The history of the formation of Tatarstan briefly. Brief chronology. Questions and tasks

The settlement of the territory of the modern Republic of Tatarstan began in the Paleolithic (about 100 thousand years ago).

The first state in the region was the Volga Bulgaria, created at the turn of the 9th - 10th centuries AD. Turkic tribes that already had experience of statehood within the framework of the Turkic Khaganate, the Hun state and Great Bulgaria. Bulgaria for a long time remained the only developed state formation in the north-east of Europe. In 922 Islam became the state religion.

Bulgaria played a significant role in the life of the peoples of the region. The country was the first in Europe to smelt iron. In addition to metallurgy, jewelry, the leather industry, culture, science and education were developed. The unity of the country, the presence of regular armed forces and well-established intelligence allowed her to resist the Mongol invaders. Only on the fourth attempt, in 1236, did they manage to break the resistance of the Bulgars with superior forces, but even after that the Mongols needed to maintain a huge garrison in order to pacify the rebellious land.

Bulgaria became part of the empire of Genghis Khan, and then became part of the Golden Horde. As a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde, a new feudal state arose on the territory of the Volga region - the Kazan Khanate (1438). After the capture of Kazan in 1552 by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, the Kazan Khanate ceased to exist and was annexed to the Russian state.

Kazan later becomes one of the important industrial and cultural centers of Russia. In 1708, the territory of today's Tatarstan became part of the vast Kazan province, the original borders of which stretched in the north to Kostroma, in the east to the Urals, in the south to the Terek River, in the west to Murom and Penza. Kazan has retained the status of the capital of the province for over 200 years.

A significant step in the restoration of the statehood of the Tatar people was the proclamation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920.

The end of the 20th century opened up new opportunities for the development of the statehood of Tatarstan. August 30, 1990 The Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Republic was adopted and signed. The referendum held in March 1992 and the new Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan adopted on November 6, 1992 established, according to the people's will, a new state status of the republic.

On February 15, 1994, the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan "On the delimitation of jurisdiction and mutual delegation of powers between the state authorities of the Russian Federation and the state authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan" was signed, which, along with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, served as a legal the basis for the formation of the well-known Russian-Tatarstan model of relations.

On June 26, 2007, the Agreement on the delimitation of jurisdiction and powers between the state authorities of the Russian Federation and the state authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan was signed, which became a kind of “successor” to the 1994 Treaty. The Treaty of 2007 consolidated the existing status of the republic, recognizing the Constitution of Tatarstan as the basis of the statehood of the republic, the Treaty provides for the requirement of knowledge of two state languages ​​for a candidate applying for the post of President of Tatarstan, confirms the level of international relations of the republic, the need to work with compatriots.

Rafael Khakimov

The history of the Tatars: a view from the XXI century

(Article from Ivolumes of the History of the Tatars from ancient times. On the history of the Tatars and the concept of a seven-volume work entitled "History of the Tatars from ancient times")

Tatars are one of those few peoples about which legends and outright lies are known to a much greater extent than the truth.

The history of the Tatars in the official presentation, both before and after the revolution of 1917, was extremely ideological and biased. Even the most eminent Russian historians presented the "Tatar question" in a biased way, or at best avoided it. Mikhail Khudyakov in his famous work“Essays on the history of the Kazan Khanate” wrote: “Russian historians were interested in the history of the Kazan Khanate only as material for studying the advance of the Russian tribe to the east. At the same time, it should be noted that they mainly paid attention to the last moment of the struggle - the conquest of the region, especially the victorious siege of Kazan, but left almost without attention those gradual stages that the process of absorption of one state by another took place "[At the junction of continents and civilizations, p. 536 ]. The outstanding Russian historian S.M. Solovyov, in the preface to his multi-volume History of Russia from Ancient Times, noted: “A historian has no right to interrupt the natural thread of events from the middle of the 13th century - namely, the gradual transition of tribal princely relations into state ones - and insert the Tatar period, bring to the fore the Tatars, Tatar relations, as a result of which the main phenomena, the main causes of these phenomena, must be closed” [Soloviev, p. 54]. Thus, a period of three centuries, the history of the Tatar states (Golden Horde, Kazan and other khanates), which influenced world processes, and not just the fate of Russians, fell out of the chain of events of formation Russian statehood.

Another prominent Russian historian, V.O. Klyuchevsky, divided the history of Russia into periods in accordance with the logic of colonization. “The history of Russia,” he wrote, “is the history of a country that is being colonized. The area of ​​colonization in it expanded along with its state territory. "... The colonization of the country was the main fact of our history, with which all other facts of it were in close or distant connection" [Klyuchevsky, p.50]. The main subjects of research by V.O. Klyuchevsky were, as he himself wrote, the state and the nationality, while the state was Russian, and the people were Russian. There was no place left for the Tatars and their statehood.

The Soviet period in relation to Tatar history was not distinguished by any fundamentally new approaches. Moreover, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, by its resolution “On the State and Measures for Improving Mass-Political and Ideological Work in the Tatar Party Organization” of 1944, simply banned the study of the history of the Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi), the Kazan Khanate, thus excluding the Tatar period from history of Russian statehood.

As a result of such approaches about the Tatars, an image was formed of a terrible and wild tribe that oppressed not only Russians, but almost half the world. There was no question of any positive Tatar history, Tatar civilization. Initially, it was believed that the Tatars and civilization are incompatible things.

Today, each nation begins to write its own history. Scientific centers have become more independent ideologically, they are difficult to control and it is more difficult to put pressure on them.

The 21st century will inevitably make significant adjustments not only to the history of the peoples of Russia, but also to the history of the Russians themselves, as well as to the history of Russian statehood.

The positions of modern Russian historians are undergoing certain changes. For example, the three-volume history of Russia, published under the auspices of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and recommended as a textbook for university students, provides a lot of information about the non-Russian peoples who lived on the territory of present-day Russia. It has the characteristics of the Turkic, Khazar Khaganates, Volga Bulgaria, the era of the Tatar-Mongol invasion and the period of the Kazan Khanate is more calmly described, but this is nevertheless a Russian history that cannot replace or absorb the Tatar one.

Until recently, Tatar historians in their research were limited by a number of rather harsh objective and subjective conditions. Before the revolution, being citizens of the Russian Empire, they worked on the basis of the tasks of ethnic revival. After the revolution, the period of freedom was too short to write a full history. The ideological struggle strongly influenced their position, but, perhaps, the repressions of 1937 had a greater effect. Control by the Central Committee of the CPSU over the work of historians undermined the very possibility of developing a scientific approach to history, subordinating everything to the tasks of the class struggle and the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The democratization of Soviet and Russian society made it possible to revise many pages of history anew, and most importantly, to rearrange all research work from ideological to scientific tracks. It became possible to use the experience of foreign scientists, access to new sources and museum reserves was opened.

Together with the general democratization, a new political situation in Tatarstan, which declared sovereignty, and on behalf of the entire multi-ethnic people of the republic. In parallel, there were quite turbulent processes in the Tatar world. In 1992, the First World Congress of Tatars met, at which the problem of an objective study of the history of the Tatars was defined as a key political task. All this required a rethinking of the place of the republic and the Tatars in the renewing Russia. There was a need to take a fresh look at the methodological and theoretical foundations of the historical discipline associated with the study of the history of the Tatars.

"History of the Tatars" is a relatively independent discipline, since the existing Russian history cannot replace or exhaust it.

Methodological problems of studying the history of the Tatars were raised by scientists who worked on generalizing works. Shigabutdin Marjani in his work “Mustafad al-akhbar fi ahvali Kazan va Bolgar” (“Information used for the history of Kazan and Bulgar”) wrote: “Historians of the Muslim world, wishing to fulfill the duty of providing complete information about various eras and explaining the meaning of human society, have collected many information about the capitals, caliphs, kings, scientists, Sufis, different social strata, ways and directions of thought of the ancient sages, past nature and everyday life, science and crafts, wars and uprisings. And then he noted that "historical science absorbs the fate of all nations and tribes, checks scientific directions and discussions" [Marjani, p.42]. At the same time, he did not single out the methodology for studying the Tatar history proper, although in the context of his works it can be seen quite clearly. He considered the ethnic roots of the Tatars, their statehood, the rule of the khans, the economy, culture, religion, as well as the position of the Tatar people in the Russian Empire.

AT Soviet time ideological clichés demanded the use of Marxist methodology. Gaziz Gubaidullin wrote the following: “If we consider the path traveled by the Tatars, we can see that it is made up of the replacement of some economic formations by others, from the interaction of classes born economic conditions"[Gubaidullin, p.20]. It was a tribute to the times. His very presentation of history was much broader than the designated position.

All subsequent historians of the Soviet period were under severe ideological pressure and the methodology was reduced to the works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism. Nevertheless, in many works of Gaziz Gubaidullin, Mikhail Khudyakov and others, a different, non-official approach to history broke through. The monograph of Magomet Safargaleev “The Decay of the Golden Horde”, the works of German Fedorov-Davydov, despite the inevitable censorship restrictions, by the very fact of their appearance, had a strong influence on subsequent research. The works of Mirkasim Usmanov, Alfred Khalikov, Yahya Abdullin, Azgar Mukhamadiev, Damir Iskhakov and many others introduced an element of alternativeness into the existing interpretation of history, forcing one to delve deeper into ethnic history.

Of the foreign historians who studied the Tatars, the most famous are Zaki Validi Togan and Akdes Nigmat Kurat. Zaki Validi was specially engaged methodological problems history, however, he was more interested in the methods, goals and objectives of historical science in general, in contrast to other sciences, as well as approaches to writing the general Turkic history. At the same time, in his books one can see specific methods of studying Tatar history. First of all, it should be noted that he described the Turkic-Tatar history without singling out the Tatar one from it. Moreover, this concerned not only the ancient general Turkic period, but also subsequent eras. He equally considers the personality of Genghis Khan, his children, Tamerlane, various khanates - Crimean, Kazan, Nogai and Astrakhan, calling all this Turkish world. Of course, there are reasons for this approach. The ethnonym "Tatars" was often understood very broadly and included practically not only the Turks, but even the Mongols. At the same time, the history of many Turkic peoples in the Middle Ages, primarily within the Ulus of Jochi, was unified. Therefore, the term "Turkic-Tatar history" in relation to the Turkic population of the Dzhuchiev Ulus allows the historian to avoid many difficulties in describing the events.

Other foreign historians (Edward Keenan, Aisha Rohrlich, Yaroslav Pelensky, Yulai Shamiloglu, Nadir Devlet, Tamurbek Davletshin, etc.), although they did not set out to find general approaches to the history of the Tatars, nevertheless, they made very significant conceptual ideas in the study of various periods. They compensated for the gaps in the works of Tatar historians of the Soviet era.

The ethnic component is one of the most important in the study of history. Before the advent of statehood, the history of the Tatars is largely reduced to ethnogenesis. Equally, the loss of statehood brings to the fore the study of ethnic processes. The existence of the state, although it overshadows the ethnic factor, nevertheless retains its relative independence as a subject historical research Moreover, sometimes it is the ethnos that acts as a state-forming factor and, therefore, decisively affects the course of history.

The Tatar people do not have a single ethnic root. Among his ancestors were the Huns, Bulgars, Kipchaks, Nogais and other peoples, who themselves formed in ancient times, as can be seen from the first volume of this publication, on the basis of the culture of various Scythian and other tribes and peoples.

The formation of modern Tatars was influenced by the Finno-Ugric peoples and the Slavs. Trying to look for ethnic purity in the face of the Bulgars or some ancient Tatar people is unscientific. The ancestors of modern Tatars never lived in isolation, on the contrary, they actively moved, mixing with various Turkic and non-Turkic tribes. On the other hand, state structures, developing the official language and culture, contributed to the active mixing of tribes and peoples. This is all the more true since the state at all times has played the function of the most important ethnic-forming factor. But the Bulgarian state, the Golden Horde, Kazan, Astrakhan and other khanates existed for many centuries - a period sufficient to form new ethnic components. Religion was an equally strong factor in the mixing of ethnic groups. If Orthodoxy in Russia made many peoples who were baptized Russian, then in the Middle Ages Islam in the same way turned many into Turko-Tatars.

The dispute with the so-called "Bulgarists", who call to rename the Tatars into Bulgars and reduce our entire history to the history of one ethnic group, is mainly of a political nature, and therefore it should be studied within the framework of political science, not history. At the same time, the appearance of such a direction of social thought was influenced by the poor development of the methodological foundations of the history of the Tatars, the influence of ideologized approaches to the presentation of history, including the desire to exclude the “Tatar period” from history.

In recent decades, there has been a passion among scientists for the search for linguistic, ethnographic and other features in the Tatar people. The slightest features of the language were immediately declared a dialect, on the basis of linguistic and ethnographic nuances, separate groups were distinguished that today claim to be independent peoples. Of course, there are peculiarities in the use of the Tatar language among the Mishar, Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars. There are ethnographic features of the Tatars living in different territories. But this is precisely the use of a single Tatar literary language with regional characteristics, the nuances of a single Tatar culture. It would be rash on such grounds to talk about dialects of the language, and even more so to single out independent peoples (Siberian and other Tatars). If we follow the logic of some of our scientists, the Lithuanian Tatars who speak Polish cannot be attributed to the Tatar people at all.

The history of the people cannot be reduced to the ups and downs of the ethnonym. It is not easy to trace the connection of the ethnonym "Tatars" mentioned in Chinese, Arabic and other sources with modern Tatars. It is all the more wrong to see a direct anthropological and cultural connection between modern Tatars and ancient and medieval tribes. Some experts believe that the true Tatars were Mongol-speaking (see, for example: [Kychanov, 1995: 29]), although there are other points of view. There was a time when the Tatar-Mongolian peoples were designated by the ethnonym "Tatars". “Because of their extraordinary greatness and honorary position,” Rashid ad-din wrote, “other Turkic clans, with all the difference in their ranks and names, became known under their name, and all were called Tatars. And those various clans believed their greatness and dignity in the fact that they attributed themselves to them and became known under their name, like at the present time, due to the prosperity of Genghis Khan and his family, since they are the Mongols - different Turkic tribes, like Jalairs, Tatars, On-Guts, Kereites, Naimans, Tanguts and others, each of whom had a certain name and a special nickname - all of them, because of self-praise, also call themselves Mongols, despite the fact that in ancient times they did not recognize this name . Their present descendants, therefore, imagine that they have been referring to the name of the Mongols since ancient times and are called by this name - but this is not so, because in ancient times the Mongols were only one tribe out of the totality of the Turkic steppe tribes "[Rashid-ad-din, t . i, book 1, p. 102–103].

In different periods of history, the name "Tatars" meant different peoples. Often this depended on the nationality of the authors of the annals. So, the monk Julian, the ambassador of the Hungarian king Bela IV to the Polovtsians in the 13th century. associated the ethnonym "Tatars" with the Greek "Tartaros "- "hell", "underworld". Some European historians used the ethnonym "Tatars" in the same sense as the Greeks used the word "barbarian". For example, on some European maps, Muscovy is designated as "Moscow Tartaria" or "European Tartaria", in contrast to Chinese or Independent Tartaria. The history of the existence of the ethnonym "Tatars" in subsequent eras, in particular, in the 16th-19th centuries, was far from simple. [Karimullin]. Damir Iskhakov writes: “In the Tatar khanates that formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, representatives of the military service class were traditionally called “Tatars” ... They played key role in the spread of the ethnonym "Tatars" in the vast territory of the former Golden Horde. After the fall of the khanates, this term was transferred to the common people. But at the same time, many local self-names and the confessional name “Muslims” functioned among the people. Overcoming them and finally fixing the ethnonym “Tatars” as a national self-name is a relatively late phenomenon and is associated with national consolidation” [Iskhakov, p.231]. These arguments contain a considerable amount of truth, although it would be erroneous to absolutize any facet of the term "Tatars". Obviously, the ethnonym "Tatars" has been and remains the subject of scientific discussions. It is indisputable that before the revolution of 1917, not only the Volga, Crimean and Lithuanian Tatars, but also Azerbaijanis, as well as a number of Turkic peoples were called Tatars. North Caucasus, Southern Siberia, but in the end the ethnonym "Tatars" was assigned only to the Volga and Crimean Tatars.

