The origin of the name “Tatars” has attracted the attention of many researchers. There are different interpretations about the origin of this name, and to this day there are different opinions about the etymology of the word “Tatars” itself. Some derive the etymology of this word from “mountain resident,” where “tat” supposedly means mountain, and “ar” means resident.” The ar component, as is known, is found in the names of many peoples: Bulgarians, Magyars, Avar, Khazars, Mishar, Suvar, etc. Ar is considered a word of Persian origin meaning “person”. The Turkic ir - man - is usually identified with ar. With this etymology, it seems that the ethnonym “Tatars” is of Turkic origin.
O. Belozerskaya, based on works on the etymology of other authors, connects the origin of the name “Tatars” with the Persian word tepter (defter - a notebook written in a list) in the sense of “colonist”. The ethnonym, or rather microethnonym Tiptyar, is of later origin. This name began to denote the Bulgars and others who moved from the Middle Volga region, from the Kazan Khanate to the Urals, Bashkiria in the 16th-17th centuries, and, as we see, there is nothing in common in the etymology of “Tatars” and “Tiptyars”. There are attempts to explain the etymology of “Tatars” from the Tungus word ta-ta in the meaning of “archer”, “to drag”, “to pull”, which is also doubtful.
The famous Turkologist D.E. Eremeev connects the origin of this ethnonym with the ancient Persian word and people: “In the ethnonym “Tatar”, the first component Tat can be compared with one of the names of the ancient Iranian population. As Mahmut Kashgari reports, “Tatami the Turks call those who speak Farsi,” that is, Iranian languages in general, since, for example, he also calls Sogdians Farsi. In addition, the Turks also called their other neighbors - the Chinese and the Uyghurs - tatami. The original meaning of the word “tat” was most likely “Iranian”, “speaking Iranian”, but then this word began to designate all foreigners, strangers” (D. E. Eremeev. On the semantics of Turkic ethnonymy. - In the collection: Ethnonyms .M., 1970, p. 134).
In medieval Western European literature, even Russians began to be identified with the Tatars; Muscovy was simultaneously called “Tartaria,” since at one time both Russians and Bulgars were subjects of the Golden Horde. Like the Chinese, medieval Europe considered itself the center of the Earth and culture, and therefore Western Europeans (read: clerics, churchmen, first of all) considered all other peoples to be barbarians - Tartars! Thus, a vicious circle emerged: the fusion of “ta-ta” coming from China and “tartar” from the West in the same meaning of barbarian, which contributed to the consolidation of this name in a common sense in the consciousness of the masses of Europe. The phonetic similarity between "ta-ta" and "tartar" further facilitated this identification.
In such “favorable” conditions, it was not difficult for priests, official ideologists and historians to present the Tatars as barbarians, savages, descendants of the Mongol conquerors, which led to the confusion of different peoples in one name. The consequence of this is, first of all, a distorted idea of the origin of modern Tatars. All that has been said ultimately led and continues to lead to the falsification of the history of many Turkic peoples, primarily modern Tatars. The outstanding Russian geographer and historian, teacher of the Turkologist Academician V.V. Radlov, the aforementioned K. Ritter correctly noted: “And therefore, despite the abuse of it (the name “Tatars.” - L.K.) in ethnography and geography, where it is erroneous transferred to the Western Turks, so to the Eastern Manchu people of the Mongol tribe, this name, as an updated concept, means a chaotic mass of people in the country of Central Asia, it is very difficult to study them - historical and geographical descriptions this part of the world." As we see, even in the middle of the 19th century, some Russian scientists were well aware of the urgent need to distinguish the names of Mongols and Tatars from the names of Turkic peoples and pointed out that their free use leads to a distortion of history, the past of individual peoples, and complicates the objective study of history, culture, language, origin peoples
The question of the specificity of terms is one of the most pressing in any field of knowledge. It is not without reason that scientists write that if it were possible to eliminate different understandings and interpretations of individual terms, science would get rid of a large burden, the husk of antinomy, and its development would go much faster. We see this kind of phenomenon in different understandings of the ethnonym “Tatars”, leading to various kinds of fictions, confusion, and ultimately to a distortion of the history of the origin of an entire people.
Introduction
Chapter 1. Bulgaro-Tatar and Tatar-Mongol points of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars
Chapter 2. Turkic-Tatar theory of ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. In the world and in the Russian Empire, a social phenomenon developed - nationalism. Which promoted the idea that it is very important for a person to classify himself as a member of a certain social group - a nation (nationality). A nation was understood as a common territory of settlement, culture (especially a common literary language), and anthropological features (body structure, facial features). Against the background of this idea, in each of the social groups there was a struggle to preserve culture. The emerging and developing bourgeoisie became the herald of the ideas of nationalism. At this time, a similar struggle was being waged on the territory of Tatarstan - global social processes did not bypass our region.
In contrast to the revolutionary cries of the first quarter of the 20th century. and the last decade of the 20th century, who used very emotional terms - nation, nationality, people, in modern science it is customary to use a more cautious term - ethnic group, ethnos. This term carries within itself the same community of language and culture, like people, nation, and nationality, but does not need to clarify the nature or size social group. However, belonging to an ethnic group is still important social aspect for a person.
If you ask a passerby in Russia what nationality he is, then, as a rule, the passerby will proudly answer that he is Russian or Chuvash. And, of course, one of those who are proud of their ethnic origin will be a Tatar. But what will this word – “Tatar” – mean in the mouth of the speaker? In Tatarstan, not everyone who considers themselves a Tatar speaks or reads the Tatar language. Not everyone looks like a Tatar from a generally accepted point of view - a mixture of features of the Caucasian, Mongolian and Finno-Ugric anthropological types, for example. Among the Tatars there are Christians and many atheists, and not everyone who considers themselves a Muslim has read the Koran. But all this does not prevent the Tatar ethnic group from surviving, developing and being one of the most distinctive in the world.
Development national culture entails the development of the history of the nation, especially if the study of this history has been prevented for a long time. As a result, the unspoken, and sometimes even public, ban on studying the region led to a particularly rapid surge in Tatar historical science, which is observed to this day. Pluralism of opinions and lack of factual material led to the formation of several theories trying to combine the greatest number known facts. Not just historical doctrines have been formed, but several historical schools that are conducting a scientific dispute among themselves. At first, historians and publicists were divided into “Bulgarists,” who considered the Tatars to be descended from the Volga Bulgars, and “Tatarists,” who considered the period of the formation of the Tatar nation to be the period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate and denied participation in the formation of the Bulgar nation. Subsequently, another theory appeared, on the one hand, contradicting the first two, and on the other, combining all the best of the existing theories. It was called “Turkic-Tatar”.
As a result, we can, based on the key points outlined above, formulate the purpose of this work: to reflect the largest range of points of view on the origin of the Tatars.
The tasks can be divided according to the points of view considered:
Consider the Bulgaro-Tatar and Tatar-Mongol points of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars;
Consider the Turkic-Tatar point of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view.
The chapter titles will correspond to the designated tasks.
point of view ethnogenesis of the Tatars
Chapter 1. Bulgaro-Tatar and Tatar-Mongol points of view on the ethnogenesis of the Tatars
It should be noted that in addition to linguistic and cultural community, as well as general anthropological features, historians pay a significant role to the origin of statehood. So, for example, the beginning Russian history It is not the archaeological cultures of the pre-Slavic period that are considered, nor even the tribal unions of those who migrated in the 3rd and 4th centuries Eastern Slavs, and Kievan Rus, which developed by the 8th century. For some reason, a significant role in the formation of culture is given to the spread (official adoption) of the monotheistic religion, which happened in Kievan Rus in 988, and in Volga Bulgaria in 922. Probably, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory arose primarily from such prerequisites.
