Tatars - history of the origin of the people. The mystery of the origin of the "Tatars". Ethnic and ethnographic groups

03.03.2020

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Introduction

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. developed in the world and in the Russian Empire social phenomenon- nationalism. Which promoted the idea that it is very important for a person to classify himself as a member of a certain social group - a nation (nationality). A nation was understood as a common territory of settlement, culture (especially a common literary language), and anthropological features (body structure, facial features). Against the background of this idea, in each of the social groups there was a struggle to preserve culture. The emerging and developing bourgeoisie became the herald of the ideas of nationalism. At this time, a similar struggle was being waged on the territory of Tatarstan - global social processes did not bypass our region.

In contrast to the revolutionary cries of the first quarter of the 20th century. and the last decade of the 20th century, who used very emotional terms - nation, nationality, people; in modern science it is customary to use a more cautious term - ethnic group, ethnos. This term carries within itself the same community of language and culture, like people, nation, and nationality, but does not need to clarify the nature or size social group. However, belonging to any ethnic group is still an important social aspect for a person.

If you ask a passerby in Russia what nationality he is, then, as a rule, the passerby will proudly answer that he is Russian or Chuvash. And, of course, one of those who are proud of their ethnic origin will be a Tatar. But what will this word - “Tatar” - mean in the mouth of the speaker? In Tatarstan, not everyone who considers themselves a Tatar speaks or reads the Tatar language. Not everyone looks like a Tatar from a generally accepted point of view - a mixture of features of the Caucasian, Mongolian and Finno-Ugric anthropological types, for example. Among the Tatars there are Christians and many atheists, and not everyone who considers themselves a Muslim has read the Koran. But all this does not prevent the Tatar ethnic group from surviving, developing and being one of the most distinctive in the world.

Development national culture entails the development of the history of the nation, especially if the study of this history has been prevented for a long time. As a result, the unspoken, and sometimes open, ban on studying the region led to a particularly rapid surge in Tatar historical science, which is observed to this day. Pluralism of opinions and lack of factual material led to the formation of several theories trying to combine the greatest number known facts. Not just historical doctrines have been formed, but several historical schools that are conducting a scientific dispute among themselves. At first, historians and publicists were divided into “Bulgarists,” who considered the Tatars to be descended from the Volga Bulgars, and “Tatarists,” who considered the period of the formation of the Tatar nation to be the period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate and denied participation in the formation of the Bulgar nation. Subsequently, another theory appeared, on the one hand, contradicting the first two, and on the other, combining all the best of the available theories. It was called “Turkic-Tatar”.

Purpose of the work: to explore the range of points of view on the origin of the Tatars that currently exist.

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.

1. History of the origin of the Tatars

The term "Turk" has three meanings. For the 6th - 7th centuries, this is a small ethnos (Turkut), which headed a huge association in the Great Steppe (El) and died in the middle of the 8th century. These Turks were Mongoloids. From them came the Khazar dynasty, but the Khazars themselves were Europeans of the Dagestan type. For the 9th - 12th centuries "Turk" - common name militant northern peoples, including Malyarov, Russians and Slavs. For modern orientalists, “Turk” is a group of languages spoken by ethnic groups of different origins. In his work, Lev Gumilyov writes: “In the 6th century, the Great Turkic Khaganate was created. Among those who considered it good to help the conqueror in order to share with him the fruits of victory were the Khazars and the Bulgar tribe of the Uturgurs, who lived between the Kuban and the Don. However, in the Western Turkic Kaganate, two tribal unions formed two parties that fought for power over the powerless khan. The Uturgurs joined one, and the Khazars, naturally, another party, and after the defeat they accepted the fleeing prince as their khan. Eight years later, the Western Turkic Kaganate was captured by the troops of the Tang Empire, which benefited the Khazars, who took the side of the previously defeated prince, and to the detriment of the Bulgars - the Uturgurs, who lost the support of the Supreme Khan. As a result, the Khazars defeated the Bulgars around 670, and they fled to the Kama, to the Danube, to Hungary, and even to Italy. The Bulgars did not create a single state: the eastern, in the Kuban basin, the Uturgurs, and the western, between the Don and the lower reaches of the Danube, the Kuturgurs, were at enmity with each other and became prey to new newcomers from the east: the Kuturgurs were subjugated by the Avars, and the Uturgurs by the Turkuts.”