The term "Tatar-Mongols" is very controversial and painful for the Tatars. Ideologists have done a lot to present the Tatars and the Mongols as barbarians, savages. In response, a number of scholars use the term "Turco-Mongols" or simply "Mongols", sparing the pride of the Volga Tatars. But as a matter of fact history does not need justification. No nation can boast of its peaceful and humane character in the past, because those who did not know how to fight could not survive and were themselves conquered, and often assimilated. The crusades of the Europeans or the Inquisition were no less cruel than the invasion of the "Tatar-Mongols". The whole difference is that the Europeans and Russians took the initiative in interpreting this issue into their own hands and offered a version and assessment of historical events that were beneficial to them.

The term "Tatar-Mongols" needs careful analysis in order to find out the validity of the combination of the names "Tatars" and "Mongols". The Mongols relied on the Turkic tribes in their expansion. Turkic culture strongly influenced the formation of the empire of Genghis Khan, and even more so Ulus Jochi. Historiography so happened that both the Mongols and the Turks were often called simply “Tatars”. This was both true and false. True, since there were relatively few Mongols themselves, and the Turkic culture (language, writing, military system, etc.) gradually became the general norm for many peoples. Wrong due to the fact that the Tatars and the Mongols are two different people. Moreover, modern Tatars cannot be identified not only with the Mongols, but even with the medieval Central Asian Tatars. At the same time, they are the successors of the culture of the peoples of the 7th-12th centuries, who lived on the Volga and in the Urals, the people and state of the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate, and it would be a mistake to say that they have nothing to do with the Tatars who lived in East Turkestan and Mongolia. Even the Mongolian element, which is minimal in Tatar culture today, had an impact on the formation of the history of the Tatars. In the end, the khans buried in the Kazan Kremlin were Genghisides and it is impossible to ignore this [Mausoleums of the Kazan Kremlin]. History is never simple and straightforward.

When presenting the history of the Tatars, it turns out to be very difficult to separate it from the general Turkic basis. First of all, it should be noted some terminological difficulties in the study of the general Turkic history. If the Turkic Khaganate is quite unambiguously interpreted as a common Turkic heritage, then the Mongol Empire and especially the Golden Horde are more complex formations from an ethnic point of view. In fact, Ulus Jochi is considered to be a Tatar state, meaning by this ethnonym all those peoples who lived in it, i.e. Turko-Tatars. But will today's Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Uzbeks and others who were formed in the Golden Horde agree to recognize the Tatars as their medieval ancestors? Of course not. After all, it is obvious that no one will especially think about the differences in the use of this ethnonym in the Middle Ages and at the present time. Today at public consciousness the ethnonym "Tatars" is unequivocally associated with modern Volga or Crimean Tatars. Therefore, it is methodologically preferable, following Zaki Validi, to use the term "Turkic-Tatar history", which allows us to separate the history of today's Tatars and other Turkic peoples.

The use of this term carries another connotation. There is a problem of correlating the history of the common Turkic with the national one. In some periods (for example, the Turkic Khaganate), it is difficult to single out separate parts from the general history. In the era of the Golden Horde, it is quite possible to explore, along with a common history, individual regions, which later separated into independent khanates. Of course, the Tatars interacted with the Uighurs, and with Turkey, and with the Mamluks of Egypt, but these ties were not as organic as with Central Asia. Therefore, it is difficult to find a unified approach to the correlation of the general Turkic and Tatar history - it is in different eras and with different countries it turns out to be different. Therefore, in this work will be used as a term Turko-Tatar history(in relation to the Middle Ages), and simply Tatar history(referring to more recent times).

"History of the Tatars" as a relatively independent discipline exists insofar as there is an object of study that can be traced from ancient times to the present day. What ensures the continuity of this history, which can confirm the continuity of events? Indeed, over many centuries, some ethnic groups were replaced by others, states appeared and disappeared, peoples united and divided, new languages ​​were formed to replace the departing ones.

The object of the historian's research in the most generalized form is the society that inherits the previous culture and passes it on to the next generation. At the same time, a society can act as a state or an ethnic group. And during the years of persecution of the Tatars from the second half of the 16th century, separate ethnic groups, little connected with each other, became the main keepers of cultural traditions. The religious community always plays a significant role in historical development, acting as a criterion for classifying a society to a particular civilization. Mosques and madrasahs from the 10th century to the 20s XX century, were the most important institution for the unification of the Tatar world. All of them - the state, the ethnic group and the religious community - contributed to the continuity of the Tatar culture, and therefore ensured the continuity historical development.

The concept of culture has the broadest meaning, which is understood as all the achievements and norms of society, whether it be economy (for example, agriculture), the art of government, military affairs, writing, literature, social norms, etc. The study of culture as a whole makes it possible to understand the logic of historical development and determine the place of a given society in the broadest context. It is the continuity of the preservation and development of culture that allows us to talk about the continuity of Tatar history and its features.

Any periodization of history is conditional, therefore, in principle, it can be built on a variety of grounds, and its various variants can be equally true - it all depends on the task that is set for the researcher. When studying the history of statehood, there will be one basis for distinguishing periods, while studying the development of ethnic groups - another. And if you study the history, for example, of a dwelling or a costume, then their periodization may even have specific grounds. Each specific object of research, along with general methodological guidelines, has its own logic of development. Even the convenience of presentation (for example, in a textbook) can become the basis for a specific periodization.

When highlighting the main milestones in the history of the people in our publication, the logic of the development of culture will be the criterion. Culture is the most important social regulator. Through the term "culture" it is possible to explain both the fall and rise of states, the disappearance and emergence of civilizations. Culture determines social values, creates advantages for the existence of certain peoples, forms incentives for work and individual qualities of a person, determines the openness of society and opportunities for communication between peoples. Through culture, one can understand the place of society in world history.

Tatar history, with its complex twists and turns of fate, is not easy to present as a whole picture, as ups and downs were replaced by catastrophic regression, up to the need for physical survival and the preservation of the elementary foundations of culture and even language.

The initial basis for the formation of the Tatar or, more precisely, the Turkic-Tatar civilization is the steppe culture, which determined the face of Eurasia from ancient times until the early Middle Ages. Cattle breeding and the horse determined the basic nature of the economy and lifestyle, housing and clothing, and ensured military success. The invention of a saddle, a curved saber, a powerful bow, tactics of warfare, a peculiar ideology in the form of Tengrism and other achievements had a huge impact on world culture. Without the steppe civilization, it would be impossible to develop the vast expanses of Eurasia, and this is precisely its historical merit.

The adoption of Islam in 922 and the development of the Great Volga Road became a turning point in the history of the Tatars. Thanks to Islam, the ancestors of the Tatars were included in the most advanced Muslim world for their time, which determined the future of the people and its civilizational features. And the Islamic world itself, thanks to the Bulgars, advanced to the northernmost latitude, which is an important factor to this day.

The ancestors of the Tatars, who moved from nomadic to settled life and urban civilization, were looking for new ways of communication with other peoples. The steppe remained to the south, and the horse could not perform universal functions in the new conditions of settled life. He was only an auxiliary tool in the economy. What connected the Bulgar state with other countries and peoples were the Volga and Kama rivers. In later times, the path along the Volga, Kama and Caspian was supplemented by access to the Black Sea through the Crimea, which became one of the most important factors in the economic prosperity of the Golden Horde. The Volga route also played a key role in the Kazan Khanate. It is no coincidence that the expansion of Muscovy to the east began with the establishment of the Nizhny Novgorod fair, which weakened the economy of Kazan. The development of the Eurasian space in the Middle Ages cannot be understood and explained without the role of the Volga-Kama basin as a means of communication. The Volga today still performs the function of the economic and cultural core of the European part of Russia.

The emergence of Ulus Jochi as part of the Mongol super-empire, and then an independent state, is the greatest achievement in the history of the Tatars. In the era of Genghisides, Tatar history became truly global, hitting the interests of the East and Europe. The contribution of the Tatars to the art of war is indisputable, which was reflected in the improvement of weapons and military tactics. The system of state administration, the postal (Yamskaya) service inherited by Russia, the excellent financial system, literature and urban planning of the Golden Horde reached perfection - in the Middle Ages there were few cities equal to Saray in size and scale of trade. Thanks to intensive trade with Europe, the Golden Horde came into direct contact with European culture. The huge potential for the reproduction of the Tatar culture was laid down precisely in the era of the Golden Horde. The Kazan Khanate continued this path mostly by inertia.

The cultural core of Tatar history after the capture of Kazan in 1552 was preserved primarily thanks to Islam. It became a form of cultural survival, a banner of struggle against Christianization and assimilation of the Tatars.

In the history of the Tatars, there were three turning points associated with Islam. They decisively influenced subsequent events: 1) the adoption in 922 of Islam as the official religion of the Volga Bulgaria, which meant recognition by Baghdad of the young independent (from Khazar Khaganate) state; 2) isLama's "revolution" of Uzbek Khan, who, contrary to the "Yase" ("Code of Laws") of Genghis Khan on the equality of religions, introduced one state religion - Islam, which largely predetermined the process of consolidation of society and the formation of the (Golden Horde) Turkic-Tatar people; 3) the reform of Islam in the second half of the 19th century, which was called Jadidism (from the Arabic al-Jadid - new, renewal).

The revival of the Tatar people in modern times begins precisely with the reform of Islam. Jadidism outlined several important facts: firstly, the ability of the Tatar culture to resist forced Christianization; secondly, confirmation of the belonging of the Tatars to the Islamic world, moreover, with a claim to a vanguard role in it; thirdly, the entry of Islam into competition with Orthodoxy in its own state. Jadidism has become a significant contribution of the Tatars to modern world culture, a demonstration of Islam's ability to modernize.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Tatars managed to create many public structures: the education system, periodicals, political parties, their own ("Muslim") faction in the State Duma, economic structures, primarily commercial capital, etc. By the revolution of 1917, the ideas of restoring statehood matured among the Tatars.

The first attempt to restore statehood by the Tatars dates back to 1918, when the Idel-Ural State was proclaimed. The Bolsheviks were able to pre-empt the implementation of this grandiose project. Nevertheless, a direct consequence of the political act itself was the adoption of the Decree on the creation of the Tatar-Bashkir Republic. The complex vicissitudes of the political and ideological struggle culminated in the adoption in 1920 of the Decree of the Central Executive Committee on the creation of the "Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic". This form was very far from the Idel-Ural State formula, but it was undoubtedly a positive step, without which there would have been no Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Republic of Tatarstan in 1990.

The new status of Tatarstan after the declaration of state sovereignty put on the agenda the issue of choosing a fundamental path of development, determining the place of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation, in the Turkic and Islamic world.

The historians of Russia and Tatarstan are facing a serious test. The 20th century was the era of the collapse of first the Russian and then the Soviet empire and a change in the political picture of the world. The Russian Federation has become a different country and it is forced to take a fresh look at the path traveled. It faces the need to find ideological anchor points for development in the new millennium. In many respects, the understanding of the underlying processes taking place in the country, the formation of the image of Russia among non-Russian peoples as “their own” or “foreign” state will largely depend on historians.

Russian science will have to reckon with the emergence of many independent research centers having their own views on emerging issues. Therefore, it will be difficult to write the history of Russia only from Moscow, it should be written by various research teams, taking into account the history of all the indigenous peoples of the country.

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The seven-volume work entitled "History of the Tatars from ancient times" is published under the stamp of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, however, it is a joint work of scientists from Tatarstan, Russian and foreign researchers. This collective work is based on a whole series of scientific conferences held in Kazan, Moscow, St. Petersburg. The work is of an academic nature and therefore is intended primarily for scientists and specialists. We did not set ourselves the goal of making it popular and easy to understand. Our task was to present the most objective picture of historical events. Nevertheless, both teachers and those who are simply interested in history will find many interesting stories here.

This work is the first academic work that begins the description of the history of the Tatars from 3000 BC. The most ancient period can not always be represented in the form of events, sometimes it exists only in archaeological materials, nevertheless, we considered it necessary to give such a presentation. Much of what the reader will see in this work is the subject of controversy and requires further research. This is not an encyclopedia, where only established information is given. It was important for us to fix the existing level of knowledge in this field of science, to propose new methodological approaches, when the history of the Tatars appears in the broad context of world processes, covers the fate of many peoples, and not just the Tatars, to focus on a number of problematic issues and thereby stimulate scientific thought. .

Each volume covers a fundamentally new period in the history of the Tatars. The editors considered it necessary, in addition to the author's texts, to provide illustrative material, maps, as well as excerpts from the most important sources as an appendix.

This did not affect the Russian principalities, where the dominance of Orthodoxy was not only preserved, but also further developed. In 1313, Uzbek Khan issued a label to the Metropolitan of Russia Peter, which contained the following words: “If someone defames Christianity, speaks badly about churches, monasteries and chapels, that person will be subjected to the death penalty” (quoted from: [Fahretdin, p.94]). By the way, Uzbek Khan himself married his daughter to a Moscow prince and allowed her to accept Christianity.

System of great ancient civilizations

General characteristics. The crown of creation, begun by man since the Neolithic revolution, was the great ancient civilizations, among which was our ancient civilization - the Middle Volga Bulgaria. These civilizations, also called "great historical ethno-national cultures" (A.I. Rakitov, 1992), were created over a long period of time: from the 5th millennium BC. before the 1st millennium AD Among the most ancient are usually called Egypt and China, Mesopotamia and Iran, India and the ancient world of the eastern Mediterranean (Greece and Rome). The ancient civilization of the Middle Volga Bulgaria is among the relatively young. It arose in the 1st millennium AD.

In all regions, a person retains himself as an individual with his own rational and spiritual-psychological characteristics. A person rises above himself due to the establishment of a taboo (prohibition) on his whims (he gets used to adhere to moral standards). No less important for a person has always been concern for the beauty of his physique, which is reflected in the sculptural portraits of the time of ancient regional civilizations that cause admiration even today. Therefore, the ancient regional civilizations, although they arose geographically far from each other, are imbued with a universal spirit and mind, their formation and development went in a general humanistic direction.

The most common indicators of the formation and development of great ancient civilizations can be considered: the formation of the family as a stable association; the development of a fully viable producing economy (agriculture, cattle breeding, handicraft, exchange); the emergence of a written culture (starting from the 3rd millennium BC); the formation of a spiritual culture that unites society in the socio-psychological sense and regulates the moral relations of people and the moral behavior of a person; the formation of the state, which constitutes the political form of organization of society. At the same time, many scientists emphasize the state and believe that with its formation, a specific human phenomenon is fully realized - the social life of people.

At the same time, each great ancient civilization is unique, each has its own face and enriched and developed Earth civilization in its own way. From the point of view of understanding the history of ancient Tatarstan, both the general trends that took place in various regional civilizations and the specific manifestations of these general trends in individual regions are important for us.

Valley of the Nile River. In Africa, it became the region of the ancient Egyptian civilization, which personified the developed irrigated agriculture based on science. In the IV millennium BC. as a result of the unification of tribal centers, one of the first states arose here, headed by the pharaoh (per "o" - a big house).

Civilization of the Two Rivers. This civilization left us the Laws of Hammurabi, the king of Babylon (Babili), immortalized on a large black basalt pillar. This is one of the most significant monuments of legal culture of the 2nd millennium BC. The provision announced in the introductory part of these laws that the Gods gave him (Hammurabi) the kingdom in order "so that the strong do not oppress the weak" was later repeated in many ancient documents, including the teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. These laws were assimilated and found a kind of embodiment in the social life of the ancient Middle Volga Bulgaria.

The epic poem "Tales of Gilgamesh" - the king of the city of Uruk, which describes the life of ancient Sumer, is interesting. It fascinatingly tells not only about state life, but also about the human friendship of Gilgamesh with Enkidu, about their heroism in the name of justice. The issue of human mortality is resolved in its own way: it is said that there can be no eternal life for a person. At the same time, the heroes find a magical plant that frees a person from old age, but they lose it. It tells about the fate of the dead - about their suffering from hunger and thirst and the need to leave food and water in the graves, about offering sacrifices in their memory. Allegedly, on behalf of one of the eyewitnesses, the story of the Flood is told. It is also interesting that the well-known linguist A. Karimullin sees a relationship with the Turkic linguistic culture in the Sumerian culture.

