Tatars
56877
225171793
2008-07-12T07:35:13Z
195.210.193.105
{{otheruses4|the people||Tatar (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Ethnic group
|group=Tatars<br>(Tatarlar / Татарлар)
|image=[[Image:Tatar woman XVIII century.jpg|200px|Tatar woman, 18th century]]
|poptime= 21 million
|popplace=[[Russia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Ukraine]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Turkey]], [[Lithuania]], [[Finland]], [[Estonia]], [[Poland]], [[Belarus]], [[Germany]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Romania]], [[Canada]], [[United States|USA]], [[Brazil]]{{Fact|date=May 2008}}, [[Moldova]], [[Japan]] and [[China]]
|langs=[[Russian language|Russian]], [[Tatar language|Tatar]] and many others among the diaspora
|rels=[[Sunni Islam]], [[Atheism]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]]
|related=other [[Turkic peoples]]
}}
'''Tatars''' ([[Tatar language|Tatar]]: Tatarlar/Татарлар), sometimes spelled '''Tartar''' (''[[#Name|more about the name]]''), are a [[Turkic people|Turkic]] ethnic group or a couple of ethnic groups.
Most current day Tatars live in [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]], [[Poland]], [[Moldova]], [[Lithuania]], [[Belarus]], [[Bulgaria]], [[China]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Romania]], [[Turkey]], and [[Uzbekistan]]. They collectively numbered more than 10 million in the late 20th century.
The original Ta-ta inhabited the north-eastern [[Gobi]] in the 5th century and, after subjugation in the 9th century by the [[Liao dynasty|Khitans]], migrated southward, there founding the [[Mongol Empire]] under [[Genghis Khan]]. Under the leadership of his grandson [[Batu Khan]], they moved westwards, driving with them many stems of the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[Ural-Altaic|Ural-Altay]]ans towards the plains of [[Russia]].
In Europe, they were assimilated by the local Turkic populations or their name spread to the conquered peoples: [[Kipchaks]], [[Volga Bulgars]], [[Alans]], [[Kimaks]] and others; and elsewhere with [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient [[Greek colonies]] in the [[Crimea]] and Caucasians in the [[Caucasus]].
Tatars of [[Siberia]] are survivors of the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] population of the [[Ural (region)|Ural]]-[[Altay Mountains|Altaic]] region, mixed to some extent with the speakers of [[Uralic languages]], as well as with Mongols. Later, each group adopted Turkic languages and many adopted [[Islam]]. At the beginning of 20th century, most of those groups, except the [[Volga Tatars]] and [[Crimean Tatars]] adopted their own ethnic names and now are not referred to as Tatars, being ''Tatars'' or ''Tartars'' only in historical context. Now the name ''Tatars'' is generally applied to two ethnic groups: [[Volga Tatars]] (or simply Tatars) and [[Crimean Tatars]]. However, some indigenous peoples of Siberia are also traditionally named ''Tatars'', such as [[Chulym Tatars]].
The present Tatar inhabitants of [[Eurasia]] form three large groups:
* those of [[Crimea]], [[Bulgaria]], European [[Russia]] and Western Siberia, [[Lithuania]], [[Moldova]], [[Belarus]], [[Poland]], [[Romania]] and [[Turkey]].
* those of the [[Caucasus]] (in historical context),
* and those of Eastern [[Siberia]] (in historical context).
Due to the vast movements and intermingling of peoples along with the very loose utilization of the name Tatar, current day Tatars comprise a spectrum of physical appearance. As to the original Tatars from Mongolia, they most likely shared characteristics with the Turkic invaders from Central Asia.
== Name ==
[[Image:Kultigin monument.jpg|right|thumb|150px|[[Kul Tigin]] Monument on which the first mention of the ''Tatar'' people is inscribed]]
The name "Tatar" initially appeared amongst the nomadic [[Turkic peoples]] of northeastern [[Mongolia]] in the region around [[Lake Baikal]] in the beginning of the 5th century.<ref name="BritannicaTatar">'''Tatar'''. (2006). In ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Retrieved [[October 28]], [[2006]], from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9071375</ref> These people may have been related to the [[Cumans]] or the [[Kipchaks]].<ref name="BritannicaTatar" /> The Chinese term is Dada and is a comparatively specific term for nomads to the north, emerging in the late Tang. Other names include Dadan and Tatan.
As various of these [[nomadic]] groups became part of [[Genghis Khan]]'s army in the early 13th century, a fusion of [[Mongol]] and Turkic elements took place, and the invaders of [[Kievan Rus'|Rus]] and [[Hungary]] became known to Europeans as Tatars (or Tartars).<ref name="BritannicaTatar" /> After the break up of the [[Mongol Empire]], the Tatars became especially identified with the western part of the empire, which included most of European Russia and was known as the [[Golden Horde]].<ref name="BritannicaTatar" />
Formerly, it was believed that the name Tatar derived from the name [[Tartarus]],<ref name="BritannicaMongolia">'''Mongolia'''. (2006). In ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Retrieved October 28, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-27420</ref> the Greek name for the [[underworld]]; this belief led to the frequent spelling and pronunciation of the name with an extra "r", to conform with the classical Greek word. However, this provenance is unlikely since the Tatars use this name for themselves, spelling it without ''r'' ({{lang-tt|Татарлар|Tatarlar}}).