The Bulgar-Tatar theory is based on the position that the ethnic basis of the Tatar people was the Bulgar ethnos, which formed in the Middle Volga and Urals region from the 8th century. n. e. (recently, some supporters of this theory began to attribute the appearance of Turkic-Bulgar tribes in the region to the 8th-7th centuries BC and earlier). The most important provisions of this concept are formulated as follows. The main ethnocultural traditions and features of the modern Tatar (Bulgaro-Tatar) people were formed during the period of Volga Bulgaria (X-XIII centuries), and in subsequent times (Golden Horde, Kazan Khan and Russian periods) they underwent only minor changes in language and culture. The principalities (sultanates) of the Volga Bulgars, being part of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde), enjoyed significant political and cultural autonomy, and the influence of the Horde ethnopolitical system of power and culture (in particular, literature, art and architecture) was purely external in nature, which did not have any impact significant influence on Bulgarian society. The most important consequence of the dominance of the Ulus of Jochi was the disintegration of the unified state of Volga Bulgaria into a number of possessions, and the single Bulgar nation into two ethno-territorial groups (“Bulgaro-Burtas” of the Mukhsha ulus and “Bulgars” of the Volga-Kama Bulgar principalities). During the period of the Kazan Khanate, the Bulgar (“Bulgaro-Kazan”) ethnic group strengthened the early pre-Mongol ethnocultural characteristics, which continued to be traditionally preserved (including the self-name “Bulgars”) until the 1920s, when the ethnonym “Tatars” was forcibly imposed on it by Tatar bourgeois nationalists and the Soviet government.
Let's go into a little more detail. Firstly, the migration of tribes from the foothills of the North Caucasus after the collapse of the state of Great Bulgaria. Why is it that at present the Bulgarians, the Bulgars assimilated by the Slavs, have become a Slavic people, and the Volga Bulgars are a Turkic-speaking people who have absorbed the population that lived in this area before them? Is it possible that there were much more newcomer Bulgars than local tribes? In this case, the postulate that Turkic-speaking tribes penetrated this territory long before the Bulgars appeared here - during the times of the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Khazars, looks much more logical. The history of Volga Bulgaria begins not with the fact that alien tribes founded the state, but with the unification of the door cities - the capitals of the tribal unions - Bulgar, Bilyar and Suvar. The traditions of statehood also did not necessarily come from alien tribes, since local tribes neighbored powerful ancient states - for example, the Scythian kingdom. In addition, the position that the Bulgars assimilated local tribes contradicts the position that the Bulgars themselves were not assimilated by the Tatar-Mongols. As a result, the Bulgar-Tatar theory is broken by the fact that the Chuvash language is much closer to the Old Bulgar than the Tatar. And the Tatars today speak the Turkic-Kipchak dialect.
However, the theory is not without merits. For example, anthropological type Kazan Tatars, especially men, makes them similar to the peoples of the North Caucasus and indicates the origin of their facial features - a hooked nose, a Caucasian type - precisely in the mountainous terrain, and not in the steppe.
Until the early 90s of the 20th century, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory of the ethnogenesis of the Tatar people was actively developed by a whole galaxy of scientists, including A.P. Smirnov, N.F. Kalinin, L.Z. Zalyai, G.V. Yusupov, T. A. Trofimova, M. Z. Zakiev, A. G. Karimullin, S. Kh. Alishev.
The theory of the Tatar-Mongolian origin of the Tatar people is based on the fact of the migration of nomadic Tatar-Mongolian (Central Asian) ethnic groups to Europe, who, having mixed with the Kipchaks and adopted Islam during the period of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde), created the basis of the culture of modern Tatars. The origins of the theory of the Tatar-Mongol origin of the Tatars should be sought in medieval chronicles, as well as in folk legends and epics. The greatness of the powers founded by the Mongolian and Golden Horde khans is spoken of in the legends of Genghis Khan, Aksak-Timur, and the epic of Idegei.
Supporters of this theory deny or downplay the importance of Volga Bulgaria and its culture in the history of the Kazan Tatars, believing that Bulgaria was an underdeveloped state, without urban culture and with a superficially Islamized population.
During the period of the Ulus of Jochi, the local Bulgar population was partially exterminated or, retaining paganism, moved to the outskirts, and the main part was assimilated by incoming Muslim groups who brought urban culture and a language of the Kipchak type.
Here again it should be noted that, according to many historians, the Kipchaks were irreconcilable enemies with the Tatar-Mongols. That both campaigns of the Tatar-Mongol troops - under the leadership of Subedei and Batu - were aimed at the defeat and destruction of the Kipchak tribes. In other words, the Kipchak tribes during the Tatar-Mongol invasion were exterminated or driven to the outskirts.
In the first case, the exterminated Kipchaks, in principle, could not cause the formation of a nationality within the Volga Bulgaria; in the second case, it is illogical to call the theory Tatar-Mongol, since the Kipchaks did not belong to the Tatar-Mongols and were a completely different tribe, albeit Turkic-speaking.
The Tatar-Mongol theory can be called if we consider that Volga Bulgaria was conquered and then inhabited by Tatar and Mongol tribes that came from the empire of Genghis Khan.
It should also be noted that the Tatar-Mongols during the period of conquest were predominantly pagans, not Muslims, which usually explains the tolerance of the Tatar-Mongols towards other religions.
Therefore, it is more likely that the Bulgar population, who learned about Islam in the 10th century, contributed to the Islamization of the Ulus of Jochi, and not vice versa.
Archaeological data complement the factual side of the issue: on the territory of Tatarstan there is evidence of the presence of nomadic (Kipchak or Tatar-Mongol) tribes, but their settlement is observed in the southern part of the Tataria region.
However, it cannot be denied that the Kazan Khanate, which arose on the ruins of the Golden Horde, crowned the formation of the Tatar ethnic group.
This is strong and already clearly Islamic, which had for the Middle Ages great importance, the state contributed to the development and, during the period under Russian rule, the preservation of Tatar culture.
There is also an argument in favor of the kinship of the Kazan Tatars with the Kipchaks - the linguistic dialect is referred by linguists to the Turkic-Kipchak group. Another argument is the name and self-name of the people - “Tatars”. Presumably from the Chinese “da-dan”, as Chinese historians called part of the Mongolian (or neighboring Mongolian) tribes in northern China
The Tatar-Mongol theory arose at the beginning of the 20th century. (N.I. Ashmarin, V.F. Smolin) and actively developed in the works of Tatar (Z. Validi, R. Rakhmati, M.I. Akhmetzyanov, and more recently R.G. Fakhrutdinov), Chuvash (V.F. Kakhovsky, V.D. Dimitriev, N.I. Egorov, M.R. Fedotov) and Bashkir (N.A. Mazhitov) historians, archaeologists and linguists.
Chapter 2. Turkic-Tatar theory of ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view
Turkic-Tatar theory of origin Tatar ethnic group emphasizes the Turkic-Tatar origins of modern Tatars, notes the important role in their ethnogenesis of the ethnopolitical tradition of the Turkic Kaganate, Great Bulgaria and Khazar Khaganate, Volga Bulgaria, Kipchak-Kimak and Tatar-Mongolian ethnic groups of the Eurasian steppes.
The Turkic-Tatar concept of the origin of the Tatars is developed in the works of G. S. Gubaidullin, A. N. Kurat, N. A. Baskakov, Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov, R. G. Kuzeev, M. A. Usmanov, R. G. Fakhrutdinov , A. G. Mukhamadieva, N. Davleta, D. M. Iskhakova, Y. Shamiloglu and others. Proponents of this theory believe that it the best way reflects the rather complex internal structure of the Tatar ethnos (characteristic, however, of all major ethnic groups), and combines the best achievements of other theories. In addition, there is an opinion that he was one of the first to point out the complex nature of ethnogenesis, which cannot be reduced to a single ancestor. After the unspoken ban on the publication of works that went beyond the decisions of the 1946 session of the USSR Academy of Sciences lost its relevance, and accusations of the “non-Marxism” of the multicomponent approach to ethnogenesis ceased to be used, this theory was replenished with many domestic publications. Proponents of the theory identify several stages in the formation of an ethnic group.
Stage of formation of the main ethnic components. (mid-VI - mid-XIII centuries). The important role of Volga Bulgaria and state associations in the ethnogenesis of the Tatar people is noted. At this stage, the formation of the main components occurred, which were combined at the next stage. The role of Volga Bulgaria is great, it laid the foundation for tradition, urban culture and writing based on Arabic script (after the 10th century), replacing the most ancient writing -. At this stage, the Bulgars tied themselves to the territory - to the land on which they settled. The territory of settlement was the main criterion for identifying a person with a people.
