Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital and largest city is Kazan, an important cultural centre in Russia. The region's main source of wealth is oil with a strong petrochemical industry.
The republic borders the oblasts of Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg, as well as the republics of Mari El, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, and Bashkortostan. Tatarstan has strong cultural, linguistic and ethnic ties with its eastern neighbour, Bashkortostan, which is also a republic of Russia. The area of Tatarstan is , occupying 0.4% of the total surface of the country. As of the 2021 census, the population of Tatarstan was 4,004,809.
The earliest known organised state within the boundaries of Tatarstan was Volga Bulgaria, which adopted Islam in 922. This is celebrated yearly in the city of Bolgar. Other historical predecessors of Tatarstan include the Golden Horde and the Khanate of Kazan, before ultimately being conquered by Russia. In 1920, the modern Tatar state, known as the Tatar ASSR, was founded as an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR. It was renamed the Republic of Tatarstan in 1992 and became a federal subject of Russia.
The official languages of the republic are Tatar and Russian. The head of Tatarstan is Rustam Minnihanov. Religious leaders include the mufti Kamil Samigullin and the metropolitan bishop Cyril Nakonechny.
Etymology
"Tatarstan" derives from the name of the ethnic group—the Tatars—and the Persian suffix -stan (meaning "state" or "country" of, an ending common to many Eurasian countries). Another version of the Russian name is "" (), which was official along with "Tatar ASSR" during Soviet rule.
Alternative spelling of the Persian suffix -stan would use i/e after a consonant. For example, Turkish spells Tatarstan as "Tataristan", and occasionally in Tatar, it is "Tatarıstan" (Татарыстан).
In addition to the official "Tatarstan respublikası", the name Tatarstan Cömhüriyäte (Татарстан Җөмһүрияте, from Arabic جمهورية) is used as well.
Geography
The republic is located in the centre of the East European Plain, approximately east of Moscow. It lies between the Volga River and the Kama River (a tributary of the Volga), and extends east to the Ural Mountains.
Oak is the dominant tree species on 87% of the total area, followed by aspen, linden, birch, and Scots pine. The total forest cover has decreased from 51.2% to 17.1% over the last 300 years.
The Volga-Kama Nature Reserve is situated in Tatarstan.
Borders
Neighbours: Kirov Oblast (N), Udmurt Republic (N/NE), Republic of Bashkortostan (E/SE), Orenburg Oblast (SE), Samara Oblast (S), Ulyanovsk Oblast (S/SW), Chuvash Republic (W), Mari El Republic (W/NW). Highest point: Maximum N–S distance: Maximum E–W distance:
Rivers
Major rivers include: Azevka River Belaya River Ik River Kama River Volga River Vyatka River Kazanka River Zay River
Lakes Major reservoirs of the republic include: Kuybyshev Reservoir Lower Kama Reservoir Zainsk Reservoir The biggest lake is Kaban. The biggest swamp is Kulyagash.
Hills Bugulma-Belebey Upland Volga Upland Vyatskiye Uvaly
Basins
Ulema basin Mesha basin
Natural resources The major natural resources of Tatarstan include oil, natural gas and gypsum. It is estimated that the republic has over one billion tons of oil deposits.
Climate Average January temperature: Average July temperature: Average annual temperature: + Average annual precipitation: up to
Administrative divisions
Tatarstan's administrative and territorial divisions form 43 municipal districts and 2 urban districts (Kazan and Naberezhnye Chelny), as well as 39 urban settlements and 872 rural settlements.
History
Middle Ages
The earliest known organised state within the boundaries of modern Tatarstan was Volga Bulgaria (c. 700–1238). The Volga Bulgars had an advanced mercantile state with trade contacts throughout Inner Eurasia, the Middle East, and the Baltic, and maintained its independence despite pressure from such powers as the Khazars, the Kievan Rus', and the Cuman-Kipchaks. Islam was introduced by missionaries from Baghdad around the time of Ibn Fadlan's journey in 922.