==Historical meaning of ''Tatars''==
* [[Ta-ta Mongols]]
* multi-ethnical population of [[Mongol Empire]]
* [[tatars of Golden Horde|multi-ethnical Muslim population]] of late [[Golden Horde]] (for neighboring peoples, for example, Russians)
* Turkic Muslim population ([[Volga Tatars]], [[Azeris]]) and some pagan Turkic and Mongolian peoples (such as [[Khakass]]) in the [[Russian Empire]]
* Russian term for some peoples, incorporated into the [[Muslim nation of Russia]] in the late 19th century (for example, [[Volga Tatars]], [[Nogais]], [[Azeri]])
* Some ethnic groups in the Soviet Union after the policy of [[Furkinland]], such as the Volga Tatars (or simply Tatars), [[Crimean Tatars]], [[Chulym Tatars]], and groups such as the [[Lipka Tatars]] (other peoples also switched their Russian names to "Tatar" to promote their desire for self-determination).
==Tatars==
The discrimination of the separate stems included under the name is still far from complete. The following subdivisions, however, may be regarded as established:
Tatars - ''Tatarlar'' or ''Татарлар''. In modern English only ''Tatar'' is used to refer to Eurasian Tatars; ''Tartar'' has offensive connotations as a confusion with the [[Tartarus]] of Greek mythology, due in part to the popular association of the supposed bloodthirsty ferocity of the Mongol tribes with the Greek sub-underworld. In Europe the term ''Tartar'' is generally only used in the historical context for ''Mongolian'' people who appeared in the 13th century (the [[Mongol invasions]]) and assimilated into the local population later.
===Volga Tatars===
{{main|Volga Tatars}}
Volga Tatars live in the central and eastern parts of european Russia and in western [[Siberia]]. In today's Russia the term '''Tatars''' is used to describe '''[[Volga]] Tatars''' only. During the census of 2002, Tatars, or Volga Tatars, were officially divided into common Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars, Keräşen Tatars, and Siberian Tatars. Other ethnic groups, such as [[Crimean Tatars]] and [[Chulyms]], were not officially recognized as a part of the multi-ethnic Tatar group and were counted separately.Anthropologically 38,2% of Volga Tatars belongs to Southern Caucasoid, 22,9% to Lapponoid, 19,5% to Mongoloid and 19,4% to Northern Caucasoid.
====Kazan (Qazan) Tatars====
[[Image:Tatars in Kazan 1885 2.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Kazan Tatars]]
During the 11-16th centuries, most [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribes lived in what is now Russia and Kazakhstan. The present territory of Tatarstan was inhabited by the [[Volga Bulgaria|Volga Bulgars]] who settled on the Volga in the 8th century and converted to Islam in 922 during the missionary work of [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]]. On the Volga, the Bulgars mingled with [[Scythian]] and Finno-Ugric speaking peoples. After the [[Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria|Mongol invasion]], Bulgaria was defeated, ruined and incorporated in the [[Golden Horde]]. Much of the population survived, and there was a certain degree of mixing between it and the [[Kipchak]] Tatars of the Horde during the ensuing period. The group as a whole accepted the ethnonym "Tatars" (finally in the end of 19th century; although the name [[Bulgars]] persisted in some places; the majority identified themselves simply as ''the Muslims'') and the language of the Kipchaks; on the other hand, the invaders eventually converted to Islam. As the Horde disintegrated in the 15th century, the area became the territory of the [[Kazan khanate]], which was [[Russo-Kazan wars|ultimately conquered by Russia]] in the 16th century.
There is some debate among scholars about the extent of that mixing and the "share" of each group as progenitors of the modern Kazan Tatars. It is relatively accepted that demographically, most of the population was directly descended from the Bulgars. Nevertheless, some emphasize the contribution of the Kipchaks on the basis of the ethnonym and the language, and consider that the modern Tatar ethnogenesis was only completed upon their arrival. Others prefer to stress the Bulgar heritage, sometimes to degree of equating modern Kazan Tatars with Bulgars. They argue that although the Volga Bulgars had not kept their language and their name, their old culture and religion - [[Islam]] - have been preserved. According to scholars who espouse this view, there was very little mixing with Mongol and Turkic aliens after the conquest of Volga Bulgaria, especially in the northern regions that ultimately became [[Tatarstan]]. Some voices even advocate the change of the ethnonym from "Tatars" to "Bulgars" - a movement known as [[Bulgarism]]. <ref>[http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/fadlan/rorlich1.html Rorlich, A. The origins of the Volga Tatars. (Stanford University, 1986)]</ref> <ref>[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]], article on ''Tatarstan''.</ref>
In the 1910s they numbered about half a million in the [[Kazan Governorate]] ([[Tatarstan]], the Kazan Tatars' historical motherland), about 400,000 in each of the governments of [[Ufa]], 100,000 in [[Samara, Russia|Samara]] and [[Simbirsk]], and about 30,000 in [[Vyatka]], [[Saratov]], [[Tambov]], [[Penza]], [[Nizhny Novgorod]], [[Perm]] and [[Orenburg]]. Some 15,000 belonging to the same stem had migrated to [[Ryazan]], or had been settled as prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries in [[Lithuania]] ([[Vilnius]], [[Hrodna|Grodno]] and [[Podolia]]). Some 2000 resided in [[St. Petersburg, Russia|St. Petersburg]], where they were mostly employed as coachmen and waiters in restaurants. In Poland they constituted 1% of the population of the district of [[Plock]]. Later they wer never counted as separate group of the Tatars.
