Kipchak branch
Siberian Tatars
The indigenous Turk people of western Siberia, heirs to the Khanate of Sibir on the Irtysh.
Seber Tatarlar / Sibirya Tatarları
Siberian Tatars live along the Tobol, Irtysh, Tom and Ob rivers and in the Baraba steppe of western Siberia. They form three main groups — Tobol-Irtysh, Baraba and Tomsk — each with its own dialect.
The Khanate of Sibir, with its capital at Qashliq (Isker) on the Irtysh near present-day Tobolsk, was the main Tatar state of the region. Kuchum, who took the throne in 1563, promoted Islam among his subjects; his defeat by Cossack forces in the 1580s and 1590s brought the khanate to an end and opened Siberia to Russian rule.
Over the centuries Muslim settlers from Turkistan, known locally as Bukharans, settled among the Siberian Tatars, and later Volga Tatars also moved to the region. Siberian Tatar is regarded as an endangered language, and Russian is widely spoken in everyday life.
- Language
- Siberian Tatar, a Kipchak Turk language with three dialect groups (Tobol-Irtysh, Baraba and Tom), distinct in origin from Volga Tatar
- Branch
- Kipchak
- Homeland
- Western Siberia (Russia) — the Tobol and Irtysh basins around Tobolsk, Tyumen and Omsk, the Baraba steppe and the Tom and Ob valleys
- Also living in
- Other regions of Russia
Key dates
1563
Kuchum, of the Shaybanid line, becomes khan of Sibir.
1582
Cossacks led by Yermak defeat Kuchum’s forces and occupy Qashliq, the capital of the khanate.
1587
The Russian town of Tobolsk is founded near the site of Qashliq.
1598
Kuchum is defeated near the Ob River, ending the Khanate of Sibir.
Heritage
- The site of Qashliq (Isker) near Tobolsk, capital of the Khanate of Sibir
- Three living dialect traditions — Tobol-Irtysh, Baraba and Tom
- Long-standing ties with Bukharan Muslim communities who settled in western Siberia from Turkistan
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Yermak Timofeyevich”
- P. Friedrich and N. Diamond (eds.), Encyclopedia of World Cultures, vol. 6: Russia and Eurasia / China (G. K. Hall, 1994), “Siberian Tatars”