Volga Bulgaria finally fell to the armies of the Mongol prince Batu Khan in the late 1230s (see Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria). The inhabitants, a large number of whom were killed and the rest mixing with the Golden Horde's Kipchaks, became known as the Volga Tatars. In the 1430s, the region again became independent as the base of the Khanate of Kazan, with its capital established in Kazan, up the Volga from the ruined capital of the Bulgars.
The Khanate of Kazan was conquered by the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s, with Kazan being taken in 1552. A large number of Tatars were forcibly converted to Christianity and were culturally Russified. Cathedrals were built in Kazan; by 1593, all mosques in the area had been destroyed. The Russian government forbade the construction of mosques, a prohibition that was not lifted until the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine the Great. The first mosque to be rebuilt under Catherine's auspices was constructed in 1766–1770.
19th century
In the 19th century, Tatarstan became a centre of Jadidism, an Islamic movement that preached tolerance of other religions. Under the influence of local Jadidist theologians, the Bulgars were renowned for their friendly relations with other peoples of the Russian Empire.
20th century
During the Civil War of 1918–1920 Tatar nationalists attempted to establish an independent republic (the Idel-Ural State, Idel being the name of the Volga in Tatar) along with the neighbouring Bashkirs. Initially supported by the Bolsheviks, the state existed up until March 1918, when high-ranking members of its parliament were arrested by the Bolsheviks (who had turned on the state and denounced it as bourgeois) before the official declaration of its constitution. The Soviets later set up the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was established on 27 May 1920. The boundaries of the republic did not include a majority of the Volga Tatars. The Tatar Union of the Godless were persecuted in Joseph Stalin's 1928 purges.
A famine occurred in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921–1922 as a result of the policy of war communism. The famine deaths of between 500,000 and 2 million Tatars in the Tatar ASSR and in the Volga-Ural region in 1921–1922 was catastrophic as half of the Volga Tatar population in the USSR died.
Starting in the 1960s, schools opened in Tatarstan that taught Russian as an official second language, as it was necessary in order to individually advance in the broader Soviet society. By the 1980s, few schools still taught the Tatar language.
Present day
On 30 August 1990, Tatarstan declared its sovereignty with the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic and in 1992 Tatarstan held a referendum on the new constitution, promoted by Tatarstan's President Shaymiyev and supervised by Helsinki Commission staff. Parliament opposition revolved around the Russian faction Narodovlastie (People's Power). Some 62% of those who took part voted in favour of the constitution, with ethnic Tatars supporting it much more than Russians. In the new constitution, Tatarstan is defined as a Sovereign State. However, the referendum and constitution were declared unconstitutional by the Russian Constitutional Court. Articles 1 and 3 of the Constitution as introduced in 2002 define Tatarstan as a part of the Russian Federation, removing the "sovereignty" term.
On 15 February 1994, the Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan and Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan (On Delimitation of Authority in the Sphere of Foreign Economic Relations) were signed. The power-sharing agreement was renewed on 11 July 2007, though with much of the power delegated to Tatarstan reduced.
On 20 December 2008, in response to Russia recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People organisation declared Tatarstan independent and asked for United Nations recognition. However, this declaration was ignored both by the United Nations and the Russian government. On 24 July 2017, the autonomy agreement signed in 1994 between Moscow and Kazan expired, making Tatarstan the last republic of Russia to lose its special status.