The Kazan Tatars speak a [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] language (with a big complement of Russian and Arabic words; see [[Tatar language]]). They have been described as generally middle-sized, broad-shouldered, and the majority have brown and green eyes, a straight nose and salient cheek bones[http://www.xacitarxan.narod.ru/antropos.htm]. Because their ancestors number not only Turkic peoples, but [[Finno-Ugric]] and [[East Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian peoples]] as well, many Kazan Tatars tend to have Caucasoid faces. Around 33.5% belong to Southern Caucasoid, 27.5% to Northern Caucasoid, 24.5% to Lapponoid and 14.5% to Mongoloid [http://www.xacitarxan.narod.ru/antropos.htm]. Most Kazan Tatars practice [[Sunni Islam]].
Before 1917 in Russia, polygamy was practised only by the wealthier classes and was a waning institution. The [[Bashkirs]] who live between the [[Kama River|Kama]] and [[Ural River|Ural]] speak the [[Bashkir language]], which is similar to Tatar, and have converted to [[Sunni Islam]].
Because it is understandable to all groups of Russian Tatars, as well as to the [[Chuvash]] and [[Bashkirs]], the language of the Volga Tatars became a literary one in the 15th century ([[Old Tatar language|İske Tatar tele]]). (However, [[iske imla|being written in Arabic alphabet]], it was spelled variously in the different regions). The old literary language included a lot of Arabic and Persian words. Nowadays the literary language includes European and Russian words instead of Arabic.
Volga Tatars number nearly 8 millions, mostly in Russia and the republics of the former [[Soviet Union]]. While the bulk of the population is to be found in [[Tatarstan]] (nearly 2 million) and neighbouring regions, significant numbers of Kazan Tatars live in Central Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus. Outside of Tatarstan, urban Tatars usually speak [[Russian language|Russian]] as their first language (in cities such as [[Moscow]], [[Saint-Petersburg]], [[Nizhniy Novgorod]], [[Tashkent]], [[Almaty]], and cities of the [[Ural (region)|Ural]] and western Siberia) and other languages in a worldwide diaspora.
A significant number of Tatars emigrated during the [[Russian Civil War]], mostly to Turkey and [[Harbin]], China, but resettled to European countries later. Some of them speak Turkish at home. [http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/premade/9052/autonomy.htm According to the Chinese government], there are still 51,000 Tatars living in Xinjiang province (see [[Chinese Tatars]]).
See also: [[Tatar language]]
=====Noqrat Tatars=====
Tatars live in Russia's [[Kirov Oblast]].
=====Perm Tatars=====
Tatars live in Russia's [[Perm Krai]]. Some of them also have an admixture of [[Komi peoples|Komi]] blood.
=====Keräşen Tatars=====<!-- This section is linked from [[Ä]] -->
Some Tatars were forcibly Christianized by [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan the Terrible]] during the 16th century and later in the 18th century.
Some scientists suppose that [[Suars]] were ancestors of the Keräşen Tatars, and they had been converted to Christianity by [[Armenians]] in the 6th century, while they lived in the Caucasus. Suars, like other tribes (which later converted to Islam) became [[Volga Bulgars]] and later the modern [[Chuvash]] (mostly Christians) and Tatars (mostly [[Muslims]]).
Keräşen Tatars live all over [[Tatarstan]]. Now they tend to be assimilated among [[Russians]], [[Chuvash]] and Tatars with [[Sunni Muslim]] self-identification. Eighty years of [[atheist]]ic Soviet rule made Tatars of both confessions not as religious as they were. As such, differences between Tatars and Keräşen Tatars now is only that Keräşens have Russian names.
Some Turkic ([[Kuman]]) tribes in [[Golden Horde]] were converted to Christianity in the 13th and 14th centuries ([[Catholicism]] and [[Nestorianism]]). Some prayers, written in that time in the ''[[Codex Cumanicus]]'', sound like modern Keräşen prayers, but there is no information about the connection between Christian Kumans and modern Keräşens.
=====Nağaybäks=====
{{main|Nağaybäk}}
Tatars who became [[Cossack]]s (border keepers) and converted to [[Russian Orthodoxy]]. They live in the [[Urals]], the Russian border with [[Kazakhstan]] during the 17th-18th century.
