Keturiasdešimt Totorių

Keturiasdešimt Totorių (literally: Forty Tatars, Tatar: Кырык Татар, Kyryk Tatar, Belarusian: Сорак Татараў, Sorak Tataraŭ, Polish: Czterdzieści Tatarów) is a village in Vilnius District Municipality, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 451.[1] There is a wooden mosque, built in 1815, three historic Tatar cemeteries and Tatar community center in the village.

Keturiasdešimt Totorių
Village
Tatar Mosque and Tatar street sign in Keturiasdešimt Totorių village
Keturiasdešimt Totorių
Location of Keturiasdešimt Totorių
Coordinates: 54°33′40″N 25°10′01″E
Country Lithuania
County Vilnius County
MunicipalityVilnius District Municipality
EldershipPagiriai eldership
Population
 (2011)
 • Total451
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

History

Keturiasdešimt Totorių is one of the oldest Lithuanian Tatars settlements in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After a successful military compaign to Crimean Peninsula in 1397, Vytautas brought the first Tatar prisoners of war to Trakai and various places in the Duchy of Trakai, including localities near Vokė river just south of Vilnius. The first mosque in this village was mentioned for the first time in 1558. It was burnt down during Napoleonic wars. There were 42 Tatar families in the village in 1630. Today there are around 130 Tatars living in this village. The rest of the population are Lithuanians, Poles, Russians and others.

In 2019, a book The Village of Forty Tatars – Between History and the Present was published.[2]

Name meaning

According to a legend, which explains the name of this village, Vytautas granted Tatars the privilege of keeping their religion and customs, including the customary polygamy. One Tatar man had four wives and every wife gave birth to ten sons, thus the name of the village – "Forty Tatars".

References
  1. "2011 census". Statistikos Departamentas (Lithuania). Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  2. Naujas istorinis leidinys „Keturiasdešimt Totorių kaimas tarp istorijos ir dabarties“
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