The stage of the medieval Tatar ethnopolitical community (mid-XIII - first quarter of the 15th centuries). At this time, the consolidation of the components that emerged at the first stage took place in a single state - the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde); medieval Tatars, based on the traditions of peoples united in one state, not only created their own state, but also developed their own ethnopolitical ideology, culture and symbols of their community. All this led to the ethnocultural consolidation of the Golden Horde aristocracy, military service classes, Muslim clergy and the formation of the Tatar ethnopolitical community in the 14th century. The stage is characterized by the fact that on the basis of the Oguz-Kypchak language, the norms of the literary language (literary Old Tatar language) were established. The earliest surviving literary monument on it (the poem “Kyisa-i Yosyf”) was written in the 13th century. The stage ended with the collapse of the Golden Horde (XV century) as a result of feudal fragmentation. In the formed, the formation of new ethnic communities began, which had local self-names: Astrakhan, Kazan, Kasimov, Crimean, Siberian, Temnikov Tatars, etc. During this period, the established cultural community of the Tatars can be evidenced by the fact that there was still a central horde (the Great Horde, Nogai Horde) most of the governors on the outskirts sought to occupy this main throne, or had close ties with the central horde.
After mid-16th century centuries and until the 18th century, a stage of consolidation of local ethnic groups within the Russian state is distinguished. After the annexation of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia to the Russian state, the processes of migration of the Tatars intensified (as mass migrations from the Oka to the Zakamskaya and Samara-Orenburg lines, from the Kuban to the Astrakhan and Orenburg provinces are known) and interactions between its various ethno-territorial groups, which contributed to their linguistic and cultural rapprochement. This was facilitated by the presence of a single literary language, a common cultural, religious and educational field. To a certain extent, the unifying factor was the attitude of the Russian state and the Russian population, who did not distinguish between ethnic groups. There is a common confessional identity - “Muslims”. Some of the local ethnic groups that entered other states at this time (primarily) further developed independently.
The period from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century is defined by supporters of the theory as the formation of the Tatar nation. Just the same period mentioned in the introduction to this work. The following stages of nation formation are distinguished: 1) From XVIII to mid-19th century century - the stage of the “Muslim” nation, at which religion was the unifying factor. 2) From the middle of the 19th century to 1905 - the stage of the “ethnocultural” nation. 3) From 1905 to the end of the 1920s. - stage of the “political” nation.
At the first stage, the attempts of various rulers to carry out Christianization were beneficial. The policy of Christianization, instead of actually transferring the population of the Kazan province from one denomination to another, through its ill-consideration, contributed to the cementation of Islam in the consciousness local population.
At the second stage, after the reforms of the 1860s, the development of bourgeois relations began, which contributed to the rapid development of culture. In turn, its components (education system, literary language, book publishing and periodicals) completed the establishment in the self-awareness of all the main ethno-territorial and ethnic class groups of the Tatars of the idea of belonging to a single Tatar nation. It is to this stage that the Tatar people owe the appearance of the History of Tatarstan. During this period of time, Tatar culture not only managed to recover, but also achieved certain progress.
From the second half of the 19th century century, the modern Tatar literary language began to form, which by the 1910s had completely replaced the old Tatar language. The consolidation of the Tatar nation was strongly influenced by the high migration activity of Tatars from the Volga-Ural region.
The third stage from 1905 to the end of the 1920s. - This is the stage of the “political” nation. The first manifestation was the demands made during the revolution of 1905-1907. Later there were ideas of the Tatar-Bashkir SR, the creation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. After the 1926 census, the remnants of ethnic class self-determination disappeared, that is, the social stratum “Tatar nobility” disappeared.
Let us note that the Turkic-Tatar theory is the most extensive and structured of the theories considered. It really covers many aspects of the formation of the ethnic group in general and the Tatar ethnic group in particular.
In addition to the main theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars, there are also alternative ones. One of the most interesting - Chuvash theory of the origin of the Kazan Tatars.
Most historians and ethnographers, just like the authors of the theories discussed above, are looking for the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars not where these people currently live, but somewhere far beyond the territory of present-day Tatarstan. In the same way, their emergence and formation as a distinctive nationality is attributed to the wrong historical era when this took place, but to more ancient times. In fact, there is every reason to believe that the cradle of the Kazan Tatars is their real homeland, that is, the region of the Tatar Republic on the left bank of the Volga between the Kazanka River and the Kama River.
There are also convincing arguments in favor of the fact that the Kazan Tatars arose, took shape as a distinctive people and multiplied over a historical period, the duration of which covers the era from the founding of the Kazan Tatar kingdom by the Khan of the Golden Horde Ulu-Mahomet in 1437 and up to the Revolution of 1917. Moreover, their ancestors were not the alien “Tatars”, but local peoples: Chuvash (aka Volga Bulgars), Udmurts, Mari, and perhaps also not preserved to this day, but living in those parts, representatives of other tribes, including those who spoke the language , close to the language of the Kazan Tatars.
All these nationalities and tribes apparently lived in those forested regions since time immemorial, and partly perhaps also moved from Trans-Kama, after the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols and the defeat of Volga Bulgaria. In terms of character and level of culture, as well as way of life, this diverse mass of people, at least before the emergence of the Kazan Khanate, differed little from each other. Likewise, their religions were similar and consisted of the veneration of various spirits and sacred groves - kiremetii - places of prayer with sacrifices. This is confirmed by the fact that until the revolution of 1917 they remained in the same Tatar Republic, for example, near the village. Kukmor, a village of Udmurts and Maris, who were not touched by either Christianity or Islam, where until recently people lived according to the ancient customs of their tribe. In addition, in the Apastovsky district of the Tatar Republic, at the junction with the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, there are nine Kryashen villages, including the village of Surinskoye and the village of Star. Tyaberdino, where some of the residents, even before the Revolution of 1917, were “unbaptized” Kryashens, thus surviving until the Revolution outside of both the Christian and Muslim religions. And the Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts and Kryashens who converted to Christianity were only formally included in it, but continued to live according to ancient times until recently.
In passing, we note that the existence almost in our time of “unbaptized” Kryashens casts doubt on the very widespread point of view that the Kryashens arose as a result of the forced Christianization of Muslim Tatars.
The above considerations allow us to make the assumption that in the Bulgar state, the Golden Horde and, to a large extent, the Kazan Khanate, Islam was the religion of the ruling classes and privileged classes, and the common people, or most of them: Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts, etc. lived according to their ancient grandfathers customs.
Now let's see how historical conditions the Kazan Tatar nationality, as we know them in the past, could have arisen and multiplied late XIX and the beginning of the 20th centuries.
In the middle of the 15th century, as already mentioned, on the left bank of the Volga, Khan Ulu-Mahomet, who had been overthrown from the throne and fled from the Golden Horde, appeared with a relatively small detachment of his Tatars. He conquered and subjugated the local Chuvash tribe and created the feudal-serf Kazan Khanate, in which the victors, the Muslim Tatars, were the privileged class, and the conquered Chuvash were the serf common people.
In the latest edition of the Bolshoi Soviet Encyclopedia In more detail about the internal structure of the state in its finalized period, we read the following: “Kazan Khanate, a feudal state in the Middle Volga region (1438-1552), formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde on the territory of Volga-Kama Bulgaria. The founder of the dynasty of Kazan khans was Ulu-Muhammad.”
Higher government belonged to the khan, but was directed by the council of large feudal lords (divan). The top of the feudal nobility consisted of Karachi, representatives of the four most noble families. Next came the sultans, emirs, and below them were the Murzas, lancers and warriors. A major role was played by the Muslim clergy, who owned vast waqf lands. The bulk of the population consisted of “black people”: free peasants who paid yasak and other taxes to the state, feudal-dependent peasants, serfs from prisoners of war and slaves. The Tatar nobles (emirs, beks, murzas, etc.) were hardly very merciful to their serfs, who were also foreigners and people of other faiths. Voluntarily or pursuing goals related to some benefit, but over time, the common people began to adopt their religion from the privileged class, which was associated with the renunciation of their national identity and with a complete change in their way of life and way of life, in accordance with the requirements of the new “Tatar” faith - Islam. This transition of the Chuvash to Mohammedanism was the beginning of the formation of the Kazan Tatars.
The new state that arose on the Volga lasted only about a hundred years, during which raids on the outskirts of the Moscow state almost did not stop. In the inner state life Frequent palace coups took place and proteges found themselves on the Khan’s throne: either Turkey (Crimea), or Moscow, or the Nogai Horde, etc.
The process of forming the Kazan Tatars in the above-mentioned way from the Chuvash, and partly from other, peoples of the Volga region occurred throughout the entire period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate, did not stop after the annexation of Kazan to the Moscow state and continued until the beginning of the twentieth century, i.e. almost up to our time. The Kazan Tatars grew in number not so much as a result of natural growth, but as a result of the Tatarization of other nationalities of the region.
