Tatars in the Volga region. Tatars

General characteristics of the Tatar people and population

It is not for nothing that the Tatar people are considered the most mobile of all famous peoples. Fleeing crop failure in their native lands and in search of opportunities to establish trade, they quickly moved to the central regions of Russia, Siberia, the Far Eastern regions, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Donbass steppes. IN Soviet time this migration was especially active. Today, Tatars live in Poland and Romania, China and Finland, the USA and Australia, as well as in Latin America and Arab countries. Despite such territorial distribution, Tatars in each country try to unite into communities, carefully preserving their cultural values, language and traditions. Today, the total Tatar population is 6 million 790 thousand people, of which almost 5.5 million live on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The main language of the ethnic group is Tatar. There are three main dialectical directions in it - eastern (Siberian-Tatar), western (Mishar) and middle (Kazan-Tatar). The following subethnic groups are also distinguished: Astrakhan, Siberian, Tatar-Mishar, Ksimov, Kryashen, Perm, Polish-Lithuanian, Chepetsk, Teptya. Initially, the writing of the Tatar people was based on Arabic script. Over time, the Latin alphabet began to be used, and later the Cyrillic alphabet. The vast majority of Tatars adhere to the Muslim religion; they are called Sunni Muslims. There is also a small number of Orthodox Christians called Kryashens.

Features and traditions of Tatar culture

The Tatar people, like any other, have their own special traditions. So, for example, the wedding ceremony assumes that their parents have the right to negotiate the wedding of a young man and a girl, and the young people are simply informed. Before the wedding, the size of the bride price, which the groom pays to the bride's family, is discussed. Celebrations and feasts in honor of the newlyweds, as a rule, take place without them. To this day it is accepted that it is unacceptable for the groom to enter parents' house brides for permanent residence.

Cultural traditions and especially in terms of educating the younger generation from the very beginning early childhood The Tatars are very strong. The decisive word and power in the family belongs to the father, the head of the family. That is why girls are taught to be submissive to their husbands, and boys are taught to be able to dominate, but at the same time be very attentive and careful towards their spouse. Patriarchal traditions in families are stable to this day. Women, in turn, love to cook and revere Tatar cuisine, sweets and all kinds of pastries. A richly laid table for guests is considered a sign of honor and respect. The Tatars are known for their reverence and immense respect for their ancestors, as well as for older people.

Famous representatives of the Tatar people

IN modern life I hear quite a lot of people from this glorious people. For example, Rinat Akhmetov is a famous Ukrainian businessman, the richest Ukrainian citizen. The legendary producer Bari Alibasov, Russian actors Renata Litvinova, Chulpan Khamatova and Marat Basharov, and singer Alsou became famous in the world of show business. The famous poetess Bella Akhmadulina and rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva also have Tatar roots on their father’s side and are honored figures of the Russian Federation. One cannot help but recall the first racket of the world – Marat Safin.

The Tatar people are a nation with its own traditions, national language and cultural values, which are closely connected with the history of others and beyond. This is a nation with a special character and tolerance, which has never initiated conflicts on ethnic, religious or political grounds.

Students: Polina Bolshakova, Olga Zhuk, Elena Manyshkina

The work was completed for participation in the KTD. It contains material about the settlement of Tatars in the Samara region, about the life and traditions of the people.

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Tatars of the Volga region.

The second largest people in the region are the Tatars (127,931 people (3.949% of the population). Tatar rural settlements are located in a wide strip in the north, northeast and east of the region, on the border with the Republic of Tatarstan, Ulyanovsk and Orenburg regions in Kamyshlinsky, Pokhvistnevsky, Elkhovsky, Krasnoyarsk, Shentalinsky, Koshkinsky, Chelnovershinsky districts and in the city of Samara. The first Tatar settlements in the Samara Trans-Volga region appeared in the 16th century. The Tatars are divided into four ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural, Siberian, Astrakhan and Crimean. Each ethno-territorial group of Tatars has its own linguistic and cultural and everyday features. Tatars belong to the ethnic groups professing Islam (with the exception of the Kryashens - baptized Tatars). On the territory of the Samara region there are many mosques located in Tatar settlements.

The traditional economic activity of the Samara Tatars wasarable farming combined with livestock farming. Along with agriculture, crafts developed:jewelry, leather, felt.

Housing Previously, it was mainly built from wood, today brick is often used in construction. Inside the dwelling there were built-in benches, shelves, and chairs. Wide bunks along the front wall were universal furniture in the past - they were used as beds and seats. Bedding was stored in closets or chests.

And today the interior decoration of a Tatar house has retained many ethnic features. The bright colors of the paneling, the openwork carving of the window frames, colored fabrics of different tones - all this creates the unique appearance of the Tatar home. The walls are often decorated with embroidered tablecloths, prayer rugs, homespun towels, and a colorful saying from the Koran is hung under glass on the front wall.

Traditional costume set(male and female) consisted of a shirt, wide-legged trousers, a fitted velvet camisole, and a bishmet. The women's shirt was decorated with flounces, the chest part was decorated with an arched appliqué or a special bib - izu. Over the camisole, men wore a spacious robe with a shawl collar, and in winter, fur coats and sheepskin coats. The men's headdress was an embroidered skullcap with a flat top, over which a fur or quilted hat was worn in cold weather. Women's headdresses were distinguished by their originality different groups Tatars The small kalfak cap, sewn with pearls and gold embroidery, became widespread among many groups of Tatars; There were also towel-shaped tastars, and among the Kazan Tatars there were erpek bedspreads embroidered with a vestibule. A girl's headdress, takya, was a cap with a semi-rigid band and a soft flat top. It was sewn from blue, green, burgundy velvet and decorated with embroidery, beads, and coins.

Since the Tatar economy combined both agricultural and animal husbandry traditions,National cuisinerepresented by various dishes made from flour, milk and meat. They baked bread and flatbreads from flour, prepared pies and pies from yeast, unleavened and butter dough (belesh, echpochmak) stuffed with potatoes, meat, carrots, beets, etc. Lamb, beef and poultry were used to prepare soups, broths and main courses; horse meat was salted and processed into sausage. The favorite drink of the Tatars is tea, which they drink hot, topped with milk or sour cream. Favorite sweet baked dishes -chuck – chuck , helpek, etc.

Tatar culture is most represented by the festival of the plow in honor of the end of the sowing of spring crops - Sabantui , which did not have an exact calendar date, but was celebrated depending on the readiness of the land for sowing. Now Sabantuy is usually celebrated in June in Samara, Togliatti and some others populated areas areas. During the holiday, sports competitions are organized: keresh - wrestling with sashes, short distance running, etc. Both pop and amateur Tatar groups perform, sounds national music and traditional and modern dances are performed. Event participants wear traditionally styled clothing, and thanks to the fair, spectators have the opportunity to try national cuisine.

Among the Tatar settlements, we note Old Ermakovo in the Kamyshlinsky district and Alkino in the Pokhvistnevsky district - in these settlements decorative folk art, features of the spiritual culture and life of the Tatar population of the region are clearly represented.

Tatar hospitality customs

The custom of meeting and receiving guests is common to people of any nationality. Legends are made about the hospitality of the Tatar people.

The Tatar family sees a good omen in the very arrival of a guest in the house; he is an honorable, respected, dear person. Tatars have long been very attentive, caring and polite towards guests. They try to set the table with taste and generously treat them with various dishes.

“If there is no treat, caress the guest with a word” and “If they offer a treat, even drink water,” teach Tatar folk proverbs.

Hospitality of the Tatars According to ancient times Tatar custom in honor of the guest, a festive tablecloth was laid out and the best sweet treats were put on the table chuck-chuck, sherbet, linden honey, and, of course, fragrant tea.

“An inhospitable person is inferior” was considered by Muslims.

It was customary not only to treat guests, but also to give gifts. According to custom, the guest responded in kind.

Ancient Tatar dishes
Tatars have long lived in different regions with different natural conditions. Therefore, the food of Siberian, Astrakhan, Kazan, Crimean and other Tatars has its own characteristics. For example, one traveler wrote almost 400 years ago that the Astrakhan Tatars eat vobla “instead of bread,” prepare sturgeon pilaf, eat a lot of vegetables, and love watermelons. For Siberian Tatars great importance had a hunt for taiga animals. The Volga Tatars extracted a lot of honey from wild bees and made many products from cow's milk - they even have a proverb: “He who has a cow, has a treat.”
And yet, all Tatars have common national dishes, common culinary traditions. Therefore, looking at the festive table, you can immediately say: this is a Tatar table!
From a long time ago and to this day, the Tatars consider bread to be sacred food. In the old days, they most often ate rye bread - ikmyok (only the rich ate wheat bread, and even then not always). There was even a custom of swearing with bread - ipider. From an early age, children learned to pick up every crumb. During the meal, the eldest member of the family cut the bread.
Especially famous Tatar dishes with meat:
Bishbarmak is boiled meat, cut into small flat pieces, which are lightly stewed in oil with onions, carrots and peppers. Coarsely chopped noodles serve as a side dish for the meat. Previously, bishbarmak was eaten with hands, which is why it received a second name - kullama from kul - hand.
Dried horse meat and goose, horse meat sausage - kazylyk.
Pelmeni-it pilmene made from young lamb or foal; they are eaten with broth.
Peremyachi-peremyoch - very juicy round pies baked in the oven with finely chopped meat; Ochpochmak-ichpochmak - triangles stuffed with fatty lamb, onions and potato pieces.
Belish-belesh is a tall pie with a large bottom and small top crust.
Ubadiya-gubadiya - a round pie with a “multi-story” filling: chopped meat, rice, chopped hard-boiled eggs, raisins. This pie is one of the obligatory treats at celebrations.

Chakchak (chekchek): a delicious meal you can create yourself
Of course, it's better if adults help you. However, it all depends on whether you have cooking experience.
So, take five eggs, a quarter glass of milk, a little sugar, salt, soda, flour. We make soft dough, and from it small and necessarily identical balls - like pine nuts. Here, please show patience and diligence! And then pour a little vegetable oil into the pan and fry the “nuts”.
Now add sugar to the honey (in the proportion of 200 grams of sugar per kilogram of honey) and boil it. You will get a very sticky mass. Mix it with “nuts”. Finally, from this “building material” we construct a truncated pyramid. All! The miracle is ready. You yourself, of course, won’t be able to resist and will lick your fingers, because they are sticky and sweet, sweet. But everyone you treat with cut-off pieces of chakchak will also lick their fingers - it turned out to be so delicious!