Zoroastrian Iran, The original civilization of this country, in turn, provides a lot of instructive material for understanding our ancient history. In the united Eastern and Western Iran in the VI century. BC. a powerful state of the Achaemenid dynasty arose, which included the Turkic peoples Central Asia(Bactria and Khorezm). The sacred book of the Zoroastrian religion of the ancient Iranians (founder - Zarathushtra, prophet and reformer, compiler * of the ancient part of the Avesta, lived between the 10th-6th centuries BC) testifies to the transition of the Iranians at that time from tribal gods to the pan-Iranian God Ahura Mazda - God of Heaven. This religion served to strengthen the ancient Iranian state of the Achaemenids. Iranian-speaking farmers who adhered to Zoroastrianism and lived partly in India were called Aryans.

Ancient Indian Civilization. As evidenced by the Indian "Vedas" (veda - knowledge), which became later holy books, as well as the epic legends "Mahabharata" (middle of the 1st millennium BC) and "Ramayana" (beginning of the 1st millennium BC), the ancient Indian civilization grew up in a geographical environment that combines mountains (Himalayas) and rivers (Indus and Ganges). This state reached its greatest prosperity, according to the Indians themselves, under King Ashoka (273-236). The spiritual unifier of Indian society and the state was the religion of Buddhism (founder - scientist, reformer Siddhartha Gautama, (623-544), nicknamed Buddha - enlightened). Even then, India widely entered the international arena, establishing relations with the countries of the Mediterranean, had diplomatic relations with the Hellenic states, and later with Rome.

Ancient Chinese civilization. It arose in the II-I millennium BC. in the geographic environment of the Huang He (North) and Yang-tszyts-jiang (South) rivers, the Kunlun-Kuen Lun (West) mountain system and Pacific Ocean(East). It directly bordered on the Turkic civilization Central Asia: Huns - in the North, Uighurs (Kashgar) - in the West. The developed Chinese society and the powerful Chinese state - the empire headed by the emperor (huangp) became known to the world the center of the original economy and culture. The plow was invented, providing a transition to field farming. Weaving and silk-weaving craft reached a high development. The Northern Trade Route arose, linking China with the distant countries of the West - the "Great Silk Road" to Rome. Scholars often cite a Chinese proverb of the time: "For one who wants to become rich, agriculture is worse than handicraft, handicraft is worse than trade."

After a long rejection by the authorities, Confucianism was declared the official state ideology - the ethical and political doctrine of Confucius (551--479), who preached humanism, proposed to build relationships between people and in the family on the basis of law. Later, this doctrine included the obligation of the ruler to follow the command of Heaven. In the I-II centuries. AD Buddhism began to spread here / Science is developing. A more talented thinker and inventor Zhang Heng (78--139) created a celestial globe that reproduces the movement of celestial bodies, invented a seismograph. Buildings were built with two, three or more floors.

Ancient Eastern Mediterranean. This one of the most favorable territories in the world became the birthplace of the ancient Hebrew, ancient Arab and ancient (Greco-Roman) civilizations. In the so-called "happy" part of the Arabian Peninsula (agricultural areas in the southwest with artificial irrigation) in the II millennium BC. the ancient Minean and Sabaean states developed, connected with Sumer, Akkad, Ashur and other states of the ancient East. The Arabs created a pre-Islamic high culture. Scientists believe that they had a written literature, which, unfortunately, "completely perished."

"In the north-west of the peninsula, with the weakening of the Egyptian hegemony in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, city-states were formed, including Palestine, which was seized by the tribes under the general name Israel, which appeared here as early as the 13th century BC. the language of the tribes of the Canaanites was driven out.Another group of tribes under the general name of the Jews settled in the south of the mountainous region (west Dead Sea) and created the state of Judea. Their attempt to live in a united state was not crowned with success. Separated, they proved to be short-lived. Israel fell in 722 under the onslaught of Assyria, Judah - in 586 under the pressure of Babylon. However, this culture proved to be stable and influenced other ancient civilizations.

Ancient European Civilization. The ancient European civilization takes its origins in the ancient basin of the Aegean Sea. The southern part of mainland Greece (Peloponnese), insular Greece (Crete, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, ...), the coastal strip of modern Turkey (Troy, Ephesus, Miletus, Halicarnassus, ...) were a favorable zone for farming and growing horticultural crops (olives, grapes), subsoil - rich in fossils (marble, clay, silver, copper, lead, iron, gold). More fertile than this land "we do not know in any other country," wrote Herodotus.

By the beginning of the II millennium BC. refers to the emergence of a state in Crete. In the XIII century. BC. the baton from the Cretans is taken by the Achaeans, who raised their state in mainland Greece (the city of Mycenae in the Peloponnese). The war of the Achaeans, led by the king of Mycenae Agamemnon, against Troy at the beginning of the 12th century. BC. beautifully described in the ancient Greek epic "Iliad".

The further development of ancient Greece (Hellas) did not follow the traditional path of the previously described ancient civilizations. In the VIII-VI centuries. BC. The political system here took shape in new forms - policies arose - city-states. It was also new that the policy acted simultaneously as a civil society, whose members enjoyed the right to own land. Policies soon become commercial and industrial centers, as a result of which the range of economic free people their role in the administration of the state rises. Such independent, self-governing ancient city-states were Athens, Sparta, Miletus, Halicarnassus, etc.

Ancient Eastern Europe, including the ancient Volga-Urals, was drawn into the orbit of ancient Greek civilization through the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast, in particular through the cities of Olbia, Ira, Chersonesos, Feodosia, Panticapaeum, Tanais. Phanagoria, Gargippia, Pi-thunt, Dioscurias.

The social life of ancient Tatarstan was also influenced by ancient Rome. It is known that the ancient Roman civilization was associated not only with Eastern Hellenism, but also interacted with the Etruscan federation, which took shape in the 7th-6th centuries. BC. in Etruria (central Italy) and conquered by Rome in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC. Usually Western historians, while appreciating the cultural achievements of the Etruscans, however, do not explain who they really are. It is only about their "eastern origin" and "eastern character of a number of monuments of the material culture of the Etruscans" (World History, vol. 1,1995). Turkish historian Adilya Aida believes that the Etruscan language belongs to the Turkic family of languages, and the Etruscans themselves are local proto-Turks. In the same "World History" it is suggested that in the VI century. BC. - the time of the highest heyday of the Etruscan Federation - perhaps Rome was subordinate to it for some time.

In many ways, the Romans succeeded in military affairs. Advanced weapons and equipment for their time, the system of organization of the army, tactics of warfare, legal norms for the behavior of the army in conquered countries, etc. became the property of many states, including the Vol-go-Ural. The Roman state and civil law, in particular, raising the role of the Senate, agrarian legislation, which fixed private ownership of land, the idea of ​​the consul Cicero about the "consent of estates", etc.

Early state formations of ancient Tatarstan

Statement of a question. Man as a subject of society is constantly changing. The society did not remain unchanged. A tribal society with some social characteristics (with its own form of government, its own traditions, spiritual and psychological addiction of people to each other, ideals, language) developed into a tribal society, which had other social characteristics.

The level of the way of life of the ancient peoples corresponded to the new qualities of the human individual. A new form of social control appeared - the ancient state, and ancient peoples were formed within its framework. At the same time, each of these ancient civilizations was original: it arose on the soil prepared by the most ancient man, inherited all the best that the previous generation had, developed in specific geographical and climatic conditions of the region. The ancient Tatar state of Bulgar (ancient Middle Volga Bulgaria), for all its originality, was no exception to this rule.

Northern Turkic ethnic basis of early state formations. In the course of studying the history of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes and their state formations in the northern Black Sea region and Finno-Ugric ethnic associations in the northern lands of Eastern Europe, a theory appeared that claimed that the Eastern Slavs who later appeared here later encountered them - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The question of the autochthonous nature of the Turkic tribes in Eastern Europe in general, the Bulgars of the Northern Black Sea region and the Northern Turkic tribes in the Volga-Urals, in particular, was excluded. It was believed that those who lived here in the 7th century. BC. the Scythians were entirely Iranian-speaking, although it was already known in science that the collective name "Scythians" included both Iranian-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes. The presence of Turkic tribes in the ancient Volga-Urals was hushed up by declaring the archaeological cultures explored on the territory of Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Bashkortostan as Finno-Ugric. Great Hungary was declared the first state in the Volga-Urals. There are publications in which Black Sea Bulgaria is declared a Finno-Ugric state.

On the basis of the theory of the later appearance of the Turkic tribes in Eastern Europe (since the Hun times), the concept of an exclusively Budgar (introduced from outside) origin of the ancient Tatar state arose.

Many pre-revolutionary Tatar historians saw the real origins of the ancient Tatar state in the most ancient Volga-Ural. Sh. Marjani, for example, believed that the word "Bulgar" was of local Türkic origin, and deduced from "Bolgamak" - a mixture (perhaps, of various northern Türkic tribes). Rizaeddin Fakhreddinov also adhered to the opinion about the local origin of the word "Bulgar", believing that it meant the area where "bol kar" - a lot of snow. R.G. also writes about the local origin of the word "Bulgar". Kuzeev. In his opinion, "bashgur" - "besh ogur" means "five tribes". Similarly, "Bulgur" - "Bulgar" means five tribes.

In world historiography, there are various hypotheses of the global origins of the word "Bulgar". One of these hypotheses is the statement about the origin of the word "Bulgar" from the name of the Volga River - Bulga. Byzantine historian of the XIV century. Nikiforos Grigoras wrote: "The locals call it (the river) the Bulga. From the name of this river they got their name - the Bulgarians." Then this thought different form repeated by many authors. M. Shcherbatov (1770) also agreed with her. But V. Tatishchev (1768) refuted it, arguing that "the Bulgars (Volga-Urals) got their name from their main city". Perhaps V. Tatishchev was closer to the truth in this. The ancient Greeks called this river Ra. Tatars call her Idel. Under this name (Itil - Atil) she was known in the Middle Ages in the East and West. Scientists are increasingly inclined to look for an explanation of the word "Bulgar" in the Turkic language. "There is no doubt about the Turkic origin of the word "Bulgarians," said the Bulgarian scholar B. Semionov. He also recognizes the possibility of a totemic origin of the word "Bulgarians", noting, however, that only "wolf" is not. Modern Tatar historiography, especially based on the study ancient linguistic material, I tend to believe that the Turkic-speaking tribes in the Volga-Urals have been living since ancient times in the neighborhood of the Finno-Ugric peoples (M.Z. Zakiyev, 1995). Arab chronicler Shams ed Din Dimeshki: when they asked the Bulgarian pilgrims to Mecca what kind of people they were, they answered: "we are a people that was born between the Slavs and the Turks." He believes that the Volga Bulgars, who lived between the Slavs and the northern Turks, formed one special people. in ancient Tatarstan, but also to take a fresh look at the question of the formation of the ancient Tatar state of Bulgar.

Ancient Bilyar. The origins of the ancient Tatar state of Bulgar go back to the era of bronze and iron (the second half of the 1st millennium BC - the first half of the 1st millennium AD). Even then, in the triangle between the mouths of the Kazansu rivers --. Ik - Samara on the Volga-Kama flourished ancient culture northern Turkic tribes, called by many scientists; conditionally "Bilyar-Bulgar". According to archaeological finds (fortifications, log burial grounds, copper axes and bronze sickles, etc.), this region was then quite populated. The largest of the cities known to us at that time was Bilyar on the banks of the Little Cheremshan. Bilyar or Biar (from the Turkic "Bi" or "Bil" - the self-name of tribal associations, "ar" - "ir" - a person). Bilyar's possessions stretched to the Shishme River along the Kama and covered the dodans of the Aktai River with the Tatar village of Ezhmer, Bizne (Abyss) and Utka - the most ancient regions of the late Bulgar.

Fertile lands convenient for cultivation, the presence of extensive meadows flooded with spring floods favored the economic and cultural development!) of the region. The city of Bilyar, located on a busy trade route with access to the Volga, being a center of crafts, turned out to be an advantageous center for economic and administrative unification.

At the same time, the cities of Suvar on the Utka River, Kashan on the right bank of the Kama, not far from the Tatar village of Oly Elga, were formed as trade and craft centers and centers that united kindred tribes. The right bank of the Volga was inhabited by an association of tribes under the common name of Burtasy. In the Sviyaga (Zyuya) river valley, the cities of Oshel (Ashli) and Yantyk become the unifying centers. Among tribal associations, such ethnic indicators as linguistic certainty and territorial fixation are even more pronounced.

The emergence of early state formations. Middle of the 1st millennium AD became a turning point in the history of the northern Turkic tribal associations of the Volga-Kama. This coincided with the collapse of the Roman Empire (5th century) and the centralized Han Empire in China (6th century). The so-called "barbarian" peoples of Europe and Asia, who lived on the periphery of these empires, took the path of creating their own states with original centers of civilizations. Ancient Tatarstan was also drawn into this process.

An assertion is becoming more and more common among scientists that Bilyar can be considered one of such early state formations on the territory of ancient Tatarstan. It took shape on the basis of the Bilyar association of kindred tribes. M.Z. Zakiev is inclined to consider it the first (pre-Bulgarian) ancient Tatar state under the affectionate Tatar name "Biarym" (My Biar), known in the outside world as Biarmia.

This interesting hypothesis of M.Z. Zakiev is not yet established. However, in the fact that in the VII century. in Bilyar, one of the early Tatar state formations is being formed, there is no doubt. Moreover, there has been a trend of transition to the forms of early state formations in other associations of kindred tribes. With more certainty, we can talk about this in relation to Suvar. Suvar is a city of IX-XIV centuries. in the upper reaches of the river Duck flowing into the Volga. Archaeological excavations have discovered here the remains of ancient fortifications, a palace building, and houses of residents. (The Bulgar poet Kyatib Chelebi calls himself Suleiman bin Davyd as Suvari.) It is possible that the Carian Tatar principality in the Cheptsa river valley (a tributary of the Vyatka), the Kazan and Arsk principalities in the Kazansu river valley passed such a stage. It is possible that on such a path there was that city, the remains of which archaeologists discovered on the site of the late Bulgar - the capital of the ancient Tatar state of Bulgar. Similar early state formations are noted in the ancient history of other countries. Sometimes they are called proto-states (primary states) or simply principalities (in the East - beks), the unification of which in some cases gave a centralized ancient state, or with the passage of a stage similar to a federation (the Greeks called the uniting principalities pactiotes from the word "pact" - an agreement), or without it. They were headed by princes with their retinue (according to eastern sources - emirs, from the word "amr" - command, ruler). The main thing in the activities of the princes - emirs was the consolidation of a certain territory for a tribal union and the protection of fellow tribesmen from external danger. At the same time, they performed the function of expanding the territory of the tribal union and increasing the population at the expense of prisoners. For this they were invited by the assembly of the free population - zhien. The issues of managing the internal affairs of the tribal union, including the court, remained within the competence of the council of elders. Princes - emirs, who have earned trust for a long successful service, begin to enter the council of elders, enjoy the authority not only of the council, but of the zhien as a whole.

These early state formations on the territory of ancient Tatarstan became the forerunner of the centralized ancient Tatar state of Bulgar.

Prerequisites for the formation of an ancient state in Tatarstan

Ancient Eastern Europe. Most historians believe that the territory of ancient Eastern Europe was occupied mainly by Finno-Ugric peoples, Eastern Slavs and Turkic tribes. They went through their ancient history simultaneously with other peoples of the periphery of the ancient Roman Empire (barbarian peoples) in the 1st millennium AD. The ancient Eastern European civilization was represented by the ancient Slavic states, which were closer to Byzantium, and the ancient Turkic states, which were closer to the Turkic states of the general Turkic world. At the same time, due to their territorial proximity, these ethnically different states interacted more widely and more deeply with each other than with other states.