The biggest Nağaybäk village is [[Parizh]], Russia, named after [[France|French]] capital [[Paris]], due Nağaybäk's participation in [[Napoleonic wars]].
=====Tiptär Tatars=====
Like Noğaybaqs, although they are Sunni Muslims. Some Tiptär Tatars speak Russian or [[Bashkir language|Bashkir]]. According to some scientists, Tiptärs are part of the Mişärs.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
=====Tatar language dialects=====
There are 3 dialects: Eastern, Central, Western.
The Western dialect (Misher) is spoken mostly by Mishärs, the Middle dialect is spoken by Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars, and the Eastern (Siberian) dialect is spoken by some groups of Tatars in western [[Siberia]].
Middle Tatar is the base of literary Tatar Language. The Middle dialect also has subdivisions.
====Mişär Tatars====
Mişär Tatars (or Mishers) are a group of Tatars speaking a dialect of the [[Tatar language]]. They are descendants of [[Kipchaks]] in the Middle [[Oka River]] area and Meschiora where they mixed with the local [[Finno-Ugric]] tribes. Nowadays they live in [[Tambov Oblast|Tambov]], [[Penza Oblast|Penza]], [[Ryazan Oblast|Ryazan]], [[Nizhegorodskaya]] oblasts of Russia and in [[Bashkortostan]] and [[Mordovia]]. They lived near and along the Volga River, in Tatarstan.
====Qasím Tatars====
The Western Tatars have their capital in the town of Qasím ([[Kasimov]] in Russian transcription) in [[Ryazan Oblast]], with a Tatar population of 500. See "[[Qasim Khanate]]" for their history.
====Astrakhan Tatars====
The Astrakhan Tatars (around 80,000) are a group of Tatars, descendants of the [[Astrakhan Khanate]]'s agricultural population, who live mostly in [[Astrakhan Oblast]]. For the 2000 Russian census 2000, most Astrakhan Tatars declared themselves simply as Tatars and few declared themselves as Astrakhan Tatars. A large number of Volga Tatars live in Astrakhan Oblast and differences between them have been disappearing.
The Astrakhan Tatars are further divided into the Kundrov Tatars and the Karagash Tatars. The latter are also at times called the Karashi Tatars.<ref>Olson, James S., ''An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires''. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994) p. 55</ref>
Text from Britannica 1911:
:The [[Astrakhan]] Tatars number about 10,000 and are, with the [[Kalmyks]], all that now remains of the once so powerful Astrakhan empire. They also are agriculturists and gardeners; while some 12,000 [[Kundrovsk]] Tatars still continue the nomadic life of their ancestors.
While Astrakhan (Ästerxan) Tatar is a mixed dialect, around 43,000 have assimilated to the Middle (i.e., Kazan) dialect. Their ancestors are [[Khazars]], [[Kipchaks]] and some [[Volga Bulgars]]. (Volga Bulgars had trade colonies in modern [[Astrakhan Oblast|Astrakhan]] and [[Volgograd Oblast|Volgograd]] oblasts of Russia.)
The Astrakhan Tatars also assimilated the [[Agrzhan]].<ref>Wixman, Ronald. ''The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook''. (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 1984) p. 15</ref>
====Volga Tatars in the world====
Places where Volga Tatars live include:
* [[Ural (region)|Ural]] and Upper [[Kama]] (since 15th century) 15th century - colonization, 16th - 17th century - re-settled by Russians, 17th - 19th century - exploring of Ural, working in the plants
* West Siberia (since 16th century): 16th - from Russian repressions after conquering of Khanate of Kazan by Russians, 17th - 19th century - exploring of West Siberia, end of 19th - first half of 20th - industrialization, railways constructing, 1930s - [[Stalin]]'s repressions, 1970s - 1990s oil workers
* Moscow (since 17th century): Tatar feudals in the service of Russia, tradesmen, since 18th - Saint-Petersburg
* Kazakhstan (since 18th century): 18th – 19th centuries - Russian army officers and soldiers, 1930s – industrialization, since 1950s - settlers on virgin lands - re-emigration in 1990s
* Finland (since 1804): (mostly Mişärs) - 19th - from a group of some 20 villages in the Sergach region on the Volga River. See [[Finnish Tatars]].