What do Tatars drink?
The most popular Tatar drink is tea: Indian and Ceylon - merchants have brought it from the East since ancient times. In addition to sugar, milk or melted cream or butter is added to hot and strong tea. And the Astrakhan Tatars love brick large-leaf tea. It is poured into water boiled in a cauldron, milk is poured in and boiled for 5-10 minutes. They drink it hot, adding salt, butter and sometimes ground black pepper. This tea is often drunk with peppers.
In addition to ayran (katyk diluted with cold water), Tatars, according to an ancient custom, drink sherbet - water sweetened with honey. Previously, during the holidays they drank buza - a sweetish, intoxicating drink. The sourish kumiss is slightly intoxicating - it is made from mare's milk, yoche bal and kerchemyo are honey drinks. Drunkenness was despised by the Tatars for centuries.

What not to do
In addition to alcohol, Tatar folk tradition forbade eating burbot, because this fish was considered similar to a snake. It was forbidden to eat crayfish or the meat of predatory animals. Swans and doves were considered sacred and were not eaten either. They did not collect or eat mushrooms. Muslims should not eat pork: the Koran forbids it.

What are they rich in...
Like all peoples in the world, the Tatars lived and live differently: some are rich, others are poor. They also ate and eat differently: some eat “supermarkets”, and others eat what they grew in their garden.
Here is one family's menu:
In the morning - tea with peppers.
For lunch - dumplings with katyk.
For the second lunch - balish with tea.
For an afternoon snack - tea with apricots or chakchak.
For dinner - fried kaz (goose) or boiled meat and tea.
And in another family the food is like this:
In the morning - talkan (porridge made from flour and water) and it’s good if you have katyk or tea.
For lunch - salma (soup with pieces of dough), and in the summer - buckwheat porridge and katyk.
In the evening - again flour mash and tea.
But both poor and rich Tatars are always hospitable. True, the Tatar proverb says: “When a guest arrives, the meat is fried, but if there is no meat, it throws you into a fever.” And yet, a guest never leaves a Tatar house without a treat - at least a cup of tea with homemade marshmallow.

Ancient instructions
O my son, if you want to be revered, be hospitable, friendly, generous. Your good will not be diminished from this, and perhaps it will increase.

Tatar tea drinking - more than a tradition

“The tea table is the soul of the family,” the Tatars say, thereby emphasizing not only their love for tea as a drink, but also its importance in the table ritual. This is a characteristic feature of Tatar cuisine. The ritual of tea drinking - “whose echa” - has become so integrated into Tatar life that it is impossible to imagine a single holiday without it: weddings, matchmaking, Sabantuy, the birth of a child... Tea is drunk strong, hot, often diluted with milk or cream. At dinner parties, dried apricots, apricots, raisins, slices are added to tea at the request of guests fresh apples. Essentially, not a single feast is complete without tea, no matter whether with invited or uninvited guests.

Some groups of Tatars begin the ritual of treating guests with tea and numerous baked goods, and only then are the first and second courses served. For others, on the contrary, the tea table completes the meal. And this order is a stable ethnic tradition, although the set of dishes is largely the same.

They like to drink tea from small bowls so that it does not get cold. And if during interesting conversation the guest started talking to the owner of the house, the hostess always served him a new bowl with freshly brewed tea.

Mandatory items for serving a tea table, in addition to cups, are individual plates, sugar bowls, milk jugs, and teaspoons. A highly polished samovar with a teapot on the burner should set the tone for a pleasant conversation, create a mood, and decorate the table on holidays and on weekdays.

Even during the times of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde, the culture of feasting and preparing drinks from various herbs was characteristic of these places. In use were bowls and jugs made from a special composition “kashin”, covered with painted glaze. A new drink - tea - organically fit into the life of the local population.

In the 19th century, tea drinking entered every home in multinational Kazan. K. Fuchs, the first researcher of the life of the Kazan Tatars, wrote: “... a laid table with porcelain cups and a samovar by the stove were typical in the house of a Tatar tradesman of those years.”

Brewing Tatar tea

Pour 3 liters of water into a small saucepan and boil. After the water boils, add the tea leaves, boil for five minutes and then enrich the tea with oxygen (scoop it with a ladle and pour the tea leaves back into the pan in a small stream - and as Minem Apa advised, 100 times). Then add about 1 liter of milk. You can add butter. Let it sit for about 5-7 minutes. We pour tea into bowls. A bowl is a mandatory attribute of every tea party.

Bagels and dishes of Tatar national cuisine go well with tea: kystyby, pәrәmәch, өchpochmak.

Hospitality

We love home
Where they love us.
Let it be cheese, let it be stuffy.
But just a warm welcome
It bloomed in the window of the owner's eyes.

And according to any tricky map
We will find this strange house -
Where is the long tea?
Where is the timid apron,
Where is it equal - in December and in March -
Meet
Sunny face!

Joseph Utkin

The customs of hospitality are passed down from generation to generation. They have become so firmly entrenched in our lives that in the minds of different peoples they are taken for granted, as an integral part of culture. Times are difficult now, but still, visit each other, be open, welcoming, and friendly. After all, the main thing when visiting is not the feast, but the joy of communicating with dear people, on whom, as we know, the world rests.

Tatars are the second largest people in Russia.
Photo by ITAR-TASS

On the European ethnopolitical scene, the Bulgar Turks appeared as a special ethnic community in the second half of the 5th century, after the collapse of the Hunnic state. In the 5th–6th centuries, in the Azov region and the Northern Black Sea region, an alliance of many tribes led by the Bulgars formed. In the literature they are called both Bulgars and Bulgarians; To avoid confusion with the Slavic people in the Balkans, I use the ethnonym “Bulgars” in this essay.

Bulgaria – possible options

At the end of the 7th century, part of the Bulgars moved to the Balkans. Around 680, their leader Khan Asparukh conquered lands near the Danube Delta from Byzantium, simultaneously concluding an agreement with the Yugoslav tribal association of the Seven Clans. In 681, the First Bulgar (Bulgarian) Kingdom arose. In subsequent centuries, the Danube Bulgars were assimilated both linguistically and culturally by the Slavic population. Appeared new people, which, however, retained the former Turkic ethnonym - “Bulgars” (self-name - Българ, Български).

The Bulgars, who remained in the steppes of the Eastern Black Sea region, created public education, which went down in history under the great name “Great Bulgaria”. But after a brutal defeat from the Khazar Kaganate, they moved (in the 7th–8th centuries) to the Middle Volga region, where at the end of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century their new state was formed, which historians call Bulgaria/Volga-Kama Bulgaria.

The lands to which the Bulgars came (the territory mainly on the left bank of the Volga, bounded by the Kama River in the north and the Samara Luka in the south) were inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes and Turks who had come here earlier. All this multi-ethnic population - both old-timers and new settlers - actively interacted; In time Mongol conquest A new ethnic community emerged - the Volga Bulgars.

The state of the Volga Bulgars fell under the blows of the Turko-Mongols in 1236. Cities were destroyed, part of the population died, many were taken captive. Those who remained fled to the right bank regions of the Volga region, to the forests north of the lower reaches of the Kama.

The Volga Bulgars were destined to play an important role in the ethnic history of all three Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region - Tatars, Bashkirs and Chuvash.

Talented Chuvash people

Chuvash, Chavash (self-name) are the main population of Chuvashia; they also live in the neighboring republics of the region, in different regions and regions of Russia. In total there are about 1,436 thousand people in the country (2010). The ethnic basis of the Chuvash was the Bulgars and related Suvars, who settled on the right bank of the Volga. Here they mixed with the local Finno-Ugric population, Turkifying it linguistically. The Chuvash language has retained many features of the Bulgarian; in the linguistic classification it forms the Bulgarian subgroup Turkic group Altai family.

During the Golden Horde period, the “second wave” of Bulgar tribes moved from the left bank of the Volga to the area between the Tsivil and Sviyaga rivers. It laid the foundation for the subethnic group of lower Chuvash (Anatri), who largely retain the Bulgar component not only in the language, but also in many components of material culture. Among the riding (northern) Chuvash (Viryals), along with the Bulgars, elements of traditional culture are very noticeable Mountain Mari, with whom the Bulgars intensively mixed, migrating to the north. This was also reflected in the vocabulary of the Chuvash-Viryals.

The self-name “Chavash” is most likely associated with the name of the tribal group of Suvars/Suvaz (Suas) close to the Bulgars. There are mentions of suvazs in Arab sources of the 10th century. The ethnonym Chavash first appears in Russian documents in 1508. In 1551, the Chuvash became part of Russia.

The predominant religion among the Chuvash (since the mid-18th century) is Orthodoxy; However, among the rural population, pre-Christian traditions, cults and rituals have survived to this day. There are also Chuvash Muslims (mostly those who have been living in Tatarstan and Bashkiria for several generations). Since the 18th century, writing has been based on Russian graphics (it was preceded by Arabic writing - from the time of Volga Bulgaria).

The talented Chuvash people gave Russia a lot wonderful people, I will name only three names: P.E. Egorov (1728–1798), architect, creator of the fence Summer Garden, participant in the construction of the Marble, Winter Palaces, Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg; N.Ya. Bichurin (in monasticism Iakinth) (1777–1853), who headed the Russian spiritual mission in Beijing for 14 years, an outstanding sinologist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences; A.G. Nikolaev (1929–2004), pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR (No. 3), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General of Aviation.

Bashkir - leader wolf

Bashkirs – indigenous people Bashkiria. According to the 2010 census, there are 1,584.5 thousand of them in Russia. They also live in other regions, in the states of Central Asia, in Ukraine.

The ethnonym adopted as the main self-name of the Bashkirs - “Bashkort” - has been known since the 9th century (basqyrt - basqurt). It is etymologized as “chief”, “leader”, “head” (bash-) plus “wolf” (kort in Oguz-Turkic languages), that is, “wolf-leader”. Thus, it is believed that the ethnic name of the Bashkirs comes from the totemic hero-ancestor.

Previously, the ancestors of the Bashkirs (Turkic nomads of Central Asian origin) roamed the Aral Sea and Syr Darya regions (VII–VIII). From there they migrated to the Caspian and North Caucasian steppes in the 8th century; at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries they moved northwards, into the steppe and forest-steppe lands between the Volga and the Urals.

Linguistic analysis shows that the vocalism (system of vowel sounds) of the Bashkir language (as well as Tatar) is very close to the vowel system of the Chuvash language (a direct descendant of Bulgar).

In the 10th – early 13th centuries, the Bashkirs were in the zone of political dominance of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria. Together with the Bulgars and other peoples of the region, they fiercely resisted the invasion of the Turko-Mongols led by Batu Khan, but were defeated, their lands were annexed to the Golden Horde. During the Golden Horde period (40s of the 13th century - 40s of the 15th century), the influence of the Kipchaks on all aspects of the life of the Bashkirs was very strong. The Bashkir language was formed under the powerful influence of the Kipchak language; he is included in the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family.

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Bashkirs found themselves under the rule of the Nogai khans, who ousted the Bashkirs from their best nomadic lands. This forced them to go north, where there was partial mixing of the Bashkirs with the Finno-Ugric peoples. Separate groups of Nogais also joined the Bashkir ethnic group.