The early ancient Turkic states of Eastern Europe are usually considered the late Hunnic empire, the Black Sea Bulgaria and the Khazar Khaganate. They played a certain role in the development of state consciousness and state ideology in the state formations of the Northern Turkic tribal associations.

The collapse of the last of these states - the Khazar Khaganate is often associated with the fall of its capital Itil under the blows of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav (957--972). The historical cause of the collapse of the Khazar state should be seen not in one military failure, but mainly in the formation of a new generation of the ancient states of Eastern Europe - the ancient Tatar state of Bulgar, the Kyiv state of ancient Russia, the Muscovite state of ancient Russia. In essence, disintegrating, the Khazar Khaganate freed the field for the ancient Tatar state.

Late Hun Empire. The early Hunnic empire originates at the end of the 1st millennium BC. on the Central Siberian plateau - the Baikal and Transbaikalia, inhabited by various Turkic tribes. According to Chinese written sources, Mode (206--174) was at the head of this state formation. Archaeological excavations carried out in Transbaikalia, on the Sudzha River, revealed large stone mounds made of blocks of granite. In the depths, log cabins were found that make up a burial ground, where household items were found in coffins made of boards next to the remains of the buried - bronze mirrors, weapons, iron bits, ceramics, remnants of silk fabrics, etc. The settled part of the population was engaged in agriculture. They were familiar with metallurgy.

Later, in the III century. AD the Huns, moving west, subjugated the Aral Sea region, the Lower Volga, and in 375, led by King Balamir, crossed the Don. Then the late Hun empire of the Black Sea region arose in the expanses of the Black Sea lowland (between the Danube in the West and Kalmius in the East), including all the former Greco-Roman city-states of the Black Sea region. Byzantium retained only Chersonese in the Crimea. In the 5th century under King Attila (434-453), the late Hunnic empire reached its peak, collided with the Goths, with Byzantium, contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire, and soon after the death of Attila itself collapsed.

Black Sea Bulgaria. The Northern Black Sea region is known in history as an ethnically diverse region, where many cultures were combined. In the VIII-VII centuries. BC. ethnically heterogeneous Cimmerians lived here. In the 7th century BC. -- 3rd century AD the region became the focus of various tribes, including Iranian-speaking and Turkic-speaking, as well as the remnants of the Cimmerians. They entered history under the general name "Scythians", who created in the 4th century. BC. Scythian state. In the III century. AD Sarmatians began to stand out among the numerous tribes of the northern Black Sea region. Within the framework of the late Hun empire in the 5th c. the tradition of the ethnic diversity of the region has been preserved, perhaps Slavic tribes have also been added. In addition to all this, there were Greco-Roman city-states and a combination of Hellenic, Scythian, Turkic and Slavic cultures. At the same time, the Turkic orientation of the region increased. Al Masudi (X century), speaking about the ethnic composition of the northern Black Sea region, wrote that "four tribes of the Turk live near the Khazars and Allan to the west: Bajna (Polovtsy, Cumans), Bad-zhgurd (Hungarians), Bajnak (Pechenegs) and Navkarda (Bulgars, in Iranian - inhabitants of new settlements, townspeople) In another place, in addition to the Hungarians, he adds Rus (Slavs) to the four Turkic tribes.

In this general historical aspect, one should consider the advancement in this polyethnic region, where different cultures converged, of the Turkic-speaking Bulgar tribes. Moreover, the name "Bulgars" (Bulgarians), like the name "Huns", is rather a polytonym, fixed with the formation of the state.

Being the successor of the Hunnic Empire, the Great Black Sea Rulgaria with its capital on the Taman Peninsula received international recognition in the 6th century. The heyday of the state falls on the first half of the 7th century, when the Baltavar (king) Kubrat reigned. The state united several emirate principalities with centralized administration. The so-called "white Bulgars" headed by Kubrat's son Asparuh occupied the territory from the Dnieper region to the Kuban. The "Black Bulgars" headed by the second son of the khan were located in the lower reaches of the Don. In the upper and middle reaches of the Donets there were Bulgars, who called themselves Katrags.

The country's economy consisted of traditional developed agriculture dating back to Scythian times, cattle breeding, hunting, and fishing. The Greeks once wrote about the economic wealth of the region, who exported bread, cattle, honey, wax, furs, timber, and slaves from here. Administrative and trade and craft centers, founded in the Greco-Roman period (for example * Panticapaeum - on the site of present-day Kerch), and new ones (Tirishchaki, Tanu, Tametarka, etc.) were further developed. Archaeological excavations in this region, very rich in treasures, have yielded a lot of valuable historical material, especially about the Black Sea Bulgars. Among them is the most valuable treasure of the 4th-7th centuries, found in 1912 near Poltava (possibly from the word "Baltavar") and called in Russian historiography the "Pereshchepinsky Treasure". Scientists have established that it was the burial place of Kubrat Khan and his cousin Khan Argan. In total, 800 gold and silver items per 75 kg were found, which are now stored in the Hermitage (St. Petersburg). Recently discovered and written monuments describing the life of the Black Sea Bulgaria. In 1991, a poem was published in Ankara, belonging, according to scientists, to the Bulgar poet Mikail Basht, who lived 800 years ago in Kyiv (the ancient Byzantine name is Shambatus), "Shan kyzy dastany" (Dastan about Shan's daughter).

Black Sea Bulgaria is not a state that "flared up" for a short time in order to set fire to new states on the Danube (Bulgaria) and the Middle Volga (Middle Volga Bulgaria). This people lived in the Black Sea lowland together with other peoples even before the arrival of the Huns. Nikiforos Grigoras (Byzantine historian of the 14th century) believes that the Bulgars "were Scythians by origin". With the formation of the Hun empire here, they found themselves in its composition, and then they themselves headed the united state. Later, some of them continued to live as part of the newly formed Khazar state. The Bulgarian ethnologist Hristo Todorov-Bemberski believes that on the site of the state of Khan Kubrat "a dualistic Khazar-Bulgarian state was formed."

Khazar Khaganate. The Khazar Khaganate, as an ancient Turkic state of Eastern Europe, is historically closest to the ancient Tatar and Old Russian states. The Khazars are an association of Turkic-speaking tribes related to the Huns, Bulgars, and Pechenegs. M.I. Artamonov calls them the Hunno-Bulgars. L.N. Gumilyov notes that they were Caucasians. They lived in the Lower Volga, north-west of the Caspian Sea, in the Don region. Being part of the Hunnic, and then the Bulgar states, the Khazars even then were in closer ties with the 6th c. and the Turkic (Western) Khaganate that existed until 740. This ancient Turkic state of Western Asia, occupying the territory from Semirechye to the Aral Sea, in turn, had closer ties with the ancient Turkic states of Eastern Europe.

As an independent state, the Khazar Khaganate was formed in the middle of the 7th century. and became the successor of Greco-Roman and Hunnic-Bulgarian state traditions in the edge. The power of the kagan extended to the Lower Volga, the North-Western Caspian, the Don region, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the northern Black Sea region, and the Crimea, with the exception of Chersonesus, which remained part of Byzantium.

Relations between the Khazar Khaganate and Byzantium were difficult. Naturally, the Khazar Khaganate, as the successor of the Black Sea Bulgaria, kept the former Greco-Roman cities within its borders, which could not but create problems between them. At the same time, Byzantium was interested in the Khazars opposing the claims of the Varangians (Rus) in the southern lands. Historical sources claim that the city-fortress Sarkel was established in the 9th century. with Byzantine assistance precisely for these purposes.

The country had developed agriculture. Pasture cattle breeding developed in the steppe part. Craft, industrial and trade traditions continued, the number of cities increased. The capital of the state was at first the city of Semender on the western coast of the northern Caspian, and from the middle of the 8th century. - the city of Itil on the Lower Volga. This was the period of penetration of Islam into the region through the Caucasus. The state elite was made up of Muslim Turks. Judaism and Christianity also had free circulation. The state language in the kaganate was Turki (M.I. Artamonov). The army here mostly consisted of Turkic warriors.

External relations of the early state formations of ancient Tatarstan. The interaction of the early state formations of ancient Tatarstan (Bilyar, Suvar, Burtas, Kashan) with the ancient Turkic states of Eastern Europe is recognized by all historians.< Однако конкретные формы этого взаимодействия еще мало изучены. Некоторые историки высказываются в том смысле, что "гуннское нашествие" в Восточную Европу "выбросило" на здешние земли первых представителей тюркских племен (Н.И. Воробьев, 1967). Это утверждение преподносилось как шаг вперед по сравнению с "булгарской теорией", согласно которой тюрко-язычную этническую основу да Волго-Урале заложили тюрко-язычные булгары, прибывшие сюда в VII--VIII вв. Путь движения гуннов на Запад тогда лежал южнее Средней Волги. Он проходил по степным районам Нижней Волги и Подонья. Вероятнее всего, на территории ранних государственных образований древнего Татарстана осела лишь отколовшаяся часть гуннов, близких по образу жизни к оседлости, и усилила местную тюрко-язычную основу. Ставший широко известным гуннский опыт государственной организации общества, в свою очередь, мог позитивно повлиять на укрепление здесь государственных начал.

The connections of the early state formations of ancient Tatarstan with the Turkic Khaganate are traced. There is a version that in 576 one of the leaders of the Tele tribe (according to L.P. Potapov, the Tele are the descendants of the Huns who settled in Northern Kazakhstan) Kara Churin with his squad appeared for some time on the Volga-Kamye. However, the boundaries of the Western Turkic Khaganate known in history do not include the Volga-Urals. But the Siberian Tatars were directly part of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. They went through the first state schools as part of the initial Hunnic Khaganate, and then as part of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. They were part of this kaganate in the rank of early state education. In the monument of ancient Turkic writing of 732 (Orhotyu-Yenisei runic script, formed in the 5th century), two Tatar tribal associations are listed among the representatives of the states who arrived at the funeral of Prince Kul Tegin: "Tokkuz Tatars", "Otyz Tatars".

The early Tatar state formations on the right bank of the Volga, not being part of the Black Sea Bulgaria, were in close contact with its eastern and northern provinces - with the Pechenegs, who lived in the north, the Bulgars, who remained on the Don and moved to the Kuban, as well as with the Kotrags. Somewhat later, part of the Black Sea Bulgars directly participated in the formation of the ancient Tatar state.

The widest trade, economic and cultural ties had the early state formations of ancient Tatarstan with Khazaria. This became especially felt when the capital of Khazaria was moved to the Lower Volga. Perhaps the Islamized Khazaria then became one of the directions for the penetration of Islam into ancient Tatarstan. At the same time, the political presence of "Khazaria" is growing here. This was expressed in the payment of tribute to the kaganate in return for the authoritative patronage rendered by the latter. The Arab geographer and traveler of the 9th-10th centuries noted that this vast country (Khazaria) includes Semender, Suvar, and also Belenjer (Bulgar) , Hemlidge, Beide.

Black Sea Bulgars in ancient Tatarstan. The direct resettlement of a part of the Black Sea Bulgars to the lands of ancient Tatarstan takes place in the 7th-8th centuries. - by the time after the collapse of the state of the Black Sea Bulgars and the transfer of power in the region to the Khazars. History records during this period the general migration of the Black Sea Bulgars in different directions: the Dnieper-Bug - to the west, to the Danube (the so-called "white Bulgars" led by Aspa-Rukh), the Don - partially to the southeast, the North Caucasus ( the so-called "Black Bulgars", perhaps because they settled near the "Chernaya Protoka" of the Kuban River), partly to the northeast, in the Volga-Kamie. Yet the underlying cause of this migration must lie deeper, which remains to be seen.

Having headed for the Volga-Kamie, the Don Bulgars, having crossed the Volga, found themselves in a region favorable for agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, and hunting. The climatic conditions here were colder, but the farming technology resembled that traditional for the middle reaches of the Don, especially for its tributaries - the Khopra, Buzuluk, Medveditsa, etc. It must be assumed that these conditions were known to them in advance. Perhaps the matter did not go without preliminary negotiations with the local early state formation of Bilyar. Some social factors also played a role. The resettled Bulgars found here an ethnically close Turkic-speaking population. The Islamic factor cannot be discounted either. Islam was already known to the Don Bulgars through the northern Caucasus, and in ancient Bilyar through Khazaria.

Arriving in the Volga-Kama region, the Black Sea Bulgars joined the local system of early state formations and were drawn into the existing developed system of trade and exchange.

Formation of the ancient state of Volga Bulgaria

First steps. With the resettlement of part of the Black Sea Bulgars, the Turkic ethnic composition of the population of the Volga-Urals increases, but the Turkic-Ugric-Finnish character of the region is preserved. On this base in the Volga-Urals, an ancient multi-ethnic state was formed with the leading position of the Turkic-speaking ethnos. Among the early state formations, Bilyar and Bulgar were the most active in unification. Other early state formations were involved in their interaction and competition in this direction: Suvar, Burtas, Kazan, Arsk, Karin principality.

Two circumstances determined the transition of local principalities to a new level of political unification. The external factor was the weakening of the Khazar Khaganate, the loss of their ability to control and patronize the periphery. Nevertheless, the main factor was the internal factor - the achievement by society of state maturity, the nomination of the principality-leader - Bilyar-Bulgar.

We know little about the first steps of this state. It is known that these steps were taken in the middle of the 9th century. According to Sh. Marjani, the first known ruler (emir) of this state was Tukyi Khan. His successors are listed: Aidar Khan, Zubair Khan, Silky Khan (second half of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century). The Bulgar historian Sharafuddin al Muslimi in his book "Tavarikhs of Bulgaria" cites the version that became known to him that a group of Islamic missionaries and tabibs (doctors) arrived in Bulgar under Aidar Khan, the son of Tukyi Khan; describes how these tabibs healed the khan's daughter, the beautiful Tuybeka. The Iranian historian and traveler Zakaria al Qazvini in his book "Asasel bilad" (Memory of countries) mentions the name of the Bulgarian ruler Zubair Khan bin Aidar Khan. Some information about the initial period of the ancient Tatar state (IX century) is contained in the book of Ibn Ruste and in the sources he used.

From the point of view of the formation of the ancient Tatar state, which went down in history as the Volga Bulgaria, more detailed information refers to the reign of Almas Khan (Jafar bii Abdallah), the son of Silky Khan.

Focus on Baghdad. A very important factor in the formation of any state is international recognition. In this regard, the ancient Tatar state is guided by the influential state of that time - the Baghdad Caliphate.

Arab civilization is one of the oldest in the world. Among the oldest state formations of the X-II centuries. BC. in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, the Minean kingdom, the Sabian kingdom are known. In the II century. BC. -- 6th century AD There was a Himyarite state. The rich Arab culture of these centuries is commonly referred to as pre-Islamic. The way of life of the Arabs of that time is colorfully sung in the so-called Bedouin poetry.

During the formation of the ancient Tatar state, Arab civilization was already Islamic, and the Arab Islamic caliphate (state), which took shape at the beginning of the 7th century, was an influential empire. The first caliph (the title of sovereigns) since 632 was Abu Bakr (572--634) - one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, and the country was called "Bi-lad al Islam" (Country of Islam) or "Mamlakat al Caliph" (State of Caliphs ). From the beginning of the X century. The Caliphate of Baghdad was ruled by Jafar al Muktadir of the Abbasid dynasty. The power of Baghdad was then recognized by Iran, Azerbaijan, the state of the Samanids (Bukhara), Khorezmia (Dzhurjaniya).