* Central Asia (since 19th century) ([[Uzbekistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Xinjiang]] ) - 19th Russian officers and soldiers, tradesmen, religious emigrants, 1920-1930s - industrialization, Soviet education program for Central Asia peoples, 1948, 1960 - help for Ashgabat and Tashkent ruined by earthquakes - re-emigration in 1980s
* Caucasus, especially [[Azerbaijan]] (since 19th century) - oil workers (1890s), bread tradesmen
* Northern China (since 1910s) - railway builders (1910s) - re-emigrated in 1950s
* East Siberia (since 19th century) - resettled farmers (19th), railroad builders (1910s, 1980s), exiled by the Soviet government in 1930s
* Germany and Austria - 1914, 1941 - prisoners of war, 1990s - emigration
* Turkey, Japan, Iran, China, Egypt (since 1918) - emigration
* UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Mexico - (1920s) re-emigration from Germany, Turkey, Japan, China and others. 1950s - prisoners of war from Germany, which did not go back to the USSR, 1990s - emigration after the break up of USSR
* Sakhalin, Kaliningrad, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Karelia - after 1944-45 builders, Soviet military personnel
* Murmansk Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Northern Poland and Northern Germany (1945 - 1990) - Soviet military personnel
* Israel - wives or husbands of Jews (1990s)
===Tatars of East Europe===
====Crimean Tatars====
{{main|Crimean Tatars}}
The [[Crimean Tatars]] constituted the [[Crimean Khanate]] which was annexed by Russia in 1783. The war of 1853 and the laws of 1860-63 and 1874 caused an exodus of the [[Crimean Tatars]].
Those of the south coast, mixed with Scyth, Greeks and Italians, were well known for their skill in gardening, their honesty, and their work habits, as well as for their fine features. The mountain Tatars closely resemble those of Caucasus, while those of the [[steppe]]s - the Nogais - are decidedly of a mixed origin with Turks and Mongols.
During [[World War II]], the entire Tatar population in Crimea fell victims to [[Stalin]]'s oppressive policies. In 1944 they were accused of being Nazi collaborators and deported en masse to [[Central Asia]] and other lands of the Soviet Union. Many died of disease and malnutrition. Since the 1980s late, about 250,000 Crimean Tatars have returned to their homeland in the Crimea [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1102303.stm].
====Lithuanian Tatars====
[[Image:Taniec tatarski.jpg|thumb|right|300px|'Tatar dance' - (Crimean) Tatar soldier (left) fighting with the soldier of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] (right). This was a common occurrence until the 18th century.]]
After [[Tokhtamysh]] was defeated by [[Tamerlane]], some of his clan sought refuge in [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. They were given land and nobility in return for military service and were known as [[Lipka Tatars]]. They are known to have taken part in the [[Battle of Grunwald]].
Another group appeared in [[Jagoldai]] Duchy (Lithuania's vassal) near modern [[Kursk]] in 1437 and disappeared later.
====Belarusian Tatars====
{{See|Islam in Belarus}}
Islam spread in Belarus from the 14th to the 16th century. The process was encouraged by the Lithuanian princes, who invited [[Tatar]] Muslims from the [[Crimea]] and the [[Golden Horde]] as guards of state borders. Already in the 14th century the Tatars had been offered a settled way of life, state posts and service positions. By the end of the 16th century over 100,000 Tatars settled in Belarus and [[Lithuania]], including those hired to government service, those who moved there voluntarily, prisoners of war, etc.
Tatars in Belarus generally follow [[Sunni]] [[Hanafi]] Islam. Some groups have accepted [[Christianity]] and been assimilated, but most adhere to Muslim religious traditions, which ensures their definite endogamy and preservation of ethnic features. Interethnic marriages with representatives of Belarusian, Polish, Lithuanian, Russian nationalities are not rare, but do not result in total assimilation.
Originating from different ethnic associations, Belarusian (and also Polish and Lithuanian) Tatars back in ancient days lost their native language and adopted Belarusian, Polish and Russian. However, the liturgy is conducted in the [[Arabic language]], which is known by the clergymen. There are an estimated 20,000 Tatars in Belarus.
====Polish Tatars====
:''Main articles: [[Lipka Tatars]] and [[Islam in Poland]]''
[[Image:Tatarian Mosque Bohoniki Poland.jpg|250px|thumb|left|[[Tatar]] mosque in the village of Bohoniki, [[Poland]] ]]
From the 13th to 17th centuries various groups of Tatars settled and/or found refuge within the [[Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth]].
This was promoted especially by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, because of their deserved reputation as skilled warriors. The Tatar settlers were all granted with [[szlachta]] (~ nobility) status, a tradition that was preserved until the end of the Commonwealth in the 18th century. They included the [[Lipka Tatars]] (13-14 centuries) as well as Crimean and [[Nogai people|Nogay]] Tatars (15th-16th centuries), all of which were noticeable in Polish military history, as well as [[Volga Tatars]] (16th-17th centuries). They all mostly settled in the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], lands that are now in [[Lithuania]] and [[Belarus]].
Various estimates of the number of Tatars in the Commonwealth in the 17th century range from 15,000 persons to 60 villages with mosques. Numerous royal privileges, as well as internal autonomy granted by the monarchs allowed the Tatars to preserve their religion, traditions and culture over the centuries. The Tatars were allowed to intermarry with Christians, a thing uncommon in Europe at the time. The [[May Constitution]] of 1791 gave the Tatars representation in the Polish [[Sejm]].
Although by the 18th century the Tatars adopted the local language, the Islamic religion and many Tatar traditions (e.g. the sacrifice of bulls in their mosques during the main religious festivals) were preserved. This led to formation of a distinctive Muslim culture, in which the elements of Muslim orthodoxy mixed with religious tolerance and a relatively liberal society. For instance, the women in Lipka Tatar society traditionally had the same rights and status as men, and could attend non-segregated schools.