In 922, the head of the Kama Bulgars, Almush, converted to Islam and separated his state from Khazaria (which was subordinated after the Tyuryut Khaganate), counting on the help of the Baghdad Caliph, who was supposed to prohibit Muslim mercenaries from fighting against their co-religionists. The caliph ordered to sell the confiscated estate of the executed vizier and hand over the money to ambassador Ibn Fadlan, but the buyer “could not” catch up with the embassy caravan, and the fortress in Bulgar was not built, and the Khorezmians in the 10th century no longer paid attention to the orders of the weakened Baghdad caliphs. Apostasy did not strengthen, but weakened the Great Bulgars. One of the three Bulgar tribes - the Suvaz (ancestors of the Chuvash) - refused to convert to Islam and fortified themselves in the forests of the Volga region. The divided Bulgarian state could not compete with the Jewish Khazaria. In 985 Kyiv prince Vladimir started a war with the Kama Bulgars and Khazars. The war with the Kama Bulgars was unsuccessful. After the “victory,” the head of the campaign, Vladimir’s maternal uncle, Dobrynya, made a strange decision: the booted Bulgars would not give tribute; we need to look for lapotniks. An eternal peace was concluded with the Bulgar, that is, the government of Vladimir recognized the independence of Kama Bulgaria. In the 17th century, the Volga Bulgars reduced the constant war with Suzdal and Murom to an exchange of raids for the sake of capturing captives. The Bulgars replenished their harems, and the Russians made up for their losses. At the same time, children of mixed marriages were considered legitimate, but the exchange of the gene pool did not lead both neighboring ethnic groups to unification. Orthodoxy and Islam separated the Russians and the Bulgars despite genetic mixing, economic and social similarity, the monolithic geographical environment and the extremely superficial knowledge of the dogma of both world religions by the majority of the Slavic and Bulgar population. Based on the collective meaning of the term “Tatar,” the medieval Tatars considered the Mongols as part of the Tatars, since in the 12th century the hegemony among the tribes of Eastern Mongolia belonged to the latter. In the 13th century, the Tatars began to be considered part of the Mongols in the same in a broad sense words, and the name “Tatar” was familiar and well-known, and the word “Mongol” were synonymous because numerous Tatars formed the vanguard of the Mongol army since they were not spared in being placed in the most dangerous places. “Medieval historians divided the eastern nomadic peoples into “white”, “black”, and “wild” Tatars. In the fall of 1236, Mongol troops took the Great Bulgar, and in the spring of 1237 they attacked the Alan Kipchaks. In the Golden Horde, after it became a “Muslim sultanate,” a “great turmoil” arose, followed by the collapse of the state and ethnic division into Kazan, Crimean, Siberian, Astrakhan and Kazakh Tatars. The Mongol campaigns mixed up all the ethnic communities that existed before the 13th century and seemed so integral and stable. From some only their names remained, while from others even their names disappeared, being replaced by the collective term - Tatars. So the Kazan Tatars are a mixture of ancient Bulgars, Kipchaks, Ugrians - descendants of Magyars and Russian women whom Muslims captured and made legal wives - inhabitants of harems."

2. Bulgaro-Tatar and Turkic 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 They consider not the archaeological cultures of the pre-Slavic period and not even the tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs who migrated in the 3-4 centuries, but Kievan Rus, which emerged 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, first of all, from such preconditions, the Bulgar- Tatar theory.

The Bulgaro-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 region and the Urals since 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, H. G. Gimadi, N. F. Kalinin, L. Z. Zalyai, G. V. Yusupov, T. A. Trofimova, A. Kh. Khalikov, M. Z. Zakiev, A. G. Karimullin, S. Kh. Alishev.

In his work A.G. Karimullin “On the Bulgaro-Tatar and Turkic origin” he writes that the first information about the Turkic tribes called “Tatars” is known from monuments of the XVIII century, placed on the graves of the rulers of the East Turkic Khaganate. Among the large nations that sent their representatives to the funeral of Bumyn - Kagan and Istemi - Kagan (VI century), the founders of a powerful Turkic state, are mentioned in “Otuz Tatars” (30 Tatars). Tatar tribes are also known from other historical sources from more western regions. Thus, in the famous Persian geographical work

X century “Hudud al-alam” (“Borders of the world”) the Tatars are named as one of the clans of the Toguz - Oguz - the population of the Karakhanid state, formed after the collapse of the Western Turkic Kaganate. The Central Asian philologist of the 11th century Mahmud Kashgari in his famous “Dictionary” also names the Tatars among 20 Turkic tribes, and the Persian historian of the same century al-Gardizi describes the legend about the formation of the Kimak Kaganate, in which the main role was played by people from the Tatar tribal union (Kimaks are Turkic tribes that lived in the 8th - 10th centuries in the Irtysh basin; their western part is known as the Kipchaks. According to some information, for example, according to Russian chronicles, as well as according to the Khiva Khan and the 17th century historian Abdul-Gazi, the Tatars were known in Eastern Europe. , in particular in Hungary, Rus' and Volga Bulgaria, even before Mongol conquests, they appeared there as part of the Oguzes, Kipchaks, and other Turkic tribes. Consequently, medieval historical sources clearly indicate ancient Turkic and Tatar tribes known since the 6th century, some of which moved to the West - to Western Siberia and Eastern Europe even before the Mongol invasion and the formation of the Golden Horde.

