century and remained so as part of the Horde, due to this it stood out among neighboring peoples. Then, after the Tatars joined the Moscow state, their ethnic identity became even more intertwined with their religious one. Some Tatars even defined their nationality as “meselman”, i.e. Muslims. At the same time, they retained (and partially retain to this day) elements of ancient pre-Islamic calendar rituals.
Traditional activities
The traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars in the 19th and early 20th centuries was based on arable farming. They grew winter rye, oats, barley, lentils, millet, spelt, flax, and hemp. They also engaged in gardening and melon growing. Pasture-stall livestock farming resembled nomadic farming in some ways. For example, horses in some areas grazed on pasture all year long. Only the Mishars were seriously involved in hunting. Handicraft and manufacturing production reached a high level of development (jewelry making, felting, furriers, weaving and gold embroidery), tanneries and cloth factories operated, and trade was developed.
National costume
For men and women, it consisted of wide-leg trousers and a shirt over which a sleeveless vest, often embroidered, was worn. Women's Tatar costume was distinguished by an abundance of jewelry made of silver, cowrie shells, and bugles. The outerwear was a Cossack, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. Men wore a skullcap on their heads, and on top of it a fur hat or felt hat. Women wore an embroidered velvet cap and scarf. Traditional Tatar shoes are leather ichigs with soft soles, over which galoshes were worn.
Sources: Peoples of Russia: Atlas of Cultures and Religions / ed. V.A. Tishkov, A.V. Zhuravsky, O.E. Kazmina. - M.: IPC "Design. Information. Cartography", 2008.
Peoples and religions of the world: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. V.A. Tishkov. Editorial team: O.Yu.Artemova, S.A.Arutyunov, A.N.Kozhanovsky, V.M.Makarevich (deputy chief editor), V.A.Popov, P.I.Puchkov (deputy chief editor) ed.), G.Yu.Sitnyansky. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1998, - 928 p.: ill. — ISBN 5-85270-155-6