Let us give another rather interesting argument in favor of the Chuvash origin of the Kazan Tatars. It turns out that the Meadow Mari now call the Tatars “suas”. From time immemorial, the Meadow Mari were close neighbors with that part of the Chuvash people who lived on the left bank of the Volga and were the first to become Tatars, so that in those places not a single Chuvash village remained for a long time, although according to historical information and scribal records of the Moscow State there were them there a lot of. The Mari did not notice, especially at the beginning, any changes among their neighbors as a result of the appearance of another god among them - Allah, and forever retained the former name for them in their language. But for distant neighbors - the Russians - from the very beginning of the formation of the Kazan kingdom, there was no doubt that the Kazan Tatars were the same Tatar-Mongols who left a sad memory of themselves among the Russians.
Throughout the relatively short history of this “Khanate,” continuous raids by “Tatars” on the outskirts of the Moscow state continued, and the first Khan Ulu-Mohammed spent the rest of his life in these raids. These raids were accompanied by the devastation of the region, the robberies of the civilian population and the deportation of them “in full”, i.e. everything happened in the style of the Tatar-Mongols.
Thus, the Chuvash theory is also not without its foundations, although it presents us with the ethnogenesis of the Tatars in the most original form.
Conclusion
As we conclude from the material considered, at the moment even the most developed of the available theories - the Turkic-Tatar one - is not ideal. She leaves many questions for one simple reason: historical science Tatarstan is still exceptionally young. A lot of historical sources have not yet been studied; active excavations are underway on the territory of Tataria. All this allows us to hope that in the coming years the theories will be replenished with facts and will acquire a new, even more objective shade.
The material reviewed also allows us to note that all theories are united in one thing: the Tatar people have a complex history of origin and a complex ethnocultural structure.
In the growing process of world integration, European states are already striving to create a single state and a common cultural space. Tatarstan may not be able to avoid this either. The trends of recent (free) decades indicate attempts to integrate the Tatar people into the modern Islamic world. But integration is a voluntary process, it allows you to preserve the self-name of the people, language, and cultural achievements. As long as at least one person speaks and reads Tatar, Tatar nation will exist.
List of used literature
1. R.G.Fakhrutdinov. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. (Antiquity and Middle Ages). Textbook for secondary schools, gymnasiums and lyceums. - Kazan: Magarif, 2000.- 255 p.
2. Sabirova D.K. History of Tatarstan. From ancient times to the present day: textbook / D.K. Sabirova, Ya.Sh. Sharapov. – M.: KNORUS, 2009. – 352 p.
3. Kakhovsky V.F. Origin of the Chuvash people. – Cheboksary: Chuvash Book Publishing House, 2003. – 463 p.
4. Rashitov F.A. History of the Tatar people. – M.: Children's book, 2001. – 285 p.
5. Mustafina G.M., Munkov N.P., Sverdlova L.M. History of Tatarstan XIX century - Kazan, Magarif, 2003. – 256c.
6. Tagirov I.R. History of the national statehood of the Tatar people and Tatarstan - Kazan, 2000. – 327c.
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I am often asked to tell the history of this or that people. Among other things, people often ask questions about the Tatars. Probably, both the Tatars themselves and other peoples feel that school history lied about them, lied something to please the political situation.
The most difficult thing when describing the history of peoples is to determine the point from which to begin. It is clear that everyone ultimately descends from Adam and Eve and all peoples are relatives. But still... The history of the Tatars should probably begin in 375, when a great war broke out in the southern steppes of Rus' between the Huns and Slavs on the one hand and the Goths on the other. In the end, the Huns won and, on the shoulders of the retreating Goths, went into Western Europe, where they disappeared into the knightly castles of the emerging medieval Europe.
The ancestors of the Tatars are the Huns and Bulgars.
The Huns are often considered to be some mythical nomads who came from Mongolia. This is wrong. The Huns are a religious-military formation that arose as a response to the disintegration of the ancient world in the monasteries of Sarmatia on the middle Volga and Kama. The ideology of the Huns was based on a return to the original traditions of the Vedic philosophy of the ancient world and the code of honor. It was they who became the basis of the code of knightly honor in Europe. By race, they were blond and red-haired giants with blue eyes, descendants of the ancient Aryans, who from time immemorial lived in the area from the Dnieper to the Urals. Actually, “Tata-Ars” is from Sanskrit, the language of our ancestors, and is translated as “fathers of the Aryans.” After the departure of the Hunnic army from Southern Rus' to Western Europe, the remaining Sarmatian-Scythian population of the lower Don and Dnieper began to call themselves Bulgars.
Byzantine historians do not distinguish between the Bulgars and the Huns. This suggests that the Bulgars and other tribes of the Huns were similar in customs, languages, and race. The Bulgars belonged to Aryan race, spoke one of the Russian military jargons (a variant of the Turkic languages). Although it is possible that the military groups of the Huns also included people of the Mongoloid type as mercenaries.
As for the earliest mentions of the Bulgars, this is the year 354, “Roman Chronicles” by an unknown author (Th. Mommsen Chronographus Anni CCCLIV, MAN, AA, IX, Liber Generations,), as well as the work of Moise de Khorene.
According to these records, already before the Huns appeared in Western Europe in the middle of the 4th century, the presence of Bulgars was observed in the North Caucasus. In the 2nd half of the 4th century, some of the Bulgars penetrated into Armenia. It can be assumed that the Bulgars are not exactly Huns. According to our version, the Huns are a religious-military formation similar to today’s Taliban in Afghanistan. The only difference is that this phenomenon then arose in the Aryan Vedic monasteries of Sarmatia on the banks of the Volga, Northern Dvina and Don. Blue Rus' (or Sarmatia), after numerous periods of decline and rise in the fourth century AD, began a new rebirth into Great Bulgaria, which occupied the territory from the Caucasus to the Northern Urals. So the appearance of the Bulgars in the middle of the 4th century in the North Caucasus region is more than possible. And the reason that they were not called Huns is obviously that at that time the Bulgars did not call themselves Huns. A certain class of military monks called themselves Huns, who were the guardians of the special Vedic philosophy and religion, experts in martial arts and bearers of a special code of honor, which later formed the basis of the code of honor of the knightly orders of Europe. All the Hunnic tribes came to Western Europe along the same route; it is obvious that they did not come at the same time, but in batches. The appearance of the Huns is a natural process, as a reaction to the degradation of the ancient world. Just as today the Taliban are a response to the processes of degradation of the Western world, so at the beginning of the era the Huns became a response to the decomposition of Rome and Byzantium. It seems that this process is an objective pattern of development of social systems.
At the beginning of the 5th century, wars broke out twice in the northwestern Carpathian region between the Bulgars (Vulgars) and Langobards. At that time all the Carpathians and Pannonia were under the rule of the Huns. But this indicates that the Bulgars were part of the union of Hunnic tribes and that they came to Europe together with the Huns. The Carpathian Vulgars of the early 5th century are the same Bulgars from the Caucasus of the mid-4th century. The homeland of these Bulgars is the Volga region, the Kama and Don rivers. Actually, the Bulgars are fragments of the Hunnic Empire, which at one time destroyed ancient world who remained in the steppes of Rus'. Most of the “men of long will,” religious warriors who formed the invincible religious spirit of the Huns, went to the West and, after the emergence of medieval Europe, disappeared into knightly castles and orders. But the communities that gave birth to them remained on the banks of the Don and Dnieper.
By the end of the 5th century, two main Bulgar tribes were known: the Kutrigurs and the Utigurs. The latter settle along the shores of the Azov Sea in the Taman Peninsula area. The Kutrigurs lived between the bend of the lower Dnieper and the Sea of Azov, controlling the Crimean steppes right up to the walls of Greek cities.
They periodically (in alliance with Slavic tribes) raid the borders of the Byzantine Empire. So, in 539-540, the Bulgars carried out raids across Thrace and Illyria to the Adriatic Sea. At the same time, many Bulgars entered the service of the Byzantine emperor. In 537, a detachment of Bulgars fought on the side of besieged Rome against the Goths. There are known cases of enmity between the Bulgar tribes, which was skillfully incited by Byzantine diplomacy.
Around 558, the Bulgars (mainly Kutrigurs), led by Khan Zabergan, invaded Thrace and Macedonia and approached the walls of Constantinople. And only at the cost of great efforts did the Byzantines stop Zabergan. The Bulgars return to the steppes. main reason- news of the appearance of an unknown warlike horde east of the Don. These were the Avars of Khan Bayan.