The theory of the Tatar-Mongolian origin of the Tatar people is based on the fact of the resettlement 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 was of great importance for the Middle Ages; the state contributed to the development and, during the period under Russian rule, to the preservation of Tatar culture.

There is also an argument in favor of the kinship of the Kazan Tatars with the Kipchaks - the linguistic dialect is referred by linguists to the Turkic-Kipchak group. Another argument is the name and self-name of the people - “Tatars”. Presumably from the Chinese “da-dan,” as Chinese historians called part of the Mongolian (or neighboring Mongolian) tribes in northern China.

The Tatar-Mongol theory arose at the beginning of the 20th century. (N.I. Ashmarin, V.F. Smolin) and actively developed in the works of Tatar (Z. Validi, R. Rakhmati, M.I. Akhmetzyanov, and more recently R.G. Fakhrutdinov), Chuvash (V.F. Kakhovsky, V.D. Dimitriev, N.I. Egorov, M.R. Fedotov) and Bashkir (N.A. Mazhitov) historians, archaeologists and linguists.

3. Turkic-Tatar theory of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars and a number of alternative points of view

Tatar nation ethnic migration

The Turkic-Tatar theory of the origin of the Tatar ethnos emphasizes the Turkic-Tatar origins of modern Tatars, notes the important role in their ethnogenesis of the ethnopolitical tradition of the Turkic Kaganate, Great Bulgaria and the Khazar Kaganate, Volga Bulgaria, Kipchak-Kimak and Tatar-Mongol ethnic groups of the Eurasian steppes.

The Turkic-Tatar concept of the origin of the Tatars is developed in the works of G. S. Gubaidullin, M. Karateev, N. A. Baskakov, Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov, R. G. Kuzeev, M. A. Usmanov, R. G. Fakhrutdinov, A G. Mukhamadieva, N. Davleta, D. M. Iskhakova, etc. Proponents of this theory believe that it best reflects the rather complex internal structure of the Tatar ethnic group (characteristic, however, of all major ethnic groups), and combines the best achievements. other theories. In addition, there is an opinion that M. G. Safargaliev was one of the first to point out the complex nature of ethnogenesis, which cannot be reduced to a single ancestor, in 1951. After the late 1980s. 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 by 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 the Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Kaganate and the Kipchak-Kimak 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 great role of Volga Bulgaria was that it founded the Islamic tradition, urban culture and writing based on Arabic script (after the 10th century), which replaced the most ancient writing - the Turkic runic. 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 XV 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 in the Golden Horde, on the basis of the Oguz-Kypchak language, the norms of the literary language (literary Old Tatar language) were established. Earliest surviving literary monuments on it (Kul Gali’s 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 feudal fragmentation. In the formed Tatar khanates, 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 (Great Horde, Nogai Horde) most of the governors on the outskirts sought to occupy this main throne, or had close ties with the central Horde.

After the mid-16th century and until the 18th century, a stage of consolidation of local ethnic groups within the Russian state was distinguished. After the annexation of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia to the Russian state, the processes of migration of the Tatars intensified (as mass migrations from the Oka to the Zakamskaya and Samara-Orenburg lines, from the Kuban to the Astrakhan and Orenburg provinces are known) and interactions between its various ethno-territorial groups, which contributed to their linguistic and cultural rapprochement. This was facilitated by the presence of a single literary language, a common cultural, religious and educational field. To a certain extent, the unifying factor was the attitude of the Russian state and the Russian population, who did not distinguish between ethnic groups. There is a common confessional identity - “Muslims”. Some of the local ethnic groups that entered other states at this time (primarily the Crimean Tatars) 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 of the local population.

At the second stage, after the reforms of the 1860s, the development of bourgeois relations began, which contributed to the rapid development of culture. In turn, its components (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, 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 influenced by strong impact 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 for cultural-national autonomy expressed during the revolution of 1905-1907. Subsequently there were ideas of the State of Idel-Ural, the Tatar-Bashkir SR, and 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 is the Chuvash theory of the origin of the Kazan Tatars.

Most historians and ethnographers, just like the authors of the theories discussed above, are looking for the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars not where these people currently live, but somewhere far beyond the territory of present-day Tatarstan. In the same way, their emergence and formation as a distinctive nationality is attributed not to the historical era when this took place, but to more ancient times. In fact, there is every reason to believe that the cradle of the Kazan Tatars is their real homeland, that is, the region of the Tatar Republic on the left bank of the Volga between the Kazanka River and the Kama River.

There are also convincing arguments in favor of the fact that the Kazan Tatars arose, took shape as a distinctive people and multiplied over historical period, the duration of which covers the era from the founding of the Kazan Tatar kingdom by Khan of the Golden Horde Ulu-Magomet in 1437 until 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 nation, as we know them, could have arisen and multiplied at the end of the 19th and 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 internal life of the state, frequent palace coups took place and proteges found themselves on the khan’s throne: either from Turkey (Crimea), then from Moscow, then from the Nogai Horde, etc.

