Tatar population in Lithuania is an ethnic group living in the Republic of Lithuania historical lands of Lithuania. It is also considered one of the oldest ethnic minorities in Lithuania.
Tatar population in Lithuania is an ethnic group living in the Republic of Lithuania historical lands of Lithuania. It is also considered one of the oldest ethnic minorities in Lithuania.
Lithuanian Tatars are descendants of Turkic and Mongolian tribes. Their ancestors were emigrants from the Golden Horde and the Great Horde (the lower Volga region), as well as the Crimean Khanate. Tatars belonged to different ethnic groups and spoke the Kipchak languages. The Tatar population in Lithuania lives surrounded by other nations and religions, and lost its native language in the 16th century. [1] However, Tatars have preserved their ethnic culture, national and religious identity. The majority of Lithuanian Tatars are Sunni Muslims. The Muslim Spiritual Center of Lithuania, or the Muftiate, was re-established in 1998. Lithuanian Tatar mosques operate in Nemėžis, the village of Keturiasdešimt Totorių, Raižiai and Kaunas. [2] There were six mosques in Lithuania before the war. Two of them have been destroyed. The mosque in Vinkšnupiai, the Vilkaviškis county, was destroyed during the Second World War, while the Lukiškės mosque in Vilnius was destroyed in the Soviet era. It is believed that there were about 60 Lithuanian Tatar mosques or houses of worship at various times in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [2]
In the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania covered vast territories. In the east, it was bordered by the Tatar lands. The two nations communicated with each other, Khans’ messengers visited the then capital of Trakai. The first Tatars came to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as allies in the battles against the crusaders already during the rule of the Grand Duke Gediminas in 1319-1320.
Vytautas the Great took the first Tatars to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the campaigns in 1397-1398 to the Dnieper and Don steppes together with Khan Tokhtamysh, who tried to regain his Khanate of the Golden Horde with the Lithuanian aid. The Tatars then settled in Trakai and its surroundings. The earliest settlements spread along the Vokė River. [3]
On 15 July 1410, a contingent of Tatars participated in the famous Battle of Grunwald together with the Grand Duke Vytautas.
After the Battle of Kletsk in 1506, a number of Tatar captives settled in private estates, towns or villages of Lithuanian noble families, such as the Princes Ostrogski, the Radziwiłłs, and others. In the 17th century, some Tatar settlements were formed in the Duchy of Biržai. The last Khan of the Great Horde (the lower Volga region) Shaykh Aḥmad was taken hostage and held for diplomatic purposes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a considerable escort for 20 years. He was released in 1527, but members of his family remained in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and became founders of several local families of Tatar Dukes and Mirzas. In Lukiškės - the suburb of Vilnius - Tatars settled not earlier than in the middle of the 16th century.
In Lithuania, the Tatar nobility lived mainly in manor-villages (okolicas) or homesteads. Tatars, who belonged to the Grand Duke Lithuania, received lands from him by inheritance. Tatars were obliged to perform military service and had some additional obligations. They also served as couriers, postmen, guardsmen, and road-workers. Tatars, like the boyars, enjoyed the landholding right, but had no political rights.
Tatars were exempt from state taxes, because they performed military service in exchange for the lands they held. Those who did not perform military service, had to pay a poll tax and other taxes, when the state needed it. Land and estates were granted to individuals for good service.
In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the main activity of Tatars was serving in the military and diplomatic service. The flag was an administrative territorial and tax unit of the Tatar community. It was headed by the Duke (Ulan). Initially, Tatar flags were also military units that later formed the Front Guard Regiments of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In the urban areas, not noble Tatars were involved in gardening, leather production, horse breeding, and transportation. [4]
Tatars retained their rights after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, when the lands of the GDL became part of the Russian Empire. Having proved their nobility, Tatars served in the military service and administration. Those, who could not prove their nobility, made a living on homesteads and paid a poll tax.
Tatars served in the Russian Imperial Army and until 1803 there was a separate Lithuanian Tatar regiment. A number of Tatars participated in Napoleon’s Russian campaign in 1812, the uprisings of 1831 and 1863, and supported Lithuania’s National Liberation Movement.
From the end of the 17th century until the middle of the 20th century, up to 50 Generals of the Lithuanian Tatar descent served in the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Russian Empire. [5]
While maintaining loyalty to the country that became their second homeland, Lithuanian Tatars participated in all the wars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the uprisings of 1794, 1831 and 1864, [6] and Lithuanian struggles for independence in 1918-1920. [7] The high-ranking Lithuanian Tatar officer Colonel Aleksandras (Suleimanas) Chaleckis was among the founders of the restored Lithuanian Armed Forces. [8]
Over time, new professions opened up to Lithuanian Tatars. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, there were Tatar doctors, scholars, artists and practitioners of the liberal arts. Some of them have become world-famous.
