Well, in continuation of today's article about Batu's campaign to Russia, I will also provide you with some historical information-riddle.
More recently, a few years ago, the word "Tartaria" was completely unknown to the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Russia. Now many copies have been broken in disputes, many films have been made about the falsification of history, etc.
Have you ever heard of such a country?
There is such a version.
Back in the 19th century, both in Russia and in Europe, the memory of Tartary was still alive, many knew about it. The following fact serves as an indirect confirmation of this. In the middle of the 19th century, European capitals were fascinated by the brilliant Russian aristocrat Varvara Dmitrievna Rimskaya-Korsakova, whose beauty and wit made the wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugenia, turn green with envy. The brilliant Russian was called "Venus from Tartarus".
For the first time, Nikolai Levashov openly announced about Tartary on the Russian-language Internet in the second part of his article "The Hidden History of Russia", published on "Sovetnik" in July 2004. Here's what he wrote then:
Encyclopedia Britannica, First Edition, Volume 3, Edinburgh, 1771
Title page of the first British Encyclopedia of Brittany, 1771 edition.
An article about Tartary in the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica 1771
Map of Europe from the first, not yet corrected edition of Brittanica (1771), which shows the largest country in the world - Great Tartary.
Map of Tartary in the third volume of the first edition of Brittanica, 1771
As follows from the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1771, there was a huge country of Tartary, whose provinces were of different sizes. The largest province of this empire was called Great Tartary and covered the lands of Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In the southeast, it was adjoined by Chinese Tartary [please do not confuse it with China]. In the south of Great Tartary there was the so-called Independent Tartary [Central Asia]. Tibetan Tartary (Tibet) was located northwest of China and southwest of Chinese Tartary. In the north of India there was Mongolian Tartary (Mogul Empire) (modern Pakistan). Uzbek Tartary (Bukaria) was sandwiched between Independent Tartary in the north; Chinese Tartary in the northeast; Tibetan Tartary in the southeast;Mongolian Tartary in the south and Persia in the southwest. There were also several Tartaries in Europe: Muscovite or Moscow Tartary, Kuban Tartars and Little Tartary.
What does Tartaria mean, was said above and, as follows from the meaning of this word, it has nothing to do with modern Tatars, just as the Mongol Empire has nothing to do with modern Mongolia. Mongolian Tartary (Mogul Empire) is located on the site of modern Pakistan, while modern Mongolia is located in the north of modern China or between Great Tartary and Chinese Tartary."
Information about Great Tartary is also preserved in the 6-volume Spanish encyclopedia Diccionario Geografico Universal published in 1795, and, already in a slightly modified form, in later editions of Spanish encyclopedias.
Title page of the Spanish Universal Gazetteer, 1795
An article on Tartary in the Spanish Universal Geographic Reference, 1795.
The fact that the Europeans were very aware of the existence of various Tartarii is also evidenced by numerous medieval geographical maps. One of the first such maps is the map of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, compiled by the English diplomat Anthony Jenkinson, who was the first plenipotentiary ambassador of England to Muscovy from 1557 to 1571, and concurrently the representative of the Muscovy Company - the English a trading company founded by London merchants in 1555. Jenkinson was the first Western European traveler to describe the Caspian coast and Central Asia during his expedition to Bukhara in 1558-1560. The result of these observations was not only official reports, but also the most detailed at that time map of areas that were practically inaccessible to Europeans until that moment.
Tartary is also in the solid world Atlas of Mercator-Hondius of the early 17th century. Jodokus Hondius (1563-1612) - Flemish engraver, cartographer and publisher of atlases and maps in 1604 bought printed forms of the world atlas of Mercator, added about forty of his own maps to the atlas and published an expanded edition in 1606 under the authorship of Mercator, and indicated himself as a publisher.
Well, now the maps of Great Tartary from different times and countries.
The fact that the Europeans were very aware of the existence of various Tartarii is also evidenced by numerous medieval geographical maps. One of the first such maps is the map of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, compiled by the English diplomat Anthony Jenkinson, who was the first plenipotentiary ambassador of England to Muscovy from 1557 to 1571, and concurrently the representative of the Muscovy Company - the English a trading company founded by London merchants in 1555. Jenkinson was the first Western European traveler to describe the Caspian coast and Central Asia during his expedition to Bukhara in 1558-1560. The result of these observations was not only official reports, but also the most detailed at that time map of areas that were practically inaccessible to Europeans until that moment.
Tartary is also in the solid world Atlas of Mercator-Hondius of the early 17th century. Jodokus Hondius (1563-1612) - Flemish engraver, cartographer and publisher of atlases and maps in 1604 bought printed forms of the world atlas of Mercator, added about forty of his own maps to the atlas and published an expanded edition in 1606 under the authorship of Mercator, and indicated himself as a publisher.