The process of forming the Kazan Tatars in the above-mentioned way from the Chuvash, and partly from other, peoples of the Volga region occurred throughout the entire period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate, did not stop after the annexation of Kazan to the Moscow state and continued until the beginning of the twentieth century, i.e. almost up to our time. The Kazan Tatars grew in number not so much as a result of natural growth, but as a result of the Tatarization of other nationalities of the region.

Let us give another rather interesting argument in favor of Chuvash origin 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 reviewed, on this 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. The mass has not yet been studied historical sources, active excavations are underway on the territory of Tataria. All this allows us to hope that in the coming years the theories will be replenished with facts and will acquire a new, even more objective shade.

The material reviewed also allows us to note that all theories are united in one thing: the Tatar people have a complex history of origin and a complex ethnocultural structure.

In the growing process of world integration, European states are already striving to create a single state and a common cultural space. Tatarstan may not be able to avoid this either. The trends of recent (free) decades indicate attempts to integrate the Tatar people into the modern Islamic world. But integration is a voluntary process, it allows you to preserve the self-name of the people, language, and cultural achievements. As long as at least one person speaks and reads Tatar, the Tatar nation will exist.

Bibliography

1. Akhmetyanov R. “From a deceived generation” P.20

2. Gumilyov L. “Who are the Tatars?” - Kazan: a collection of modern studies on the history and culture of the Tatar people. P.110

3. Kakhovsky V.F. Origin of the Chuvash people. - Cheboksary: Chuvash Book Publishing House, 2003. - 463 p.

4. Mustafina G.M., Munkov N.P., Sverdlova L.M. History of Tatarstan XIX century - Kazan, Magarif, 2003. - 256c.

5.Safargaliev M.G. “The Golden Horde and the history of the Tatars” - Kazan: Collection of modern studies on the culture of the Tatar people. P.110

5. 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.

6. Rashitov F.A. History of the Tatar people. - M.: Children's book, 2001. - 285 p.

7. Tagirov I.R. History of the national statehood of the Tatar people and Tatarstan - Kazan, 2000. - 327c.

8. R.G.Fakhrutdinov. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. (Antiquity and Middle Ages). Textbook for secondary secondary schools, gymnasiums and lyceums. - Kazan: Magarif, 2000.- 255 p.

Posted on Allbest.ru

History of the ethnonym

For the first time an ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes in the 6th-9th centuries, but became established as a common ethnonym only in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the 13th century, the Mongols who created the Golden Horde included the tribes they conquered, including the Turks, called Tatars. In the 13-14 centuries, the Kipchaks, who were numerically dominant in the Golden Horde, assimilated all the other Turkic-Mongol tribes, but adopted the ethnonym “Tatars”. The population of this state was also called by European peoples, Russians and some Central Asian peoples.

In the khanates formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, noble layers of Kipchak-Nogai origin called themselves Tatars. It was they who played the main role in the spread of the ethnonym. However, among the Tatars in the 16th century it was perceived as derogatory, and until the second half of the 19th century other self-names were in use: Meselman, Kazanly, Bulgarian, Misher, Tipter, Nagaybek and others - among the Volga-Ural and Nugai, Karagash, Yurt, Tatarly and others- among the Astrakhan Tatars. Except for Meselman, all of them were local self-names. The process of national consolidation led to the choice of a self-name that unites everyone. By the time of the 1926 census, most Tatars called themselves Tatars. In recent years, a small number in Tatarstan and other Volga regions call themselves Bulgars or Volga Bulgars.

Language

Tatar language belongs to the Kipchak-Bulgar subgroup of the Kipchak group of the Turkic branch of the Altai language family and has three main dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). The literary norm was formed on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect with the participation of Mishar. Writing based on Cyrillic graphics.

Religion

The majority of Tatar believers are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. The population of the former Volga Bulgaria was Muslim since the 10th century and remained so as part of the Horde, due to this it stood out among neighboring peoples. Then, after the Tatars joined the Moscow state, their ethnic identity became even more intertwined with their religious one. Some Tatars even defined their nationality as “meselman”, i.e. Muslims. At the same time, they retained (and partially retain to this day) elements of ancient pre-Islamic calendar rituals.

Traditional activities

The traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars in the 19th and early 20th centuries was based on arable farming. They grew winter rye, oats, barley, lentils, millet, spelt, flax, and hemp. They also engaged in gardening and melon growing. Pasture-stall livestock farming resembled nomadic farming in some ways. For example, horses in some areas grazed pasture all year long. Only the Mishars were seriously involved in hunting. Handicraft and manufacturing production (jewelry making, felting, furriers, weaving and gold embroidery) reached a high level of development, tanneries and cloth factories operated, and trade was developed.

