The History Of The Bashkirs

• published: 07 Sep 2015
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The Bashkirs (Bashkir: Башҡорттар, Başqorttar) are a Turkic people indigenous to Bashkortostan, extending on both sides of the Ural Mountains, on the place where Europe meets Asia. Groups of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Samara and Saratov Oblasts of Russia, as well as in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and other countries. Most Bashkirs speak the Bashkir language, which belongs to the Kypchak branch of the Turkic languages and share cultural affinities with the broader Turkic peoples. In religion the Bashkirs are mainly Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. There are several theories regarding the etymology of the name "Bashqort". The historian and archaeologist Mikhail Artamonov suggests that it is a corruption of the name of the Bušxk' (or Bwsxk), an Iranian-speaking Scythian tribe that previously lived in the area now called Bashkortostan. Ethnologist R. G. Kuzeev defines the ethnonym as "bash" — "main, head" and "qort" — " clan, tribe". According to the theory of 18th-century ethnographers V. N. Tatishchev, P. I. Richkov, and Johann Gottlieb Georgi, the word "Bashqort" means "wolf-leader of the pack" (bash — "main",qort — "wolf"). In 1847, historian V. S. Yumatov suggested the meaning as "beekeeper, beemaster". In 1885, another Russian historian and ethnologist, A. E. Alektorov, suggested that "Bashqort" means "distinct nation". Famous Turkologist N. A. Baskakov believed that the word "Bashqort" consists of two parts: "badz(a)" – brother-in-law" and "(o)gur" and means "Ugrics' brother-in-law". Ethnologist N. V. Bikbulatov's theory states that the term originates from the name of legendary Khazar warlord Bashgird, who was dwelling with two thousand of his warriors in the area of the Jayıq river. According to Douglas Morton Dunlop the word "Bashqort" comes from "beshgur, bashgur" which means "five tribes". Since "SH" in the modern language complies with "L" in Bulgar, the ethnonyms "Bashqort(bashgur)" and "Bulgar" are equivalent. Historian and linguist András Róna-Tas believes the ethonym "Bashkir" is a Bulgar Turkic reflex of the Hungarian self-denomination "Magyar" (Old Hungarian: "Majer"). History Early records on the Bashkirs are found in medieval works by Sallam Tardzheman (9th century) and Ibn-Fadlan (10th century). Al-Balkhi (10th century) described Bashkirs as a people divided into two groups, one inhabiting the Southern Urals, the second group living on the Danube plain near the boundaries of Byzantium——therefore – given the geography and date – referring to either Danube Bulgars or Magyars. Ibn Rustah, a contemporary of Al Balkhi, observed that Bashkirs were an independent people occupying territories on both sides of the Ural mountain ridge between Volga, Kama, and Tobol Rivers and upstream of the Yaik river. Achmed ibn-Fadlan visited Volga Bulgaria as a staff member in the embassy of the Caliph of Baghdad in 922. He described them as a belligerent Turk nation. Ibn-Fadlan described the Bashkirs as nature worshipers, identifying their deities as various forces of nature, birds and animals. He also described the religion of acculturated Bashkirs as a variant of Tengrism, including 12 'gods' and naming Tengri – lord of the endless blue sky. The first European sources to mention the Bashkirs are the works of Joannes de Plano Carpini and William of Rubruquis in the mid 13th century. These travelers, encountering Bashkir tribes in the upper parts of the Ural River, called them Pascatir or Bastarci, and asserted that they spoke the same language as the Hungarians. During the 10th century, Islam spread among the Bashkirs. By the 14th century, Islam had become the dominant religious force in Bashkir society. By 1236, lands of Bashkortostan were incorporated into the empire of Genghis Khan. During the 13th and 14th centuries, all of Bashkortostan was part of the Golden Horde. The brother of Batu-Khan, Sheibani, received the Bashkir lands to the east of the Ural Mountains, at that time inhabited by the ancestors of contemporary Kurgan Bashkirs. During the period of Mongolian-Tatar dominion, the features of Kipchaks a part of Bashkirs. Under the Golden Horde, separate Mongolian elements. During the 17th and 18th centuries – a part of the Kalmyks and Middle Asian Sarts. From the 16th to the 20th centuries, various groups of Tatars. After the breakup of the Mongol Empire, the Bashkirs were separated between Nogay horde and Kazan and Siberian khanates, founded in the 15th century. Trans-Ural Bashkirs were subordinated to the Siberian Khanate.