Demographics Population:
Settlements
Vital statistics
Average population (1000s)Live birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate (per 1000)Crude death rate (per 1000)Natural change (per 1000)Fertility rates 1970 3,146 47,817 25,622 22,195 15.2 8.1 7.1 1975 3,311 55,095 29,686 25,409 16.6 9.0 7.7 1980 3,465 54,272 32,758 21,514 15.7 9.5 6.2 1985 3,530 64,067 34,622 29,445 18.1 9.8 8.3 1990 3,665 56,277 36,219 20,058 15.4 9.9 5.5 2.05 1991 3,684 50,160 37,266 12,894 13.6 10.1 3.5 1.88 1992 3,706 44,990 39,148 5,842 12.1 10.6 1.6 1.71 1993 3,730 41,144 44,291−3,147 11.0 11.9−0.8 1.57 1994 3,746 41,811 48,613−6,802 11.2 13.0−1.8 1.58 1995 3,756 39,070 48,592−9,522 10.4 12.9−2.5 1.47 1996 3,766 38,080 45,731−7,651 10.1 12.1−2.0 1.43 1997 3,775 37,268 46,270−9,002 9.9 12.3−2.4 1.38 1998 3,785 37,182 45,153−7,971 9.8 11.9−2.1 1.37 1999 3,789 35,073 46,679−11,606 9.3 12.3−3.1 1.29 2000 3,788 35,446 49,723−14,277 9.4 13.1−3.8 1.29 2001 3,784 35,877 50,119−14,242 9.5 13.2−3.8 1.30 2002 3,779 38,178 51,685−13,507 10.1 13.7−3.6 1.37 2003 3,775 38,461 52,263−13,802 10.2 13.8−3.7 1.36 2004 3,771 38,661 51,322−12,661 10.3 13.6−3.4 1.34 2005 3,767 36,967 51,841−14,874 9.8 13.8−3.9 1.26 2006 3,763 37,303 49,218−11,915 9.9 13.1−3.2 1.25 2007 3,763 40,892 48,962−8,070 10.9 13.0−2.1 1.36 2008 3,772 44,290 48,952−4,662 11.8 13.0−1.2 1.45 2009 3,779 46,605 47,892−1,287 12.4 12.7−0.3 1.55 2010 3,785 48,968 49,730−762 12.9 13.1−0.2 1.60 2011 3,795 50,824 47,072 3,752 13.4 12.4 1.0 1.65 2012 3,813 55,421 46,358 9,063 14.5 12.2 2.3 1.80 2013 3,830 56,458 46,192 10,266 14.7 12.1 2.6 1.83 2014 3,847 56,480 46,921 9,559 14.7 12.2 2.5 1.84 2015 3,862 56,899 46,483 10,416 14.7 12.0 2.7 1.86 2016 3,878 55,853 44,894 10,959 14.4 11.6 2.8 1.86 2017 3,889 48,115 43,957 4,158 12.4 11.3 1.1 1.65 2018 3,894 46,320 44,720 1,600 11.9 11.5 0.4 1.62 2019 42,871 42,691 180 11.0 11.0 0.0 1.54 2020 41,320 54,310 -12,981 10.6 13.9 -3.3 1.54 2021 40,936 60,301 -19,365 10.5 15.5 -5.5 1.57 2022 36,651 44,784 -8,133 9.2 11.2 -2.0 1.43 2023 36,497 42,844 -6,347 9.1 10.7 -1.6 1.45
Note: TFR source.
Ethnic groups Census yearTatarsRussiansChuvashOthers#%#%#%#%19261,263,3831,118,834127,33084,48519391,421,5141,250,667138,935104,16119591,345,1951,252,413143,552109,25719701,536,4301,382,738153,496112,57419791,641,6031,516,023147,088140,69819891,765,4041,575,361134,221166,75620022,000,1161,492,602126,532160,01520102,012,5711,501,369116,252150,24420212,091,1751,574,80490,474146,914
There are about 2 million ethnic Tatars and 1.5 million ethnic Russians in Tatarstan, along with significant numbers of Chuvash, Mari, and Udmurts, some of whom are Tatar-speaking. The Ukrainian, Mordvin, and Bashkir minorities are also significant. Most Tatars are Sunni Muslims, but a small minority known as Keräşen Tatars are Orthodox Christians, some of whom regard themselves as being distinct from other Tatars even though most Keräşen dialects differ only slightly from the Central Dialect of the Tatar language.