National Costume

For men and women, it consisted of wide-leg trousers and a shirt over which a sleeveless vest, often embroidered, was worn. Women's Tatar costume was distinguished by an abundance of jewelry made of silver, cowrie shells, and bugles. The outerwear was a Cossack, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. Men wore a skullcap on their heads, and on top of it a fur hat or felt hat. Women wore an embroidered velvet cap and scarf. Traditional Tatar shoes are leather ichigs with soft soles, over which galoshes were worn.

Sources: Peoples of Russia: Atlas of Cultures and Religions / ed. V.A. Tishkov, A.V. Zhuravsky, O.E. Kazmina. - M.: IPC "Design. Information. Cartography", 2008.

Peoples and religions of the world: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. V.A. Tishkov. Editorial team: O.Yu.Artemova, S.A.Arutyunov, A.N.Kozhanovsky, V.M.Makarevich (deputy chief editor), V.A.Popov, P.I.Puchkov (deputy chief editor) ed.), G.Yu.Sitnyansky. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1998, - 928 p.: ill. — ISBN 5-85270-155-6

Posted Fri, 06/04/2012 - 08:15 by Cap

Tatars (self-name - Tat. Tatar, tatar, plural Tatarlar, tatarlar) — Turkic people, living in the central regions of the European part of Russia, in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Xinjiang, Afghanistan and the Far East.

The population in Russia is 5310.6 thousand people (population census 2010) - 3.72% of the Russian population. They are the second largest people in Russian Federation after the Russians. They are divided into three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural, Siberian and Astrakhan Tatars, sometimes Polish-Lithuanian Tatars are also distinguished. Tatars make up more than half of the population of the Republic of Tatarstan (53.15% according to the 2010 census). Tatar language belongs to the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family of languages and is divided into three dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). Believing Tatars (with the exception of a small group of Kryashens who profess Orthodoxy) are Sunni Muslims.

LIST OF TOURIST OBJECTS, HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND NOTABLE PLACES IN KAZAN AND AROUND THE CITY FOR EXCURSIONS AND VISITS, AS WELL AS ARTICLES ABOUT THE TATAR PEOPLE:

Bulgar warrior

Hero of the Soviet Union and Tatar poet - Musa Jalil

History of the ethnonym

First the ethnonym “Tatars” appeared among the Turkic tribes that wandered in the 6th-9th centuries to the southeast of Lake Baikal. In the 13th century, with the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the name “Tatars” became known in Europe. In the XIII-XIV centuries it was extended to some peoples of Eurasia that were part of the Golden Horde.

TUKAY MUSEUM IN THE VILLAGE OF KOSHLAUCH - IN THE HOMELAND OF THE GREAT POET

Early history

The beginning of the penetration of Turkic-speaking tribes into the Urals and Volga region dates back to the 3rd-4th centuries AD. e. and is associated with the era of the invasion of Eastern Europe by the Huns and other nomadic tribes. Settled in the Urals and Volga region, they perceived elements of the culture of the local Finno-Ugric peoples, and partially mixed with them. In the 5th-7th centuries, there was a second wave of advance of Turkic-speaking tribes into the forest and forest-steppe regions of Western Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, associated with the expansion of the Turkic Kaganate. In the 7th-8th centuries, Bulgar tribes came to the Volga region from the Azov region, who conquered the Finno-Ugric-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes that were there (including, possibly, the ancestors of the Bashkirs) and in the 9th-10th centuries they created a state - Volga-Kama Bulgaria. After the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria in 1236, and a series of uprisings (the uprising of Bayan and Dzhiku, the Bachman uprising), the Volga Bulgaria was finally captured by the Mongols. The Bulgarian population was forced out to the north (modern Tatarstan), replaced and partially assimilated.

In the XIII-XV centuries, when the majority of Turkic-speaking tribes were part of the Golden Horde, some transformation of the language and culture of the Bulgars took place.

Formation

In the XV-XVI centuries, the formation of separate groups of Tatars took place - the Middle Volga region and the Urals (Kazan Tatars, Mishars, Kasimov Tatars, as well as the sub-confessional community of Kryashens (baptized Tatars), Astrakhan, Siberian, Crimean and others). The Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals, the most numerous and had a more developed economy and culture, to end of the 19th century centuries developed into a bourgeois nation. The bulk of the Tatars were engaged in agriculture; in the economy of the Astrakhan Tatars, cattle breeding and fishing played a major role. A significant part of the Tatars were employed in various handicraft industries. The material culture of the Tatars, which was formed over a long period of time from elements of the culture of a number of Turkic and local tribes, was also influenced by the cultures of the peoples of Central Asia and other regions, and from the end of the 16th century - by Russian culture.