In 1552–1557, the Bashkirs accepted Russian citizenship. This is an important event that determined the future historical destiny people, was formalized as an act of voluntary accession. Under new conditions and circumstances, the process of ethnic consolidation of the Bashkirs significantly accelerated, despite the long-term preservation of the tribal division (there were about 40 tribes and tribal groups). It should be especially said that in the XVII– XVIII centuries The Bashkir ethnic group continued to absorb people from other peoples of the Volga and Urals regions - the Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts and especially the Tatars, with whom they were united by linguistic kinship.

When the allied armies led by Emperor Alexander I entered Paris on March 31, 1814, the Russian troops also included Bashkir cavalry regiments. It is appropriate to remember this this year, when we celebrate the 200th anniversary Patriotic War 1812.

Adventures of the ethnonym, or Why “Tatars”

Tatars (Tatars, self-name) are the second largest people in Russia (5310.6 thousand people, 2010), the largest Turkic-speaking people in the country, the main population of Tatarstan. They also live in many Russian regions and other countries. Among the Tatars, there are three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural (Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals, the largest community); Siberian Tatars and Astrakhan Tatars.

Supporters of the Bulgaro-Tatar concept of the origin of the Tatar people believe that its ethnic basis was the Bulgars of Volga Bulgaria, in which the basic ethnocultural traditions and characteristics of the modern Tatar (Bulgaro-Tatar) people were formed. Other scientists develop the Turkic-Tatar theory of the origin of the Tatar ethnic group - that is, they talk about broader ethnocultural roots of the Tatar people than the Ural-Volga region.

The influence of the Mongols who invaded the region in the 13th century was very insignificant anthropologically. According to some estimates, under Batu, 4–5 thousand of them settled in the Middle Volga. In the subsequent period, they completely “dissolved” in the surrounding population. In the physical types of the Volga Tatars, Central Asian Mongoloid features are practically absent; most of them are Caucasians.

Islam appeared in the Middle Volga region in the 10th century. Both the ancestors of the Tatars and modern Tatar believers are Muslims (Sunnis). The exception is a small group of the so-called Kryashens, who converted to Orthodoxy in the 16th–18th centuries.

For the first time, the ethnonym “Tatars” appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes that roamed Central Asia in the 6th–9th centuries, as the name of one of their groups. In the XIII-XIV centuries it spread to the entire Turkic-speaking population of the huge power created by Genghis Khan and the Genghisids. This ethnonym was also adopted by the Kipchaks of the Golden Horde and the khanates that were formed after its collapse, apparently because representatives of the nobility, military servicemen and bureaucrats called themselves Tatars.

However, among the broad masses, especially in the Middle Volga region - the Urals, the ethnonym “Tatars” even in the second half of the 16th century, after the annexation of the region to Russia, took root with difficulty, very gradually, largely under the influence of the Russians, who called the entire population of the Horde Tatars and khanates The famous Italian traveler of the 13th century Plano Carpini, who visited the residence of Batu Khan (in Sarai on the Volga) and at the court of the Great Khan Guyuk in Karakorum (Mongolia) on behalf of Pope Innocent IV, called his work “The History of the Mongols, whom we call Tatars.”

After the unexpected and crushing Turkic-Mongol invasion of Europe, some historians and philosophers of that time (Matthew of Paris, Roger Bacon, etc.) reinterpreted the word “Tatars” as “people from Tartarus” (that is, the underworld)... And six and a half centuries later, the author The article “Tatars” in the famous encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron reports that “in the 5th century. the name ta-ta or tatan (from which, in all likelihood, the word Tatars comes) refers to a Mongol tribe that lived in northeastern Mongolia and partly in Manchuria. We have almost no information about this tribe.” In general, he summarizes, “the word “Tatars” is a collective name for a number of Mongolian peoples and, mainly, Turkic origin, speaking the Turkic language...".

Such a generalized ethnic naming of many peoples and tribes by the name of one is not uncommon. Let us remember that in Russia just a century ago, not only the Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberian and Crimean Tatars, but also some Turkic-speaking peoples were called Tatars North Caucasus("Mountain Tatars" - Karachais and Balkars), Transcaucasia ("Transcaucasian Tatars" - Azerbaijanis), Siberia (Shors, Khakass, Tofalars, etc.).

In 1787, the outstanding French navigator La Perouse (Comte de La Perouse) named the strait between the island of Sakhalin and the mainland Tatar - because even in that already very enlightened time, almost all the peoples who lived east of the Russians and north of the Chinese were called Tatars. This hydronym, the Tatar Strait, is truly a monument to the inscrutability, mystery of migrations of ethnic names, their ability to “stick” to other peoples, as well as territories and other geographical objects.

In search of ethnohistorical unity

The ethnicity of the Volga-Ural Tatars took shape in the 15th–18th centuries in the process of migrations and rapprochement, unification of different Tatar groups: Kazan, Kasimov Tatars, Mishars (the latter researchers consider the descendants of the Turkified Finno-Ugric tribes, known as Meshchers). In the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, the growth of all-Tatar national self-awareness and awareness of the ethnohistorical unity of all territorial groups of Tatars intensified in broad layers of Tatar society and especially in intellectual circles.

At the same time, the literary Tatar language was formed, mainly on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect, replacing the Old Tatar language, which was based on the language of the Volga Turks. Writing from the 10th century to 1927 was based on Arabic (until the 10th century, the so-called Turkic runic was occasionally used); from 1928 to 1939 - based on the Latin alphabet (Yanalif); from 1939–1940 – Russian graphics. In the 1990s, a discussion intensified in Tatarstan about the transfer of Tatar writing to a modernized version of the Latin script (Yanalif-2).

The described process naturally led to the abandonment of local self-names and to the approval of the most common ethnonym, which united all groups. In the 1926 census, 88% of the Tatar population of the European part of the USSR called themselves Tatars.

In 1920, the Tatar ASSR was formed (as part of the RSFSR); in 1991 it was transformed into the Republic of Tatarstan.

A special and very interesting topic, which in this essay I can only touch on, is the relationship between the Russian and Tatar populations. As Lev Gumilyov wrote, “our ancestors, the Great Russians, in the 15th–16th–17th centuries mixed easily and quite quickly with the Tatars of the Volga, Don, and Ob...”. He liked to repeat: “scratch a Russian and you will find a Tatar, scratch a Tatar and you will find a Russian.”

Many Russian noble families had Tatar roots: the Godunovs, Yusupovs, Beklemishevs, Saburovs, Sheremetevs, Korsakovs, Buturlins, Basmanovs, Karamzins, Aksakovs, Turgenevs... The Tatar “origins” of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were traced in detail in most interesting book“Born in Russia” by literary critic and poet, professor Igor Volgin.

It was not by chance that I started this short list of surnames with the Godunovs: known to everyone from history textbooks and even more from the great Pushkin tragedy, Boris Godunov, the Russian Tsar in 1598–1605, was a descendant of the Tatar Murza Chet, who left the Golden Horde for Russian service during Ivan Kalite (in the 30s of the 14th century), was baptized and received the name Zacharias. He founded the Ipatiev Monastery and became the founder of the Russian noble family of the Godunovs.

I want to complete this almost endless topic with the name of one of the most talented Russian poets of the twentieth century - Bella Akhatovna Akhmadulina, whose rare talent has different genetic origins, the Tatar one being one of the main ones: “The immemorial spirit of Asia / Still roams within me.” But her native language, the language of her creativity, was Russian: “And Pushkin looks tenderly, / And the night has passed, and the candles are going out, / And the tender taste of her native speech / So cleanly her lips are cold.”

Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvash, all the peoples of multi-ethnic Russia, which this year celebrates the 1150th anniversary of its statehood, have had a common, common, inseparable history and destiny for a very long time, for many centuries.

For us, Russian historians, the history of the Volga Tatars and Bulgars is of enormous importance. Without studying it, we will never understand Russia's connection with the East.

This story of a brilliant, bright, talented, energetic, brave people - the Tatar people - attracts us with its great significance in history, I would say, general, international.

Academician M. N. Tikhomirov

In 1946, the Department of History and Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, together with the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Kazan Branch of the Academy of Sciences, held a scientific session in Moscow on the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars. The session was organized for the purpose of further scientific development of the history of the Tatar ASSR in the light of the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of August 9, 1944 “On the state and measures to improve mass-political and ideological work in the Tatar party organization.”

This was the first and successful experience of holding ethno-genetic conferences in the history of research into the past of the peoples of the Volga and Urals regions. Four main reports were made at the session: A. P. Smirnov - “On the issue of the origin of the Kazan Tatars”, T. A. Trofimova - “Ethnogenesis of the Tatars of the Middle Volga region in the light of anthropological data”, N. I. Vorobyov - “The origin of the Kazan Tatars according to ethnography”, L. 3. Zalyay - “On the question of the origin of the Volga Tatars (based on language materials)”. Co-reports were made by: N. F. Kalinin (based on epigraphic materials) and X. G. Gimadi (based on historical sources). Prominent scientists of the country, corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences M. N. Tikhomirov (later academician), A. Yu. Yakubovsky, S. P. Tolstov, N. K. Dmitriev, S. E. Malov and others took part in the speeches. The session was led by the outstanding Soviet historian, academician B. D. Grekov.

Despite the fact that this session was not able to fully resolve all the issues of the complex problem of the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars, which, naturally, could not be solved only at one conference, however, a lot of useful work was done - the question of the origin and formation of the Tatar people was raised before science. After discussing the issues raised, scientists adopted a kind of program for further, more in-depth study of this serious and actual problem. The reports and most speeches conveyed the idea that in the formation of the ethnic group of the Kazan Tatars, the main role was played by the Turkic-speaking peoples (Bulgars and others), who, even before the arrival of the Mongol conquerors, coming into contact with local Finno-Ugric tribes, created the Bulgar state, which stood on higher level of economic and cultural development compared to the nomadic Mongols." It must be emphasized that this main conclusion of the session was confirmed and further enriched by new valuable materials identified in the forty years that have passed since the session.

Particularly great successes have been achieved as a result of archaeological research. Based on a long-term continuous survey of the former territory of Volga Bulgaria, taking into account pre-revolutionary

research, the most complete Code of Bulgar and Bulgaro-Tatar monuments was compiled, including about 2000 different objects, 85% of which fall on the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Excavations of the Bulgar, Bilyar and some other settlements and settlements, Iski of Kazan and the Kazan Kremlin, study of epigraphic monuments of the 13th - 17th centuries. opened new pages in the history of the formation of Volga Bulgaria and its individual cities, and revealed very valuable information on the material culture of the Volga Bulgars and Kazan Tatars.

