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 Khanate of Sibir was a Siberian Tatar Khanate in western Siberia, founded at the end of the 15th century, following the break-up of the Golden Horde. Throughout its history, members of the Shaybanid and Taibugid dynasties often contested the rulership over the Khanate between each other; both of these competing tribes were direct patrilineal descendants of Genghis Khan through his eldest son Jochi and Jochi's fifth son Shayban (Shiban). The area of the Khanate had once formed an integral part of the Mongol Empire, and later came under the control of the White Horde and the Golden Horde of 1242–1502.
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar Turkic state that occupied the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, and parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan; its capital was the city of Kazan. It was one of the successor states of the Golden Horde, and it came to an end when it was conquered by the Tsardom of Russia.
Yadegar Mokhammad was the last khan of the Kazan Khanate, occupying the position from March to October 1552. He was the son of Astrakhan khan Qasim II. Between 1542 and 1550 he was in the service of the Tsardom of Russia. In 1550, he participated in the attack on Kazan and then joined the Nogais. After the Kazan Khanate was nearly brought to defeat by Ivan the Terrible's forces in 1550, in 1551 the "peace party" in Kazan enthroned the pro-Russian khan Shah Ali. In 1552 the anti-Russian "patriotic party" regained power. Shah Ali fled and Yadegar was invited by Qol Sharif and Chapqin bek Otich uli to the throne of the Kazan Khanate. Subsequently, he led the war against the Russian invasion. He was captured in October 1552 when Russian troops took Kazan. In 1553 he converted to Christianity, assumed the name of Simeon Kasayevich and lived in Moscow as a Russian nobleman. He was one of the last great descendants of Jochi Khan, the eldest son of the Genghis Khan.
Qasim Khanate or Kingdom of Qasim or Khanate of Qasım was a Tatar-ruled khanate, a vassal of Russia, which existed from 1452 until 1681 in the territory of modern Ryazan Oblast in Russia with its capital at Kasimov, in the middle course of the Oka River. It was established in the lands which Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow presented in 1452 to the Kazan prince Qasim Khan, son of the first Kazan khan Olug Moxammat.
Xalil was the Khan of the Kazan Khanate from 1466 to 1467, but very little is known about him. He was the eldest son of Khan Maxmud and grandson of the first Khan of Kazan, Ulugh Muhammad. He spent his life entirely in Kazan. He ascended to the throne after his father's death. He was succeeded by his brother Ibrahim.
The Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria lasted from 1223 to 1236. The Bulgar state, centered in lower Volga and Kama, was the center of the fur trade in Eurasia throughout most of its history. Before the Mongol conquest, Russians of Novgorod and Vladimir repeatedly looted and attacked the area, thereby weakening the Bulgar state's economy and military power. The latter ambushed the Mongols in the later 1223 or in 1224. Several clashes occurred between 1229–1234, and the Mongol Empire conquered the Bulgars in 1236.
Kul Sharif or Qol Şärif was an Old Tatar language-poet, statesman, university professor and imam of the Khanate of Kazan.
The Nogai Horde was a confederation founded by the Nogais that occupied the Pontic–Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghuds constituted a core of the Nogai Horde.
The territory of Tatarstan, a republic of the Russian Federation, was inhabited by different groups during the prehistoric period. The state of Volga Bulgaria grew during the Middle Ages and for a time was subject to the Khazars. The Volga Bulgars became Muslim and incorporated various Turkic peoples to form the modern Volga Tatar ethnic group.
Zilant is a legendary creature, something between a dragon and a wyvern. Since 1730, it has been the official symbol of Kazan. This winged snake is mentioned in legends about the foundation of Kazan.
Mäxmüd Khan ; in Russian chronicles Махмутек (Makhmutek); died 1466) was the Khan of the Khanate of Kazan from 1445 to 1466.
Ibrahim khan was the Khan of Kazan from 1467. He was the son of Mäxmüd. He was crowned after Xälil's death and was married to Nur Sultan. In 1467–1469 and 1478, he participated in wars against Muscovy. After concluding a treaty with Ivan III, all Russian prisoners of war held by the Khanate were released. He supported a policy of non-intervention into Muscovy's politics.
Nağaybäks are an indigenous Turkic people in Russia recognized as a separate people under Russian legislation. Most Nağaybäks live in the Nagaybaksky and Chebarkulsky Districts of the Chelyabinsk Oblast. They speak a sub-dialect of the Tatar language's middle dialect known as the Nagaibak dialect. Russian and Tatar historians usually treat the Nağaybäks as an integral part of Volga Tatars; a minority considers Nağaybäks a separate ethnicity in their own right. In the 1989 Russian census, 11,200 people identified themselves as Nağaybäks, falling to 9,600 in 2002.
The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars are a Kipchak-Bulgar Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Eastern 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 Turkic language family. The predominant religion is Sunni Islam, followed by Orthodox Christianity.
The Russo-Kazan Wars was a series of wars fought between the Grand Principality of Moscow and the Khanate of Kazan from 1437, until Kazan was finally conquered by the Tsardom of Russia under Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
Alexander Kasimovich Kazembek, born Muhammad Ali Kazim-bey, was an orientalist, historian and philologist. He was the great-grandfather and namesake of the Mladorossi founder Alexander Kazembek.
The siege of Kazan in 1552 was the final battle of the Russo-Kazan Wars and led to the fall of the Khanate of Kazan. Conflict continued after the fall of Kazan, however, as rebel governments formed in Çalım and Mişätamaq, and a new khan was invited from the Nogais. This guerrilla war lingered until 1556.
Mameshbirde was a rebel commander during Kazan War for the independence of Kazan Khanate in 1552–1556. According to legend, he was a son of Mari noble and Chuvash noble woman.
Arça yağı was a historical naming for North-Western part of the Kazan Khanate after it was conquered. Unlike Taw yağı which was situated at the right bank of the Volga, it covered some left bank lands. For the most part, the possessions of Kazan nobility were placed there. After the khanate's territorial division was reformed on the Russian manner and uyezds were introduced, Arça yağı term became obsolete. The territory of Arça yağı was incorporated to the Kazan Uyezd.