Gayaz Ishaki

Ethnogenesis of the Tatars

There are several theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars. Three of them are described in the most detail in the scientific literature:

Bulgaro-Tatar theory

Tatar-Mongol theory

Turkic-Tatar theory.

For a long time, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory was considered the most recognized.

Currently, the Turkic-Tatar theory is gaining greater recognition.

PRESIDENT OF THE RF MEDVEDEV AND PRESIDENT OF THE RT MINNIKHANOV

I. SHARIPOVA - REPRESENTED RUSSIA AT MISS WORLD - 2010

Subethnic groups

The Tatars consist of several subethnic groups - the largest of them are:

Kazan Tatars (Tat. Kazanly) are one of the main groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Kazan Khanate. They speak the middle dialect of the Tatar language.

(GENERAL ARTICLE ABOUT KAZAN - HERE).

Mishari Tatars (Tat. Mishar) are one of the main groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis took place in the territory of the Middle Volga, Wild Field and the Urals. They speak the Western dialect of the Tatar language.

Kasimov Tatars (tat. Kәchim) are one of the groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Kasimov Khanate. They speak the middle dialect of the Tatar language.

Siberian Tatars (Tat. Seber) are one of the groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Siberian Khanate. They speak the eastern dialect of the Tatar language.

Astrakhan Tatars (tat. Әsterkhan) are an ethno-territorial group of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Astrakhan Khanate.

Teptyari Tatars (Tat. Tiptar) are an ethnic class group of Tatars, known in Bashkortostan.

clothes of Bulgarian girls

Culture and life

Tatars speak the Tatar language of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family. The languages (dialects) of the Siberian Tatars show a certain closeness to the language of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals. The literary language of the Tatars was formed on the basis of the middle (Kazan-Tatar) dialect. The most ancient writing is the Turkic runic. From the 10th century to 1927, writing based on Arabic script existed; from 1928 to 1936, Latin script (Yanalif) was used; from 1936 to the present day, writing on a Cyrillic graphic basis was used, although there are already plans to transfer Tatar writing to Latin.

The traditional dwelling of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals was a log hut, separated from the street by a fence. The external façade was decorated with multicolor paintings. The Astrakhan Tatars, who retained some of their steppe cattle-breeding traditions, used a yurt as a summer home.

Every nation has its own national holidays. Tatar folk holidays They delight in people’s sense of gratitude and respect for nature, for the customs of their ancestors, and for each other.

Religious Muslim holidays are called the word gaet (ayet) (Uraza gaete is a holiday of fasting and Korban gaete is a holiday of sacrifice). And all folk, non-religious holidays are called beyram in Tatar. Scientists believe that this word means “spring beauty”, “spring celebration”.

Religious holidays are called by the word Gayt or Bayram (Eid al-Fitr (Ramazan) - a holiday of fasting and Korban Bayram - a holiday of sacrifice). Muslim holidays among Tatars - Muslims include collective morning prayer, in which all men and boys participate. Then you are supposed to go to the cemetery and pray near the graves of your loved ones. And the women and the girls helping them at this time prepare treats at home. On holidays (and each religious holiday used to last for several days), people went around the houses of relatives and neighbors with congratulations. Particularly important was a visit to my parents' home. During the days of Korban Bayram, the holiday of sacrifice, they tried to treat as many people as possible with meat, the tables remained set for two or three days in a row, and everyone entering the house, no matter who he was, had the right to treat himself.

Tatar holidays

Boz karau

According to the old, old tradition, Tatar villages were located on the banks of rivers. Therefore, the first beyram - “spring celebration” for the Tatars is associated with ice drift. This holiday is called boz karau, boz bagu - “watch the ice”, boz ozatma - seeing off the ice, zin kitu - ice drift.

All residents, from old people to children, came to the river bank to watch the ice drift. The youth walked dressed up, with accordion players. Straw was laid out and lit on floating ice floes. In the blue spring twilight these floating torches were visible far away, and songs followed them.

Younger yau

One day in early spring, the children went home to collect cereals, butter, and eggs. With their calls, they expressed good wishes to the owners and... demanded refreshments!

From the collected products on the street or indoors, with the help of one or two elderly women, the children cooked porridge in a huge cauldron. Everyone brought a plate and spoon with them. And after such a feast, the children played and doused themselves with water.

Kyzyl yomorka

After some time, the day came to collect colored eggs. Village residents were warned about such a day in advance and housewives painted eggs in the evening - most often in a decoction of onion skins. The eggs turned out to be multi-colored - from golden yellow to dark brown, and in a decoction of birch leaves - various shades of green. In addition, in each house they baked special dough balls - small buns, pretzels, and also bought candy.