Excavations of the Bolshe-Tarkhansky, Tankeyevsky, Tetyushsky, Bilyarsky and some other monuments, a circle of monuments of the pre-Bulgar era, allowed their researchers to express new ideas about the early Turkization of the Middle Volga region, about the ethnic composition of the region during the formation of Volga Bulgaria, in particular,

about the significant role of the Ugric or Turkic-Ugric component in the formation of the Volga Bulgars. A number of new provisions require clarification and new work to obtain supporting data.

Significant progress has been made; linguists I study the history of the Tatar language, especially its dialects, issues of education and development of the national literary language, the language of individual monuments of ancient Tatar literature and manuscripts XVI -

XVII centuries, anthroponyms and toponyms of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The most valuable information was obtained as a result of a historical and linguistic analysis of the ancient Bulgar language (the names of the Bulgarian princes, Turkic borrowings in the Hungarian language, the language of Bulgar epitaphs) and a comparison of this language with Tatar. Such serious work made it possible to put this complex problem on a truly scientific basis.

In the study of certain periods of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals, especially later periods, representatives of other sciences have also achieved considerable success. In the 50-60s, N.I. Vorobyov and under his leadership created fundamental works on the traditional ethnography of the Kazan Tatars. Research into the material culture of other ethnographic groups of the Tatar people (Mishar Tatars, Kryashen Tatars) has noticeably increased recently.

It is necessary to note the in-depth scientific study

Tatar folk ornament, other types and artistic and technical means of decorative and applied art of the Kazan Tatars, allowing us to see the origins of this art among the Volga Bulgars. Being one of the most stable elements of material culture, reflecting the development of the spiritual culture of the people in different historical periods, ornament is a most valuable source in posing and solving questions of ethnogenesis. The successes of folklorists in collecting and publishing works of almost all genres of oral folk art, this huge heritage of spiritual culture, are also significant. Considerable progress has been made in the study musical folklore, musical ethnography of the Tatar people.

Within the framework of one section of a small book, it is impossible to analyze all this enormous scientific material, covered in a fairly large number of monographs, collections and individual articles published in central, local, and partly foreign publications.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to give summary the main conclusions arising from the analysis of historical and archaeological materials accumulated to date on the problem of the origin of the Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals. These conclusions also follow from the excursion that was made in the previous essays of the book on the history of Volga Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate, their main cities. Naturally, as a historian, if possible, I will use published, tested information from other related sciences. So, these main conclusions are briefly summarized as follows.

The Bulgarian origin of the Kazan Tatars is confirmed by all the data on material and spiritual culture, the self-awareness of the Kazan Tatars. The basis of the economy of Vozhskaya Bulgaria - arable farming on large and fertile areas - was the basis of the economy of the Kazan Khanate. It was the sedentary agricultural, and not the nomadic Mongolian, culture of the Kazan Khanate that was brought from the former agricultural center of Bulgaria; Bulgar agricultural culture was the basis for the development of feudal relations in this state. The Bulgarian steam system was inherited by the Kazan Tatars; the Bulgarian plow with a metal ploughshare (saban) was the basis

a significant agricultural tool for the population of the Kazan Khanate and later times. The old agricultural culture of the Bulgars was reflected in the national holiday of the Tatar people “Saban-Tui”.

Kazan with its Gostiny Island on the Volga, like Bulgar with its Volga Aga-Bazar, was the center of international trade between the West and the East. Using the example of Kazan and the Kazan Khanate, the complete preservation and further development of the traditions of the Bulgarian internal and external transit trade are obvious.

The continuity of the Bulgaro-Tatar economy and culture can also be traced in urban planning. Bulgarian defensive architecture (fortifications of cities, feudal castles and military outposts) was continued in the construction of urban fortifications of the Kazan Khanate. The presence of stone structures in Tatar Kazan was a preservation of the traditions of monumental architecture of Volga Bulgaria. Preserved stone structures from the 15th century. in the city of Kasimov (minaret of the Khan Mosque), built by immigrants from Kazan, and architectural monuments The cities of Bulgar (Small Minaret) belong to the same architectural school with the presence of individual local elements. The features of eastern classicism of Bulgarian monumental architecture subsequently appeared not only in architecture, but also in the ornamentation of epitaphs of the Kazan Khanate. In general, the urban culture of the Kazan Khanate is a continuation and further development of the urban culture of Volga Bulgaria.

The identity of the Bulgaro-Tatar material culture is clearly visible in crafts and applied arts. Archaeological finds, revealed at the sites of Volga Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate, repeat each other. Back in 1955, A.P. Smirnov wrote: “The continuity of the culture of the Kazan Tatars from the Volga Bulgars has now been fairly firmly established by comparing large material from the Great Bolgars settlement from the 14th century layer with materials from the most ancient layers of Kazan.” further excavations of the Bulgar, Bilyar settlements, Iski-Kazan and the Kazan Kremlin yielded: the proximity or identity of jewelry, iron oru

1 Smirnov A.P. Results of archaeological work in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric station. Kazan, 1955, p. 24.

labor and weapons, household items, simple polished and glazed ceramics, remains of handicraft production, epigraphy. The most characteristic in this regard is Old Kazan - a large and vibrant connecting link of the Bulgar and Kazan-Tatar material culture: there are layers with abundant material from pre-Mongol and Golden Horde Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate. Products of jewelry and, in general, decorative and applied art of the Kazan Tatars, not only of the 15th-16th centuries, but also of later times (XVIII - early XX centuries), are basically Bulgarian. The types of Tatar folk ornaments - floral, geometric and zoomorphic - mainly go back to the Bulgar ones.

The epigraphy of the Kazan Tatars was based on the epigraphy of the Volga Bulgars. A monographic study of epigraphic objects of the Middle Volga region (G.V. Yusupov) showed that the typological elements of Bulgar epitaphs (both I and II styles) in the process of changing the political system formed the basis of a new style of tombstones of the first half of the 16th century, and played an organically connecting role Monuments of the 15th century played a role in the emergence of this classical style. Although in paleographic terms the monuments of the 15th century. are significantly inferior to the Bulgar ones, but they contain relief handwriting of the 1st style of the 13th - 4th centuries. and the new style of the 16th-17th centuries. Linguistically, the monuments of the 15th century. are also close to the epitaphs of both the 14th and 16th centuries, as well as to such literary heritage of the Kazan Khanate as “Nury-sodur” and “Tukhfai-mardan”.

Speaking about epigraphic monuments, it should be especially noted that the custom of establishing them in the Volga region was characteristic only of the Volga Bulgars, and later of the Kazan Tatars. Remarkable is the fact that in the same cemetery modern Tatars Monuments of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries can be found in the villages of Zakazania and the Mountain Side. or XIV and XVI centuries. and later times. This clearly indicates the continuous functioning of the Tatar cemeteries since the Bulgar time. It is necessary to especially emphasize careful attitude to these monuments from the Tatar population, in contrast to other Turkic-speaking peoples of the region. The Kazan Tatars treat the Bulgarian epitaphs with worthy respect: they carefully protect them, renewing the fences, and call them “tash gazizlar” (stones).

shrines"), "Tash bilge" ("Stone monument"), "Izge tash" ("Holy stone"), "Izge zirat" (" Holy Cemetery"). The definitions of “shrine”, “holy” are used in in this case in the sense of deeply revered, dear, cherished.

The Tatar people maintain a careful attitude not only to epigraphic, but also to other monuments of Bulgarian antiquity: fortified settlements, settlements, individual tracts, calling them “Shaһre Bolgar”, “Shem-Suar”, “Kashan Kalasy”, “Iske Kazan”, and the names of other historical cities, as well as the common names “kala tau” (short for “kala tauy” - “mountain where the city used to be”), “kyzlar kalasy” (“maiden city”), “iske avyl” (“old village”), “iske yort” (“old dwelling”), Russians call these Bulgar monuments “Tatar town”, “Tatar dwelling”, “iske-yurt”. Legends, traditions and other works of oral folk art about Bulgar cities and villages, about the resettlement of the Bulgars to Zakazan and the Northern Volga region,

about the emergence of the Iski of Kazan to replace the Bulgar are widespread among the Kazan Tatars and have found vivid coverage in the literature.

Many researchers of the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe connected the Kazan Tatars with the Bulgars, considered the Kazan Khanate to be a continuation of the history of Volga Bulgaria, and paid special attention to the fact that the Kazan Tatars proudly called themselves Bulgars, and their past - “Bulgarlyk” (“Bulgarism”). The use of the epithet “al-Bulgari” (“Bulgarian”) not only in previous centuries, but also in the 20th century. (based on materials from “shezhere” - genealogies) serves as an excellent example of the consciousness of the Kazan Tatars of their Bulgarian origin.

The fact that the Kazan Tatars were previously called Bulgars is clearly evidenced by the well-known expression of the Nikon Chronicle, compiled in the second half of the 16th century: “Bulgars, verbose Kazanians,” i.e. Bulgars, called Kazanians. Particularly noteworthy is a more specific phrase in the chronicle: “Bulgarians, as Kazanians now say” 1.

However, it would be to a certain extent one-sided to limit the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars only to the Volga Bulgars. The very history of the Bulgarian state

1 PSRL, vol. XI. M., 1965, p. 12.

The donation was closely connected with the history of Khazaria, and later the Golden Horde. Bulgar culture was influenced by the cultures of many nationalities; elements of the cultures of Central Asia, Rus', the Caucasus, and Mamluk Egypt penetrated to the Bulgars.

Even at the Moscow session of 1946, it was noted that the modern Tatar language cannot be considered a continuation of one Bulgarian language. The Tatar language has undergone very big changes at its core. In addition to Bulgarian, the Kipchak language also played a role in the formation of the language of the Kazan Tatars. At the same time, it is necessary to note the closeness of the Bulgarian and Kipchak languages, their relationship to the same language group. This is to some extent confirmed, in addition to linguistic data, by the statements of contemporaries that the Cumans, that is, the Kipchaks, “have the same language and clan as the Bulgarians.” These words belong to the Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod III, a major political and statesman of his time (late 12th - early 13th centuries), who was quite well aware of his closest neighbors, i.e., the Bulgars and Kipchaks, with whom Rus' has long been associated had close economic and cultural ties.

First of all, it should be noted the ethnic and linguistic closeness of the Bulgars with the Lower Volga Kipchaks called Saksins. The resettlement of some of the Saksins to Volga Bulgaria before the invasion of the Mongols, in general, the historical closeness of the Bulgars and Saksins in subsequent times was noted in a number of written sources - in Russian chronicles and in works on Arab-Persian geography. There are several known Polovtsian-Kipchak burial grounds and burials in the Trans-Kama and partially Zakazan regions of Tataria: the Bayrako-Tamak burial ground in the Bavlinsky district and the Kipchak " stone woman"in the same area near the village. Urussu, Lebedinskoye burial in the Alekseevskaya region and a Kipchak burial with the remains of a horse at the Kamaevsky settlement. The Kipchak family is known as part of the princely families of the Kazan Khanate. At the same time, the share of the Kipchak ethnos in the origin of the Kazan Tatars was small, as evidenced primarily by the incomparably small number of Kipchak antiquities on the Bulgar-Tatar territory, in contrast to the Bulgar ones - compare: about 2000 actual Bulgar monuments (fortified settlements, settlements, burial grounds, epigraphic objects ,

the richest treasures and finds, individual locations) and only 4 Kipchak monuments (the Kipchaks will be discussed below).