Bulgaro-Baghdad relations. We find some information about the initial period of the Bulgar-Baghdad relations from the Arab historian and traveler al Masudi (late 9th century - 956/57), who personally visited Iran, India, Azerbaijan and other countries. According to him, the Bulgar ruler Almas bin Silki in the spring of 921 sent his ambassador Abdullah bin Bashta to Baghdad, who brought a message from his ruler to Caliph al Muktadir. The message contained a request to send Islamic preachers and medicines to Bulgar, as well as to help build a mosque in Bulgar, put up a fortress. Al Masudi additionally reports that Bashtu, who then served at the court of Almas Khan, a native of Khwarezmia, was nicknamed Khazar. It can be assumed that he is a Muslim and that he was not only involved in diplomatic relations between Bulgar and Baghdad, but also visited Khorezm and Khazaria with similar missions. According to al Masudi, even then the natives of Bulgar A. Tekin and Barys served at the court of the Baghdad Caliph. Consequently, the diplomatic relations of Bulgar with Baghdad were established earlier, and the Bashtu mission to Baghdad was not the first. In addition, in Baghdad they were well aware of the Bulgar from the books of Ibn Ruste and other Arab authors.

The connection between Bulgar and Baghdad then was maintained along the existing caravan trade route through Khorezmia, Bukhara and Iran. Interstate relations, in which the main thing was trade, Bulgar established with the latter even earlier. Rather, these relations were a continuation of the traditional trade relations between Bilyar, Suvar and other Volga-Kama cities. Moreover, two of them (Bukhara and Khwarezmia) were Turkic states, although state language they had Iranian.

More difficult, it can be assumed, was the transition of the Bulgar to new relations with the Khazaria, which actually lost control over the periphery, but did not want to part with power. At first, the son of the Eltavar (ruler) of Bulgar lived in Itil, as if confirming the preservation of the former attitude of Bulgar to Khazaria.

Prerequisites for the adoption of Islam. The formation of the ancient Tatar state of Bulgar took place on the basis of the legal and spiritual and ideological traditions of the early state formations - tribal communal law and moral norms of the North Turkic pagan religions. To strengthen the centralized state, new legal and moral norms of the state religion were needed. This problem was solved by the adoption of Islam under Almas Khan.

The adoption of Islam in Bulgar was due to a number of circumstances. Islam, as a young religion, was more adapted to the new conditions. Its attractiveness was determined by a more thorough development of all aspects of a person's personal, social and state life. J.J. Rousseau, in his "Social Contract", noted: "Muhammad had very sound views: he tied his whole political system together well." Indeed, the state system defended by Islam was reasonable and moral, ensured the unity of the state-legal, religious-ideological and spiritual-moral principles (principles), not allowing the sole supremacy of either sovereign or religious-ideological dogmas.

Islam turned out to be closely connected with science, education, and culture. Speaking about the virtues of Islam, Toynbee noted that Islam, unlike Judaism, was not anti-Iodine to Hellenism. It is no coincidence that the Arab philosopher and physician Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126-1198) became a prominent philosopher of restored Aristotelianism. Recognizing religion as a source of knowledge, he at the same time highly valued the rational (scientific) source of knowledge.

Scientists also note the worldly, bit values ​​preached by Islam. Herder, for example, noted with admiration the prescriptions of Islam about human hygiene, about cleanliness. He writes: "In addition, the commandments of the Koran contributed to the beauty (of these peoples - Auth.), because the Koran ordered to wash, keep the body clean, observe moderation, and at the same time allowed love joys and voluptuous peace." The scientific literature also notes such an important quality of Islam as the preaching of tolerance, which is of great importance in the personal, social and political life person.

Certain prerequisites for the adoption of Islam were in the Volga Bulgaria itself. By the time of the official adoption of Islam, the country already had a system of mosques with mektebs, health care with tabibs.

Embassy of Baghdad in Bulgar. The ceremony of the official adoption of Islam in the ancient Tatar state took place during the visit of Bulgar by the Baghdad diplomatic mission. The history of this mission was described in detail by the secretary of the embassy, ​​Ibn Fadlan (Fazlan), who knew the Turkic language well, had rich diplomatic experience, and visited many countries. The book of his memoirs about the journey to the Itil River and the adoption of Islam in Bulgar has survived to this day.

Being a devout Muslim and a preacher of Islam, Ibn Fadlan, as expected, speaks enthusiastically about the Islamic way of life and emphatically expresses his negative attitude towards many traditions in the way of life of the northern Turkic tribes, coming from paganism. Nevertheless, this book is an important historical source for us.

The mission arrived by the usual caravan route through Iran, Bukhara, Khorezmia in the spring of 922. Almas Khan in his palace, in the presence of his wife and numerous courtiers, arranged a big reception in honor of the high embassy. The message of the Baghdad caliph al Muktadir was read, approving the desire of the Bulgarian society to accept Islam and join the world of Islamic countries.

Almas Khan, in turn, solemnly announced the accession of his state to the Islamic world and the adoption of Islam as the official state religion. He expressed gratitude to the caliph for the promised help. Then, with an exit to the people and official visits to the places, an official solemn ceremony of the adoption of Islam was arranged. It took place on May 16, 922 (310 AH). These official celebrations did not yet signify the complete transition of the population from paganism to Islam. This was especially true for the principalities located on the periphery, in particular the Chuvash and especially the Finno-Ugric ones, where there were fewer converts to Islam.

Nevertheless, a historic act has taken place. In the Volga Bulgaria, Sunni Islam was adopted, recognizing the legitimacy of the oath of allegiance to Muhammad given by Abu Bekr, in contrast to the supporters of the Shi "a party, who disputed the oath of Abu Bekr and proclaimed Hazrat Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law) as the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. Since that time, the population of Bulgar began to be called "ahl as sunna wal-jamaa"(people of the sunnah and the consent of the community).

Public life of the Volga Bulgaria. With the adoption of Islam, the social life of the Bulgar, which grew up on the norms of customary law, the traditions of local ethno-tribal life, gradually begins to orient itself towards the Islamic complex of social norms - Sharia. Sharia (ash Shari "a - law, obligatory prescription) is a complex of prescriptions enshrined in the Koran and the Sunnah that determine the beliefs of the faithful, form their moral values ​​​​and religious conscience. Muslims see Sharia as a source of norms that regulate their behavior. In other words, public Bulgar's life begins to focus on the Islamic way of life.

At the same time, the ancient legal ideas of the population of the country, the legal norms and traditions of the country, coming from the former ethno-tribal way of life, do not disappear, but take the form of adat, which exists in parallel with Sharia. Adat reflects the realities of the local legal life, i.e. It is a complex of ancient legal and moral norms that are practically observed even after the adoption of Islam. As a result, Islam is formed here, as if reflecting the realities of the Bulgarian society.

Political system. The formation of the ancient Tatar state in the X century. passed, focusing on the Islamic state law - al-fiqh. Al-fiqh (law, jurisprudence), being, as it were, a continuation of Sharia, which determines social relations in general, acts mainly as state law. During the formation of the caliphate, the Islamic legal system in general, including the Arab state law, adopted certain elements of Roman, Sasanian, Tolmudic and canonical (Byzantine) law. This system is highly appreciated by scientists. Toy-nbi believes, for example, that a remarkable legal school has taken shape in Islam, following the path of law and revival (sharia and adat). According to Islamic law, the state is a necessity for society: "Even an unjust government is preferable to anarchy." The ruler's power is not absolute. supreme power, sovereignty belong exclusively to Allah. The ruler in his actions is connected with the instructions (constitution) of the Koran and the Sunnah developed by the prophet. State administration becomes, as it were, advisory through such a body as the Shura (Council). The ruler is elected by the community and is responsible to it, obliged to consult with it on the most important state issues. Such a ruler is considered righteous, in contrast to rulers who violate these precepts.

Ibn Fadlan notes that Almas Khan (Jafar bin Abdallah), having converted to Islam, even then began to implement the norms of Sharia and al-fiqh. Most likely, with the strengthening of the centralized state, the word "khan" began to be used, changed from the Khazar "kha-kan". Sh. Marjani lists the names of other Bulgar rulers in the 10th century. - the period of the formation of the state: Ahmad Khan Talib Khan, My "min Khan. During the years of their reign in the 10th century, the Volga Bulgaria is strengthened as a sovereign state that has a developed system of government within the country and is recognized by many foreign countries. Coins minted in Bulgar with the names of Talib Khan (338 AH, i.e. 949), Mu "min Khan (366 AH, i.e. 977) have been preserved. Under Mu" min khan in 985 -986 between the Volga Bulgaria and Kievan Rus an interstate agreement was concluded on the preservation of peace "until the stone begins to float in the water, and the hops begin to sink." This world was secured by the marriage of the Grand Duke Vladimir the Holy with the Bulgar princess.

Khan was the head of state. He was guided by the provisions of the Koran, which served as a constitutional beginning. The position of khan was hereditary. As Islam strengthened in the state, the main kazy was nominated as an influential dignitary, appointed by the khan, the bearer of the highest legal authority. Kazy supervises the activities of local kazys - officials-judges. As an expert in Sharia and fiqh, he could also be an adviser to the khan. The role of the advisory body was performed by the jien - the congress of the military-administrative nobility, the clergy, and other subjects leading an independent economy (merchants, artisans, peasants). The jien, convened by the khan, decided the most important state issues (war and peace, the choice of a new dynasty, etc.).

The government (Dvor) was headed by a vizier (the highest dignitary). His assistants in the areas of the government system were naibs (heads of departments). The army consisted of a permanent khan's guard (huang) and assembled as needed for the defense of the country or foreign trips military militia (sarya).

The lower level of state administration consisted of village elders and makhalla in cities elected by the population. So tribal democracy grew into a state form of social control, combining centralized khan control with jien democracy and grassroots democracy. The capital of the state was the most advantageous in strategic and trade and economic terms the city of Bulgar. In the form known in history, it appeared in the VIII-IX centuries. on the site of an ancient settlement, perhaps even bearing the name "Bulgaru".

Territory. The territory to which the power of the khan extended was not so vast at first, and the degree of subordination of the uniting principalities was different. Ibn Fadlan wrote about four principalities, the rulers of which took part in the reception of the Baghdad embassy. Perhaps here we are talking about the central zone of the state: Bulgar, Bilyar, Suvar, Burtas. Moreover, these state entities, having announced their unification into a common state, for a long time retained their independence in internal affairs. In the 70-80s, for example, Mu "min, the son of Hasan, the brother of Ahmad Khan, ruled quite autonomously in Suvar. It is known that Suvar minted his coins until the end of the 70s of the 10th century. The principalities of the right bank of the Kama and the Volga , as well as the Mordovian, Chuvash, Udmurt, Mari, West-Bashkort, Karin principalities had even greater autonomy.Taking into account this circumstance, the contours of the border of the ancient Tatar state can be defined as follows: the Samara River (Samarskaya Luka) and the Zhayak River (Ural) - in the south, the Ik and partly Belaya rivers - in the east, the Cheptsa river - in the north, the Sura river - in the west.

Eastern authors note the presence already in the X century. Kermen fortresses. In particular, al-Qazvini in his book "The ruins of antiquity and news about the peoples", referring to the "History of Bulgaria" by Yakub bin Nugman, mentions two such fortresses: Shushit and Vater-Burun. While it is difficult to tie them to the area. Perhaps they became the fulfillment of the desire of Almas Khan to build defensive fortresses, expressed by him to Ibn Fadlan.

Population. The formation of a state includes the formation of state power, the formation of the territory of this state within certain boundaries and the unification of the primary state formations (proto-states) existing on this territory around the emerging power, their recognition of this power. The population, united in the state, is usually called "the people", in contrast to the "tribe" and "union of tribes." Vladimir Dal, for example, explains Russian word"people": people - from "those who were born in the given territory", "in the territory of the given state". A given people has its own name (ethnonym), its state has a polytonym. The territory of the state is usually perceived as a relatively permanent locality - the country. In our case, the following concepts are used: country - Volga Bulgaria (Bolgaostan), state - Bulgar (by the name of the city - the capital). The population consists of two ethnic groups: the northern Turks and the Volga-Ural Finno-Ugric peoples. The Northern Turkic ethnos in Volga Bulgaria recognizes itself as "Bulgars".

Under the conditions of the state, the social division of society is formed somewhat differently. Ibn Fadlan saw the division of the population of Bulgar into three groups: rais - to know; simple free people; not free people (slaves), usually from among the "war booty". The largest part of the population was made up of "simple free people" - peasant farmers and cattle breeders who lived in communities, artisans, merchants. Dependent (not free) people, often called gulams (slaves), worked in the private households of the highest state dignitaries. They performed various work, sometimes even important government assignments. In part, the slaves were exported to the external market. In the poems of the Iranian poet Nosir Khisrow (1004--1072) "Turkish women from Bulgar" there are the following lines:

Turkish slave girls

Brought from Bulgar,

The crowd froze

From such a gift.

Seduced by temptation

Since ancient times, all people:

How thin is their camp,

And how magnificent their breasts are,

Rubies of lips and emeralds of teeth,

Those who saw the blood bit all the lips!

The intelligentsia was formed in the person of the Islamic clergy and teachers, tabibs - doctors, people of science and art. Among the nobility (rais) were civil servants - people from the tribal elite, replenished with government officials of the rank of naibs, diplomats, as well as the local princely administration, a military caste, consisting of the khan's guard and military combatants of local princes.

The ethnic composition of the population was complex. The central and western parts of the state were predominantly inhabited by the Turks - the ancestors of the Chuvash, Tatars, Bashkorts. Finno-Ugric peoples lived on the periphery - the ancestors of the Mordovians, Maris and Udmurts. The Russian population in the country was still small. It was represented mainly by merchants and their servants, as well as former prisoners who were in a position, either servants in private households, or free artisans, mainly blacksmiths.

Economy. The main wealth of the country was land, including arable land, pastures and pastures, forests, meadows, rivers with their abundance. According to Sharia, the earth is a gift of Allah to people, i.e. public domain. The khan disposed of the land, presenting the clergy, the highest state dignitaries - murzas and uglans - the khan's guardsmen for their services to the state, as well as free communal peasants who owned the land allocated to them hereditarily. A significant part of the land belonged to the Khan's Court, local princes.

The main branch of agriculture was arable farming. The land was cultivated quite deeply with the help of a saban (plow) with an iron coulter and a plow. The main field crops were wheat, rye, barley, and millet. The country provided itself with bread. Bread was also exported. An independent branch of the economy was cattle breeding, provided with rich meadows and good-quality livestock buildings. Horses, cows, rams, goats, and poultry were the most widespread. Horses were bred for riding, including for the army, as a draft force, and partly for food.

Auxiliary sectors of the economy were hunting, beekeeping, fishing, and forestry. The state stimulated the further development of handicraft production, which was concentrated in the cities. Large cities for that time developed as the administrative centers of the principalities, centers of trade, crafts and culture. Ibn Fadlan noted that the city of Bulgar at the beginning of the 10th c. had a population of 10 thousand people. Medium and small towns were centers of local crafts and trade. Among them were Shongut - in the upper reaches of the Sviyaga, Yantyk - in its lower reaches, Kandurga - on the river. Kandurcha (to the north of Samara), Cherdakly and others. The townspeople were mainly focused on servicing trade and crafts. Among them were the builders of caravanserais, housing, auxiliary premises, trading floors, blacksmiths and carpenters, servants. The authorities patronized the cities - the centers of trade and crafts, bringing them significant income.

Of the handicraft industries, metallurgy was most significantly represented - the smelting of iron from local and imported Ural ore, and metalworking. There were various forges in terms of purpose and level of complexity of metal processing: for the production of agricultural implements, weapons, household items (locks, chains, scissors, etc.) - Bronze metallurgy was developed: they produced copper boilers and kumgans, cast copper mirrors, decoration items . The craftsmanship of leather processing, the manufacture of ceramic products, household products and children's toys made of wood, and weaving became higher.