About 5,500 Tatars lived within the inter-war boundaries of Poland (1920-1939), and a Tatar cavalry unit had fought for the country's independence. The Tatars had preserved their cultural identity and sustained a number of Tatar organisations, including a Tatar archives, and a museum in Wilno ([[Vilnius]]).
The Tatars suffered serious losses during [[World War II]] and furthermore, after the border change in 1945 a large part of them found themselves in the [[Soviet Union]]. It is estimated that about 3000 Tatars live in present-day Poland, of which about 500 declared Tatar (rather than Polish) nationality in the 2002 census. There are two Tatar villages ([[Bohoniki]] and [[Kruszyniany]]) in the north-east of present-day Poland, as well as urban Tatar communities in [[Warsaw]], [[Gdańsk]], [[Białystok]], and [[Gorzow Wielkopolski]]. Tatars in Poland sometimes have a Muslim surname with a Polish ending: ''Ryzwanowicz, Jakubowicz''.
The Tatars were relatively very noticeable in the Commonwealth military as well as in Polish and Lithuanian political and intellectual life for such a small community.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} In modern-day Poland, their presence is also widely known, due in part to their noticeable role in the historical novels of [[Henryk Sienkiewicz]], which are universally recognized in Poland. A number of Polish intellectual figures have also been Tatars, e.g. the prominent historian Jerzy Łojek.
A small community of Polish speaking Tatars settled in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]] in the early 1900s. They established a mosque that is still in use today.
====Dobruja Tatars====
In [[Dobruja]], Romania, there is today a community of about 25,000 Crimean Tatars, which were colonized there by the [[Ottoman Empire]] beginning with the 17'th Century
==Caucasian Tatars==
These are Tatars who inhabit the upper [[Kuban River|Kuban]], the [[steppe]]s of the lower [[Kuma (Russia)|Kuma]] and the [[Kura]], and the [[Araks]]. In the 19th century they numbered about 1,350,000. This number includes a number of Tatar oil workers who came to the Caucasus from the Middle Volga in the end of the 19th century.
Now this term is used to describe Tatars, settled in Caucasus. Other explanations, like followers, can be found only in historical context.
===Nogais on the Kuma===
The [[Nogai people|Nogais]] on the [[Kuma River (Russia)|Kuma River]] show traces of a mixture with [[Kalmyks]]. They are nomads, supporting themselves by cattle-breeding and fishing; a few are agriculturists.
Today Nogais is an independent ethnos, living in the North of [[Dagestan]], where they lived after [[Nogai Horde]]'s defeating in was against Russia and settling [[Kalmyks]] in their lands in 17th century. Nogais was replaced to ''Black Lands'' in the North of [[Daghestan]]. Another part merged with [[Kazakhs]].
In 16th century Nogais supported [[Crimean Khanate]] and [[Ottoman Empire]], but sometimes robbed [[Crimea]]n, Tatar and [[Bashkir]] lands, although their rulers supported them. In 16th-17th century some defensive walls was constructed in modern [[Tatarstan]] and [[Samara Oblast]].
One of the Tatar national heroes, [[Söyembikä]], was Nogai.
====Qundra Tatars====
Some groups of Nogais emigrated to Middle Volga, where were (are) assimilated by Volga Tatars (in terms of language).
===Karachays===
The [[Karachays]] who number 18,500 in the upper valleys about [[Elburz]] live by agriculture.
Today Karachays are the independent ethnos, one of the main nation in [[Karachay-Cherkessia]].
==Siberian Tatars==
{{main|Siberian Tatars}}
The [[Siberia]]n Tatars were estimated (1895) at 80,000 of Turkic stock, and about 40,000 had Uralic or Ugric ancestry. They occupy three distinct regions—a strip running west to east from [[Tobolsk]] to [[Tomsk]]—the [[Altay Mountains|Altay]] and its spurs—and South Yeniseisk. They originated in the agglomerations of Turkic stems that, in the region north of the Altay, reached some degree of culture between the 4th and the 5th centuries, but were subdued and enslaved by the [[Mongols]].
===Baraba Tatars===
Sometimes Siberian Tatars refers only to Baraba Tatar, as a part of Tatar nation, a Muslim people that speak dialects of [[Tatar language]], but not another.
The Baraba Tatars take their name from one of their stems (Barama) and number about 50,000 in the government of [[Tobolsk]] and about 5000 in [[Tomsk]]. After a strenuous resistance to Russian conquest, and much suffering at a later period from [[Kyrgyz]] and Kalmyk raids, they now live by agriculture—either in separate villages or along with Russians.
After colonisation of Siberia by Russian and Volga Tatars, Baraba Tatars used to call themselves ''people of Tomsk'', later ''Moslems'', and came to call themselves ''Tatars'' only in 20th century.
