The Tatars, formerly also spelt Tartars, is an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" across Eastern Europe and Asia. Initially, the ethnonym Tatar possibly referred to the Tatar confederation. That confederation was eventually incorporated into the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan unified the various steppe tribes. Historically, the term Tatars was applied to anyone originating from the vast Northern and Central Asian landmass then known as Tartary, a term which was also conflated with the Mongol Empire itself. More recently, however, the term has come to refer more narrowly to related ethnic groups who refer to themselves as Tatars or who speak languages that are commonly referred to as Tatar.
The Bashkirs or Bashkurts are a Kipchak Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of Badzhgard, which spans both sides of the Ural Mountains, where Eastern Europe meets North Asia. Smaller communities of Bashkirs also live in the Republic of Tatarstan, the oblasts of Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan and other regions in Russia; sizable minorities exist in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Tatar is a Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan, as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar, which are closely related but belong to different subgroups of the Kipchak languages.
Bashkir is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch. It is co-official with Russian in Bashkortostan. It is spoken by 1.09 million native speakers in Russia, as well as in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Estonia and other neighboring post-Soviet states, and among the Bashkir diaspora. It has three dialect groups: Southern, Eastern and Northwestern.
The Mari are a Finno-Ugric people in Eastern Europe, who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia. Almost half of Maris today live in the Mari El republic, with significant populations in the Bashkortostan and Tatarstan republics. In the past, the Mari have also been known as the Cheremisa or the Cheremis people in Russian and the Çirmeş in Tatar.
Altai is a set of Turkic languages spoken officially in the Altai Republic, Russia. The standard vocabulary is based on the Southern Altai language, though it's also taught to and used by speakers of the Northern Altai language as well. Gorno–Altai refers to a subgroup of languages in the Altai Mountains.The languages were called Oyrot (ойрот) prior to 1948.
Crimean Tatar, also called Crimean, is a Kipchak Turkic language spoken in Crimea and the Crimean Tatar diasporas of Uzbekistan, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as small communities in the United States and Canada. It should not be confused with Tatar, spoken in Tatarstan and adjacent regions in Russia; the two languages are related, but belong to different subgroups of the Kipchak languages, while maintaining a significant degree of mutual intelligibility. Crimean Tatar has been extensively influenced by nearby Oghuz dialects and is also mutually intelligible with them, to varying degrees.
Nogai also known as Noğay, Noghay, Nogay, or Nogai Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken in Southeastern European Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. It is the ancestral language of the Nogais. As a member of the Kipchak branch, it is closely related to Kazakh, Karakalpak and Crimean Tatar. In 2014 the first Nogai novel was published, written in the Latin alphabet.
Siberian Tatars or Sybyrs/Sibirs are the indigenous Turkic-speaking population of the forests and steppes of Western Siberia, originating in areas stretching from somewhat east of the Ural Mountains to the Yenisey River in Russia. The Siberian Tatars call themselves Yerle Qalıq, to distinguish themselves from more recent Volga Tatar immigrants to the region.
Chulym, also known as Chulim, Chulym-Turkic, is the language of the Chulyms. The names which the people use to refer to themselves are 1. пистиҥ кишилер, pistɪŋ kiʃɪler and 2. ось кишилер, øs kiʃɪler. The native designation for the language are ось тил(и), øs til(ɪ) ~ ø:s til(ɪ), and less frequently тадар тил(и), tadar til(ɪ).
The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars are an Eastern European Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of European Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are the second-largest ethnic group in Russia after ethnic Russians. Most of them live in the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Their native language is Tatar, a language of the Kipchak-Bolgar subdivision of the Turkic language family. The predominant religion is Sunni Islam.
Numerous Cyrillic alphabets are based on the Cyrillic script. The early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the 9th century AD and replaced the earlier Glagolitic script developed by the Byzantine theologians Cyril and Methodius. It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia. Cyrillic is one of the most-used writing systems in the world. The creator is Saint Clement of Ohrid from the Preslav literary school in the First Bulgarian Empire.
Kryashens are a sub-group of the Volga Tatars, frequently referred to as one of the minority ethnic groups in Russia. They are mostly found in Tatarstan and in Udmurtia, Bashkortostan and Chelyabinsk Oblast.
The Baraba are a sub-group of Siberian Tatars and the indigenous people of the Ob-Irtysh interfluve. 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. Some of them still speak Baraba dialect of Siberian Tatar language. They traditionally live on the Baraba steppe.
Gabdulkhay Khuramovich Akhatov was a Soviet Tatar Linguist, Turkologist and an organizer of science and then a second doctorate of Philology in 1965, attaining professorship in 1970.
Russian dialects are spoken variants of the Russian language.
Mishar Tatar or Misher Tatar, also Western Tatar, is a dialect of Tatar or a separate Turkic language spoken by Mishar Tatars, mainly in Penza, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Volgograd, and Saratov oblasts of Russia, in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia and Mordovia, and in Finland.
The Mishar Tatars, previously known as the Meshcheryaki (мещеряки), are the second largest subgroup of the Volga Tatars, after the Kazan Tatars. Traditionally, they have inhabited the middle and western side of Volga, including the nowadays Mordovia, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Ryazan, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions of Russia. Many have since relocated to Moscow. Mishars also comprise the majority of Finnish Tatars and Tatars living in other Nordic and Baltic countries.
Siberian Tatar is a Turkic language spoken in Western Siberia, Russia, primarily in the oblasts of Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Omsk but also in Tomsk and Kemerovo. According to Marcel Erdal, due to its particular characteristics, Siberian Tatar can be considered as a bridge to Siberian Turkic languages.