Trade. Developed internal and external trade, a wide network of cities are indicators of the prosperity of any ancient civilization. Ancient Tatarstan was no exception here either. The formation of the state expanded trade and economic ties between individual regions of the country. Expansion of industrial goods production and revitalization domestic market stimulated foreign trade. Not far from the city of Bulgar, a large shopping center Aga Bazaar was built with a caravanserai and port facilities that directly overlooked the Volga. Goods for domestic consumption and intended for export flocked here. Foreign guests (traders) came here mainly along the Volga: from the north - Russians, from Visu (Ves), Murom, Vyatka Territory, Perm; from the south - Khorezmians, Bukharans, Iranians, from the North Caucasus, etc. Along with the transit northern and southern goods (the most valuable furs, silk, weapons, etc.), a lot of own-made goods went for export through the Aga Bazaar: leather and leather goods, weapons (swords, arrows) and military uniforms, bread, cattle, wood, as well as decorations. Ibn Fadlan spoke very highly of "marten furs" that are exported: "marten furs replace them with hard currency," he wrote. In a wide range of fur exports, the skins of sable, ermine, beaver, otter, squirrel, fox, hare were valued. Honey and wax, timber, honey drink were famous in foreign markets. In the "Dictionary of Turkic dialects" of the famous philologist of the XI century. Mahmud Kashgari as a Suvar proverb is given: "Holding honey, the devil walked towards you; dressing in silk, he left you in the cold."

The developed monetary system of the country largely contributed to the development of trade and economic relations with the outside world and within the country. The collections of numismatics now contain coins minted in Volga Bulgaria in 908 - 910, coins minted in 949 with the name of the Bulgar ruler Talib Khan, minted in 977 with the name of My "Min Khan. On the trade relations of the ancient Bulgar with foreign countries The coins of these countries, found in Bulgar in the archaeological layers of the 10th century, also testify, including the Czech coin, minted before the beginning of the 10th century, and the Arab dirham, minted approximately in the first quarter of the 10th century.

The tax system becomes stable for the country as a whole. The main taxes were: "tithe" (a tenth of income) and "zya-ket" (one-fortieth of income given to the poor and the clergy). Local taxes were called "salym" - land, yamskoy, road, etc.

Spiritual life. During the formation of the ancient Tatar state and the establishment of Islam in the country during the X century. the main directions of development of the spiritual life of society were determined. The traditional layer of the spiritual life of society in the form of values ​​inherited from pre-Islamic beliefs and ideals of the northern Turkic tribes has largely been preserved. A new, Islamic layer penetrates the spiritual life of society gradually, one might say, in two stages. The initial penetration of Islamic values ​​refers to the period before the official adoption of Islam. Ibn Ruste even before 913, al Balkhi - before 921-922, describing Bulgar and Suvar, noted that there are mosques and Islamic clergy, the task of treating people was set, i.e. there are tabibs. This was confirmed by Ibn Fadlan. Moreover, Islam came here mainly then through its neighbors - the Turkic states (Khazaria, Khorezmia, Bukhara), which had adopted Islam earlier and already had experience in "Turkicizing" some of its rites. This was expressed, for example, in sermons read in Turki after prayer in the language of the Koran. The main prayers in the mektebs were also explained in Turki. In practical life, especially in family life, Islamic rituals did not enter into a special confrontation with traditional ones. The official adoption of Islam and the official fulfillment of the precepts of Islam took place on this already prepared ground. Thus, the Islamic way of life that was taking shape in ancient Tatarstan did not become a repetition of the Baghdad or other Islamic way of life.

Like any new thing, Islam made its way in ancient Tatarstan, as well as in other countries, including Arabia itself, not without contradictions and upheavals. Resistance among the people was born mainly “when violent methods of introducing Islam were used. Objectively, in the new conditions of the formation of the state, society needed a new religion. Islam was both al Iman ("I believe" - ​​faith in divine justice) and al Ihsan ("moral virtue"), which built a system of moral values ​​understandable to people, based on humanism and justice. The prohibitions of Islam resonated in the quality of self-restraint inherent in man and were taken for granted.

Culture. The adoption of Islam expanded the possibilities of cultural communication with the countries of the Islamic world - with their Arabic-speaking, Iranian-speaking and Turkic-speaking cultures. Turks, Farsi and Arabi became languages ​​used in parallel among the intelligentsia and senior government officials. Mosques were built in a forced manner, and with them, mektebs arose. The ancient Bulgarian language, which became the state language, was written on the basis of Arabic script.

An educational base appeared for dissemination in the Volga Bulgaria, which then received a high development. This culture itself has grown, based on the achievements of world civilization. From India and China, she received the rudiments of the exact sciences, mathematics, from Greece - philosophy, from Iran - the ideas of centralized government. At her disposal were samples of art lottery of many civilized peoples. Among the creators of the wealth of Islamic culture * along with the Arabs are the philosopher and historian Ibn Ku-tayba (828--c. 889), the philosopher Abu Nars al-Farabi (870--950), the astronomer Ali ibn Abd Rahman ibn Yunus (950-- 1009), the philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198) and the Iranians - the philosopher Mohammed al Ghazali and others, scientists of the Turkic world also participated - the founder of algebra (al jabr) Mohammed al Khorezmi (787 - c. 850), scientist encyclopedist Abu Reykhan Biruni (973 - c. 1050), physician and philosopher Abu Ali ibn Sina (c. 980 - 1037), poet and thinker Abu Muhammad Nizami Ganjavi (c. 1141 - c. 1209).

VC. Chaloyan (1979) calls this culture the culture of the "Iranian-Arab East". In fact, it was created by the combined efforts of representatives of the Arab, Iranian and Turkic countries and in such a combined form enriched European culture. In the twelfth century, for example, Latin translation Algebra and Equations by Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, Ibn Sina's books "The Canon of Medicine" and "Danish Nameh" appeared in three sections: logic, mathematics, physics. According to available information, the Bulgars also contributed to the development of Islamic culture - the historian Yakub bin Nugman, the jurist Hamid bin Idris (XII century), the doctor Taj ed Din (XIII century).

The gradual settlement of the territories of the present Republic of Tatarstan began in the Paleolithic, about a hundred thousand years ago. The first semblance of statehood in the region was the formation of the Volga Bulgaria, created approximately in the tenth century AD by the tribes of the Turks, who at that time already had the experience of statehood of peoples after the formation of the Turkic Kaganate, Great Bulgaria and the Hun state.
In the 10th century AD, the Bulgar Khan Almush converted to Islam, as evidenced by the discovered silver coins that were minted by him in Bulgaria. Coins were minted in the cities of Bolgar and Suvar for a century, the last dated 997. Islam is declared as a national religion, but a certain stratum of the population refuses to accept it, wanting to remain in paganism, which gives rise to the formation of the Chuvash nation.
After the fall of the Khazar Empire in 965, Bulgaria, previously subordinate to it, gains independence. The first historical capital of a free state is the city of Bulgar or Bolgar the Great, which was located one hundred and fifty kilometers south of Kazan (today the city of Bolgar). The modern cities of Elabuga and Kazan were built as border fortresses. Tatarstan, as a state, had a widely developed infrastructure, highly developed crafts, trade, economy, agriculture and cattle breeding, minting of its own currency and metalworking. The population of the country was homogeneous, and in Russian and Arabic chronicles it was called Bulgarians or Bulgars.
Since 1223, the state was attacked by the Tatar-Mongols. Despite fierce resistance, Bulgaria is part of the expanding empire of Genghis Khan, and becomes part of the Golden Horde, after the collapse of which in 1438 it will be reorganized into the Kazan Khanate. In 1552, after the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, the Kazan Khanate ceases to exist and joins the Russian state.
The following centuries were marked by the strengthening of Russian statehood in the territories of the Middle Volga region. Fortresses are being created, borders are being strengthened, there is an influx of the Russian population and the development of poorly populated territories by them, and the intensive development of the annexed lands continues. Trade relations with Iran, the Caucasus, India, and Siberia are being revived. There is a revival in the restoration of culture, agriculture, and the economy. However, the Tatars, still not reconciled to the humiliation of their nation, do not lose hope for the restoration of their state and organize armed uprisings, in which the Chuvashs, Mordvins and Mari participated. After these events, they managed to partially restore their rights and spiritual heritage. Gradually, Kazan acquires the status of one of the important centers of industry and culture in Russia. In the 18th century, independent territorial and administrative units were formed on the site of the Kazan province: Penza, Astrakhan, Simbirsk and Nizhny Novgorod provinces. Kazan has retained the status of the capital for over two hundred years.
The development of the Republic of Tatarstan during the 19th and 20th centuries was marked by the penetration of new capital into manufactory production and agriculture. The number of handicraft workshops and various kinds of manufactories with hired labor force. Especially large industrial manufactories were cloth, copper-smelting and linen. Trade developed, a significant share of which was occupied by Tatar merchants, who contained almost all wholesale and retail trade with the countries of Central Asia. By the end of the 50s of the 19th century, the population of the province totaled one and a half million people. The most large-scale enterprises were soap factories, a gunpowder factory, and a flax-spinning factory. Extremely heavy working conditions provided the spread of revolutionary unrest, a significant place in the spread of which was occupied by students of Kazan University, within the walls of which Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov also joined the anti-state movement.
After the overthrow of the Russian autocracy and the transition of Russia to the path of socialist development, Soviet power was also established in the republic. During the civil war, Tatarstan more than once became the site of fierce battles between the red and white troops. On the ruins of the Russian Empire, new state relations based on union and federation were built. In the 20-30s of the last century, the Tatar SSR became an agrarian-industrial republic, the collectivization of agriculture was carried out, large-scale industrial enterprises, one of the first in the whole country, synthetic rubber plants and an aviation plant are being built.
The Great Patriotic War certainly affected the fate of all the peoples of the USSR, and the inhabitants of Tatarstan also participated in a fierce struggle against Nazism. On the territory of the republic, 7 divisions were formed, up to a thousand land companies, the inhabitants of the republic participated in field battles. All of them honorably endured their civic duty. During the war years, the industrial potential of the republic increased significantly, which served rapid development region in the postwar period. The production of aircraft, polyethylene, computer equipment, leather, fur, chemicals, auto parts, etc. was established. New settlements, the population of the existing ones increased. Already in the 80s of the 20th century, scientists noticed that due to the rapid growth of industry, environmental pollution arises, which becomes topical issue. With the support of public organizations, the construction of a nuclear power plant on the Kama River and an enterprise for the production of protein enzymes in the suburbs of Kazan, a city that continues to have the status of a cultural center and enjoys priority in international and all-Russian events, are being canceled.

Schastlivtsev R.A. History of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Audio Log 3/6 (Document)

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Ermolaev I.P., Valiulina S.I., Mukhamadeev A.I., Gilyazov I.A., Kashafutdinov R.G. Textbook on the history of Russia from ancient times to the end of the XIX century (Document)

Karpov S.P. (ed.) History of the Middle Ages. In 2 volumes. Volume 2 (Document)

Chirkovich S.M. History of the Serbs (Document)

Dyakonov I.M., Neronova V.D., Sventsitskaya I.S. Ancient world history. In 3tt (Document)

n1.doc

R.G. Fakhrutdinov. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. (Antiquity and Middle Ages)

LETTER TO STUDENTS………………………………………………………………………………………...……….3
INTRODUCTION (briefly about the Tatar people and Tatarstan)…………………………………………………………………...4
Section I

PRIMARY SOCIETY ON THE TERRITORY OF TATARSTAN
§ 1. The lands of Tatarstan in the primitive era………………………………………………………………………………………..6

§ 2. Ancient people in the Volga and Kama regions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

§ 3. New Stone Age…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7

§ 4. From the life of primitive people…………………………………………………………………………………………………..8

§ 5. The first successes in ancient metallurgy……………………………………………………………………………………………9

§ 6. Decomposition of the clan structure………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Section II

EARLY TURKS AND TURKIC TRIBES OF EURASIA
§ 7. The Huns and the Great Migration………………………………………………………………………………………………….12

§ 8. Early Turks in Eastern Europe and the Middle Volga region…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

§ 9. Turkic nomads of the steppes of Eurasia. Avars, Bulgarians, Khazars………………………………………………………………...14

§ 10. Turkic nomads of the steppes of Eurasia. Torquay, Pechenegs, Cumans…………………………………………………………..15
Section III

THE FIRST EARLY MIDDLE STATES OF THE TATAR PEOPLE
§ 11. Turkic Khaganate……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17

§ 12. Kimak Khaganate………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20

§ 13. Khazar Khaganate……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..21

§ 14. Great Bulgaria………………………………………………………………………………………………………….23
Section IV

VOLGA BULGARIA
§ 15. Early Bulgarians on the Volga. Formation of a new Bulgarian state - Volga Bulgaria……………....25

§ 16. Territory, population, neighbors…………………………………………………………………………………………...27

§ 17. Economy, craft and military affairs…………………………………………………………………………………………..29

§ 18. Socio-political system………………………………………………………………………………………...31

§ 19. Cities of the Volga Bulgaria. Bulgar and Suvar……………………………………………………………………………..32

§ 20. Bulyar and other cities. Villages…………………………………………………………………………………………...34

§ 21. Culture and education………………………………………………………………………………………………………35

§ 22. External relations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………38
Section V

GOLDEN HORDE
§ 23. Ancient Tatars and Genghis Khan……………………………………………………………………………………………………41

§ 24. Mongol conquests and the formation of the Golden Horde……………………………………………………………………………42

§ 25. The early period of the history of the Golden Horde. Batu Khan ………………….……………………………………………………….44

§ 26. The period of power of the Golden Horde. Uzbek Khan …………………………………………………………………………..46

§ 27. Political and state structure of the Golden Horde……………………………………………………………………..47

§ 28. The economic life of the Golden Horde ……………………………………………………………………………………….49

§ 29. Army and weapons…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..51

§ 30. Cities of the Golden Horde. Saray-Batu and Saray-Berke………………………………………………………………………….52

§ 31. Other cities of the Golden Horde………………………………………………………………………………………………...54

§ 32. Culture of the Golden Horde. Material culture………………………………………………………………………..56

§ 33. Culture of the Golden Horde. Spiritual culture……………………………………………………………………………..60

§ 34. Bulgar and the Bulgar land as part of the Golden Horde…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

§ 35. Iski-Kazan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 65

§ 36. Tokhtamysh, Idegey and the last attempts to revive the power of the Golden Horde……………………………………..69

§ 37. Disintegration of the Golden Horde………………………………………………………………………………………………………...71

Kazan Khanate
§ 38. Formation of the Kazan Khanate…………………………………………………………………………………………….75

§ 39. Territory and population. The first period of the existence of the Khanate………………………………………………………..76

§ 40. Economic life. Economy, craft and trade……………………………………………………………………………………………. ................................................. ................................................. .........78

§ 41. State government and social system…………………………………………………………………...... 80

§ 42. Warfare and armament………………………………………………………………………………………………….81

§ 43. Culture of the Kazan Khanate……………………………………………………………………………………………...……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

§ 44. The capital of the Khanate is the city of Kazan .......................................... ................................................. ...............................................87

Section 45. Political history. Second half of the 15th century ……………………………………………………………………………90

§ 46. Political history. First half of the 16th century ……………………………………………………………………...92

§ 47. The conquest of the Kazan Khanate .............................................. ................................................. ...............................................94

§ 48. Short story other Tatar khanates ………………………………………………………………………………..98
CHRONOLOGICAL CHART………………...............................................................................................................105
Dear students!
You pick up a new history textbook. This is the history of the Tatar people and the Republic of Tatarstan from ancient times to 1552- before the fall of the Kazan Khanate. It was in 1552 that one of the largest states of the Tatar people of the late Middle Ages ceased to exist. Subsequently, until 1783, other Tatar khanates were conquered. After these events, the history of the Tatars, and on the territory of present-day Tatarstan, the history of other peoples, continues as part of the Russian Empire.

Until recently, history textbooks dealt mainly with the past of the Russian state, while little attention was paid to the history of other peoples who inhabited the USSR and Russia. Moreover, whole pages of the centuries-old and rich history of non-Russian, primarily Turkic peoples, among them the Tatar, were hushed up or presented with a negative assessment. This concerns mainly the history of the Golden Horde, the study and propaganda of which in Tatarstan were actually banned by the decree of the Stalinist Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of August 9, 1944. Almost the same negative attitude was created when studying the history of the Tatar states formed after the fall of the Golden Horde.

Today- during the period of the beginning of the democratization of society, new thinking, filling in the "blank spots" in the history of peoples, the restoration of historical memory- there is a great need for an objective assessment and more complete coverage of all periods of the history of Tatarstan and the entire Tatar people. The time has come to comprehend the history of our people, as well as other peoples inhabiting the Republic of Tatarstan, in a new way, freeing ourselves from the former ideologization of historical memory, in general, from the old stereotype of thinking and behavior.