In addition to the Kipchak component, the Nogai played a role in the origin and formation of the Kazan Tatars, which can be traced linguistically and from historical sources: Nogai elements in Zakazan dialects, individual toponyms of Tatarstan associated with the ethnonym “Nogai” (“Nogai fort” in the past, “Nogai camps” ", "Nogai cemeteries"), the presence of a large number of Nogais in Tatar Kazan, the Nogai militia from Zakazan during the siege of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible.

Finally, one cannot ignore the presence of the Finno-Ugric element, which is especially noticeable in the northern zone of the Order - in the basins of the Ashita, Sheshma, and partially Kazanka rivers - according to toponymy: old “Cheremis” cemeteries, “chirmesh yruy” (“Cheremis clan”), “chirmesh yagi” (“Cheremis side”) of Tatar villages, as well as based on materials from ethnography, anthropology and language.

So, the formation of the ethnic group of the Kazan Tatars was a complex historical process that included a number of Turkic-speaking, partly Finno-Ugric components. The basis of the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars was the Volga Bulgars with a certain participation of the Kipchak-Saxons from the 12th century, and the Nogais from the 15th - 16th centuries. and Finno-Ugric peoples during the X - XVI centuries.

In addition to the theory of the Bulgar origin of the Tatar people, mainly the Kazan Tatars, there is also a theory of the Kipchak origin of modern Tatars. It is based on language data, to some extent - on historical materials and, of course, on the well-known fact that the Kipchaks of the Golden Horde c. XIV - XV centuries were also called Tatars. The main linguistic source in this matter is the well-known “Code Cumanicus” (“Cuman Dictionary”; “Cumans” is a parallel, Western European name for the Kipchaks), compiled at the beginning of the 14th century. At one time, academician-Turkologist V.V. Radlov, having analyzed this dictionary, expressed the opinion that it is closer to the language of the Mishar Tatars.

True, there were other points of view: some saw analogies of the language of the “Code” in the languages ​​of the Karaites (Western Karaites), Nogais, Karakalpaks; others before

the search for parallels in the southwestern corner of the southern Russian steppes, in the Crimea, was delayed. However, a number of researchers, including Kazan researchers, for example, Ali-Rakhim, G.S. Gubaidullin, L.T. Makhmutova, I.A. Abdullin, to one degree or another, adhere to the opinion of V.V. Radlov.

IN last years Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov came up with the theory of assimilation of the Bulgarian language into the Kipchak language. The possibility of such assimilation was also expressed by linguist V. Kh. Khakov, who simultaneously noted that this opinion requires additional argumentation and specific clarifications. To a certain extent, accepting the concept of Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov, although not agreeing with a number of its points, I would like to note that such assimilation mainly applies to the Mishar Tatars, which can be traced from some historical and archaeological sources using language data.

In the 50-60s, M.R. Polesskikh investigated a group of medieval archaeological sites in the Penza region, among which there were more than 40 settlements and settlements. Most of them are located in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Sura River to the east and southeast of modern Penza. Some of the settlements are located in the upper reaches of the Moksha River in the northwestern part of the region. In the process of studying this group of monuments, the point of view about their ethnicity changed several times, which is apparently explained by the novelty of this circle of monuments both for the region and for the researcher. Thus, in the first, preliminary publications of his research, he dated these settlements to the 13th - 14th centuries. and connected them with newcomers of “Polovtsian-Kipchak or Alan origin” displaced by the Mongol invasion. A little later, he attributed them to the Burtases, assimilated by the Mongols; finally, he defended the idea of ​​Burtas affiliation of the monuments later, but already dating them to the 11th-12th centuries. At the same time, M.R. Polesskikh believed that the Burtases were assimilated by the Kipchaks, who took part in the ethnogenesis of the Mishar Tatars.

I had to closely familiarize myself with the materials of the Penza group of monuments. Their ceramics in their shape, color and ornamentation find a good analogy in the ceramics of the monuments of the Bulgarian lands proper. A small part of the collections has early features,

for example, individual elements of pottery from the Yulovsky and Narovchatsky settlements; silver jewelry from the Zolotarevsky settlement is also largely associated with pre-Mongol times. However, the main part of Penza monuments dates back to the 13th - 14th centuries. In general, the mass of all collected ceramics testifies to the Golden Horde period: clearly expressed elements of form and ornamentation of the Late Bulgarian pottery and the lack of known types of pre-Mongol pottery and molded ceramics. At the same time, this pottery is somewhat different from the actual Bulgar pottery in the pinkish tint of the outer surface, which is inherent in the pottery of the Golden Horde cities of the Lower Volga region.

A number of burial grounds in the same Penza region and in the neighboring Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic are to a certain extent connected with these settlements and settlements. Such burial grounds as Starosotensky, Karmaleysky, attributed by M.R. Polesskikh to the ancient Mordovians and dated to the 14th century, also contain a noticeable number of Bulgar elements, for example, ceramics and bronze cauldrons. A synchronous Mordovian burial ground with Bulgar artifacts was also discovered in the center of Narovchat; Burials with purely Muslim burial rites were also discovered there.

The presence of Mordovian burial grounds of the 14th century. in the area of ​​​​the distribution of settlements and settlements with red pottery ceramics, as well as the parallel existence of two types of burial grounds, i.e. Mordovian and Muslim, once again testifies to the Golden Horde period of the Penza group of settlements. Ethnically they belong to the Bulgars; the attempt to connect them with the Burtases, which has been made in recent years by some Kazan archaeologists, is not convincing, because the Burtas material culture, with which these monuments could be compared, is not known at all.

Based on all this, we can say that a certain part of the population of Volga Bulgaria, forced to leave their indigenous lands after the invasion of the Mongols, came to the modern Penza region (some small group of Bulgars could have ended up here at the end of pre-Mongol times during the period of friendly relations with the East - Mordovian Prince Purgas). The Bulgarian population, having come to the ancient Mordovian land, partially assimilated the inhabitants or lived in parallel with them, as evidenced by the indicated burial grounds.

This group of Bulgars begins an independent path of development, which is due to its isolation from the main Bulgar lands. Soon a separate ulus of the Golden Horde emerged here with its center in Narovchat, located on the territory of Prince Bekhan and also known as the city of Mokhsha, where the minting of Jochid coins began in 1312. In the funds of the former Sarov Monastery of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the historian M. G. Safargaliev discovered the genealogy of the Tatar princes Seid-Akhmedov, Adashev, Kudashev, Tenishev and Yangalychev, descended from this Bekhan “from the Golden Horde”, who “under the power of the Golden Horde of the king owned many surrounding cities and other Tatar and Mordovian camps” along the Mokhshi River valley; from that time, their descendants “began to own estates and lands and settled in different places" On the territory of the possessions of one prince-temnik, who belonged to the descendants of Bekhan, in 1257-1259. the city of Temnikov appears.

Since the 60s of the XIV century. in these western lands, a separate Narovchat principality was formed under the leadership of Sekiz Bey, mentioned in the Venetian charters of 1349 as the viceroy of the ruler of Tanu (Azak-Azov). The capture of Tanu by Mamai in 1361 forced Sekiz Bey to retire to the Mordovian lands, to the area of ​​the Piana River. However, in the same year, another Horde prince, Tagai, came running there. The Nikon Chronicle reports that other princes arrived with him, between whom a struggle for power began in the new land. The Principality of Tagaya, with its center in Narovchat, occupied a fairly large territory. According to the observations of M. G. Safargaliev, within the former Simbirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Penza provinces back in the 19th century. there were many toponyms bearing the name “Tagai”.

So, the listed historical materials speak about big role princes and the Kipchaks (“Tatars”) who arrived with them in the Sura and Mokhsha basins. These materials allow us to judge that there were a larger number of Kipchaks compared to the Bulgars, who came into partial contact with the local Mordovians. The Kipchaks came into the same contact with the local population, as evidenced by language data. The Kipchak basis of the Mishar dialect of the Tatar language has already been written in Turkology. This is confirmed by studies of Kazan lin-

gists of the last 20-25 years. This is also evidenced by the language data of the Armenian-Kipchak manuscripts of the 16th-17th centuries.

Kipchak language XI-XIV centuries. among various ethnic admixtures, it also contained a significant Oguz layer (Oguz, Guz - the main ancestors of modern Turkmens). According to the research of L. T. Makhmutova, of the Tatar dialects, the largest number of features of the Oguz type is found in the Mishar dialect, and quite big number Oghuz elements date back to the period no earlier than the 11th century. These elements are obviously explained through the Kipchak language - back in the 11th century, having begun to move west, the Kipchaks subjugated a significant number of Oguzes and Pechenegs. Some of the Pechenegs, with the exception of those pushed west by the Kipchaks and subsequently assimilated by the Madjars, dissolved among the Kipchaks. The Oguzes made up a significant component in the formation of the powerful Kipchak tribal union. A contemporary of these events, Mahmud Kashgari, mentioning the Kipchaks, put them closer in language to the Oguzes, and a hundred years later, al-Garnati named the Oguzes as the main population of the city of Saksina in the lower Volga, and about another 100 years later, in the 13th century, this population began to appear in sources under the name Saksins, i.e. Lower Volga Kipchaks.

Researcher of the ethnography of the Mishar Tatars R.G. Mukhamedova sees in their ethnogenesis, in addition to the Kipchaks and Bulgars, the participation of the Mochars, calling them Turkified Ugrians. The Turkic linguist M. Zakiev is more consistent and specific here, noting in the formation of the Mishar ethnic group, in addition to the Akatsirs (an ancient Turkic, Hunnic tribe) and the Kipchaks, and the Turkic-speaking Madjars. Please note: it is the Turkic-speaking Madjars (Makars), and not the Finno-Ugric (Ugric!) Magyars-Hungarians. The researcher believes that the Madjars were later dissolved among the Kipchaks, the main Turkic population of the southern strip of Eastern Europe. For my part, I would also like to draw the reader’s attention to the closeness of the ethnonyms “Mishar” and “Mazhar”.

Thus, the ethnogenesis of the Tatar-Mishars was a rather complex historical process, which included a number of components, the main of which was the Kipchak-Bulgar with a predominance of the Kipchak ethnic group.