The children were especially looking forward to this day. Mothers sewed bags for them from towels to collect eggs. Some guys went to bed dressed and with shoes on, so as not to waste time getting ready in the morning; they put a log under their pillow so as not to oversleep. Early in the morning, boys and girls began to walk around the houses. The one who came in was the first to bring in wood chips and scatter them on the floor - so that “the yard would not be empty,” that is, so that there would be a lot of living creatures on it.

The children's humorous wishes to the owners are expressed in ancient times - as in the times of great-grandparents. For example, this: “Kyt-kytyk, kyt-kytyk, are grandparents at home? Will they give me an egg? Let you have a lot of chickens, let the roosters trample them. If you don’t give me an egg, there’s a lake in front of your house, and you’ll drown there!” The egg collection lasted two to three hours and was a lot of fun. And then the children gathered in one place on the street and played different games with collected eggs.

But again it becomes ubiquitous and beloved spring holiday Tatar Sabantuy. This is a very beautiful, kind and wise holiday. It includes various rituals and games.

Literally, “Sabantuy” means “Plow Festival” (saban - plow and tui - holiday). Previously, it was celebrated before the start of spring field work, in April, but now Sabantuy is celebrated in June - after the end of sowing.

In the old days, they prepared for Sabantui for a long time and carefully - the girls wove, sewed, embroidered scarves, towels, and shirts with national patterns; everyone wanted her creation to become a reward for the strongest horseman - the winner in national wrestling or horse racing. And young people went from house to house and collected gifts, sang songs, and joked. Gifts were tied to a long pole; sometimes horsemen tied the collected towels around themselves and did not remove them until the end of the ceremony.

During the Sabantuy, a council of respected elders was elected - all power in the village passed to them, they appointed a jury to award the winners, and kept order during the competitions.

Socio-political movements of the 1980s–1990s

The late 80s of the 20th century saw a period of intensification of socio-political movements in Tatarstan. One can note the creation of the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOC), the first president M. Mulyukov, the branch of the Ittifak party - the first non-communist party in Tatarstan, headed by F. Bayramova.

V.V. PUTIN ALSO CLAIMES THAT THERE WERE TATARS IN HIS FAMILY!!!

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:

http://www.photosight.ru/photos/

http://www.ethnomuseum.ru/glossary/

http://www.liveinternet.ru/

http://i48.servimg.com/

Wikipedia.

Zakiev M.Z. Part two, Chapter one. History of the study of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars // Origin of the Turks and Tatars. - M.: Insan, 2002.

Tatar Encyclopedia

R.K. Urazmanova. Rituals and holidays of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals. Historical and ethnographic atlas of the Tatar people. Kazan, House of Printing 2001

Trofimova T. A. Ethnogenesis of the Volga Tatars in the light of anthropological data. - M., Leningrad: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1949, P.145.

Tatars (Series “Peoples and Cultures” RAS). M.: Nauka, 2001. - P.36.

http://firo04.firo.ru/

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/

http://www.ljplus.ru/img4/s/a/safiullin/

http://volga.lentaregion.ru/wp-content/

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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, left for 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 army of the Huns left Southern Rus' for 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 the Aryan race and 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 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 the 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. The main reason was 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 Chersonesus.

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 the Voronezh region is the ancient headquarters of the legendary Khan. This ruler, who led the Onnogurov tribe, was raised as a child at the imperial court in Constantinople and was baptized at the age of 12. In 632, he declared independence from the Avars and stood at the head of the association, which in Byzantine sources received the name Great Bulgaria.
It occupied the south of modern Ukraine and Russia from the Dnieper to the Kuban. In 634-641, the Christian Khan Kubrat entered into an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.

The emergence of Bulgaria and the settlement of the Bulgars around the world

However, after the death of Kubrat (665), 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 the state of the Golden Horde in the Volga region, one of the provinces of which was Bulgaria. She enjoyed some autonomy, her princes became vassals of the Golden Horde Khan, paid him tribute and supplied soldiers to the Horde army. The high culture of Bulgaria became the most important component of the culture of the Golden Horde.
The end of the war helped revive the economy. It reached its greatest prosperity in this region of Rus' in the first half of the 14th century. By this time, Islam had established itself as the state religion of the Golden Horde. The city of Bulgar becomes the residence of the khan. The city attracted many palaces, mosques, and caravanserais. It had public baths, paved streets, and underground water supply. Here they were the first in Europe to master the smelting of cast iron. Jewelry and ceramics from these places were sold in medieval Europe and Asia.