In previous publications of the History of the Tatar ASSR, both an academic publication and a textbook for schools, only the past of Tatarstan and that small part of the Tatar people who live in it were covered. It is known that three-quarters of all Tatars live outside their national republic. Naturally, we are faced with the big task of a comprehensive study of the history of the entire Tatar people.
R. G. Fakhrutdinov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

INTRODUCTION

(Briefly about the Tatar people and Tatarstan)

According to their language, the Tatar people belong to the Turkic group of the Altai family of languages. According to the data of the All-Union population census conducted in 1989, 6,920,745 Tatars lived in the former Soviet Union (of which 271,715 were Crimean Tatars), ranking sixth in the country in terms of their number.

language family- this is a set of genetically related languages, which is determined by the presence of common features coming from one ancient base language, parent language. The Altaic language family is one of the largest language families (there are also Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Afroasian or Semitic-Hamitic, Uralic, etc.), which is divided into three groups: a large Turkic and small Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu. The V-Turkic group of the Altai family of languages, in addition to the Tatars, includes: Turks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Turkmens, Azerbaijanis, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Karakalpaks, Gagauz, Karachays, Balkars, Kumyks, Nogais (in the former Tatars-Nogais), Uighurs, Altaians , Khakasses, Yakuts, Tuvans, Shors, Dolgans, and some other small nationalities.

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Most a large number of Tatars live in their native republic, in Tatarstan, there are 1,765,404 of them here. There are also many Tatars in Bashkortostan–1 120702. The bulk of the Tatar population is concentrated in the Volga-Ural and West Siberian regions. Here are a few figures according to the 1989 census: Tyumen region - 227,443 people, Chelyabinsk - 224,605, Sverdlovsk - 183,781, Ulyanovsk - 159,093, Orenburg - 158,564, Perm - 150,460, Samara - 115,280, Udmurt Republic - 110,343 people. Even in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, there are a total of 204,637 Tatars. A large number of Tatars live in large cities and industrial centers. In Moscow, for example, they are fourth in number (157,376 people) after Russians, Ukrainians, and Jews.

A significant part of the Tatar population lives in all the former Soviet republics or, as they are now called, in the countries of the near abroad. There are especially many Tatars in Uzbekistan - 656,601 people, in Kazakhstan - 331,151, in Ukraine - 133,596. These data do not include Crimean Tatars, who in In recent years, from the republics of Central Asia, that is, from the temporary places of their deportation in 1944, they began to return to their historical homeland - to the Crimea, which is now part of Ukraine.

From far-abroad countries, Tatars live in Turkey, Romania, Poland, China, the USA, Finland, Australia, Japan, in a number of countries of the Arab world, even in Latin America. Their exact number is not known, but they say the number is from 80 to 100 thousand (according to some sources, a large number of Crimean Tatars live in Turkey, who moved there at various periods after the liquidation of the Crimean Khanate in 1783; a significant part of them have been Turkified there by now). Tatars live abroad, forming separate communities, preserving their language and culture and establishing close ties between Tatar communities in different countries, and in recent years with their compatriots in the former USSR, especially in modern Tatarstan.

So, the Tatars are widely settled not only in the vast territory of the former Soviet Union, but also on almost all continents of the globe. For this reason, the Tatar nation is classified as dispersed, i.e. scattered. This definition is related mainly to the countries of the far and, to a certain extent, the near abroad: the Tatar population of these countries constitutes a diaspora there (the Greek word "diaspora" means the stay of a significant part of the people outside their country of origin).

However, the Tatars are not a diaspora over a large area of ​​the Russian Federation from Western Siberia in the east to Crimea in the west, from Kazan in the north to Astrakhan in the south. This vast land is the territory of the formation of the Tatars as a nationality.

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Nationality is a historically established linguistic, territorial, economic and cultural community of people. It is generally accepted that it is an ethnic community following the tribe and preceding the nation. Nationalities arise in various historical periods from the era of slavery to modern times. The period of formation of the Tatar people, as well as a number of other peoples of the middle latitude of Eurasia, is considered to be the developed and late Middle Ages of the era of feudalism. Nationality in this case is not a diminutive meaning of the definition “people”, but a historical-ethnic category.

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It was on the land of the above-mentioned limits that the Golden Horde, the common and unified medieval state of the entire Tatar people, was located at one time, it was on it that after the fall of the Horde five Tatar khanates were formed: Kazan, Crimean, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov. The direct descendants of the population of these khanates are the modern ethnographic groups of the Tatar people: Kazan, Crimean, Siberian, Astrakhan and Mishari Tatars (the latter lived in the territories of the Kazan and Kasimov khanates). In addition to these groups, there are Romanian and Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, who finally formed as a nationality outside their historical homeland, that is, they are extraterritorial. All these groups of Tatars, although they have some differences, features in language and culture, arose on a common ethnic basis, have a common ethnonym, that is, the self-name "Tatars", uniting the entire Tatar people into a single ethnic group.

Tatars profess Islam - one of the three (along with Christianity and Buddhism) world religions. Islam was adopted as the official religion in the Volga Bulgaria as early as the beginning of the 10th century, in 922. Along with Islam, Arabic writing also penetrated into medieval Tatarstan, which played a huge role in enlightenment and, in general, in the spiritual culture of the people. Islam was the state religion and became even stronger during the periods of the Golden Horde and subsequent Tatar khanates, although in all these states there was a certain religious tolerance. This indicates that the Tatar society has been sufficiently democratic since ancient times.

The history of the Tatar people is rich in bright names of selfless fighters for the freedom, happiness and prosperity of the country. These are the largest medieval statesmen, political and military figures, leaders of the national liberation movement and outstanding scientists and educators: Idegey and Chura-batyr, Ibrahim and Safa-Girey-khans, Nur-Saltan and Syuyumbike queens, Bulat and Nurali Shirins, Batyrsha and Bakhtiyar Kankaev, Shigabutdin Marjani and Musa Bigiev, Ismagil Gasprinsky and Kayum Nasyri, Yusuf Akchura and Rashid Ibragimov, Galimjan Barudi and Riza Fakhrutdinov, Fatih Karimi and Sadri Maksudi, the Sharafa brothers and many others.

The form of national statehood of the Tatar people, mainly Kazan Tatars, is currently the Republic of Tatarstan, formed as the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920 (in 1921-1945 there was also the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with an indigenous population of Crimean Tatars). On August 30, 1990, at a meeting of the Supreme Council of Tatarstan, the Declaration on State Sovereignty was adopted, and on June 12, 1991, the first President of the Republic of Tatarstan, M. Sh. Shaimiev, was elected. On November 6, 1992, the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan was adopted by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, where it was declared a subject of international law.

Tatarstan occupies an area of ​​67.8 thousand square meters. km. The population of the republic at the beginning of 1992 was 3 million 705 thousand people, which is expected to increase to 4 million by 2000. In terms of the number of inhabitants, Tatarstan ranks first among the republics and regions of the Volga region. 48.5% of the population of the republic are Tatars, 43.3% are Russians (in total, representatives of 107 nationalities live in it).

Our republic has 43 administrative regions, 19 cities, including 11 cities of republican subordination. The capital of the Republic of Tatarstan is the city of Kazan, where more than 1 million 100 thousand people live. Kazan is a major industrial, scientific and cultural center of Eastern Europe. The second largest is the city of Naberezhnye Chelny with a population of half a million and a world-famous industrial giant - an auto complex for the production of heavy trucks KamAZ.

Tatarstan has a powerful modern industry, which is dominated by: mechanical engineering (42.6% of all industrial output), chemical and petrochemical industries, oil production and electric power industry. The basis of the economic potential is KamAZ, the Nizhnekamsk petrochemical complex, the Tatneft association, and military industry enterprises. Tatarstan has a highly developed agriculture, it has a large construction base. The share of imported and exported goods, mainly industrial, is expanding.

Tatarstan and its capital Kazan are famous as the largest center of science. In the republic, for example, there are 80 research institutes and design bureaus, 14 universities, among them the famous Kazan University, the oldest center of advanced mathematical, chemical, medical and oriental sciences. The names of outstanding scientists N.I. Lobachevsky, N.N. Zinin, A.M. Butlerov, I.M. Simonov, V.M. Bekhterev, I. Khalfin, H.M. Fren, I. N. Berezin, K.F. Fuks, A.A. Kazem-bek, N.F. Katanov and others. In 1991, an independent Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan was created in the republic with a center in Kazan.

The Tatar people have a rich material and spiritual culture, which has its roots in the depths of centuries. The Tatar people are justifiably proud of the truly centuries-old history of literature, art and other branches of culture that gave human civilization such bright talents as Kul Gali, Kutbi, Saif Sarai, Mukhammedyar, Gayaz Iskhaki, Gabdulla Tukay, Derdmend, Fatih Amirkhan, Galiasgar Kamal, Galimdzhan Ibragimov, Gabdulla Kariev, Sahibjamal Gizza-tullina-Volzhskaya, Salih Saidashev, Karim Tinchurin, Hadi Taktash, Musa Jalil, Zaini Sultanov, Khalil Abzhalilov, Fatima Ilskaya, Gulsum Kamskaya, Farid Yarullin, Nazib Zhiganov, Jaudad Faizi, Hasan Tufan, Baki Urmanche, Naki Iyanbet, Gumer Bashchirov, Amirkhan Eniki, Rustem Yakhin, Nyaz Dautov, Rudolf Nuriev, Ilgam Shakirov...

So, good luck, dear young friends, to the ancient and medieval history of the Tatar people and Tatarstan - to a complex, but very rich and fascinating history!

Questions and tasks:

1. What language family and group does the Tatar language belong to? List other peoples from the same group.

2. Name the places (republics, regions) of compact residence of Tatars.

3. Briefly tell about the Republic of Tatarstan and its achievements. What outstanding personalities from the Tatars and other peoples of Tatarstan do you know?

SECTION I. Primitive society on the territory of Tatarstan

§ 1. LAND OF TATARSTAN IN THE PRIMARY ERA

Dear Guys! All of you are well aware that the Kama River is a tributary of the Volga. However, has it always been like this? In ancient times, about one million years ago, at the beginning of the so-called. the Quaternary period - long before the appearance of man in our region - there were completely different natural conditions. The largest river of the then Eastern Europe was the Kama (original Kama, pra-Kama). One of its tributaries was a river that flowed in the valley of the modern Volga and flowed into this ancestral Kama where the Kama now flows into the Volga. The current Volga did not yet exist.

We would not believe our eyes if we saw such southern animals as elephants and rhinos on the banks of the modern Volga and Kama. But they lived in those distant times and in our area, because the climate then was very warm. The plant world also corresponded to this climate - in places now covered with spruce and pine forests, southern trees that were resistant to frost grew.

The picture changed with the onset of a severe cooling or, as it is called, the Great Glaciation. This happened about 800 thousand years ago. For many millennia, the northern glaciers gradually increased and occupied the entire northern part of Eurasia. Covering a total area of ​​5 million sq. km, a glacier 2 km thick moved south. Some of its spurs - "tongues" - reached in the south to the lower reaches of the Dnieper, and in the Volga-Kama basin - to the areas of the modern city of Perm. A cold, arctic climate has been established on our territory. Heat-loving animals died out, instead of them appeared mammoths, woolly rhinos, cave bears, reindeer, arctic foxes. Accordingly, the vegetation cover also changed: broad-leaved forests were replaced by coniferous ones, and a tundra zone spread along the edges of the glacier.

Millennia have passed. The climate gradually warmed, the glacier melted, which brought Big changes into the river network. The abundant water flowing out from under the glacier overflowed into the Kama and “cut through” it. The process of formation of the modern Volga began. The glacier was melting, retreating to the north. The Ice Age ended about 25,000 years ago. The glacier itself is partially preserved in the Arctic Ocean and in Greenland.

§ 2. ANCIENT PEOPLE IN THE VOLGA AND PRIKAMIE

The first people in the Volga and Kama basins appeared in the ice age, in the era of the so-called. Middle Paleolithic.

Paleolithic is the ancient stone age (consists of two Greek words: "palaios" - ancient and "cast" - stone). The Paleolithic, the oldest period in human history, lasted about three million years. In turn, it is divided into three stages:

lower (the oldest and longest), middle and upper (late) Paleolithic. If the history of the most ancient man, the history of his separation from the animal world, took place in the southern latitudes of Eurasia and equatorial Africa, then his appearance in Eastern Europe, including the Volga-Kama region, is associated precisely with the Middle Paleolithic.

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This happened about 80-100 thousand years ago. The oldest camp of people of this period was found in Tatarstan on the territory of the modern Tetyushsky district, on the right bank of the Volga in the tract "Krasnaya Glinka". Separate camps are also known upstream of the Kama, in the basin of its tributary Chusovaya and in the Perm region. The Middle Paleolithic is the period of existence of the Neanderthals: these ancient primitive people are so named after their bone remains, first identified in the Neandertal Valley in Germany. The Neanderthal is a link in the chain of human development, standing between the most ancient ape-people and modern man. Neanderthals are the first human hunters; they used crude and primitive tools and weapons made of stone - axes, scrapers, primitive knives, collectively hunting wild animals and equally dividing the prey. The Neanderthal was a stocky, strong man with a broad chest and a large head; legs are short, slightly bent at the knees, arms are rather long.

About 40 thousand years ago, the era began late Paleolithic, characterized by the appearance of a modern man in appearance - Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens. In science, it is also customary to call them Cro-Magnons, according to the first finds of the skeletons of these people near the village of Cro-Magnon in France. They were already assembling in much larger groups than the Neanderthals; the first tribal organizations arose. In such organizations, all people were equal and they arranged their lives together. Men were hunting all day, and all other matters, including the upbringing of children, fell entirely on the shoulders of women. As a result of group life, the child knew only his mother, he was always in his mother's family. Thus, primitive life itself forced woman to occupy a privileged position in economic and social life. It is for this reason that the early period of the primitive communal system is usually called matriarchy(consists of two words: Latin "matre" - mother and greek "arche"- beginning, power).

Man's impotence before the formidable forces of nature contributed to the birth of primitive religion. Ancient man did not understand why lightning flashes and thunder rumbles; he was always frightened by the darkness of the night, when in every cave and behind every bush a terrible meeting with a predatory beast awaited him. He attributed every incomprehensible phenomenon of nature to supernatural forces, deeply believed in the origin of people from various animals and plants. This form of primitive religion is called totemism.

Simultaneously with such a religion, primitive art also arose, which is represented by stone statuettes of women and rock carvings of animals. Fine examples, authentic masterpieces of ancient rock art were discovered for the first time in our country - in the Urals, in the so-called. Kapova cave (Shulgantash). There, on the high walls, figures of mammoths, horses and a rhinoceros are painted in red ocher.

But a unique drawing made by a primitive man was found relatively recently on the territory of our Tatarstan. In the early 1970s, on the right bank of the Volga near the village. Kyzyl Bairak, Verkhneuslonsky district of the republic, a fragment of a mammoth tusk with the image of ... a mammoth was discovered. The teeth of this fossil animal were also found there. The finds were discovered in the cliff of the river bank by 9th-10th grade students of secondary school No. 35 (now the Tatar gymnasium No. 1 in Kazan) Ramil Yusupov, brothers Kamil and Shamil Minnibaev. Unfortunately, archaeological work was not carried out at that place at that time - these finds became known literally in recent times.

Late Paleolithic sites are known in Tatarstan on the Volga, Kama and in the Ik River basin in the east of the republic.

12-14 millennia ago the era began Mesolithic- middle stone age (“mesos”– average and already known to us "cast" - stone). As a result of the final retreat of the glacier, a climate close to modern was established. Man was no longer satisfied only with hunting, and even such large

animals like the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros and the cave bear died out, the deer and the arctic fox went north. People began to engage in fishing and domestic animal husbandry, taming some types of wild animals for the first time. Man invented the bow and arrow, however, so far only an arrow with a stone tip.