Byzantine diplomats immediately use the Avars to fight against the Bulgars. New allies are offered money and land for settlements. Although the Avar army is only about 20 thousand horsemen, it still carries the same invincible spirit of the Vedic monasteries and, naturally, turns out to be stronger than the numerous Bulgars. This is also facilitated by the fact that another horde is moving after them, now the Turks. The Utigurs are the first to be attacked, then the Avars cross the Don and invade the lands of the Kutrigurs. Khan Zabergan becomes a vassal of Khagan Bayan. The further fate of the Kutrigurs is closely connected with the Avars.
In 566, the advanced detachments of the Turks reached the shores of the Black Sea near the mouth of the Kuban. The Utigurs recognize the power of the Turkic Kagan Istemi over themselves.
Having united the army, they captured the most ancient capital of the ancient world, Bosporus, on the shores of the Kerch Strait, and in 581 they appeared under the walls of Chersonesos.
Renaissance
After the Avar army left for Pannonia and the beginning of civil strife in the Turkic Kaganate, the Bulgar tribes united again under the rule of Khan Kubrat. Kurbatovo station in Voronezh region- the ancient headquarters of the legendary Khan. This ruler, who led the Onnogurov tribe, was raised as a child at the imperial court in Constantinople and was baptized at the age of 12. In 632, he declared independence from the Avars and stood at the head of the association, which in Byzantine sources received the name Great Bulgaria.
It occupied the south of modern Ukraine and Russia from the Dnieper to the Kuban. In 634-641, the Christian Khan Kubrat entered into an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.
The emergence of Bulgaria and the settlement of the Bulgars around the world
However, after the death of Kubrat (665), his empire disintegrated, as it was divided between his sons. The eldest son Batbayan began to live in the Azov region as a tributary of the Khazars. Another son, Kotrag, moved to the right bank of the Don and also came under the rule of Jews from Khazaria. The third son, Asparukh, under Khazar pressure, went to the Danube, where, having subjugated the Slavic population, he laid the foundation for modern Bulgaria.
In 865, the Bulgarian Khan Boris converted to Christianity. The mixing of the Bulgars with the Slavs led to the emergence of modern Bulgarians.
Two more sons of Kubrat - Kuver (Kuber) and Altsekom (Altsekom) - went to Pannonia to join the Avars. During the formation of Danube Bulgaria, Kuver rebelled and went over to the side of Byzantium, settling in Macedonia. Subsequently, this group became part of the Danube Bulgarians. Another group, led by Alzek, intervened in the struggle for succession to the throne in the Avar Khaganate, after which they were forced to flee and seek refuge with the Frankish king Dagobert (629-639) in Bavaria, and then settle in Italy near Ravenna.
A large group of Bulgars returned to their historical homeland - the Volga region and the Kama region, from where their ancestors had once been carried away by the whirlwind of the passionate impulse of the Huns. However, the population they met here was not much different from themselves.
At the end of the 8th century. Bulgar tribes in the Middle Volga created the state of Volga Bulgaria. Based on these tribes, the Kazan Khanate subsequently arose in these places.
In 922, the ruler of the Volga Bulgars, Almas, converted to Islam. By that time, life in the Vedic monasteries, once located in these places, had practically died out. The descendants of the Volga Bulgars, in the formation of which a number of other Turkic and Finno-Ugric tribes took part, are the Chuvash and Kazan Tatars. From the very beginning, Islam took hold only in cities. The son of King Almus went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and stopped in Baghdad. After this, an alliance arose between Bulgaria and Bagdat. The subjects of Bulgaria paid the king taxes in horses, leather, etc. There was a customs office. The royal treasury also received duties (a tenth of the goods) from merchant ships. Of the kings of Bulgaria, Arab writers mention only Silk and Almus; Frehn managed to read three more names on the coins: Ahmed, Taleb and Mumen. The oldest of them, with the name of King Taleb, dates back to 338.
In addition, Byzantine-Russian treaties of the 20th century. mention a horde of black Bulgarians living near Crimea.
Volga Bulgaria
BULGARIA VOLGA-KAMA, state of the Volga-Kama, Finno-Ugric peoples in the XX-XV centuries. Capitals: the city of Bulgar, and from the 12th century. city of Bilyar. By the 20th century, Sarmatia (Blue Rus') was divided into two khaganates - Northern Bulgaria and southern Khazaria.
The most big cities- Bolgar and Bilyar - in area and population exceeded London, Paris, Kyiv, Novgorod, Vladimir of that time.
Bulgaria played an important role in the process of ethnogenesis of modern Kazan Tatars, Chuvash, Mordovians, Udmurts, Mari and Komi, Finns and Estonians.
Bulgaria at the time of the formation of the Bulgar state (beginning of the 20th century), the center of which was the city of Bulgar (now the village of Bolgars of Tatarstan), was dependent on the Khazar Khaganate, ruled by Jews.
The Bulgarian king Almas turned to the Arab Caliphate for support, as a result of which Bulgaria adopted Islam as the state religion. The collapse of the Khazar Kaganate after its defeat by the Russian prince Svyatoslav I Igorevich in 965 secured the actual independence of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria becomes the most powerful state in Blue Rus'. The intersection of trade routes, the abundance of black soils in the absence of wars made this region rapidly prosperous. Bulgaria became a center of production. Wheat, furs, livestock, fish, honey, and handicrafts (hats, boots, known in the East as “bulgari,” leather) were exported from here. But the main income came from trade transit between East and West. Here since the 20th century. minted its own coin - the dirham.
In addition to Bulgar, other cities were known, such as Suvar, Bilyar, Oshel, etc.
Cities were powerful fortresses. There were many fortified estates of the Bulgar nobility.
Literacy among the population was widespread. Lawyers, theologians, doctors, historians, and astronomers live in Bulgaria. The poet Kul-Gali created the poem "Kysa and Yusuf", widely known in the Turkic literature of its time. After the adoption of Islam in 986, some Bulgar preachers visited Kyiv and Ladoga and suggested that the Great Russian Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich convert to Islam. Russian chronicles from the 10th century distinguish between the Volga, Silver or Nukrat (according to Kama) Bulgars, Timtyuz, Cheremshan and Khvalis.
Naturally, there was a continuous struggle for leadership in Rus'. Clashes with princes from White Rus' and Kyiv were common. In 969, they were attacked by the Russian prince Svyatoslav, who devastated their lands, according to the legend of the Arab Ibn Haukal, in revenge for the fact that in 913 they helped the Khazars destroy the Russian squad who undertook a campaign on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. In 985, Prince Vladimir also made a campaign against Bulgaria. In the 12th century, with the rise of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which sought to spread its influence in the Volga region, the struggle between the two parts of Rus' intensified. The military threat forced the Bulgars to move their capital inland - to the city of Bilyar (now the village of Bilyarsk in Tatarstan). But the Bulgar princes did not remain in debt. The Bulgars managed to capture and plunder the city of Ustyug on the Northern Dvina in 1219. This was a fundamental victory, since here from the most primitive times there were ancient libraries of Vedic books and ancient monasteries of patronage.
worshiped, as the ancients believed, by the god Hermes. It was in these monasteries that knowledge about the ancient history of the world was hidden. Most likely, it was in them that the military-religious class of the Huns arose and a set of laws of knightly honor was developed. However, the princes of White Rus' soon avenged the defeat. In 1220, Russian troops took Oshel and other Kama cities. Only a rich ransom prevented the ruin of the capital. After this, peace was established, confirmed in 1229 by the exchange of prisoners of war. Military clashes between the White Russians and the Bulgars occurred in 985, 1088, 1120, 1164, 1172, 1184, 1186, 1218, 1220, 1229 and 1236. During the invasions, the Bulgars reached Murom (1088 and 1184) and Ustyug (1218). At the same time, a single people lived in all three parts of Rus', often speaking dialects of the same language and descending from common ancestors. This could not but leave an imprint on the nature of relations between fraternal peoples. Thus, the Russian chronicler preserved under the year 1024 the news that in this
That year, famine was raging in Suzdal and the Bulgars supplied the Russians with a large amount of grain.
Loss of independence
In 1223, the Horde of Genghis Khan, who came from the depths of Eurasia, defeated the army of Red Rus' (Kievan-Polovtsian army) in the south in the Battle of Kalka, but on the way back they were badly beaten by the Bulgars. It is known that Genghis Khan, when he was still an ordinary shepherd, met the Bulgar brawler, a wandering philosopher from Blue Rus', who predicted a great fate for him. It seems that he passed on to Genghis Khan the same philosophy and religion that gave rise to the Huns in his time. Now a new Horde has arisen. This phenomenon occurs in Eurasia with enviable regularity as a response to the degradation of the social structure. And every time through destruction it generates new life Rus' and Europe.
