Other Turkic peoples, especially other speakers of Kipchak languages
Share of Tatars in regions of Russia, 2010 census
The Tatars[b] (/ˈtɑːtərz/TAH-tərz),[35] formerly also spelled Tartars,[b] is an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" across Eastern Europe and Asia.[36] Initially, the ethnonym Tatar possibly referred to the Tatar confederation. That confederation was eventually incorporated into the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan unified the various steppe tribes.[37] Historically, the term Tatars (or Tartars) was applied to anyone originating from the vast Northern and Central Asian landmass then known as Tartary, a term which was also conflated with the Mongol Empire itself. More recently, however, the term has come to refer more narrowly to related ethnic groups who refer to themselves as Tatars or who speak languages that are commonly referred to as Tatar.
The largest group amongst the Tatars by far are the Volga Tatars, native to the Volga-Ural region (Tatarstan and Bashkortostan) of European Russia, who for this reason are often also known as "Tatars" in Russian. They compose 53% of the population in Tatarstan. Their language is known as the Tatar language. As of 2010[update], there were an estimated 5.3 million ethnic Tatars in Russia.
While also speaking languages belonging to different Kipchak sub-groups, genetic studies have shown that the three main groups of Tatars (Volga, Crimean, Siberian) do not have common ancestors and, thus, their formation occurred independently of one another. However, it is possible that all Tatar groups have at least partially the same origin, mainly from the times of the Golden Horde.[38][39]
^ ab"Tatar". Joshua Project. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
^ abHenryk Jankowski. Crimean Tatars and Noghais in Turkey // a slightly edited version of the paper with the same title that appeared in Türk Dilleri Arastirmalari [Studies on the Turkic Languages] 10 (2000): 113–131, distributed by Sanat Kitabevi, Ankara, Turkey. A Polish version of this paper was published in Rocznik Tatarów Polskich (Journal of Polish Tatars), vol. 6, 2000, 118–126.
^"Recensamant Romania 2002". Agentia Nationala pentru Intreprinderi Mici si Mijlocii (in Romanian). 2002. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
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