Tatars

Tatars
Tatarlar / Татарлар

Ayaz Iskhaki • Ruslan Chagaev Şihabetdin Märcani • Pyotr Gavrilov Gabdulkhay Akhatov • Dinara Safina • Diniyar Bilyaletdinov • Ğabdulla Tuqay
Total population
ca. 6.8 million
Regions with significant populations
Russia : Tatarstan 2,012,571 Bashkortostan 1,009,295 Moscow 149,043	5,310,649
Uzbekistan	467,829
Kazakhstan	203,371
Ukraine	73,304
Turkmenistan	36,355
Kyrgyzstan	31,500
Tajikistan	19,000
China	5,064
Languages
Tatar, Russian
Religion
Sunni Islam majority, Russian Orthodox minority

Tatars refer to a number of Turkic-speaking peoples, which include (but are not limited to) the Volga Tatars, Lipka Tatars, Siberian Tatars. But do not include the Crimean Tatars. Most Tatars live in Russia (forming the majority in Tatarstan), as well as in countries as Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

Smaller minorities of Tatars live in Israel, France, Canada, Australia, the United States, Finland, and Japan.

The Tatars mostly practice Sunni Islam.

Their closest relatives are the Bashkirs, and they are also related to the Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs, Chuvash people, and the Turkish people.

History

Historically, the word "Tatar" might have referred to the Tatar confederation, which eventually became part of the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan joined the various Eurasian steppe tribes into one empire. The term "Tatars" was spelled as "Tartars" on occasion. In the past, this term was used to refer to anyone coming from North and Central Asia dominated by many predominantly Turco-Mongol empires and kingdoms. Neighbouring non-Turkic peoples called any Turkic-speaking people Tatar. Nowadays, this term is used to refer to certain Turkic peoples.

Russian historian D. Iskhakov wrote in 2000: “the real history of Tatars, of the people in every respect historical, is not written yet”. However, a book by independent Tatar historian Galy Yenikeyev about the unwritten history of the Tatars claims to have new facts.