A few words about the Kipchaks themselves. Kipchaks - Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes of Northern Altai, famous

there from the 2nd-1st centuries BC. e. At that time, they had not yet played any noticeable role in the history of Siberia and Central Asia. From the 8th century n. e. as a large association, they are part of the Kimak Kaganate, formed in Western Siberia along the middle reaches of the Irtysh - the Kipchaks formed the western branch of the Kaganate, the nomadic part of its population. From the middle of the 9th century. in the history of the Kipchaks, great socio-economic changes take place: property inequality,

the division of the privileged class, which ultimately led the class elite of society to expand their possessions and go on campaigns.

Together with other Ural-Altai tribes, the Kipchaks began a massive movement to the west, which was the second major migration of tribes after the Huns. Having forced out the Pechenegs and Torks, at the beginning of the 11th century. The Kipchaks captured the Trans-Volga region and soon the interfluves of the Volga and Don. In 1055 they reached the Dnieper and thus became masters of a large territory between the Volga and Dnieper, which turned into their second homeland. These lands later received the name “Dasht-i-Kipchak”, which translated from Persian means “Kipchak Steppe” or “Polovtsian Steppe”; Polovtsy - Russian, chronicle name of the Kipchaks, from the word “field” and meant a man of the field, i.e. a nomad. From this period, the history of the Polovtsian world was closely connected with the history of Rus': feudal wars, diplomacy, trade, marriage relations between princes and beks (and later, in 1223, a joint struggle with the Russians against the Mongols on the Kalka River).

In the second half of the 11th century. Two large Kipchak tribal unions formed: the western one in the territory from the Dnieper to the Don and the eastern one - from the Don to the Volga and in the Lower Volga region. The Western Union led by Khan Kobyak collapsed in 1183 under the blows of the troops of Svyatoslav and Rurik. The Eastern Union, on the contrary, strengthened, and under the leadership of Khan Konchak a powerful feudal union of Polovtsian-Kipchak tribes was formed. In response to the defeat of the Western Kipchaks and the murder of Khan Kobyak, in 1183 Konchak began military operations against Rus', took Pereyaslavl and Putivl, defeated the troops of Igor, the son of Svyatoslav, and took the prince himself prisoner (these events are clearly reflected in the famous poem “ A Word about Igor's Campaign"

which later served as the plot for the heroic opera “Prince Igor”),

As a result of constant communication with the Russians, part of the Polovtsians from the middle of the 12th century. began to convert to Christianity; even Konchak's successor was baptized (Yuri). Russian campaigns 1190-1193. undermined the forces of the Polovtsians, they came into close contact with the Russians during the Mongol conquest.

In the 30s of the 13th century. The Kipchaks, under the leadership of Bachman, rebelled against the Mongols (Bachman’s army also included Alans and Bulgars), but were defeated. The Kipchaks became part of the Golden Horde, a state formed by the Mongols on the lands of Desht-i-Kipchak, the main Turkic population of which were the Kipchaks. The bulk of the Mongols (“Tatar-Mongols”) in the army of Genghis Khan, and then Batu Khan, after the conquests of Eastern Europe returned to Mongolia, and the remainder assimilated among the Kipchaks, but left behind them their name “Tatars” (hence the name “ Tatars" - see below). This historical phenomenon is most vividly described by al-Omari, the largest Arab scholar-encyclopedist of the first half of the 14th century:

“In ancient times, this state was the country of the Kipchaks, but when the Tatars took possession of it, the Kipchaks became their subjects. Then they (Tatars) mixed and became related to them (Kipchaks), and the earth prevailed over the natural and racial qualities of them (Tatars) and they all became just like Kipchaks, as if they were of the same kind (with them) as the Mongols (and Tatars) settled on the land of the Kipchaks, married them and remained to live in their (Kipchaks) land.” 1

Finishing the story about the Kipchaks, it is necessary to pay special attention to one important point. This general ethnic term cannot mean a single nationality with one “pure Kipchak” language. The Kipchaks played one or another role in the formation of a fairly significant number of Turkic-speaking peoples: Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals, Crimean and Siberian Tatars, Uzbeks and others (Caucasoid and Mongoloid).

Well-known Soviet Turkologists E.V. Sevortyan and A.K. Kuryshzhanov note the heterogeneity of the Kipchaks,

1 Tizengauzen V. Collection of materials related to the history of the Golden Horde. St. Petersburg, 1884, vol. 1, p. 235.

It is believed that the ethnographic name “Kipchak” meant a political military-tribal association of a number of Turkic peoples, tribes and clans, sometimes many thousands of kilometers distant from each other, who spoke their native languages, for which the Kipchak language did not become a single language. The Kipchak-Polovtsian, Kipchak-Bulgar, Kipchak-Nogai subgroups of the Kipchak group of languages ​​are known, with which the modern Karaite, Kumyk, Karachay-Balkar, Crimean Tatar, Tatar, Bashkir, Nogai, Karakalpak, and Kazakh languages ​​are associated. Although this classification by N.A. Baskakov requires further clarification, and perhaps to some extent revision, there is no doubt that the Kipchak language and its speaker were far from united. There are examples in history of the heterogeneity of large alliances of tribes, different even in language, but having one collective name: before the Kipchaks there were the Huns, earlier the Sarmatians, even earlier the Scythians, and later the Tatars.

So, where does the name “Tatars” come from? Tatars is an ethnonym, the name of some Turkic-speaking tribes of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, known since the 8th century. on the tombstones on the graves of the leaders of the Kaganate. These tribes are known under the names “Tokuz-Tatars” (“Nine Tatars”) and “Otuz-Tatars” (“Thirty Tatars”). The Tatars are also mentioned in Chinese sources of the 9th century. in the forms yes-da, ta-ta, tan-tan. In a Persian work of the 10th century. “Hudud al-alam” Tatars are named as one of the clans of the Tokuz-Oguz - the population of the Karakhanid state, formed after the collapse of the Western Turkic Kaganate. The Tatars are also known from sources of the 11th century. Thus, Mahmud Kashgari names the Tatar tribe among 20 Turkic tribes, and al-Gardizi cites a legend from the history of the formation of the Kimak Kaganate, according to which people from the Tatar tribe played a significant role in it.

In the 12th century. The Tatars began to play a prominent role in the movement that arose in the steppes of Central Asia during the formation of the Mongol Empire." According to

1 These events are clearly reflected in a number of valuable sources: in “Mongol un-niucha tobcha’an” (“The Secret History of the Mongols”; also known as “The Secret Legend”, and in Chinese “Yuan-chao-bishi”, created in 1240; in the series “Zhami'at Tawarikh” (“Collection of Chronicles”) by the outstanding Persian historian and statesman of the first half of the 14th century Rashid ad-din; in the Mongolian chronicle of the 17th century “Altai Tobchi” (“Golden Legend”) , as well as in the Chinese chronicle of the 13th century “Meng-da bei-lu” (“ Full description Mongol-Tatars").

sources, in the territory where modern Mongols live, in the 12th century. lived the Mongols themselves and other Mongolian tribes, for example, the Kereits, Merkits, Oirots and Naimans. If they all occupied most basins of the Orkhon and Kerulen, as well as the lands to the west and north of these rivers, the Tatars lived in the east, in the areas of lakes Buir-Nor and Kulen-Nor. In sources, especially “Meng-da bei-lu”, these Tatars are called East Mongolian tribes; despite the fact that they were once Turkic in origin, over time they were assimilated by the more numerous Mongols. This process intensified during the creation of a unified Mongol Empire under the leadership of Genghis Khan (“Great Khan”; his proper name was Temujin or simply Timuchin).

Being a talented commander and an experienced diplomat, Genghis Khan achieved great success in uniting the disparate Mongol and other tribes subordinate to them. At the same time, he successfully took advantage of the long-standing enmity between some Mongol tribes and the Tatars. Considering the Tatars to be his blood enemies (they killed his father at one time), Genghis took revenge on them all his life and called for their extermination. When he began his campaign to the west, he placed the Tatars in the forefront of his army, introducing them into battle first, as a kind of suicide bombers. The Western European traveler, the Hungarian monk Julian, who visited Eastern Europe in 1237-1238, that is, during the period of the Mongol conquests, wrote that the Mongols, having armed the tribes and peoples they had defeated, sent them into battle ahead of themselves and forced them to call them Tatars. Another Flemish traveler, Guillaume Rubruk, having visited Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire, in 1254, wrote: “Then Genghis sent Tatars everywhere, and from there their name spread, as they shouted everywhere: “Here come the Tatars.”

Consequently, according to the name of the vanguard detachment, the entire Mongol invasion was accepted as Tatar. Soon this name became a common noun

1 Guillaume de Rubruck. Trip to eastern countries. - In the book: Travel to the eastern countries of Plano Carpini and Rubruk. M., 1957, p. 116.

for all these conquerors. The Tatars themselves, originally Turkic-speaking tribes, had already disappeared as an ethnic group by that time, were assimilated, absorbed by the Mongols, leaving only their name behind them. The entire Mongol conquest was called Mongol-Tatar or Tatar.

However, soon, after the creation of the Golden Horde in the western regions of the vast Mongol Empire and the return of the main Mongol forces to Central Mongolia, the same story happened to the Mongols themselves, who remained in the newly conquered lands - in “Dasht-i-Kipchak”. As we saw above according to al-Omari’s message, they were assimilated by the Kipchaks, but they retained their common name “Tatars” for the latter. There are enough such phenomena in history; Let us only remember the Asparukh Bulgarians, absorbed over time by the southern, Danube Slavs, who took from them the name “Bulgars,” as they are called now.

Gradually, the word “Tatars” began to be used to name the Turkic-speaking population of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Siberia; at the same time, it spread most of all in the western regions - in the Volga region and adjacent areas. The name of the military-feudal elite passed on to the entire population of the region, but this term was not used by these peoples themselves, but by others, primarily Europeans and Russians. In other words, Turkic world to the east of Rus' it was called Tatar, and was known for a long time under the name Tataria, Tartaria. In naming this world Tatar, Russian historical and fiction, in general, public opinion in Russia in feudal and later eras.

The artificial spread of the name “Tatars” among the Turkic-speaking peoples of Eastern Europe and adjacent areas was explained by “reminiscences (echoes - R.F.) of the Mongol conquest, primarily the Russian historical tradition, for the Russians in most cases retained this term as the name of these peoples, who themselves almost did not use this name or did not use it at all” *.

