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TATARS (the common form Tartars is le...

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TATARS (the See also:common See also:form Tartars is less correct)  , a name given to nearly three million inhabitants of the See also:Russian See also:empire, chiefly Moslem and of See also:Turkish origin . The See also:majority—in See also:European See also:Russia—are remnants of, the Mongol invasion of the 13th See also:century (see See also:MONGOLS), while those who inhabit See also:Siberia are survivals of the once much more numerous Turkish See also:population of the Ural-Altaic region, mixed to some extent with Finnish and Samoyedic stems, as also with Mongols . The name is derived from that of the Ta-ta Mongols, who in the 5th century inhabited the See also:north-eastern See also:Gobi, and, after subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, migrated See also:south-See also:ward, there See also:founding the Mongol empire under JENGIIIZ See also:KHAN (q.v.) . Under the leadership of his See also:grandson (See also:Batu) they moved westwards, See also:driving with them many stems of the Turkish Ural-Altaians towards the plains of Russia . The ethnographical features of the See also:present Tatar inhabitants of European Russia, as well as their See also:language, show that they contain no admixture (or very little) of Mongolian See also:blood, but belong to the Turkish See also:branch of the Ural-Altaic stock, necessitating the conclusion that only Batu, his warriors, and a limited number of his followers were Mongols, while the See also:great bulk of the 13th century invaders were See also:Turks . On the See also:Volga they mingled with remnants of the old Bulgarian empire, and elsewhere with Finnish stems, as well as with remnants of the See also:ancient See also:Italian and See also:Greek colonies in See also:Crimea and Caucasians in See also:Caucasus . The name of See also:Tatars, or Tartars, given to the invaders, was afterwards ex-tended so as to include different stems of the same Turkish branch in Siberia, and even the bulk of the inhabitants of the high See also:plateau of See also:Asia and its N.W. slopes, described under the See also:general name of Tartary . This last name has almost disappeared from See also:geographical literature, but the name Tatars, in the above limited sense, remains in full use . The present Tatar inhabitants of the Russian empire See also:form three large See also:groups—those of European Russia and See also:Poland, those of Caucasus, and those of Siberia . The discrimination of the See also:separate stems included under the name is still far from completion . The following subdivisions, however, may be regarded as established . (1) The Kazan Tatars, descendants of the Kipchaks settled on the Volga in the 13th century, where they mingled with survivors of the old Bulgarians and partly with Finnish stems .

They number about See also:

half a million in the See also:government of Kazan, about See also:loo,000 in each of the governments of See also:Ufa, See also:Samara and See also:Simbirsk, and about aoo,00o in See also:Vyatka, See also:Saratov, See also:Tambov, See also:Penza, Nizhniy-See also:Novgorod, See also:Perm and See also:Orenburg; some 15,000 belonging to the same See also:stem havemigrated to See also:Ryazan, or have been settled as prisoners in the 16th and 17th centuries in Lithuania (See also:Vilna, See also:Grodno and See also:Podolia) ; and there are some a000 in St See also:Petersburg, where they pursue the callings of coachmen and waiters in restaurants . In Poland they constitute 1 per cent. of the population of the See also:district of See also:Plock . The Kazan Tatars speak a pure Turkish See also:dialect; they are See also:middle-sized, broad-shouldered and strong, and mostly have See also:black eyes, a straight See also:nose and salient cheek bones . They are Mahommedans; See also:polygamy is practised only by the wealthier classes and is a waning institution, Excellent agriculturists and gardeners, very laborious, and having a See also:good reputation for honesty, they live on the best terms with their Russian See also:peasant neighbours . The See also:Bashkirs who live between the See also:Kama, Ural and Volga are possibly of Finnish origin, but now speak a Tatar language and have become Mahommedans . (2) The See also:Astrakhan Tatars (about so,000) are, with the Mongol Kalmucks, 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 See also:life of their ancestors . (3) The See also:Crimean Tatars, who occupied the Crimea in the 13th century, have preserved the name of their See also:leader, Nogai . During the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries they constituted a See also:rich empire, which prospered until it See also:fell under Turkish See also:rule, when it had to suffer much from the See also:wars fought between See also:Turkey and Russia for the See also:possession of the See also:peninsula . The See also:war of 1853 and the See also:laws of 1860–63 and 1874 caused an See also:exodus of the Crimean Tatars; they abandoned their admirably irrigated See also:fields and gardens and moved to Turkey, so that now their number falls below 100,000 . Those of the south See also:coast; mixed with Greeks and Italians, are well known for their skill in gardening, their honesty and their laborious habits, as well as for their See also:fine features, presenting the Tatar type at it- best . The See also:mountain Tatars closely resemble those of Caucasus, while those of the See also:steppes—the Nogais—are decidedly of a mixed origin from Turks and Mongols .

The Tatars of See also:

Caucasia, who inhabit the upper See also:Kuban, the steppes of the See also:lower Kuma and the Kura, and the See also:Aras, number about 1,350,000 . Of these (4) the Nogais on the Kuma show traces of an intimate mixture with Kalmucks . They are nomads, supporting themselves by See also:cattle-breeding and fishing; few are agriculturists . (5) The Karachais (18,500) in the upper valleys about See also:Elburz live by agriculturg . (6) The mountain Tatars (about 850,000), divided into many tribes and of an origin still undetermined, are scattered throughout the provinces of See also:Baku, See also:Erivan, See also:Tiflis, See also:Kutais, See also:Daghestan, and partly also of See also:Batum . They are certainly of a mixed origin, and present a variety of ethnological types, all the more so as all who are neither Armenians nor Russians, nor belong to any distinct Caucasian tribe, are often called Tatars, As a rule they are well built and little behind their Caucasian brethren . They are celebrated for their excellence as gardeners, agriculturists, cattle-tenders and artisans . Although most fervent Shi'ites, they are on very good terms both with their Sunnite and with their Russian neighbours . Polygamy is rare with them, and their See also:women go to See also:work unveiled . The Siberian Tatars are estimated (1895) at 80,000 of See also:Turki stock and about 40,000 of mixed Finnic stock . They occupy three distinct regions—a See also:strip See also:running See also:west to See also:east from See also:Tobolsk to See also:Tomsk, the See also:Altai and its spurs, and South See also:Yeniseisk . They originated in the agglomerations of Turkish stems which in the region north of the Altai reached some degree of culture between the 4th and the 8th centuries, but were subdued and enslaved by the Mongols .