===Chulym Tatars===
{{main|Chulyms}}
The Chulym, or Cholym Tatars live on the [[Chulym River|Chulym]], and both of the rivers [[Yus river|Yus]]. They speak a Turkic language with many Mongol and Yakut words and are more like Mongols than [[Turkic peoples|Turks]]. In the 19th century they paid a tribute for 2550 arbaletes, but they now are rapidly becoming fused with Russians.
See: [[Chulym language]]
===Abakan Tatars===
[[Image:MinusinskTatars.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Minusinsk Tatars]]
{{main|Khakass}}
The [[Abakan Tatars|Abakan (or ''Minusinsk'') Tatars]] occupied the steppes on the [[Abakan River|Abakan]] and [[Yus river|Yus]] in the 17th century, after the withdrawal of the [[Kyrgyz]], and represent a mixture with [[Kaibals]] (whom [[Matthias Castrén|Castrén]] considers as partly of [[Ostiak]] and partly [[Samoyed]]ic origin) and [[Beltirs]]—also of [[Finnic peoples|Finnic]] origin. Their language is also mixed. They are known under the name of [[Sagais]], who numbered 11,720 in 1864, and are the purer Turkic stem of the '''Minusinsk Tatars''', [[Kaibals]], and [[Kizil Tatars|Kizil (or ''Red'') Tatars]]. Formerly shamanists, they now are, nominally at least, adherents of the Russian Orthodox Church and support themselves mostly by cattle-breeding. Agriculture is spreading, but slowly, among them. They still prefer to plunder the stores of bulbs of ''Lilium martagon, Paeonia'', and ''[[Erythronium]] dens-canis'' laid up by the steppe mouse (''Mus socialis''). The [[Soyotes|Soyotes (or ''Soyons'')]], of the [[Sayan mountains]] (estimated at 8000), who are [[Finnic peoples|Finns]] mixed with [[Turkic peoples|Turks]]; the [[Uryankhes]] of north-west [[Mongolia]], who are of Turkic origin but follow [[Buddhism]]; and the [[Karagasses]], also of Turkic origin and much like the [[Kyrgyz]], but reduced now to a few hundreds, are akin to the above.
Today ''Abakan Tatars'' of ''Kirghiz'' terms are extinct, used own names only.
See more: [[Khakass]], [[Tuvans]], [[Altay people|Altays]]
===Northern Altay Tatars===
The Tatars of the northern slopes of the [[Altay Mountains|Altay]] (nearly 20,000 in number) are of Finnish origin. They comprise some hundreds of Kumandintses, the Lebed Tatars, the Chernevyie or Black-Forest Tatars and the [[Shors]] (11,000), descendants of the Kuznetsk or Iron-Smith Tatars. They are chiefly hunters, passionately loving their [[taiga]], or wild forests, and have maintained their shaman religion and tribal organization into suoks. They also live partly on [[pine nut]]s and [[honey]] collected in the forests. Their traditional dress is that of their former rulers, the Kalmucks, and their language contains many Mongol words.
===Altayans===
The Altay Tatars, or ''Altayans'', comprise
* the ''Mountain Kalmyks'' (12,000), to whom this name has been given by mistake, and who have nothing in common with the [[Kalmyks]] except their dress and mode of life. They speak a Turkic dialect.
* the ''[[Teleutes]]'', or ''[[Telenghites]]'' (5800), a remainder of a formerly numerous and warlike nation, who have migrated from the mountains to the lowlands where they now live along with Russian peasants.
Term ''Tatars'' is extinct for this peoples.
Although [[Turkestan]] and Central Asia were formerly known as Independent Tartary, it is not now usual to call the Sarts, Kyrgyz and other inhabitants of those countries Tatars, nor is the name usually given to the [[Yakuts]] of Eastern Siberia.
==Generic meaning==
The name Tatars was originally applied to both the Turkic and Mongol tribes which invaded Europe six centuries ago, and gradually extended to the Turkic tribes mixed with Mongolian or Uralic-speaking peoples in [[Siberia]]. It is used at present in two senses:
* Quite loosely, to designate any of the Muslim tribes whose ancestors may have spoken Uralic or Altaic languages. Thus some writers talk of the Manchu Tatars.
* In a more restricted sense, to designate Muslim Turkic-speaking tribes, especially in Russia, who never formed part of the Seljuk or [[Ottoman Empire]], but made independent settlements and remained more or less cut off from the politics and civilization of the rest of the Islamic world.
* Linguistically, Tatars are closely related to the [[Bashkirs]] and other Turkic peoples. Tatars are the direct descendants of the [[Volga Bulgars]]. Volga Bulgars were a mixed people, whose ancestors may have included speakers of Scythian, Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages. (In Turkic ''bolğar'' means ''mixed''). After coming to the Middle Volga, Bulgars mixed with Finno-Ugric speaking tribes.