In 1229 and 1232, the Bulgars managed to repel the attacks of the Horde again. In 1236, Genghis Khan's grandson Batu begins a new campaign to the West. In the spring of 1236, the Horde khan Subutai took the capital of the Bulgars. In the autumn of the same year, Bilyar and other cities of Blue Rus' were devastated. Bulgaria was forced to submit; but as soon as the Horde army left, the Bulgars left the alliance. Then Khan Subutai in 1240 was forced to invade a second time, accompanying the campaign with bloodshed and destruction.
In 1243, Batu founded a state in the Volga region Golden Horde, one of the provinces of which was Bulgaria. She enjoyed some autonomy, her princes became vassals of the Golden Horde Khan, paid him tribute and supplied soldiers to the Horde army. The high culture of Bulgaria became the most important component of the culture of the Golden Horde.
The end of the war helped revive the economy. It reached its greatest prosperity in this region of Rus' in the first half of the 14th century. By this time Islam had established itself as state religion Golden Horde. The city of Bulgar becomes the residence of the khan. The city attracted many palaces, mosques, and caravanserais. It contained public baths, paved streets, underground water supply. Here they were the first in Europe to master the smelting of cast iron. Jewelry and ceramics from these places were sold in medieval Europe and Asia.
The death of Volga Bulgaria and the birth of the people of Tatarstan
From the middle of the 14th century. The struggle for the Khan's throne begins, separatist tendencies intensify. In 1361, Prince Bulat-Temir seized a vast territory in the Volga region, including Bulgaria, from the Golden Horde. The khans of the Golden Horde only for a short time managed to reunite the state, where everywhere there was a process of fragmentation and isolation. Bulgaria splits into two virtually independent principalities - Bulgarian and Zhukotinsky - with the center in the city of Zhukotin. After the outbreak of civil strife in the Golden Horde in 1359, the army of the Novgorodians captured Zhukotin. The Russian princes Dmitry Ioannovich and Vasily Dmitrievich took possession of other cities of Bulgaria and stationed their “customs officers” in them.
In the second half of the 14th and early 15th centuries, Bulgaria experienced constant military pressure from White Rus'. Bulgaria finally lost its independence in 1431, when the Moscow army of Prince Fyodor the Motley conquered the southern lands. Only the northern territories, the center of which was Kazan, retained independence. It was on the basis of these lands that the formation of the Kazan Khanate began and the degeneration of the ethnic group of the ancient inhabitants of Blue Rus' (and even earlier, the Aryans of the land of seven lights and lunar cults) into the Kazan Tatars. At this time, Bulgaria had already finally fallen under the rule of the Russian tsars, but exactly when it was impossible to say; in all likelihood, this happened under Ivan the Terrible, simultaneously with the fall of Kazan in 1552. However, the title of “sovereign of Bulgaria” was still borne by his grandfather, Ivan Sh. From this time, it can be considered that the formation of the ethnos of modern Tatars begins, which occurs already in the united Rus'. The Tatar princes form many outstanding clans of the Russian state, becoming
are famous military leaders, statesmen, scientists, and cultural figures. Actually, the history of the Tatars, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians is the history of one Russian people, whose horses go back to ancient times. Recent studies have shown that all European peoples, in one way or another, come from the Volga-Oka-Don area. Part of the once united people settled around the world, but some peoples always remained in their ancestral lands. The Tatars are just one of these.
Gennady Klimov
More details in my LiveJournal
Tatars are a Turkic people living in the central part of European Russia, as well as in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Far East, on the territory of Crimea, as well as in Kazakhstan, in the states of Central Asia and in the Chinese Autonomous Republic of Xinjiang. About 5.3 million people live in the Russian Federation Tatar nationality, which is 4% of the total population of the country, they rank second in number after the Russians, 37% of all Tatars in Russia live in the Republic of Tatarstan in the capital of the Volga Federal District with its capital in the city of Kazan and make up the majority (53%) of the population of the republic. The national language is Tatar (group of Altai languages, Turkic group, Kipchak subgroup), has several dialects. The majority of Tatars are Sunni Muslims; there are also Orthodox and those who do not identify themselves with specific religious movements.
Cultural heritage and family values
Tatar traditions of housekeeping and family life life has been preserved to a greater extent in villages and towns. Kazan Tatars, for example, lived in wooden huts, which differed from Russian ones only in that they did not have an entrance hall and the common room was divided into female and male half, separated by a curtain (charshau) or a wooden partition. In any Tatar hut it was obligatory to have green and red chests, which were later used as the bride’s dowry. In almost every house, a framed piece of text from the Koran, the so-called “shamail,” hung on the wall; it hung above the threshold as a talisman, and a wish for happiness and prosperity was written on it. Many bright, rich colors and shades were used to decorate the house and surrounding area; the interior rooms were richly decorated with embroidery, since Islam prohibits depicting humans and animals; embroidered towels, bedspreads and other things were mostly decorated with geometric patterns.
The head of the family is the father, his requests and instructions must be carried out unquestioningly, the mother has a special place of honor. Tatar children from early years They are taught to respect elders, not to hurt younger ones and always help the disadvantaged. The Tatars are very hospitable, even if a person is an enemy of the family, but he came to the house as a guest, they will not refuse him anything, they will feed him, give him something to drink and offer him an overnight stay. Tatar girls are raised as modest and decent future housewives; they are taught in advance how to manage a household and are prepared for marriage.
Tatar customs and traditions
There are calendar and family rituals. The first are associated with labor activity (sowing, harvesting, etc.) and are carried out every year at approximately the same time. Family rituals are carried out as needed in accordance with changes that have occurred in the family: the birth of children, marriages and other rituals.
A traditional Tatar wedding is characterized by the obligatory Muslim ritual of nikah, which takes place at home or in a mosque in the presence of a mullah; the festive table consists exclusively of Tatar National dishes: chak-chak, court, katyk, kosh-tele, peremyachi, kaymak, etc., guests do not eat pork and do not drink alcohol. The male groom puts on a skullcap, the female bride puts on a long dress with closed sleeves, a headscarf is required.
Tatar wedding rites are characterized by a preliminary agreement between the parents of the bride and groom to enter into a marriage union, often even without their consent. The groom's parents must pay a bride price, the size of which is discussed in advance. If the groom is not satisfied with the size of the bride price and he wants to “save money,” there is nothing wrong with stealing the bride before the wedding.
When a child is born, a mullah is invited to him, he performs a special ceremony, whispering prayers into the child’s ear that drive away evil spirits and his name. Guests come with gifts, and a festive table is set for them.
Islam has a huge influence on the social life of the Tatars and therefore the Tatar people divide all holidays into religious ones, they are called "gaete" - for example, Uraza Gaete - a holiday in honor of the end of fasting, or Korban Gaete - a holiday of sacrifice, and secular or folk "bayram", meaning "spring beauty or celebration."
On the holiday of Uraza, Muslim Tatar believers spend the whole day in prayers and conversations with Allah, asking him for protection and remission of sins; they can drink and eat only after sunset.
During the celebrations of Kurban Bayram, the holiday of sacrifice and the end of the Hajj, also called the holiday of goodness, every self-respecting Muslim, after performing morning prayer in the mosque, must slaughter a sacrificial ram, sheep, goat or cow and distribute the meat to those in need.
One of the most significant pre-Islamic holidays is the Sabantuy plow festival, which is held in the spring and symbolizes the end of sowing work. The culmination of the celebration is the holding of various competitions and competitions in running, wrestling or horse racing. Also, a mandatory treat for all those present is porridge or botkasy in Tatar, which used to be prepared from common products in a huge cauldron on one of the hills or hillocks. Also at the holiday it was obligatory to have a large number of colored eggs for children to collect. The main holiday of the Republic of Tatarstan, Sabantuy, is recognized at the official level and is held every year in the Birch Grove in the village of Mirny, near Kazan.
Was there Tatar invasion to Rus'. Where did the Tatars go?
