Tatar confederation

Tatar (Old Turkic: 𐱃𐱃𐰺‎, romanized: Tatar; Mongolian: Татар) was one of the five major tribal confederations (khanlig) in the Mongolian Plateau in the 12th century.

Tatar Nine Tatars Татарын ханлиг
8th century–1202
Tatar and their neighbours in the 13th century.
Status	nomadic confederation
Religion	Shamanism
Government	Elective monarchy
chief
Legislature	Kurultai
Historical era	High Middle Ages
• Established	8th century
• Disestablished	1202
Today part of	Mongolia China

The name "Tatar" was first transliterated in Book of Song as 大檀 Dàtán (MC: *da^H-dan) and 檀檀 Tántán (MC: *dan-dan)[1] as other names of the Rourans,[2] who were of Proto-Mongolic Donghu ancestry.[3][4] Songshu and Liangshu connected Rourans to the earlier Xiongnu while Weishu traced the Rouran's origins back to the Donghu.[5] Xu proposed that "the main body of the Rouran were of Xiongnu origin" and Rourans' descendants, namely Da Shiwei (aka Tatars), contained Turkic elements, besides Mongolic Xianbei.[6] Even so, the Xiongnu's language is still unknown,[7] and Chinese historians routinely ascribed Xiongnu origins to various nomadic groups, yet such ascriptions do not necessarity indicate the subjects' exact origins: for examples, Xiongnu ancestry was ascribed to Turkic-speaking Göktürks and Tiele as well as Para-Mongolic-speaking Kumo Xi and Khitans.[8]

The first precise transcription of the Tatar ethnonym was on the Orkhon inscriptions, specifically, the Kul Tigin (CE 732) and Bilge Khagan (CE 735) monuments as 𐰆𐱃𐰔⁚𐱃𐱃𐰺⁚𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣‎, Otuz Tatar Bodun, ''Thirty Tatar' clan'[9] and 𐱃𐰸𐰔⁚𐱃𐱃𐰺‎, Tuquz Tatar, 'Nine Tatar'[10][11][12][13] referring to the Tatar confederation. Subsequently, the wider region was referred to by Europeans as "Tartary" or "Tartaria".

The Tatars' Rouran ancestors inhabited the north-eastern Gobi in the 5th century and founded the Rouran Khaganate. Among the Rourans' subjects were the Ashina tribe, who overthrew their Rouran overlords. One branch of the dispersed Rourans migrated to Greater Khingan mountain range where they renamed themselves after Tantan, a historical Khagan, and gradually incorporated themselves into the Shiwei tribal complex and emerged as 大室韋 Da (Great) Shiwei.[14] Later Göktürks acknowledged Tatars as formidable enemies. By the 10th century, Tatars became subjects of the Khitan Liao dynasty. After the fall of the Liao, the Tatars experienced pressure from the Jurchen Jin dynasty and were urged to fight against the other Mongol tribes. The Tatars lived on the fertile pastures around Hulun Nuur and Buir Nuur and occupied a trade route to China in the 12th century. Kara-khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari noted that the Tatars are bilingual, speaking Turkic alongside their own language.[15]

The Tatars were subjugated by Mongol leader Temujin, who subsequently, as Genghis Khan, founded the Mongol Empire. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan, Tatars accompanied Mongols westwards, driving with them many of the Turkic peoples toward the plains of Russia in the Turkic migrations.

Their name Tatar was used by Russians and Europeans to denote Mongols as well as Turkic peoples under Mongol rule, especially in the Golden Horde. Later, it was used for any Turkic or even Mongolic speaking people encountered by Russians. Eventually however, the name stuck onto the Turkic Muslims of Ukraine and Russia, namely, the descendants of Muslim Volga Bulgars, Kipchaks, and Cumans, and Turkicized Mongols or Turko-Mongols (Nogais), as well as other Turkic speaking peoples (Siberian Tatars, Qasim Tatars, Mishar Tatars).