The death of Volga Bulgaria 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

PROBLEMS OF ETHNOGENESIS (BEGINNING THE ORIGIN) OF THE TATAR PEOPLE

PERIODIZATION OF TATAR POLITICAL HISTORY

The Tatar people have gone through a difficult path of centuries-long development. The following main stages of Tatar political history are distinguished:

Ancient Turkic statehood includes the state of the Xiongnu (209 BC - 155 AD), the Hun Empire (late 4th - mid 5th century), Turkic Khaganate (551 - 745) and Kazakh Khaganate ( middle 7 – 965)

Volga Bulgaria or Bulgarian Emirate (end X – 1236)

Ulus Jochi or Golden Horde (1242 - first half of the 15th century)

Kazan Khanate or Kazan Sultanate (1445 – 1552)

Tatarstan as part of the Russian state (1552 – present)

The Republic of Tatarstan became a sovereign republic within the Russian Federation in 1990

ORIGIN OF THE ETHNONYM (NAME OF THE PEOPLE) TATARS AND ITS DISTRIBUTION IN THE VOLGA-URAL

The ethnonym Tatars is national and is used by all groups that form the Tatar ethnic community - Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan, Siberian, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars. There are several versions of the origin of the ethnonym Tatars.

The first version talks about the origin of the word Tatar from the Chinese language. In the 5th century, a warlike Mongol tribe lived in Machuria, often raiding China. The Chinese called this tribe "Ta-Ta". Later, the Chinese extended the ethnonym Tatar to all their nomadic northern neighbors, including the Turkic tribes

The second version derives the word Tatar from the Persian language. Khalikov cites the etymology (option of the origin of the word) of the Arab medieval author Mahmad of Kazhgat, according to whom the ethnonym Tatar consists of 2 Persian words. Tat is a stranger, ar is a man. Thus, the word Tatar literally translated from Persian means a stranger, a foreigner, a conqueror.

The third version derives the ethnonym Tatars from the Greek language. Tartar – underground kingdom, hell.

By the beginning of the 13th century, the tribal associations of the Tatars found themselves part of the Mongol Empire led by Genghis Khan and participated in his military campaigns. The Ulus of Jochi (UD), which arose as a result of these campaigns, was numerically dominated by the Cumans, who were subordinate to the dominant Turkic-Mongol clans, from which the military service class was recruited. This class in the UD was called Tatars. Thus, the term Tatars in the UD initially did not have an ethnic meaning and was used to designate the military-service class that constituted the elite of society. Therefore, the term Tatars was a symbol of nobility, power, and it was prestigious to treat the Tatars. This led to the gradual adoption by the majority of the UD population of this term as an ethnonym.

BASIC THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE TATAR PEOPLE

There are 3 theories that interpret the origin of the Tatar people differently:

Bulgar (Bulgaro-Tatar)

Mongol-Tatar (Golden Horde)

Turko-Tatar

The Bulgarian theory is based on the provisions that the ethnic basis of the Tatar people is the Bulgar ethnos, which developed in the middle Volga region and the Urals in the 19th-9th centuries. Bulgarists, adherents of this theory, argue that the main ethnocultural traditions and characteristics of the Tatar people were formed during the existence of Volga Bulgaria. In the subsequent periods of the Golden Horde, Kazan-Khan and Russian, these traditions and features underwent only minor changes. According to the Bulgarists, all other groups of Tatars arose independently and are in fact independent ethnic groups.

One of the main arguments that the Bulgarists give in defense of the provisions of their theory is an anthropological argument - the external similarity of the medieval Bulgars with the modern Kazan Tatars.

The Mongol-Tatar theory is based on the fact of the migration of nomadic Mongol-Tatar groups to Eastern Europe from central Asia (Mongolia). These groups mixed with the Cumans and during the UD period created the basis of the culture of modern Tatars. Supporters of this theory downplay the importance of Volga Bulgaria and its culture in the history of the Kazan Tatars. They believe that during the Ud period the Bulgarian population was partially exterminated, partially moved to the outskirts of Volga Bulgaria (the modern Chuvash descended from these Bolgars), while the main part of the Bulgarians was assimilated (loss of culture and language) by the newcomer Mongol-Tatars and Cumans, who brought a new ethnonym and language. One of the arguments on which this theory is based is the linguistic argument (the proximity of the medieval Polovtsian and modern Tatar languages).

The Turkic-Tatar theory notes the important role in their ethnogenesis of the ethnopolitical tradition of the Turkic and Kazakh Khaganate in the population and culture of Volga Bulgaria of the Kypchat and Mongol-Tatar ethnic groups of the Eurasian steppes. As a key point ethnic history Tatars, this theory examines the period of existence of the UD, when, on the basis of a mixture of alien Mongol-Tatar and Kypchat and local Bulgarian traditions, a new statehood, culture, and literary language arose. A new Tatar ethnopolitical consciousness developed among the Muslim military service nobility of the UD. After the collapse of the UD into several independent states, the Tatar ethnic group was divided into groups that began to develop independently. The process of division of the Kazan Tatars ended during the period of the Kazan Khanate. 4 groups took part in the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars - 2 local and 2 newcomers. Local Bulgars and part of the Volga Finns were assimilated by the newcomer Mongol-Tatars and Kipchaks, who brought a new ethnonym and language.