Kazan became the most powerful Turkic state after the collapse of the Golden Horde in the Volga region

1 Sat. Origin of the Kazan Tatars, p. 137.

The khanate is the closest eastern neighbor of Russia, which, according to the old tradition, was accepted as Tatar. In Russian sources reflecting the events of the 15th century, the time of formation and the initial history of this Khanate, along with the words “Bulgars”, “Besermen” (from the word “Busurmans”, i.e. Muslims), the word “Tatars” appears. The entire 15th century was a time of parallel use of these three terms to designate the population of the new Bulgaro-Tatar land - first the Kazan principality, and then the Khanate. However, the population itself, i.e. the former Bulgars, did not yet call themselves Tatars. Both in the 15th and 16th centuries, already during the period of the independent existence of the Kazan Khanate, this population was called mainly Kazanians, which is noted, as we saw above, in Russian chronicles: “Bulgarians, Glagolemians Kazanians.” Another interesting example: in the “Kazan History” known to us, the author of which lived 20 years in Kazan before its capture by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, the term “Kazanians” in the meaning of the main population of Kazan and the Kazan Khanate is mentioned 650 times, while “Tatars” - only 90 once.

“Tatars” began to be used as a self-name of the people only in the 19th century. In other words, the Tatars began to call themselves Tatars only during this period. However, even then there was still some sense of alienness of this word. As a sign of protest against this name, old-timers often called themselves Muslims, or simply Bulgars. In numerous Tatar shezheres (genealogies), compiled at the end of the 19th - first quarter of the 20th centuries, the epithet “al-Bulgari” (Bulgarian) is very common. Moreover, it was worn not only by representatives of earlier generations, but also by the compilers themselves. The epithet “al-Bulgari” is characteristic of all centuries from the 12th century until the 20s of our century.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. a number of Turkic-speaking peoples of Russia also bore the common name “Tatars”. In addition to the Kazan, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov and Crimean Tatars, there were, for example, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Jagatai Tatars, Kazakh Tatars, Kyrgyz Tatars, Khakass Tatars and others. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, all these peoples, except the Tatars, regained their original names and ethnonyms. The name “Tatars,” although with difficulty, stuck forever and became the self-name of the modern Tatar people - the very

numerous Turkic-speaking people of Eastern Europe, who left the most noticeable mark in the complex medieval history this region. It was also firmly established among the population of the former Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov and Crimean khanates, formed in due time after the final collapse of the Golden Horde - the former “Tatar” state.

It should be noted that the nationalist Tatar bourgeoisie, which considered themselves descendants of the “great Genghis”, the Horde, also played a certain role in the adoption of this name. One way or another, the name “Tatars”, by the will of fate, stuck with the entire people. However, it must always and clearly be borne in mind that the origin of a people and the origin of its name often do not coincide, which is especially clearly seen in the example of the modern Tatar people.

There was a time when modern Tatars were considered descendants of the conquering Mongols. This idea, i.e. the idea Mongolian origin of the Tatar people was widespread in the previous noble-bourgeois historiography. Although the echoes of this theory are still alive to a certain extent, our Soviet historical science has practically abandoned it, primarily because between the Chingizid Mongols of the 12th-13th centuries. and modern Tatars have nothing in common either in language, or in anthropology, or in material and spiritual cultures. Today's Tatars, as is known, have long spoken Turkic (Tatar), and not Mongolian. According to the structure of their physical type, they belong to Caucasian race, and the Mongols were and are now clearly distinct Mongoloids. True, among the current Tatars there is a small proportion of Mongoloid ones - 14.5%; In addition to them, there is a noticeable part of sublaponoids (a type formed as a result of the mixing of Caucasoids and Mongoloids) - these make up 24.5%. However, they are by no means descendants of the conquering Mongols.

According to anthropologists, the Mongoloid character of modern Tatars is associated with the Kipchaks, and the sublaponoid type was formed as a result of the penetration of Siberian (Mongoloid) tribes into the Middle Volga region in the 1st millennium AD. e. (and even earlier) and mixing them with local Caucasians. Between the Chingizid Mongols and modern Tatars - the Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals - there is nothing in common and ethnography

chesically There are no Mongolian archaeological sites in Tataria and adjacent areas, with the exception of the remains of several houses characteristic of Central Asia, which did not play a role in the formation of the ethnic group.

Above we briefly talked about the origin of the Kazan Tatars and Mishar Tatars. In addition to them, there are other ethnographic groups of modern Tatars - the above-mentioned Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov Tatars. They played a role in the formation of the ethnic group of the Siberian Tatars Altai Turks and to a certain extent the late Kipchaks. The Astrakhan Tatars also have early and late components: Khazars and Nogais. The Kasimov Tatars come from the Kazan Khanate, the Kazan Tatars, but in the west they largely mixed with the Mishar Tatars.

Within these groups there are separate small groups. Each of them. passed my historical path. This path was not always direct. Entering into ethnocultural contact with other groups and peoples, these groups were enriched with new elements of language and culture. As a result of historical development, all these groups and subgroups were created in the 19th century. bourgeois, and after the Great October Revolution - the Tatar socialist nation. From time immemorial, the Tatar people lived in friendship with the great Russian people and with other peoples, sharing with them, in the words of Tukai, “their rich language, customs and morals.”

In 1913, the seriously ill Tukay, not quite 27 years old, wrote two months before his death:

Our mark will not fade on Russian soil.

We are the image of Russia in mirror glass.

We lived and sang in harmony with the Russians of old,

Evidence - morals, habits, vocabulary.

We have become close friends with the Russian people for a long time,

We stand together in all trials.

Such kinship cannot be avoided at times, -

We are tightly connected by a thread of history!

Like tigers, we are brave in the troubles of war,

We work like horses in days of peace.

Fortunately - with any people on an equal basis -

We have the right in our native country! 1

The poet's cherished dream of the equality of his people with other peoples came true after the Great October Revolution. October, the great Lenin gave the Tatar people freedom, they gave them a republic. Today, almost seven million Tatar people are in a single, friendly family of Soviet socialist nations.

1 Gabdulla Tukay. Favorites. M., 1986, p. 146-147.

Tribes XI - XII centuries. They spoke Mongolian (the Mongolian language group of the Altai language family). The term “Tatars” first appears in Chinese chronicles specifically to designate their northern nomadic neighbors. Later it becomes the self-name of numerous nationalities speaking Tyuk languages language group Altai language family.

2. Tatars (self-name - Tatars), an ethnic group that makes up the main population of Tatarstan (Tatarstan) (1,765 thousand people, 1992). They also live in Bashkiria, the Mari Republic, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Penza and other regions of the Russian Federation. Tatars are also called Turkic-speaking communities of Siberia (Siberian Tatars), Crimea (Crimean Tatars), etc. The total number in the Russian Federation (excluding Crimean Tatars) is 5.52 million people (1992). The total number is 6.71 million people. The language is Tatar. Believing Tatars are Sunni Muslims.

Basic information

Autoethnonym (self-name)

Tatar: Tatar is the self-name of the Volga Tatars.

Main area of ​​settlement

Basic ethnic territory The Volga Tatars are the Republic of Tatarstan, where, according to the 1989 USSR census, 1,765 thousand people lived. (53% of the republic's population). A significant part of the Tatars live outside of Tatarstan: in Bashkiria - 1121 thousand people, Udmurtia - 111 thousand people, Mordovia - 47 thousand people, as well as in other national-state entities and regions of the Russian Federation. Many Tatars live within the so-called. “near abroad”: in Uzbekistan – 468 thousand people, Kazakhstan – 328 thousand people, in Ukraine – 87 thousand people. etc.

Number

The dynamics of the population of the Tatar ethnic group according to the country's censuses is as follows: 1897 – 2228 thousand (total number of Tatars), 1926 – 2914 thousand Tatars and 102 thousand Kryashens, 1937 – 3793 thousand, 1939 – 4314 thousand ., 1959 - 4968 thousand, 1970 - 5931 thousand, 1979 - 6318 thousand people. The total number of Tatars according to the 1989 census was 6649 thousand people, of which 5522 thousand were in the Russian Federation.

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

There are several quite distinct ethno-territorial groups of Tatars; they are sometimes considered separate ethnic groups. The largest of them is the Volga-Urals, which in turn consists of the Kazan, Kasimov, Mishar and Kryashen Tatars). Some researchers, as part of the Volga-Ural Tatars, especially highlight the Astrakhan Tatars, which in turn consist of such groups as the Yurt, Kundrovskaya, etc.). Each group had its own tribal divisions, for example, the Volga-Ural group - Meselman, Kazanly, Bolgar, Misher, Tipter, Kereshen, Nogaybak, etc. Astrakhan - Nugai, Karagash, Yurt Tatarlars.
Other ethno-territorial groups of Tatars are Siberian and Crimean Tatars.

Language

Tatar: The Tatar language has three dialects - western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). The earliest known literary monument in the Tatar language dates back to the 13th century; the formation of the modern Tatar national language was completed at the beginning of the 20th century.

Writing

Until 1928, Tatar writing was based on Arabic script; in the period 1928-1939. - in Latin, and then based on Cyrillic.

Religion

Islam

Orthodoxy: Believers of the Tatars are mainly Sunni Muslims, the group of Kryashens are Orthodox.

Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

The ethnonym “Tatar” began to spread among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes of Central Asia and southern Siberia from the 6th century. In the 13th century During the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and then Batu, Tatars appeared in Eastern Europe and made up a significant part of the population of the Golden Horde. As a result of complex ethnogenetic processes occurring in the 13th-14th centuries, the Turkic and Mongolian tribes of the Golden Horde consolidated, including both the earlier Turkic newcomers and the local Finnish-speaking population. In the khanates formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, it was primarily the elite of society who called themselves Tatars; after these khanates became part of Russia, the ethnonym “Tatars” began to be adopted by the common people. The Tatar ethnic group was finally formed only at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1920, the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as part of the RSFSR, and since 1991 it has been called the Republic of Tatarstan.

Farm

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the basis of the traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars was arable farming with three fields in forest and forest-steppe regions and a fallow-fallow system in the steppe. The land was cultivated with a two-toothed plow and a heavy Saban plow in the 19th century. they began to be replaced by more improved plows. The main crops were winter rye and spring wheat, oats, barley, peas, lentils, etc. Livestock farming in the northern regions of the Tatars played a subordinate role; here it was of a stall-pasture nature. They raised small cattle, chickens, and horses, the meat of which was used for food; the Kryashens raised pigs. In the south, in the steppe zone, livestock farming was not inferior in importance to agriculture, and in some places it had an intense semi-nomadic character - horses and sheep were grazed all year round. Poultry was also bred here. Vegetable gardening among the Tatars played a secondary role; the main crop was potatoes. Beekeeping was developed, and melon growing was developed in the steppe zone. Hunting as a trade was important only for the Ural Mishars; fishing was of an amateur nature and only commercial on the Ural and Volga rivers. Among the crafts of the Tatars, woodworking played a significant role; leather processing and gold embroidery were distinguished by a high level of skill; weaving, felting, blacksmithing, jewelry and other crafts were developed.