* [[Bashkirs]] speak a language very similar to [[Tatar language]]. Nowadays, [[Bashkortostan]]'s officials pursue a policy of forced "Bashkirization" of [[Tatar]]s. However, the number of Tatars in Bashkortostan is almost as high as the number of [[Bashkirs]] in their own republic. (the 2002 Russian Federation census lists 990,000+ people as self identifying as Tatars in Bashkortostan compared to 1,221,302 self identifying Bashkir. http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/English/4-2.xls)
==Authorities==
Bibliographical indexes may be found in the Geographical Dictionary of P. Semenov, appended to the articles devoted respectively to the names given above, as also in the yearly Indexes by M. Mezhov and the Oriental Bibliography of Lucian Scherman. Besides the well-known works of Castren, which are a very rich source of information on the subject, Schiefner ([[St Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]), Donner, Ahlqvist and other explorers of the Uralic and Altaic languages and peoples, as also those of the Russian historians [[Sergey Solovyov|Soloviev]], [[Nikolay Kostomarov|Kostomarov]], Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Schapov, and [[Dmitry Ilovaisky|Ilovaiskiy]], the following containing valuable information may be mentioned:
* the publications of the Russian Geographical Society and its branches;
* the Russian Etnographicheskiy Sbornik;
* the Izvestia of the Moscow society of the amateurs of natural science;
* the works of the Russian ethnographical congresses;
* Kostrov's researches on the Siberian Tatars in the memoirs of the Siberian branch of the geographical society; [[Vasily Radlov|Radlov]]'s Reise durch den Altay, Aus Sibirien', "Picturesque Russia" (Zhivopisnaya Rossiya);
* Semenov's and Potanin's " Supplements " to Ritter's Asien; Harkavi's report to the congress at Kazan;
* Hartakhai's "Hist, of Crimean Tatars," in Vyestnik Evropy, 1866 and 1867;
* "Katchinsk Tatars," in Izvestia Russ. Geogr. Soc., xx., 1884.
Various scattered articles on Tatars will be found in the Revue orientale pour les Etudes Oural-Altaïques, and in the publications of the [[Kazan State University|university of Kazan]]. See also E. H. Parker, A Thousand Years of the Tartars, 1895 (chiefly a summary of Chinese accounts of the early Turkic and Tatar tribes), and Skrine and Ross, Heart of Asia (1899). (P. A. K.; C. EL.)
==See also==
{{commons|Tatar xalıq kiemnäre}}
*[[Tatar language]]
*[[Tatar alphabet]]
*[[Tatarstan]]
*[[Volga Bulgaria]]
*[[Tartary]]
*[[Crimea]]
*[[Finnish Tatars]]
*[[Lipka Tatars]]
*[[Islam in Poland]]
*[[List of Tatars]]
*[[Steak tartare]]
==References and notes==
*{{1911}}
<references />
==External links==
* [http://www.spitfirehorsebows.com/forum/ Tatar Horsebow and Thumbring Discussion Forum]
*[http://www.tatarworld.com Qirim Tatar Community of Canada]
*[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+su0112) Tatars in Congress Library (1989)]
*[http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/fadlan/rorlich1.html The Origins of the Volga Tatars]
*[http://www.angelfire.com/on/paksoy/crimean.html Crimean Tatars. By H. B. Paksoy]
*[http://www.tatar.net/ Tatar.Net]
*[http://www.tatarzy.tkb.pl/ Polish Tatars]
* {{pl icon}} [http://www.tatarzy.tkb.pl/ Polish Tatars web portal]
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.tatarlar.ru/ Tatar world-wide server]
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.xacitarxan.narod.ru/antropos.htm Anthropology of Tatars. By R.K. Urazmanova and S.V. Cheshko]
*{{ru icon}} {{tt icon}} [http://kitap.net.ru/ Tatar Electronic Library]
[[Category:Tatars|*]]
[[Category:Turkic peoples]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Dagestan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Europe]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Poland]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Russia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Muslim communities]]
[[ar:تتار]]
[[an:Tartre]]
[[ba:Татарҙар]]
[[bg:Татари]]
[[ca:Tàtars]]
[[cv:Тутарсем]]
[[cs:Tataři]]
[[de:Tataren]]
[[et:Tatarlased]]
[[el:Τάταροι]]
[[es:Tártaros]]
[[eo:Tataroj]]
[[fa:تاتار]]
[[fr:Tatars]]
[[ko:타타르족]]
[[hr:Tatari]]
[[it:Tatari]]
[[he:טטרים]]
[[ka:თათრები]]
[[lt:Totoriai]]
[[hu:Tatárok]]
[[mk:Татари]]
[[myv:Печкаст]]
[[nl:Tataren]]
[[ja:タタール]]
[[no:Tatarer]]
[[nn:Tatarar]]
[[pl:Tatarzy]]
[[pt:Tartária]]
[[ro:Tătari]]
[[ru:Татары]]
[[sk:Tatári]]
[[sl:Tatari]]
[[sr:Татари]]
[[sh:Tatari]]
[[fi:Tataarit]]
[[sv:Tatarer]]
[[tt:Татар халкы]]
[[vi:Tatar]]
[[tr:Tatarlar]]
[[uk:Татари]]
[[wa:Tatårs]]
[[zh:塔塔尔族]]