Qarai Turks

The Karai or Qarai (Karāʾi / Qarāʾi / Qaraei / Karā or Qarā Tātār meaning Black Tatar) Turks, are a Turkic-speaking minority mostly found in Khorasan and Iran especially Torbat-e Heydarieh.

At the start of the Qajar dynasty, Qarai Turks were also scattered even beyond southern Khorasan through the desert zone of Sistan. Malcolm (1829) thought the Karai of Persia arrived from "Tartary" as a result of Timur's campaigns. Under Afsharid Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), they were settled in Khorasan. Before that time, the Karai seem also to have been found in Azerbaijan. Adam Olearius, who traveled in Azerbaijan in 1638, mentions Karai as one of the tribes of Mogan.

Origins

Their name (meaning "black") may ultimately derive from the Karaits, a Turco-Mongol polity in 11th-century Central Asia absorbed into the Mongol Empire and participating in the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but may also be connected to those of various other Central Asian groups.

Since "Black" (qara) is a Turkic designation for "north" it was a frequently used tribal identifier among the early Turkic peoples, and there are numerous, Kipchak Turkic groups known by this colour adjective. The earliest mention of these, not necessarily related, are the "Black Tatars" (Hei T'a-t'a 黑韃靼) are a subdivision of the Rouran in Tang period Chinese sources. Meanwhile, at the western end of the steppe more "black Tatars" (chrnyih' Tatar' ) were the Tatar troops serving the First Bulgarian Empire a more likely source of the Alsószentmihály inscription than any later "Karaits".

Tatars

The Tatars are a Turkic people living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederations (khanlig) in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century AD. The name "Tatar" first appears in written form on the Kul Tigin monument as . They speak the Kipchak-Cuman language families.

After the establishment of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan in 1206, the Empire subjugated the Tatars. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson Batu Khan (c. 1207–1255), the Mongols moved westwards, driving with them many of the Turkic peoples toward the plains of Russia. The "Tatar" clan still exists among the Mongols and Hazaras.

Russians and Europeans used the name Tatar to denote Mongols as well as Turkic peoples under Mongol rule (especially in the Golden Horde). Later, it applied to any Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking people encountered by Russians. Eventually however, the name became associated with 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) in the territory of the former Russian Empire (and as such generally includes all Northwestern Turkic-speaking peoples).

Tatar language

The Tatar language (татар теле, татарча, tatar tele, tatarça, تاتار تيلی or طاطار تيلي) is a Turkic language spoken by Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. It should not be confused with the Crimean Tatar language, to which it is remotely related but with which it is not mutually intelligible.

Geographic distribution

Tatar language is spoken in Russia (about 5.3 million people), Ukraine, China, Finland, Turkey, Uzbekistan, the United States of America, Romania, Azerbaijan, Israel, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, and other countries. Total Tatars in the world are more than 7 million people.

Tatar is also native for several thousand Maris. Mordva's Qaratay group also speak a variant of Kazan Tatar.

In the 2010 census, 69% of Russian Tatars who responded to the question about language ability claimed a knowledge of the Tatar language. In Tatarstan, 93% of Tatars and 3,6% of Russians did so. In neighbouring Bashkortostan, 67% of Tatars, 27% of Bashkirs, and 1,3% of Russians did.

Tatar (disambiguation)

The Tatar was one of major Mongol tribes of the 13th century; the word has also been applied to various other peoples such as Turkic Tatar. The "Tatar" clan still exists among the Mongols and Hazaras.

Tatar may also refer to:

Language

People

Places

Azerbaijan

Iran