Traditional clothing

Traditional Tatar clothing was made from home-made or purchased fabrics. The underwear of men and women was a tunic-shaped shirt, men's length almost to the knees, and women's almost to the floor with a wide gather at the hem and a bib decorated with embroidery, and trousers with wide steps. The women's shirt was more decorated. The outerwear was swinging with a continuous fitted back. This included a camisole, sleeveless or with short sleeves; the women's was richly decorated; over the camisole, men wore a long, spacious robe, plain or striped, belted with a sash. In cold weather they wore quilted or fur beshmets and fur coats. On the road they wore a straight-back fur sheepskin coat with a sash or a checkmen of the same cut, but made of cloth. The men's headdress was a skull cap of various shapes; a fur or quilted hat was worn over it in cold weather, and a felt hat in summer. Women's headdresses were distinguished by great variety - various types of richly decorated hats, bedspreads, towel-shaped headdresses. Women wore a lot of jewelry - earrings, braid pendants, breast jewelry, baldrics, bracelets; silver coins were widely used in making jewelry. Traditional types of shoes were leather ichigs and shoes with soft and hard soles, often made of colored leather. Work shoes were Tatar-style bast shoes, which were worn with white cloth stockings, and mishars with onuchas.

Traditional settlements and dwellings

Traditional Tatar villages (auls) were located along the river network and transport communications. In the forest zone, their layout was different - cumulus, nesting, chaotic; the villages were characterized by crowded buildings, uneven and confusing streets, and the presence of numerous dead ends. The buildings were located inside the estate, and the street was formed by a continuous line of blank fences. The settlements of the forest-steppe and steppe zones were distinguished by the orderliness of their development. In the center of the settlement there were mosques, shops, public grain barns, fire sheds, administrative buildings, families of wealthy peasants, clergy, and merchants also lived here.
The estates were divided into two parts - the front yard with housing, storage and premises for livestock, and the back yard, where there was a vegetable garden, a threshing floor with a current, a barn, a chaff barn, and a bathhouse. The buildings of the estate were located either randomly or grouped in a U-, L-shape, in two rows, etc. The buildings were erected from wood with a predominance of timber frame technology, but there were also buildings made from clay, brick, stone, adobe, and wattle structures. The dwelling was three-partitioned - izba-seni-izba or two-partitioned - izba-seni; among the wealthy Tatars there were five-walled, cross-shaped, two- and three-story houses with storage rooms and shops on the lower floor. The roofs were two- or four-slope; they were covered with planks, shingles, straw, reeds, and sometimes coated with clay. The internal layout of the Northern Central Russian type predominated. The stove was located at the entrance, bunks were laid along the front wall with a “tour” place of honor in the middle, along the line of the stove the dwelling was divided by a partition or curtain into two parts: the women’s – kitchen and the men’s – guest. The stove was of the Russian type, sometimes with a boiler, mounted or suspended. They rested, ate, worked, slept on bunks; in the northern regions they were shortened and supplemented with benches and tables. The sleeping places were enclosed by a curtain or canopy. In interior design big role embroidered fabric products were played. In some areas, the exterior decoration of dwellings was abundant - carvings and polychrome painting.

Food

The basis of nutrition was meat, dairy and plant foods - soups seasoned with pieces of dough, sour bread, flat cakes, pancakes. Wheat flour was used as a dressing for various dishes. Noodles were popular homemade, it was cooked in meat broth with the addition of butter, lard, and sour milk. Delicious dishes included baursak - dough balls boiled in lard or oil. There was a variety of porridges made from lentils, peas, barley, millet, etc. Various meats were consumed - lamb, beef, poultry; horse meat was popular among the Mishars. They prepared tutyrma for future use - sausage with meat, blood and cereals. Beleshi were made from dough with meat filling. There were a variety of dairy products: katyk - special kind sour milk, sour cream, kort cheese, etc. They ate little vegetables, but from the end of the 19th century. Potatoes began to play a significant role in the diet of the Tatars. The drinks were tea, ayran - a mixture of katyk and water, the festive drink was shirbet - made from fruit and honey dissolved in water. Islam stipulated dietary prohibitions on pork and alcoholic beverages.

Social organization

Until the beginning of the 20th century. For public relations Some groups of Tatars were characterized by tribal division. In the field of family relations, the predominance of small families was noted with a small percentage large families, which included 3-4 generations of relatives. There was avoidance of men by women, female seclusion. The isolation of male and female youth was strictly observed; the status of men was much higher than that of women. In accordance with the norms of Islam, there was a custom of polygamy, more typical for the wealthy elite.

Spiritual culture and traditional beliefs

It was typical for the wedding rituals of the Tatars that the parents of the boy and girl agreed on the marriage; the consent of the young people was considered optional. During preparations for the wedding, the relatives of the bride and groom discussed the size of the bride price, which was paid by the groom's side. There was a custom of kidnapping the bride, which eliminated the payment of bride price and expensive wedding expenses. Basic wedding ceremonies including the festive feast, which was held in the bride’s house without the participation of the newlyweds. The young woman remained with her parents until the bride price was paid, and her move to her husband’s house was sometimes delayed until the birth of the first child, which was also accompanied by many rituals.
The festive culture of the Tatars was closely connected with the Muslim religion. The most significant of the holidays were Korban Gaete - sacrifice, Uraza Gaete - the end of the 30-day fast, Maulid - the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. At the same time, many holidays and rituals were of a pre-Islamic nature, for example, related to the cycle of agricultural work. Among the Kazan Tatars, the most significant of them was Sabantuy (saban - “plow”, tui - “wedding”, “holiday”), celebrated in the spring before sowing. During it, competitions were held in running and jumping, national wrestling keresh and horse racing, and a collective meal of porridge was held. Among the baptized Tatars traditional holidays were dated to the Christian calendar, but also contained many archaic elements.
There was a belief in various master spirits: water - suanasy, forests - shurale, earth - fat anasy, brownie oy iyase, barn - abzar iyase, ideas about werewolves - ubyr. Prayers were held in groves called keremet; it was believed that an evil spirit with the same name lived in them. There were also ideas about other evil spirits - gins and peris. For ritual help they turned to the yemchi - that’s what healers and healers were called.
Folklore, song and dance art associated with the use of musical instruments– kuraya (a type of flute), kubyz (labial harp), and over time the accordion became widespread.

Bibliography and sources

Bibliographies

• Material culture of the Kazan Tatars (extensive bibliography). Kazan, 1930./Vorobiev N.I.

General work

• Kazan Tatars. Kazan, 1953./Vorobiev N.I.
• Tatars. Naberezhnye Chelny, 1993./Iskhakov D.M.
• Peoples of the European part of the USSR. T.II / Peoples of the world: Ethnographic essays. M., 1964. P.634-681.
• Peoples of the Volga and Urals regions. Historical and ethnographic essays. M., 1985.
• Tatars and Tatarstan: Directory. Kazan, 1993.
• Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals. M., 1967.
• Tatars // Peoples of Russia: Encyclopedia. M., 1994. pp. 320-331.

Selected aspects

• Agriculture of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals 19th-early 20th centuries. M., 1981./Khalikov N.A.
• Origin of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1978./Khalikov A.Kh.
• Tatar people and their ancestors. Kazan, 1989./Khalikov A.Kh.
• Mongols, Tatars, Golden Horde and Bulgaria. Kazan, 1994./Khalikov A.Kh.
• Ethnocultural zoning of the Tatars of the Middle Volga region. Kazan, 1991.
• Modern rituals of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1984./Urazmanova R.K.
• Ethnogenesis and main milestones in the development of the Tatar-Bulgars // Problems of linguoethnohistory of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1995./Zakiev M.Z.
• History of the Tatar ASSR (from ancient times to the present day). Kazan, 1968.
• Settlement and number of Tatars in the Volga-Ural historical and ethnographic region in the 18th-19th centuries. // Soviet ethnography, 1980, No. 4./Iskhakov D.M.
• Tatars: ethnos and ethnonym. Kazan, 1989./Karimullin A.G.
• Handicrafts of the Kazan province. Vol. 1-2, 8-9. Kazan, 1901-1905./Kosolapov V.N.
• Peoples of the Middle Volga region and Southern Urals. Ethnogenetic view of history. M., 1992./Kuzeev R.G.
• Terminology of kinship and properties among the Mishar Tatars in the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic // Materials on Tatar dialectology. 2. Kazan, 1962./Mukhamedova R.G.
• Beliefs and rituals of the Kazan Tatars, formed due to the influence of Sunni Mohammedanism on their life // Western Russian Geographical Society. T. 6. 1880./Nasyrov A.K.
• Origin of the Kazan Tatars. Kazan, 1948.
• Tatarstan: national interests(Political essay). Kazan, 1995./Tagirov E.R.
• Ethnogenesis of the Volga Tatars in the light of anthropological data // Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. New gray T.7 .M.-L., 1949./Trofimova T.A.
• Tatars: problems of history and language (Collected articles on problems of linguistic history, revival and development Tatar nation). Kazan, 1995./Zakiev M.Z.
• Islam and the national ideology of the Tatar people // Islamic-Christian borderland: results and prospects of study. Kazan, 1994./Amirkhanov R.M.
• Rural housing of the Tatar ASSR. Kazan, 1957./Bikchentaev A.G.
• Artistic crafts of Tatarstan in the past and present. Kazan, 1957./Vorobiev N.I., Busygin E.P.
• History of the Tatars. M., 1994./Gaziz G.

Selected regional groups

• Geography and culture of ethnographic groups of Tatars in the USSR. M., 1983.
• Teptyari. Experience of ethnostatistical study // Soviet ethnography, 1979, No. 4./Iskhakov D.M.
• Mishar Tatars. Historical and ethnographic study. M., 1972./Mukhamedova R.G.
• Chepetsk Tatars (Brief historical sketch) // New in ethnographic studies of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1978./Mukhamedova R.G.
• Kryashen Tatars. Historical and ethnographic study of material culture (mid-19th-early 20th centuries). M., 1977./Mukhametshin Yu.G.
• On the history of the Tatar population of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (about the Mishars) // Tr.NII YALIE. Issue 24 (serial source). Saransk, 1963./Safrgalieva M.G.
• Bashkirs, Meshcheryaks and Teptyars // Izv. Russian Geographical Society.T.13, Issue. 2. 1877./Uyfalvi K.
• Kasimov Tatars. Kazan, 1991./Sharifullina F.M.

Publication of sources

• Sources on the history of Tatarstan (16-18 centuries). Book 1. Kazan, 1993.
• Materials on the history of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1995.
• Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on the formation of the Autonomous Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic // Collection. legalizations and orders of the workers' and peasants' government. No. 51. 1920.

Read further:

Karin Tatars- an ethnic group living in the village of Karino, Slobodsky district, Kirov region. and nearby settlements. Believers are Muslims. Perhaps they have common roots with the Besermyans (V.K. Semibratov), ​​living in the territory of Udmurtia, but, unlike them (who speak Udmurt), they speak a dialect of the Tatar language.

Ivkinsky Tatars- a mythical ethnic group, mentioned by D. M. Zakharov based on folklore data.