In the early 20th century, Tatar national organisations began to be established. In 1909, the Muslims' community of Lithuania was established in Vilnius. In 1917-1923, the Tatar Union of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine operated in Petrograd. From 1923 to 1936, there was the Kaunas Tatar Society of Lithuania. A Division of the Cultural and Educational Union of Polish Tatars, which operated in Poland’s occupied eastern Lithuania in 1925-1940, published scientific, religious literature and fiction, and the newspaper „Życie tatarskie“ was printed in Vilnius in 1934-1939. In 1929-1940, there was the Tatar National Museum, from 1931 – an archive, and from 1934 – a Youth Circle.
A Muslim religious center – the Vilnius Muftiate (headed by the Mufti Jokūbas Šinkevičius) – was founded on 28 December 1925. In 1936, the Tatar community was recognized as an autocephalous faith community. In addition, a Tatar military unit was established as part of the 13th Vilnius Uhlan Regiment. During the interwar period, about a thousand Lithuanian Tatars lived in Lithuania. Another ten thousand members of this community lived outside Lithuania, in Poland and Belarus. In Lithuania, there were two Muslim parishes with centers in Kaunas and Raižiai. In 1930, on the occasion of the 520th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, a new brick mosque was opened in Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania. It received significant support from the then Lithuanian Government. [9]
At the end of 1939, there were Muslim parishes in Raižiai (Alytus county), Vinkšnupiai (Vilkaviškis county), the village of Forty Tatars (Vilnius county) and Nemėžis (Vilnius county). After the Red Army invaded Lithuania on 15 June 1940, Tatar organisations were closed down.
The Lithuanian Tatar Culture Society was established in 1988. Its goal was to coordinate the social life of Tatars in Lithuania, to restore the houses of worship, and to foster the Tatar culture. There are now about 20 public organisations (associations) of Lithuanian Tatars in Lithuania.
In 1995, the newspaper “Lithuanian Tatars” appeared in the Lithuanian, Russian, and Polish languages. [10]
The Union of Lithuanian Tatar Communities was founded in 1996. Its activities include fostering, studying, and disseminating information about the Lithuanian Tatar culture. The Union organises events and maintains ties with state and municipal institutions, as well as related organisations of Lithuanian Tatars in Poland and Belarus, and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (the national parliament).
In 2009, the Vytautas the Great Monument Construction Foundation was established, which aims to perpetuate the historical memory and to preserve the cultural heritage. [11]
There are also several Sunday schools in Lithuania.
The restoration of the Lithuanian Tatar folklore began with the establishment of the first folklore ensemble “Alije” in 1997. In 2011, the Lithuanian Tatar folklore ensemble “Ilsu” (Homeland) was established in Vilnius. The folklore group "Efsane" (Legend) was founded in 2018. They promote and present to the public the traditional culture of Lithuanian Tatars and other Turkic peoples.
The Trakai Castle Museum’s permanent exhibition also presents the history of Lithuanian Tatars. [12]
Lithuanian Tatars have preserved their food traditions. The most famous Tatar dish in Lithuania and beyond is a hundred layer cake with poppy filling “Šimtalapis”. There are also well-known Lithuanian Tatar dumplings with mutton and beef, pumpkin pie with meat (traditionally with geese), ceremonial round scones - jama - and sweet halwa. [13]
Maciej Sulkiewicz, Lieutenant General of the Russian Empire, Prime Minister of the Crimean Regional Government, and Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces
Michailas Tuhan-Baranovskis (Mikhail Tugan-Baranovsky), world-famous political economy theorist and Professor
Brothers Olgierdas and Leonas Kričinskiai (Olgierd Najman-Mirza Kryczyński, Leon Najman Mirza Kryczyński), lawyers
Adas Jakubauskas, political scientist, poet, Professor at Mykolas Romeris University, Director General of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania [14]
Romualdas Makaveckas – Associate Professor at Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas Chess Federation’s Honorary President
Tamara Bairašauskaitė, historian, Chief Researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of History, Professor at Vilnius University [15]
Juozas Vilčinskas, Chairman of the Lithuanian Community in Great Britain.
Albertas Chazbijavičius, professional circus artist, Head of the circus studio Dzūkija.
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire, it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915.
Trakai is a historic town and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies 28 kilometres west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. Trakai is the administrative centre of Trakai district municipality. The town is inhabited by 5,357 people, according to 2007 estimates. A notable feature of Trakai is that the town was built and preserved by people of different nationalities. Historically, communities of Karaims, Tatars, Lithuanians, Russians, Jews and Poles lived here.
Music of Lithuania refers to all forms of music associated with Lithuania, which has a long history of the folk, popular and classical musical development. Music was an important part of polytheistic, pre-Christian Lithuania – rituals were accompanied by music instruments and singing, deeds of the heroes and those who didn't return from the war were celebrated in songs.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija.
The coat of arms of Lithuania is a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as Vytis. Since the early 15th century, it has been Lithuania's official coat of arms and is one of the oldest European coats of arms. It is also known by other names in various languages, such as Waykimas, Pagaunė in the Lithuanian language or as Pogonia, Pogoń, Пагоня in the Polish, and Belarusian languages. Vytis is translatable as Chase, Pursuer, Knight or Horseman, similar to the Slavic vityaz. Historically – raitas senovės karžygys or in heraldry – raitas valdovas.
