Siberian Tatars (), or simply Siberians (), are the indigenous Turkic-speaking population of the forests and steppes of southern Western Siberia, originating in areas stretching from somewhat east of the Ural Mountains to the Yenisey River in Russia. The Siberian Tatars call themselves Yerle Qalıq ("older inhabitants"), to distinguish themselves from more recent Volga Tatar immigrants to the region.

The word "Tatar" or "Tadar" is also a self-designation by some closely related Siberian ethnic groups, namely the Altaians, Chulyms, Khakas, and Shors.

The 2010 census counted more than 500,000 people in Siberia defining their ethnicity as "Tatar". However, only 6,779 of them called themselves "Siberian Tatars". It is not completely clear which part of those who called themselves "Siberian Tatars" consider themselves to be a separate ethnos and which part as a group into the Tatar people, because the census took into account the Siberian Tatars as a subgroup of the Tatar ethnos.

thumb|right|The Siberian Khanate ([[Khanate of Sibir)]]

Their population in the territory of the current Tyumen Oblast in 1926 was recorded as 70,000; in 1959 as 72,306; in 1970 as 102,859; 136,749 in 1979; 227,423 in 1989; and 242,325 in 2002. According to the results of the 2002 Russian Census, there were 385,949 Tatars living in the oblasts discussed above. (Their territory roughly corresponds to the historical territory of the Siberian Khanate). Of these Tatars only 9,289 identified as Siberian Tatars.

2002 Russian Census recorded a total of 9,611 Siberian Tatars in Russia. Some publications estimated their number in the range of 190,000-210,000. Such significant discrepancy is explained by the fact that the immigrants from the other ethnic groups who are also called Tatar by the Russians were also included in the figure, though most were Volga Tatars.

Like most of the modern indigenous human groups of West Siberia, Siberian Tatars reveal traits that are specific of West-Sibirid anthropological type. Siberian Tatars show a combination of features characteristic of both eastern and western Eurasians.

West Sibirid is divided into Uralic (Ugric and Sub-Ugric subtypes) and Ob-Irtysh (Tobol-Barabinsk and Tom-Narym subtypes) types.. To Ugric type belong Ob-Ugric peoples, while to the Ob-Irtysh type belong Selkups and Turkic peoples of the West Siberian plain (Siberian Tatars, Khakas, Altaians).

Among the modern populations, those closest to the Ust-Ishim people are the Tobol-Irtysh Tatars, especially Tyumen Tatars and Kurdak-Sargat Tatars, implying genetic continuity with the medieval groups.

The Ob-Irtysh Mongoloid anthropological type of the West Siberian race, which include Khanty, Mansi and other indigenous peoples of Russian Asia may have roots in Southeast Asia.

Origin and ethnogenesis

The term Siberian Tatar covers three autochthonous groups, all Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab, found in southern Siberia. They are remnants of the Khanate of Sibir, which was conquered by Russia in 1582.

Geographically, the Siberian Tatars are divided into three main groups, each speaking their own dialect.

Siberian Tatar language

The Siberian Tatar language is, due to the Kipchakization processes during the Middle Ages, many times classified as belonging to the Kypchak-Kirgiz and Kypchak–Nogay group of the Kipchak languages. There are approximately as many elements that could be classified in the Upper Altaian language group.

Generally, Tobol-Irtysh Tatar dialect is classified as belonging to Kypchak–Nogai group, while Baraba Tatar dialect and Tom Tatar dialect are classified as belonging to Kypchak–Kyrgyz group of Kypchak languages.

Beginning in the 12th century, the Siberian Tatar language received some Karluk influences. Those Siberian Tatars who are living in ethnically mixed villages where, in the periods after Russian colonization, more numerous Volga Tatars settled, have also been influenced by the Kipchak-Bulgar language.

Siberian Tatar language has different dialects.

Some traditional foods in Siberian Tatar cuisine include barley, kattama, boortsog, noodles, and peremech along with several dairy items like kaymak and qurut.

The Siberian Tatars profess Sunni Islam. Before converting to Islam, the Siberian Tatars practiced shamanism. Shamanistic influences can still be found in certain funerary and spiritual customs. Islamization of the region first occurred around the 14th century. The adoption of Islam among the Siberian Tatars began by the early 15th century and most were Muslim by the late 18th century. Contact with Siberian Bukharans and later Volga Tatars helped facilitate the acceptance of Islam among the Siberian Tatars. They live in the Omsk, Tyumen and Sverdlovsk oblasts.

The sub-groups are: Zabolotnie (Yaskolbinsk), Tyumen-Tura, Tobol, Kurdak-Sargat, Tara.

Baraba Tatars

Their self-designation is Baraba Tatar, and they are found mainly in the Baraba Steppe, in the Novosibirsk oblast and neighboring regions of Omsk oblast. Their population is around 8,000.

The sub-groups are: Baraba-Turazh, Lyubey-Tunus, Terenin-Choy.