The habitats of Mesolithic people are known in the republic on the left bank of the lower reaches of the Kama, in the lower reaches of the Belaya and Ika, in the Sviyaga basin, on the right bank of the Volga near the Kama Ustye and Tetyush.

§ 3. NEW STONE AGE

Man has entered a new stone age Neolithic (“neos”– new), covering the IV and III millennium BC. e. During this period, the banks of the Volga and Kama became more crowded. In the area of ​​the modern Observatory, Zaimishch, Borovoe Matyushino, and along the Kama from its mouth to the Belaya River, there were separate groups of villages made of wooden semi-dugout houses, where hunters, fishermen and tillers lived with their families.

In the Neolithic era, the technique of making stone tools improved - people invented a way to grind and polish the blades of axes, knives and other tools, which became so strong and sharp that they could shave with such knives. Drilled axes and hammers began to be mounted on cuttings, and not just attached with rods to sticks, as was done before.

The Neolithic is also called the Neolithic revolution in another way, which means, first of all, the transition from appropriating (hunting, fishing) to producing forms of economy, in other words, to agriculture and cattle breeding. Consequently, for the first time in the history of mankind, a settled way of life appeared: agriculture and domestic cattle breeding arose, hunting was improved, fishing developed strongly, people learned how to make boats, weaving and pottery appeared.

All these achievements of the Neolithic revolution not only greatly facilitated the life of primitive people, but also were a great incentive for the further development of society. The role of these achievements and transformations, no doubt, was very great in life. ancient man, and one could talk about each of them for a very long time. Here we briefly dwell on only one of these innovations.

A word about ceramics, earthenware, which, compared, for example, with agriculture and animal husbandry, seems at first glance not such a great achievement. However, this is only at first glance. Think more seriously, and you get a completely different picture. First of all, an earthenware pot, albeit sculpted so far by hand, is the only vessel in the life and way of life of primitive tribes that could be put on fire. If people used to eat meat raw, half-cooked or hastily roasted on coals, then with the invention of ceramics they began to cook soup, eat rich broth. The use of milk and dairy products, the preparation of infusions of medicinal plants - all this became possible thanks to the advent of earthenware. Finds of ceramics and science help in the study of the history of material culture. Being the most mass-produced and well-preserved dish of the ancient society, it provides a lot of valuable information in identifying and defining archaeological cultures, in studying the life and life of their bearers, the migration of people to other lands, and relations with other cultures.

In the Neolithic era, there were significant changes in public life, in spiritual culture. Clans began to unite into tribes, ethnic groups began to form (ancient Greek "ethnos" means tribe, people). It was at this time that the formation of the common ancestors of the modern Indo-European and Finno-Ugric peoples took place, and separate archaeological cultures began to stand out.

archaeological culture- this is a community of archaeological sites belonging to the same time, a certain territory and differing in local features. It corresponds to any union of tribes. If the archaeological culture has remained from the ancient tribes, historical name which we do not know, then it is called conditionally by the name of the most characteristic or first studied monument, and sometimes based on the characteristics of this culture. Some of the archaeological cultures of Eastern Europe and Tatarstan will be briefly discussed below.

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Millennia passed. Having separated from the animal world, man passed through his infancy, his childhood - the Stone Age. Was this time difficult for him, can it be called a “golden age”? No, this ancient period was not easy for man. Despite the fact that there was an abundance of animals, game, and fish on the earth, it was extremely difficult to hunt them only with stone axes and arrows. During the ice age, which lasted several hundred millennia, man suffered in cold caves, in extremely uncomfortable, primitive dwellings, huts, and died from diseases unknown to him. Monotonous food, mostly meat, shortened his life. According to experts, a Neanderthal, for example, despite his strength and health in his youth, turned into a decrepit old man by the age of 50. However, despite the difficulties, life went on as usual. The man became more and more experienced, more and more intelligent. And each passing generation laid the foundation for the future, more perfect.
§ 4. FROM THE LIFE OF PRIMARY PEOPLE

For the second week now, Amo and his friends have been following the trail of the tiger. He is not a local tiger, but wandered from the side of the rising sun, fleeing the floods. Before he could appear, he immediately harmed the Bars tribe living in the Big Water Valley - he ate more than ten people. He was the first to grab Kam, who had lagged behind the other hunters, and after tasting the human meat, he went berserk. Then he carried away several times the women walking on the water. Fau, the leader of the tribe, gathered a council of elders. They all came to a consensus: do not walk alone; go for water together and without fail accompanied by armed guards; forbid children to play in the clearing, in general, everyone should be extremely careful and do not leave the camp without special need.

It was a sunny morning. Everyone was minding their own business. The women cleaned the skins and cooked the meat. The men were going to hunt: they need to have time to return before nightfall. Suddenly, one of the boys playing among the trees near the southern hut cried out wildly. And before everyone's eyes, the tiger carried the five-year-old son of the leader of the tribe in his teeth. The baby is roaring, floundering. For a moment, everyone froze. Faw turned pale. But he immediately overcame his horror and, as befits a leader, quickly pulled himself together and ordered a dozen men to arm themselves with spears and clubs.

Among the soldiers was Amo. They pursued the beast for a long time. In the meantime, evening came, and the hunters, having decided for the last time to go around the coast of the Wolf River, climbed onto a steep bank and saw a tiger carelessly lying down below. The bones of a child lay nearby. Fau let out a terrible cry and threw his spear at the tiger with all his might. The beast managed to dodge and soon disappeared into the reeds. Fau fell to the ground and, sobbing, beat his head against a stone, scratched the ground with his nails. It was hard to watch how healthy as an oak cries, a man who had never known what tears were before. Amo felt sorry for both Fau himself and his dead son. The leader of the tribe thus lost his only son, and only his adult daughter Gulana remained with him. Yes, one Gulana, so tanned, with long black hair, with blue eyes... Amo vowed to himself to kill the tiger without fail.

After this incident, Fau somehow immediately passed, grew old: he lost all weight, even turned gray. In addition to personal grief, he lay

tribal care. People began to be afraid to leave the huts, let alone go for water or go hunting. Meat supplies are running out, the tribe is doomed to starvation. What to do?

No matter how strong the desire to avenge his son, Fau clearly understood that he had no right to leave the tribe and set off in search of a tiger. He gathered the people and announced his final decision:

Whoever kills the man-eating tiger, for that Fau will give his daughter to Gulan. This hero will become the leader of the tribe after the death of Fau!

Amo jumped up.

Amo will save the Barsa tribe from trouble, he said. Amo asks for two more assistants.

Just then, two hunters stood up. One of them is Ranu, who grew up with Amo and went hunting with him many times. Ranu is a strong, hardy, always reliable companion. Another-Thi. True, Amo did not like him, considered him insincere, even a little jealous of Gulan. However, considering that this is the most accurate javelin thrower, Amo did not object. He himself was famous for striking with a club: what kind of animals did he not break the skulls with his bumpy heavy club!

First, they climbed up the Great Water, passed the Mammoth Valley. Today is the second week of searching. It was already thought that they had missed the beast, but then on the sandy shore they again found the tracks of the tiger, which turned towards the willows at the foot of the mountain. It suddenly began to rain. He walked all day. Evening has come. We had to look for a place to sleep. Fortunately, they saw something like a cave among huge stones at the very foot of the mountain. Only now, nothing will come of it with a fire today: although every hunter has a leather bag on his belt, where flint and dried moss lie, but you will not find a dry tree in such a rain. In order to avoid the attack of nocturnal predators, we decided to establish duty in turn.

Amo got up first. The world has plunged into darkness. Soon the rain stopped, the predators went out to hunt at night. The wolves howled, the jackals whined. Here came the vile laughter of hyenas. Somewhere a lion roared, and the whole valley shook. The humidity of the earth was beneficial, for the animals did not smell the trace of the hunters. In addition, the wind was from the side of the forest, from where the animals came out.

After Amo, Thi stood guard, and Ranu replaced him towards the morning. Amo woke up from the voice of his friend:

Get up, Amo, Thi, I see a tiger!

The hunters jumped up and grabbed their weapons. The tiger calmly descended into the valley. Quickly realizing from which side the beast would bypass the stones, Amo ordered his friends to hide behind the stones and throw spears at him when he was level with them; he himself, grabbing his club, climbed out and hid behind a huge stone. Here the tiger approached the cave, spears flew at him with a whistle, someone hit him in the side. The tiger jumped to the side. Amo was just waiting for this: he swiftly jumped out to intercept the predator and with all his might brought down his huge club on him. A booming crunch was heard - the backbone of the beast was broken and it fell down. The second powerful blow with a club fell on the tiger's skull.

When Amo and his companions removed the skin from the tiger and went to the tribe's camp, the sun was already rising...

Whether this event took place in Eastern Europe or elsewhere in the world is of no particular importance. Such episodes from the life of ancient people could be presented.
§ 5. THE FIRST SUCCESSES IN ANCIENT METALLURGY

No matter how successful primitive in the new stone age, he remained completely dependent on nature. This dependence somewhat weakened with the beginning of the use of metal, the manufacture of various tools and weapons from it. In addition to two great achievements in the history of primitive society - agriculture and animal husbandry - a third was added: metallurgy. True, like any undertaking, at first it was still imperfect. At first there was a small intermediate period - the copper age, or, as it is called in another way, Eneolithic, translated from Latin meaning copper-stone (“eneus”– copper). At this time, in addition to the stone ones that still existed, tools began to be made of pure copper. However, copper knives and spears turned out to be very impractical, easily bent. Over time, they learned to make them harder - tin was added to copper and thus bronze was obtained, consisting of 90% copper and 10% tin.

At first, bronze was not yet widely used; moreover, people continued to make stone tools, further improving the technique of their manufacture, that is, grinding not only the blade, but the entire surface of the product. However, metal was replacing stone more and more quickly, and people were finally convinced of the advantages of the former. If earlier a broken stone ax had to be thrown away, now they did not throw out a bronze tool that had become unusable, but melted it down and made a new one out of it. Bronze was also used to make various household items and ornaments.

Although bronze was invented in the 3rd millennium, it became widespread in the 2nd millennium BC. e., and it is this age that is considered the Bronze Age. Bronze Age is an era of great contrasts in the lives of many tribes on different continents. If in the south at that time the first centers of human civilization arose - slave-owning states in Egypt, Greece, the Middle East, China and India with a high ancient and oriental culture, then in the northern part of Eurasia, including in our area, dominated primitive society.

bronze ax
In the Bronze Age, people lived in almost the entire main territory of present-day Tatarstan. South of the Kama, the tribes of the Srubna culture lived - the largest archaeological culture of primitive Eastern Europe. The southern borders of this culture reached almost to the Caspian and Black Seas (the culture is named for the presence of wooden log cabins in the graves of these tribes). The western regions on the right bank of the Volga and in the Sviyaga basin were occupied by the tribes of the Abashevskaya, and before them, the Balanovskaya cultures; their names are conventionally taken from the villages of the same name in Chuvashia, near which the most significant archaeological sites have been explored. And to the north of the Kama lived the tribes of the Order culture. (The first settlements of these tribes were found in the vicinity of Kazan.)

The Bronze Age did not last long, only the 2nd millennium BC. The use of metal products was a further stimulus for the development of non-ferrous metallurgy, the manufacture of gold and silver jewelry, which, of course, were of much greater value than copper and bronze. Soon, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e., the first iron products appeared and quickly replaced the bronze ones. Superiority iron guns labor and weapons over bronze ones is indisputable, because iron is harder than bronze and it is much more abundant in nature. Yes, and it is much easier to extract iron, because it does not require additional raw materials, moreover, it is as rare as tin.

Iron tools gave man great opportunities, made it possible to work the land faster and better, increasing its area. If people used to live in open parking lots, now they began to build high earthen ramparts and surround their settlements with them. The first fortifications appeared - the beginnings of future cities, or, as they are called in archeology, settlements.

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Settlement period of the early Iron Age - these are the remains of a family shelter in which people from the nearest settlement hid in case of military danger, or the settlement itself, surrounded by earthen ramparts and ditches. For a later time, the Middle Ages, the concept of a settlement is much broader - these are already places of former cities or their kremlins, feudal castles and military fortresses on the most important military-strategic and trade routes and on border zones. Ancestral settlements-shelters and medieval military fortresses are characterized by their location on the high banks of rivers and ravines.

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§ 6. DECOMPOSITION OF THE GENERAL STRUCTURE

That primitive tribal system that existed at the dawn of human civilization is outdated. The development of agriculture and animal husbandry, the use of iron tools and weapons led to the fact that the man began to play leading role in society. Matriarchy outlived its age, the paternal clan was established - patriarchy (ancient Greek "pater" - father).

P With the improvement of metal tools, labor productivity became much higher. Gradually, people began to receive more food than was necessary for consumption. There were surpluses of these products and other vital things that the elders of the tribes gradually began to appropriate. In other words, the first signs of social inequality appeared. The “primitive communism” was coming to an end.

early iron age covering the first millennium BC. e., on the territory of modern Tatarstan and in adjacent areas is represented by several large and widely known archaeological cultures. In the VIII-III centuries BC. e. on a significant territory of the Middle Volga and Kama region, the tribes of the Ananyino culture lived (named from the village of Ananyino, Yelabuga region, near which a rich monument of this culture was explored in the last century). The period of the Ananyino culture is the time of establishing external relations of the Middle Volga region with many distant tribes and peoples up to the ancient world.

One of the proofs of the connections of our region with the southern Greco-Scythian world of this period is a very valuable find, unique for the Middle Volga region, of bronze mirrors of the 6th century BC. e., i.e., 2500 years ago, discovered in recent years in the Kazanka basin, near the remains of Old Kazan. In essence, these are two mirrors, one of which, the most valuable, has a handle made in the so-called. "animal style" in the form of a ram's head. It is possible that these mirrors for some

Scythian bronze mirror from the Kazanka basin
reason left on the trade route between the Northern Black Sea region and the Southern Urals. This path is known from the description of the ancient Greek scientist, the “father of history” Herodotus, and he passed through the Middle Volga region. By the way, according to the same Herodotus, the historical name of the Ananyinians was Tissagets. This is the first historical name of the primitive tribes of the Middle Volga region.

The Ananyino culture was replaced by the Pyanyi Bor culture (II century BC–III century AD), named after the burial ground near the village of Pyany Bor, now Krasny Bor, on the Kama.

The last great union of tribes during the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system on the territory of Tatarstan was the union represented by the so-called. Imenkovskaya culture (name from the village of Imenkovo, Laishevsky district, near which there is a large settlement of these tribes). The time of existence of this culture is determined by the IV-VIII centuries AD. e. This is a time of complex ethnic changes in Eastern Europe, caused by the beginning of the inclusion of new tribes into the population of ancient Tatarstan: Turkic-speaking people who came from the southeast as a result of the Great Migration of Peoples, which we will discuss below.

The growth of economic independence of individual wealthy families, the emergence of private property, the protection of which required constantly existing military detachments, which in turn led to the seizure of foreign lands individuals, ultimately led to the collapse of tribal relations, the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of a class society.

Thus, even a brief acquaintance with the most ancient and ancient history of our region shows that this history goes back thousands of years. Located in a very convenient geographic area - at the junction of the Volga and Kama, two of the largest rivers in Eastern Europe - the ancient land of Tatarstan has long attracted people. Appearing here about 100 thousand years ago, people went through almost all stages of the development of primitive life, all historical periods of the primitive communal system: stone, bronze and early iron. Having stepped into the history of mankind with rough, primitive stone axes in their hands and barely covered with the skins of wild animals, in a constant struggle for existence, people moved forward, improving tools and weapons, changing the nature and appearance of life. The stone ax was replaced by bronze, and that, in turn, was replaced by iron. The ancient hunter became a farmer, the Neanderthal turned into a rational person. But this took millennia, many millennia...

And now, dear friends, let's go beyond the boundaries of ancient Tatarstan and turn to the early medieval and medieval history of the Tatar people - a history no less interesting, and perhaps even more fascinating, rich in major events and outstanding historical figures. We will make the very first excursion with you into the distant past of the Turkic tribes, with which the political, ethnic history and history of the culture of the Tatars are directly connected.