Vytaut, also known as Vytaut the Great from the late 14th century onwards, was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the Prince of Grodno (1370–1382), Prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites.
Aukštaitija is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from lands being in upper basin of Nemunas River or being relative to Lowlands up to Šiauliai.
The Lipka Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group who originally settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of the 14th century. The first Tatar settlers tried to preserve their shamanistic religion and sought asylum amongst the non-Christian Lithuanians. Towards the end of the 14th century, another wave of Tatars – this time, Muslims, were invited into the Grand Duchy by Vytautas the Great. These Tatars first settled in Lithuania proper around Vilnius, Trakai, Hrodna and Kaunas and later spread to other parts of the Grand Duchy that later became part of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. These areas comprise parts of present-day Lithuania, Belarus and Poland. From the very beginning of their settlement in Lithuania they were known as the Lipka Tatars. While maintaining their religion, they united their fate with that of the mainly Christian Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the Battle of Grunwald onwards the Lipka Tatar light cavalry regiments participated in every significant military campaign of Lithuania and Poland.
Kęstutis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania. He was the Duke of Trakai and governed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1342–1382, together with his brother Algirdas, and with his nephew Jogaila.
The Columns of Gediminas or Pillars of Gediminas are one of the earliest symbols of Lithuania and its historical coats of arms. They were used in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, initially as a rulers' personal insignia, a state symbol, and later as a part of heraldic signs of leading aristocracy.
Islam in Lithuania, unlike many other northern and western European countries, has a long history starting from 14th century. The medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, stretching from Baltic to Black seas, included several Muslim lands in the south inhabited by Crimean Tatars. A few Muslims migrated to ethnically Lithuanian lands, now the current Republic of Lithuania, mainly under rule of Grand Duke Vytautas. The Tatars, now referred to as Lithuanian Tatars, lost their language over time and now speak Lithuanian; however, they maintained Islam as their religion. Due to the long isolation from all the greater Islamic world, the practices of the Lithuanian Tatars differ somewhat from the rest of Sunni Muslims; they are not considered a separate sect, however, although some of the Lithuanian Tatars practice what could be called Folk Islam. One anonymous Lithuanian Tatar who made Hajj to Mecca acknowledged in his work the Risȃle that the Lithuanian Tatars had unorthodox customs and rituals so that they could possibly be viewed as infidel (kafir) from the perspective of orthodox Muslims.
Vilnius District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It surrounds the capital city of Vilnius on 3 sides. The municipality is also bordering Trakai district and Elektrėnai municipality in the west, Belarus in the east, Širvintos, Molėtai and Švenčionys districts in the north and Šalčininkai district in the south.
Trakai District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania.
According to the Lithuanian census of 2021, the predominant religion in Lithuania is Christianity, with the largest confession being that of the Catholic Church. There are smaller groups of Orthodox Christians, Evangelical Lutherans, members of Reformed churches, other Protestants, Jews and Muslims as well as people of other religions.
The Battle of Blue Waters was a battle fought at some time in autumn 1362 or 1363 on the banks of the Syniukha river, left tributary of the Southern Bug, between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde. The Lithuanians won a decisive victory and finalized their conquest of the Principality of Kiev.
The Lithuanian Civil War of 1381–1384 was the first struggle for power between the cousins Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland, and Vytautas the Great. It began after Jogaila signed the Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teutonic Knights which was aimed against his uncle Kęstutis, father of Vytautas. Kęstutis briefly seized power in the Grand Duchy, but was betrayed by adherents of Jogaila primarily from Vilnius. During negotiations for a truce Kęstutis and Vytautas were arrested and transported to the Kreva Castle. Kęstutis died there a week later but Vytautas managed to escape and then sought an alliance with the Teutonic Knights. Subsequently their joint forces raided Lithuanian lands. Eventually the cousins were reconciled as Jogaila needed internal stability in anticipation of negotiations with the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Kingdom of Poland regarding the possible Christianization of Lithuania. The war did not settle the power struggle; it continued during the next Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392) which was resolved by the signing of the Ostrów Agreement. After more than ten years of struggle, Vytautas finally became the Grand Duke of Lithuania and ruled the country for thirty-eight years.
Nemėžis is a village in the Vilnius district municipality, Lithuania, it is located only about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east of Vilnius. It is located south-east of Vilnius along a railway.
Kaunas Mosque is the only mosque in the city and district of Kaunas, one of only four mosques in Lithuania as well as the only brick mosque in Lithuania and the Baltic countries. It is in Centras eldership, Tatars Street 6 Kaunas.
Keturiasdešimt Totorių is a village in Vilnius District Municipality, Pagiriai Eldership, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 451. There is a wooden mosque, built in 1815, three historic Tatar cemeteries and Tatar community center in the village.
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