Tom Tatars

The Tom Tatars are indigenous population of Tomsk, Kemerovo and Novosibirsks oblasts. Their population is around 3,000.

The sub-groups are: Eushta, Chat, Kalmak.

Genetics

The most common Y-DNA haplogroup among Baraba Tatars is the haplogroup Q, specifically the Q-YP4000 and Q-L330 subclades. Among northern Baraba Tatars, the most widespread is haplogroup N1b-P43. Other less common haplogroups are R1a1-Z93 and R1b-M73.

Among Tom Tatars there has not yet been found any connection between gene pools of Tom Tatars and Samoyedic peoples. There is a clear genetic connection only with Northern Altaians, Bachat Teleuts and Kazakhs. R1a-Z93, which is widespread among Tom Tatars, has probably Altai or Sayan origin. Kalmak Tatars overwhelmingly belong to N1c1-Y16311 which originates from N1c1-F4205. This haplogroup is not present among Bachat Teleut and Southern Altaians, who, according to historians and ethnographs, also are descendants of late middle age Teleuts (White Kalmucks). The closest to Tom Tatars are Mongolians and Kalmyks. It is possible that Kalmak Tatars are the descendants of the so-called Black Kalmucks, together with some groups of Tyumen Tatars and Yalutor Tatars (Tobol-Irtysh Tatars).

89.5% of Zabolotnie Tatar males are carrying the Y-DNA haplogroup N-M231, having one of the highest concentration of this haplogroup, second only to the Samoyedic Nganasans.

Siberian Bukharans

The Bukharlyks, literally "those from the city of Bukhara" are descendants of 15th- and 16th-century fur merchant colonies from Western Caucasus. These settlers have now merged entirely with Siberian Tatars.

Social organization

During the period of the Siberian Khanate and earlier, the Siberian Tatars had tribal relations with elements of the territorial community. In the 18th - early 20th centuries, the Siberian Tatars had 2 forms of community: the volost community and the village community. The functions of the volost community were mainly fiscal and represented an ethnic and class community. The village community was a land unit with its inherent regulation of land use, economic functions, and management functions. Management was carried out by democratic gatherings. The manifestation of the communal tradition is the custom of mutual assistance.

The role of the tugum was of no small importance for the Siberian Tatars. A tugum is a group of related families originating from one ancestor. The role of the tugum was to regulate family, household and domestic relations, and to perform religious and folk rituals. The role of the religious community, which regulated certain relations in the community as a whole, was also important.

Famous Siberian Tatars

  • Minsalim Timergazeev – sculptor
  • Anvar Kaliev – World War II USSR hero
  • Iskander Dautov – World War II USSR hero
  • Khamit Neatbakov (Neotbakov) – World War II USSR hero
  • Khabibulla Yakin – holder of the Order of glory
  • Tamerlan Ishmukhamedov – World War II USSR hero
  • Raushan Abdullin – hero of the Russian Federation
  • Nafigulla Ashirov – mufti, president of The Spiritual Muslim Board of the Asiatic Part of Russia
  • Galima Shugurova – rhythmic gymnast
  • Aleksandr Bashirov – film and theater actor, director and screenwriter (Siberian Tatar mother)
  • Abdurreshid Ibrahim – imam, pan-Islamist, journalist, traveler
  • Foat-Tach Valeev – World War II USSR veteran, colonel, pedagogist, journalist, historian, Sibirologist, ethnographer, professor
  • Yakub Zankiev – writer
  • Bulat Suleymanov – writer
  • Anas Gaitov – writer
  • Rakip Ibragimov – poet

Diaspora

Siberian Tatar communities are found in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Besides that, Siberian Tatars can also be found in Turkey, where in 1908 they founded the village of Böğrüdelik.

See also

  • Khanate of Sibir

References

  • Group of Siberian Tatars.
  • Information about Kalmak Tatars.
  • Siberian Tatars.
  • Baraba Tatars.
  • Information about Baraba Tatars
  • Song in Siberian Tatar language
  • Modern Siberian Tatars
  • History of Siberian Tatars
  • Customs and traditions of the Siberian Tatars of Vagaysky district (Ishtyak-Tokuz Tatars)
  • Baraba Tatar woman
  • Video about Siberian Tatar community in Turkey
  • Tobol Tatars
  • Craniometric characteristics of the Ust-Ishim people (The Southern Taiga part of the Irtysh Basin, late 1st – Early 2nd Millennia AD)
  • ОБ УРАЛОИДНОМ КОМПОНЕНТЕ В АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ СОСТАВЕ НАСЕЛЕНИЯ ГОРНОГО АЛТАЯ СКИФСКОГО ВРЕМЕНИ ('ON THE URALOID COMPONENT IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF THE POPULATION OF MOUNTAIN ALTAI IN THE SCYTHIAN TIMES')
  • Ethnic processes within the Turkic population of the West Siberian plain (sixteenth-twentieth centuries)