Mishar Tatars

The Mishar Tatars (self definition: мишәрләр, мишәр татарлары, mişärlär, mişar tatarları) are a subgroup of the Volga Tatars of Tatars and the indigenous people of the Mordovia, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Chuvashia of Russian Federation, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Volgograd, Saratov Oblasts of Russia and immigrant minority of Finland. Mishar Tatars are the majority of Finnish Tatars. The Mishar Tatar dialect is one of the two Volga Tatar dialects.

Further information: Tatars and Tartary
Mishar Tatars
мишәрләр, мишәр татарлары, татарлар
Total population
apprx. 2.3 million (or 45% of Volga Tatars)
Regions with significant populations
 Russia: 1.5–2.3 million[1]
Languages
Mishar dialect of Tatar, Russian
Religion
Sunni Islam[2][3]
Related ethnic groups
Kazan Tatars, Kryashens

History

The origin of the Mishar Tatars remains a point of controversy.[4] According to UCLA Center for Near East Studies, Mishar Tatars are believed to be descendants of Kipchaks from the Golden Horde who settled down west of the Volga river.[5]

Some scientists of the 19th and 20th c., based on equivalency of the Turkic ethnonym Madjar (variants: Majgar, Mojar, Mishar, Mochar) with the Hungarian self-name Magyar, associated them with Hungarian speaking Magyars and came to a conclusion that Turkic-speaking Mishars were allegedly formed by a Turkization of those Hungarians who remained in the region after their main part left to the West in the 8th c.[6] Recent population genetic analysis, however, showed that medieval Hungarian Conqueror elite is positioned among Turkic groups, Bashkirs and Volga Tatars, which, according to the study, is "in agreement with contemporary historical accounts which denominated the Conquerors as Turks".[7]

Similarly, other researchers of the late 19th century (like Vel’yaminov-Zernov, 1863: 30–31) assumed that they are descendants of Cuman-Kipchak tribes who mixed with the Burtas, a tribe of uncertain origin, in the Middle Oka River area and Finno-Ugric Meshchera. This unfounded theory, in its uttermost case, has led to claims that the origin of Mishar Tatars of Mishar Yurt are Meshchera, a Mordvinic languages-speaking Moksha Mordvins of Mukhsha Ulus who allegedly came under Tatar influence and adopted the language and the Sunni Muslim religion. W. W. Radloff, A. F. Mojarovskiy and S. P. Tolstov supported this view and tried to develop this theory further (Muhamedova, 1972: 12). Zekiyev (p.75) explains, that if this theory proves to be true, there must be clear traces of Mordvinic or other Finno-Ugric elements among the Tatars, but there are none. It is therefore stated that it is not possible that the old Mordvinic Meshchera ancestors of Erzya and Moksha became turkized. G. Ahmarov (1903: 69) agrees that the Meshchera could not have adopted the Tatar language.[8]

According to Ercan Alkaya, the Mishars originated from the amalgation of the Burtas, Finno-Ugric, and Magyar tribes of Old Kipchak nation, but opposes the Mordvin view.[9]

Culture

The Mishar Tatars conversion to Islam was a gradual process that began during the time of Volga Bulgaria and crystallized during the period of the Golden Horde.[10]

The Mishar Tatars were and are still somewhat today a rural people and tend to live in villages and settlements that are inhabited exclusively by other Mishar Tatars.[10]

References
  1. Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2016, page 273
  2. http://www.selcuk.edu.tr/turkiyat/tr
  3. Vovina, Olessia (September 2006). "Islam and the Creation of Sacred Space: The Mishar Tatars in Chuvashia" (PDF). Religion, State & Society. Routledge. 34 (3). doi:10.1080/09637490600819374. ISSN 1465-3974. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  4. Salakhova, Elmira K. (2016). ПРОБЛЕМА ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ ТАТАР-МИШАРЕЙ И ТЕПТЯРЕЙ В ТРУДАХ Г.Н. АХМАРОВА [The origin of Mishar Tatars and Teptyars in the work of G.N. Akhmarov] (PDF). Historical Ethnology (in Russian). Kazan: State-funded institution Shigabutdin Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. 1 (2): 349. ISSN 2619-1636. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  5. Agnes Kefeli: "Tatar", UCLA Center for Near East Studies. [Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2012]
  6. Mirfatyh Zakiev. (1995) ETHNIC ROOTS of the TATAR PEOPLE. In: TATARS: PROBLEMS of the HISTORY and LANGUAGE. Kazan.
  7. Kristó, G. Hungarian History in the Ninth Century. (Szegedi Középkorász Műhely, 1996). Cited in Neparáczki, E., Maróti, Z., Kalmár, T. et al. Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin. Sci Rep 9, 16569 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 [This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format]
  8. M. Z. Zekiyev Mişerler, Başkurtlar ve dilleri / Mishers, Bashkirs and their languages Archived 2014-04-08 at the Wayback Machine. In Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 73-86 (in Turkish)
  9. YUSUPOV, Ferit (Summer 2015). "A REVIEW OF ERCAN ALKAYA'S MONOGRAPH THE MISHAR DIALECT OF THE TATAR LANGUAGE" (PDF). The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies. 35 (I): 482. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  10. Bennigsen, Alexandre (1986). Muslims of the Soviet empire : a guide. Wimbush, S. Enders. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 233. ISBN 0-253-33958-8.
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