M. A. Gaisin
Preface
Adults, sometimes seriously, sometimes jokingly, ask children what they want to be when they grow up. I asked this question when I was a child no one asked, nevertheless, somewhere at the age of seven, I myself approached my maternal grandfather (Batyev) and said that I wanted to become the most important. He replied that you need to become the Minister of Defense in order to be the most important, although he could say that I am already the most important, only because I am from the Batu family. Why did I remember this episode from my childhood? And I remembered because it turns out I know early history Rus' is better than all historians combined. Now I regret that I did not question my grandfather, but even that I know enough to say that the real history is different from the history that is taught to us in schools and in higher education institutions.
Who were the Tatar-Mongols as an ethnic group?
Everyone who went to school more or less knows the generally accepted and at the same time incorrect answer to this question. That is, somewhere in the distant steppes of Mongolia at the beginning of the 13th century, a very strong military horde formed, which captured China and then moved west. The Mongols defeated Khorezm along the way and in 1223 reached the southern borders of Rus'. And on the Kalka River they defeated Russian army. In the winter of 1237 they invaded Rus' and captured Russian cities. And the Tatar-Mongol yoke began in Rus', which lasted about 250 years.
But modern researchers prove that the Mongols (nomads), due to their small numbers, in principle could not form such a powerful combat-ready horde. Naturally, they came to the conclusion that since there was no Tatar-Mongol horde, then there was no Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus', and accordingly there was no Tatar-Mongol yoke. What happened then? And it was, according to Academician A.T. Fomenko, a Russian horde that controlled the Russian principalities.
That is, there is an obvious contradiction. Chronicles say that there was a Mongol invasion of Rus', but modern researchers say that the Mongols did not have enough people or material resources to invade Rus'.
"Boryn utken zamanda
Bulgarian Belen Saraida,
Zhaek belen Idelde,
Altyn Urda, Ak Urda –
Danly Kipchak Zhirende,
Tatardan Tugan Nugai Ilende
Tuktamysh Digen Khan Buldy"
The author made a translation of this passage of the epic with comments. So, at the beginning, the time of the events described is determined. “Boryn utken zamanda” - that is, in times long past. Then the territory where these events took place is determined. From north to south “Bulgar Belen Sarayda”, that is, from Volga Bulgaria to the capital of the Golden Horde Saray. From east to west “Zhaek Belen Idelde”, that is, between the Ural and Volga rivers. Then the khanates located in this territory are listed. “Altyn Urda, Ak Urda – Danly Kipchak girende” - Golden Horde, White Horde on the glorious land of the Kipchaks. Another khanate is added to the list. “Tatardan Tugan Nugai Ilende” is the Nogai country born from the Tatars. “Tuktamysh Digen Khan Buldy” - there was a khan named Tokhtamysh. The key to understanding the history of Rus' is one line of four words. “Tatardan Tugan Nugai Ilende” is the Nogai country born from the Tatars. To explain why the information in this line is so important, you need to know that modern Tatars for the most part are not descendants of those Tatars who invaded Rus'. And they are descendants of the Kipchaks and Bulgars and were identified as Tatars much later, and then because of their residence in the country of the Tatars - the Golden Horde. Modern researchers conclude from this that there was no Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus', since the ancestors of modern Tatars did not invade Rus', and there seem to be no other Tatars, then accordingly there was no invasion. But in fact, there were real Tatars, and they themselves identified themselves as Nogai during the collapse of the Golden Horde with the formation of the Nogai Horde. The reader may ask why this information is so important? It is important because the author revealed that the history of the Tatar-Mongols is in fact the history of the Nogais. The name of the Nogai Horde comes from the name of the military leader of the Golden Horde, Nogai. The main population was made up of tribes that were part of Nogai's army. Most of the Nogai warriors were from the Mangyt tribe. Another name for the Nogai Horde is the Mangyt Horde (Mangytsky Yurt). The Nogai language, together with the Kazakh and Karakalpak languages, form the Kipchak-Nogai subgroup in the Kipchak group of Turkic languages. Let's consider the word "mangi", which is translated from Kipchak as "eternal". The rules of word formation from this word in the Western Kipchak language differ from the rules of word formation in the Nogai language. For example: to the question who is he? a Nogai will answer “mangyt”, and in the plural “mangyttar”. To the question who is he (Nogai)? the Kipchak will answer “mangyl”, and in the plural “mangyllar”. The use of the affix “tar” instead of “lar”, the affix “you” instead of “ly” is typical for the Nogais, Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. To invade Rus', the Tatar-Mongols had to pass through the Kipchak steppes. Accordingly, Rus' learned about the invasion of the “Mangyllar Tatars” from the Kipchaks. And in the phonetics of the pronunciation of the Russian language, the phrase “Tatar mangyllar” was transformed into “Tatar-Mongols”. The author came to the surprising conclusion that at that time the word “Mongol” did not mean Mongolian people, and denoted the most combat-ready tribe of the Tatar tribes - “Mangyt”. That is, in fact, only the Tatars invaded Rus'.
Where did the Tatars come from?
This story is directly related to the life story of Genghis Khan. The family of Genghis Khan's father is Borjigin-kyat. Where kyat (kiyat) is one of the Kipchak (Mangyt) tribes, and Borjigin is a noble family of this tribe. To begin with, the author will identify the territory of residence of the Kipchaks (Mangyts) before the great campaigns. The author found the simplest way to solve this issue. Genghis Khan's eldest son Jochi (Zhoshi) was buried in his homeland while his father was still alive. The mausoleum of Jochi Khan is located on the left bank of the Kara-Kengir River, which flows into the Sarysu River near the Ulytau Mountains. I don’t think that Genghis Khan, who was also buried in his homeland, was buried far from his son’s grave. On the right bank of the Kara-Kengir River, within direct visibility from the Jochi Mausoleum, there is the Alasha Khan Mausoleum. I think that Alasha Khan (the unifier khan) is Genghis Khan himself, who spent his entire life unifying the Tatar tribes. Therefore, during life or after death, he could receive the second name Alasha. It is also necessary to take into account that the greatest Mangyt rulers Edigei and Tokhtamysh are also buried here, although they lived their lives thousands of kilometers from these places. The eldest son of Genghis Khan, Jochi, formed his headquarters here, and from here Batu began his campaign to the west. The Sarysu River flows from the Ulytau Mountains towards the Syrdarya. The Aral Sea region, the lower reaches of the Syr Darya and the valley of the Sarysu River were the place of residence of the Kipchaks (Mangyts) at that time. Now Sarysu does not reach the Syrdarya about 200 kilometers and overflows into a lake. At that time it flowed into the Syr Darya. The valley of the Sarysu River is the northern border of the board Betpakdala, an elevated plain 300-350 m above sea level. In the south, the plateau is limited by the Chu River, in the west by the Turan Lowland, and in the east by Lake Balkhash. The entire plateau is crossed by dry desert. This desert was the natural border between the Kipchak (Mangyt) Khanate and the Kara Khitan Khanate. Then, on the territory of the Kara Khitan Khanate, there lived numerous and powerful tribes of the Kara Tatars - Juin (Zhyen), Ayribuir, Jalair, Ungirat (name options: Khungirat, Ongirat, Khonkirat, Kungirat, Kungrat), Naiman, Kerait, Merkit, Oirat, Kangly, etc. .d. The phrase “kara Tatars” literally translates as “black Tatars,” but this is an incorrect translation. Since there were also white Tatars, and accordingly the reader may think that there should be a fundamental difference between black and white Tatars. But in fact this is not the case, since the words “black” and “white” in this context do not mean the color of something, but the direction of light. That is, the correct translation of the phrase “kara Tatars” will be “northern Tatars”, and accordingly “ak Tatars” will be “southern Tatars”. Let me give you an example: the river “Ufa” in the Bashkir language is called “Karaidel”, and this does not mean that the river is black, but only that it flows from the north. And the Belaya River received its name from a literal translation from the Bashkir name of the Agidel River, although the correct translation would be “southern”, since it flows from the south. Why is the Black Sea called black, although in fact it is blue? Because this name was borrowed from the Turks, and for the Turks this sea is northern and accordingly is called the word “kara”, and the Mediterranean Sea is called white by the Turks because for them it is southern.