Phoenix-squares

They are difficult to classify, for they are the result of somewhat See also:

recent minglings of races and customs, and they are all more or less in See also:process of being assimilated by the Russians, but the following subdivisions may be accepted provisionally . (7) The Baraba Tatars, who take their name from one of their stems (Barama), number about 5o,000 in the government of Tobolsk and about 5000 in Tomsk . After a strenuous resistance to Russian See also:con-quest, and much suffering at a later See also:period from See also:Kirghiz and See also:Kalmuck raids, they now live by See also:agriculture, either in separate villages or along with Russians . (8) The Cholym or Chulym Tatars on the Cholym and both the See also:rivers Yus speak a Turkish language with many Mongol and See also:Yakut words, and are more like Mongols than Turks . In last century they paid a See also:tribute for 255o arbaletes, but they now are rapidly becoming fused with Russians . (9) The Abakan Ge See also:Minusinsk Tatars occupied the steppes on the Abakan and Yus in she 17th century, after the withdrawal of the Kirghizes, and represent a mixture with Kaibals (whom Castr6n considers as partly of Ostiak and partly Samoyedic origin) and Beltirs—also of Finnish origin . Their language is also mixed . They are known under the name of Sagais, who numbered 11,720 in 1864, and are the purer Turkish stem of the Minusinsk Tatars, Kaibals, and Kizil or Red Tatars . Formerly Shamanists, they now are, nominally at least, adherents of the Greek Orthodox See also:Church, and support themselves mostly by cattle-breeding . Agriculture is spreading but slowly among them; they still prefer to See also:plunder the stores of bulbs of Lilium Martagon, See also:Paeonia, and Erythronium See also:Dens canis laid up by the See also:steppe See also:mouse (See also:Mus socialis) . The Soyotes, or Soyons, of the Sayan mountains (estimated at 8000), who are Finns mixed with Turks the Uryankhes of north-west See also:Mongolia, who are of Turkish origin but follow See also:Buddhism, and the Karagasses, also of Turkish origin and much like the Kirghizes, but reduced now to a few hundreds, are akin to the above . (io) The Tatars of the See also:northern slopes of the Altai (nearly 20,000 in number) are of Finnish origin .

They comprise some hundreds of Kumandintses, the Lebed Tatars, the Chernevyie or Black-See also:

Forest Tatars and the Shors (ii,000), descendants of the See also:Kuznetsk or See also:Iron-See also:Smith Tatars . They are chiefly hunters, passionately loving their taiga, or See also:wild forests, and have maintained their Shaman See also:religion and tribal organization into suoks . They live partly also on See also:cedar-nuts and See also:honey collected in the forests . Their See also:dress is that of their former rulers, the Kalmucks, and their language contains many Mongol words . (ii) The Altai Tatars, or ' Altaians," comprise—(a) the Mountain Kalmucks (12,000), to whom this name has been given by See also:mistake, and who have nothing in See also:common with the Kalmucks except their dress and mode of life, while they speak a Turkish dialect, and (b) the Teleutes, or Telenghites (5800), a See also: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 . Although See also:Turkestan and Central Asia were formerly known as See also:Independent Tartary, it is not now usual to See also:call the Sarts, Kirghiz and other inhabitants of those countries Tatars, nor is the name usually given to the Yakuts of Eastern Siberia . It is evident from the above that the name Tatars was originally applied to both the Turkish and Mongol stems which invaded See also:Europe six centuries ago, and gradually extended to the Turkish stems mixed with Mongol or Finnish blood in Siberia . It is used at present in two senses: (a) Quite loosely to designate any of the Ural-Altaic tribes, except perhaps Osmanlis, Finns and See also:Magyars, to whom it is not generally applied . Thus some writers talk of the Manchu Tatars . (b) In a more restricted sense to 'designate See also:Mahommedan Turkish-speaking tribes, especially in Russia, who never formed See also:part of the Seljuk or See also:Ottoman Empire, but made independent settlements and remained more or less cut off from the politics and See also:civilization of the See also:rest of the Mahommedan See also:world . Picturesque Russia " (Zhivopisnaya Rossiya); Semenov's and Potanin's " Supplements " to See also:Ritter's Asien; Harkavi's See also:report to the See also:congress at Kazan; Hartakhai's " Mist. of Crimean Tatars," in Vyestnik Evropy, 1866 and 1867; " Katchinsk Tatars," in Izvestia Russ . Geogr .

See also:

Soc., xx., 1884 . Various scattered articles on Tatars will be found in the Revue orientate pour See also:les Etudes Oural-Altaiques, and in the publications of the university of Kazan . See also E . H . See also:Parker, A Thousand Years of the Tartars, 1895 (chiefly a See also:summary of See also:Chinese accounts of the See also:early Turkish and Tatar tribes), and Skrine and See also:Ross, See also:Heart of Asia (1899) . (P . A . K . ; C .

End of Article: TATARS (the common form Tartars is less correct)
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