The main population of this vast area were nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkic and Mongol peoples, collectively known to Europeans at that time as "Tatars". Until the middle of the 17th century. Europeans knew little about Manchuria and its inhabitants, but when the Manchus conquered China in the 1640s, the Jesuits who were there also ranked them among the Tatars.
The main religion of the peoples of Tartaria in the early period was Tengrianism, in the late Islam (most of the Turkic peoples) and Buddhism (most of the Mongol peoples). Some peoples professed Christianity (especially the Nestorian one).
The first state formation throughout the territory of Great Tartary was the Turkic Khaganate. After the collapse of the single kaganate on the territory of Tartary at different times, there were states: the Western Turkic Khaganate, the East Turkic Khaganate, the Kimak Khaganate, the Khazar Khaganate, the Volga Bulgaria, etc.
At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries, the entire territory of Tartary was again united by Genghis Khan and his descendants. This state formation is known as the Mongol Empire. As a result of the division of the Mongol Empire into uluses in the western part of Tartary, a centralized state of the Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi) arose. A single Tatar language was formed on the territory of the Golden Horde.
In Russian, instead of the word "Tartaria", the word "Tataria" was often used. (The ethnonym "Tatars" has a rather ancient history). Traditionally, Russians continued to call the majority of the Turkic-speaking peoples who lived on the territory of the former Golden Horde as Tatars.
After the collapse of the Golden Horde, on its former territory at different times there were several states, the most significant of which are: Big Horde, Kazan Khanate, Crimean Khanate, Siberian Khanate, Nogai Horde, Astrakhan Khanate, Kazakh Khanate.
As a result of the transition of many Turkic peoples to a sedentary lifestyle and their isolation in individual states, the formation of ethnic groups took place: Crimean Tatars, Kazan Tatars, Siberian Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars, Abakan Tatars.
From the beginning of the 16th century, the states on the territory of Tartary began to fall into vassal dependence on the Russian state. In 1552 Ivan the Terrible seized the Kazan Khanate, in 1556 - the Astrakhan Khanate. By the end of the 19th century, most of the territory that was once called "Tartaria" was part of the Russian Empire.
Manchuria, Mongolia, Dzungaria ("Tatar" part of East Turkestan) and Tibet by the middle of the XVIII century. all were under the rule of the Manchu (that is, for the Europeans of the 17th century, the "Tatar" Qing dynasty); these territories (especially Mongolia and Manchuria) were often known to Europeans as "Chinese Tartary".
At present, the name Tataria is assigned to the Republic of Tatarstan (in Soviet times, the Tatar ASSR).
Map of Asia from the first edition of Encyclopedia Britannica.
A copy of the map of Asia from the Atlas of 1754 (taken from the “Slavic-Aryan Vedas.
One of the oldest cards with the mention of Tartary.
French map of Asia 1692 and map of Asia and Scythia (Scythia et Tartaria Asiatica) 1697.
Map of Tartary or "Empire of the Great Khan". Compiled by Heinrich Hondius.
Map of Tartary (fragment). Guillaume Delisle, 1706 The map shows three Tatars: Moscow, Free and Chinese.
Ethnographic map of Remezov.
Map of Great Tartary 1706.
This unique map was published in Antwerp in 1584. Much of the information on the map is related to the travel of Marco Polo in 1275-1291. Map of Tartary (Siberia) by Abraham Ortelius.
Russia according to the map of Antony Jenkinson, 1562 Engraving by Frans Hogenberg.
Tartary, 1814.
Tartary de Lisle 1706.
Map of Asia and Scythia (Scythia et Tartaria Asiatica), 1697.
Nikolaas Witsen - Map of Tartary, not earlier than 1705.
Blau Publishing House - Map of Tartary. Amsterdam, 1640-70
Map of Tartaria by Jodocus Hondius.
Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) - Flemish cartographer, compiled the world's first geographic atlas, consisting of 53 large-format maps with detailed explanatory geographical texts, which was printed in Antwerp on May 20, 1570. The atlas was named Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (lat. The spectacle of the globe) and reflected the state of geographical knowledge at that time.
Atlas "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" (Latin Spectacle of the Globe of the Earth) - the world's first geographical atlas, consisting of 53 large-format maps with detailed explanatory geographical texts, was compiled by the Flemish cartographer, Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598). It was printed in Antwerp on May 20, 1570 and reflected the state of geographical knowledge at that time.
Tartary is also found on the Dutch map of Asia in 1595, and on the map of 1626 by John Speed (1552-1629) of the English historian and cartographer, who published the world's first British cartographic atlas of the world A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World). Please note that on many maps the Chinese Wall is clearly visible, and China itself is located behind it, and before it was the territory of Chinese Tartary.
Tartary on a Dutch map of Asia 1595.
Image of the earth's globe (auth. Right - assoc. Kartair). Mid 18th century Copper engraving. Conformal transverse azimuth projection.
And here is the last card, where there is still a similar name. It dates back to 1786: