Tatars are the second largest nation in Russia after the Russians. According to the 2010 census, they make up 3.72% of the population of the whole country. This nation, which joined the Moscow state in the second half of the 16th century, for centuries managed to maintain its cultural distinctive appearance, taking care of historical traditions and religion.
Every nation seeks its origins. The Tatars are no exception. The origin of this nation began to be seriously investigated in the 19th century, when the development of bourgeois relations accelerated. The nation’s national identity was highlighted, highlighting its main features and characteristics, creating a unified ideology. The origin of the Tatars throughout this time remained an important topic of research for both Russian and Tatar historians. The results of this many years of work can be arbitrarily presented in three theories.
The first theory is associated with the ancient state of Volga Bulgaria. It is believed that the history of the Tatars begins with the Turkic-Bulgarian ethnos that emerged from the Asian steppes and settled in the Middle Volga. In the 10-13 centuries they managed to create their own statehood. The period of the Golden Horde and the Moscow state made some adjustments to the formation of the ethnic group, but did not change the essence of Islamic culture. In this case, it is mainly a question of the Volga-Ural group, while the other Tatars are considered as independent ethnic communities, united only by the name and history of entering the Golden Horde.
Other researchers believe that the Tatars originate from Central Asian
ethnic groups who migrated west during the Mongol-Tatar campaigns. It was the entry into the Ulus of Jochi and the adoption of Islam that played the main role in uniting disparate tribes and forming a single nation. At the same time, the autochthonous population of the Volga Bulgaria was partially exterminated, and partly crowded out. The visiting tribes created their own special culture, brought the Kypchak language.
The Turkic-Tatar sources in the genesis of the people are emphasized by the following theory. According to it, the Tatars count their origin from the great Turkic Kaganate, the largest Asian state of the Middle Ages of the 6th century AD. The theory recognizes a certain role in the formation of the Tatar ethnic group of both the Volga Bulgaria and the Khazar Kaganate, as well as the Kipchak-Kimak and Tatar-Mongol ethnic groups of the Asian steppes. The special role of the Golden Horde, which rallied all the tribes, is emphasized.
All of these theories of the formation of the Tatar nation highlight the special role of Islam, as well as the period of the Golden Horde. Based on these stories, researchers differently see the origins of the birth of the people. Nevertheless, it becomes clear that the Tatars originate from the ancient Turkic tribes, and historical ties with other tribes and peoples, of course, had an impact on the present appearance of the nation. Carefully preserving the culture, language and
religion of the Tatars managed to not lose their national identity in the face of global integration.