In 1161 Temujin (Genghis Khan) was born. The Borjigin-Kiyat clan had a tradition of taking brides from the Ungirates (Kungrats). Genghis Khan's mother and wives and his sons' wives were Ungirat. There were close family relations between the Kyat and Kungrat tribes. Therefore, the heads of the Kyat, Mangyt, Kungrat, Bayly, Tangut and Yidzhan tribes in 1206 chose Temujin as khan and named him Genghis Khan. Central and Central Asia (according to Gumilyov) for 1193 (Fig. 1). The territory of residence of the Kypchaks (Mangyts) on the map in the upper left corner. Throughout his life, Genghis Khan was engaged in uniting the neighboring tribes of the Kara-Khitans (Karakitas) and Naimans. And at this time, Khorezm, located in the southwest of the Mangyts, was turning into a huge empire. Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Tekesh (1172-1200) captured eastern Persia in 1194. Conducts a successful campaign against the Kara-Khitans (Karakitas) and takes Bukhara from them. And his son Ala ad Din Muhammad the second, takes Samarkand and Otrar from the Kara-Khitans (Karakitas). Extends its power to the Ghazna region in southern Afghanistan, subjugates western Persia and Azerbaijan. By 1218, the Khorezm Empire and the Khanate of Genghis Khan became neighbors. Genghis Khan sends 450 trade representatives to Khorezm. In the Khorezm border city of Otrar, the goods brought were confiscated and the traders were killed. Genghis Khan sends an ambassador to Khorezm with a demand to explain the reason for the murder of his merchants. Sultan of Khorezm Muhammad kills this ambassador too. Genghis Khan holds a kurultai, where he announces preparations for a military campaign against Khorezm. In 1219, Genghis Khan's troops, having made a difficult transition through the Betpakdala desert, besieged the city Otrar (Fig. 2). From there, Genghis Khan sent his commanders to different parts of the Khorezmian Empire. He himself captures Bukhara and Samarkand. By April 1221, Urgench was taken (Fig. 2). Next, Genghis Khan and his commanders were busy conquering Transoxiana, Khorosan, Central Persia and Afghanistan. And driven by pursuit, the Khorezmshah Muhammad ibn Tekesh fell ill in 1221 and died on the island of Abeskun in the Caspian Sea. And the tumens of Zev and Subegadei, who were pursuing the Khorezmshah, were given new task, conquer the western part of the Khwarezmian empire. After completing this task, they went to Transcaucasia and further to the steppes of the North Caucasus and the Black Sea region. There they defeated the Alans and defeated the united Russian-Polovtsian army on the Kalka River. And we went further to the Volga steppes. But on the Volga they fell into traps set by the Kipchaks and Bulgars. The Tumens of Zev and Subegadei were forced to turn back. They crossed the Volga and in 1224 returned through the steppes to Central Asia (Fig. 2). In 1235, the kurultai decided to attack to the west. In 1235 and early 1236, the assembled Genghisid army was preparing for an offensive. The campaign began with the conquest of the Bashkir tribes. In the fall of 1236, the Chingizid army, under the general leadership of Jochi's son Batu, concentrated in the Caspian steppes. Batu's army struck the first blow on Volga Bulgaria. Volga Bulgaria was defeated and by the spring of 1237 it was completely conquered. Then the Polovtsians and Alans were defeated. Then the lands of the Burtus, Moksha and Mordovians were captured. Preparations for the winter campaign against Rus' were carried out in the fall of 1237. And in the winter of 1237 the Tatars attacked Rus'.
Where did the Tatars go?
Based on legends Bashkir peopleand handwritten documents on the history of the Ufa province of the 15th and early 16th centuries, the Russian historian Pyotr Rychkov wrote that on the territory of the city of Ufa there was a large city, stretching along the high bank of the Belaya River from the mouth of the Ufa River at a distance of ten miles, in which the headquarters of Tura Khan was located. On the Belaya River, where the Dema River flows into, there was a Kungurat fortress on the mountain, and the mountain itself was called Tura-tau. At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, a significant number of the population left the territory of Bashkortostan. This phenomenon was associated with two waves of the Shibanid conquest of Central Asia in 1500-1510. It is believed that Uzbek tribes, the so-called nomadic Uzbeks, left the territory of Bashkortostan. It must be said right away that in those days the ethnic definition of “Uzbek” did not apply to the numerous Turkic and Turkified tribes of Central Asia. This happened only later, when the nomadic Uzbeks joined this population, at the same time passing on to them their ethnonym “Uzbek”. This understanding is very important, since this is where many historians begin to get confused. Since these tribes, no matter how Bashkir, the question arose as to who they were then. And they were Tatars. In the work “Mongols and Rus',” the scientist G.V. Vernadsky wrote: “according to Paul Pelio, the name Uzbek (Özbäg) means “master of himself,” that is, “ free man" Neither in European, nor in Russian, nor in Arabic sources is the ethnonym Uzbek mentioned in relation to the people of the Golden Horde in the 13th-14th centuries, and the population of the Golden Horde was considered Tatar. Only in Central Asian chronicles is the population of the Golden Horde designated as Uzbek. Example: Khan Haji-Muhammad in all sources is considered a Tatar khan, except for the Central Asian chronicles, where he is an Uzbek sovereign. Conclusion: the ethnonyms Tatars and Uzbeks are the external names of the peoples of the Golden Horde.
The reader may have questions. Firstly, why is this a large number of the Tatars ended up on the territory of Bashkortostan. Secondly, for what reason did they go to Central Asia?
So, while cities were being built in the Golden Horde in the 14th century, the great conqueror Tamerlane was born in Central Asia in 1336 (Timur), who in 1370 founded the Timurid Empire with its capital in Samarkand (Fig. 3). Genghis Khan divided his power between his heirs into uluses. Over time, the uluses became more and more isolated from each other. Timur set the task of reuniting the lands conquered by Genghis Khan. To achieve this goal, he created an army from almost the same tribes as Genghis Khan - Naimans, Kipchaks, Kiyats, Jalairs and so on. Under him, the descendant of Genghis Khan Suyurgatmysh (1370 - 1388) and his son Mahmud (1388 - 1402) were considered khans, and he himself was content with the title of great emir (leader).
Tamerlane believed that it was very honorable to have family relations with the house of Genghisids. Therefore, having become related to the house of the Genghisids, having married the daughter of the Genghisid Kazan Khan, Tamerlane added the title gurgan (son-in-law) to his name. At that time, the nomads of the steppe were convinced that power came from God, and accordingly, according to their concepts, it was impossible to become a khan, they could only be born. Therefore, the commanders Nogai, Edigei and Tamerlane, having full power, did not declare themselves khans.
Khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh pursued a hostile policy towards Emir Timur. And Emir Timur made three campaigns against the Khan of the Golden Horde, finally defeating him in 1395. In the last campaign, the cities of the Golden Horde were subjected to total destruction. The population was partially destroyed, partially driven out to the periphery of the Golden Horde, including the territory of modern Bashkortostan. This time was recorded as the time of a powerful influx of Kipchaks to the west of Bashkortostan. Throughout the 15th century, internecine wars raged between the Genghisids in the territories of the Great Steppe. At the end of the 15th century, discontent began to brew among the nomadic nobility of the steppe that power in the lands of Genghis Khan in Central Asia illegally belonged to the Timurids. Sheybani Khan expressed this dissatisfaction in his letter to the Kazakh Sultan Kasym. In this letter, Sheybani Khan asks for an army to help, so that the descendants of Genghis Khan can return the lands of Turkestan, which now belong to the descendants of Emir Timur, and thereby return the former glory to the Genghisids. Sheibani Khan's army consisted of almost the same tribes that Genghis Khan had - Mangyts, Kiyats, Kungrats, Naimans, Uighurs, Tanguts and so on. As a result, the Shibanid conquests of Central Asia occurred in 1500-1510. The Timurids, for the most part, were physically destroyed, and power again passed to the Genghisids.
The next exodus of the Nogai (Tatars) from the lands of Bashkortostan is recorded in the shezher (history) of the Yurmaty tribe. For three years (1543-1545) there were very harsh winters. There were no horses and sheep, the grain did not sprout at all. Many people found themselves hungry and naked. The Nogai gathered and held a council: “Our ancestors came here from the Kuban for land and water, but it turned out that the winter cold was worse than the midday heat.” And the council decided to return to Kuban. And an innumerable horde of Nogais migrated to Kuban. After some time, the last remaining three hundred Nogais with their clans also migrated to Kuban. The remaining people called themselves Ishtyaks and enjoyed life on the empty lands left by the Nogais.
Conclusion. Firstly, Tatar-Mongol invasion in fact, there was a Tatar-Mangyt invasion of Rus'. Secondly, the Mangyts (Mangyls) were not Mongols, but Kipchaks. Third, the events that resulted in the invasion of Rus' took place not in Mongolia, but in the central part of Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Literature
Wikipedia. Free encyclopedia. Internet.
Gaisin Murat Asgatovich