Bashkirs
The Bashkirs ( Bashkir Башҡорт / Baschqort , Башҡорттар / Baschqorttar ) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group in the Russian Ural Mountains . They are the titular nation of the Autonomous Republic of Bashkortostan .
The Bashkirs are linguistically closely related to the Kazan Tatars and were subjugated by Russia together with them in the 16th century . They have been Russian subjects since their conquest by Ivan IV and form the second largest Muslim people in Russia today.
Together with the neighboring Tatars, the Bashkirs were known for their beekeeping . Furthermore, they also breed curly ponies Bashkir called. They use them as riding and draft animals, for meat production, for a fashion epoch for the production of foal skins and for milk production. But in contrast to the Tatars, since they lived mainly as shepherds, they did not form a modernizing elite.
Together with the Tartars and Kazakhs , they declared their autonomy in December 1917 and jointly made contact with the Orenburg Cossacks . In contrast to the other Turkic-speaking population groups in the region, the Bashkirs, like the neighboring Chuvashes , are not assigned to the Volga-Ural Tatars .
Around 68 percent of the Bashkirs now live as the majority population in the Russian autonomous republic of Bashkortostan, the rest in the neighboring Oblasts of Chelyabinsk and Orenburg, as well as in Tatarstan and Siberia, mainly in the Khanty and Mansi Autonomous Okrug .
Ethnic Origin
The ethnic origin of today's Bashkirs is considered controversial. In many cases they are considered to be the Turkish descendants of former Finno-Ugric tribes who settled between the Volga , Urals and Kama as beekeepers and shepherds and then in 10/11. Would have adopted Sunni Islam in the 19th century ; Ibn Fadlān described them as pagans in 922 .
In the 13th century they were conquered by the Mongols and incorporated into the Golden Horde . Under the rule of the Mongols of the Golden Horde, their final conversion to Islam took place from the 13th century.
In the semi-academic secondary literature, the 19th century thesis that the Bashkirs were descendants of the Finno-Ugrians and the Volga-Magyars , who had adopted a variant of the Tatar , is still obsolete . In the 19th century, the Bashkirs saw themselves as descendants of Nogai nomads who had settled in the southern Urals.
The historian Michael Hess traces the Bashkir history back to antiquity , where in one opinion it began in Central Asia . He was primarily concerned with the ethnogenesis of the seven known Bashkir clans .
“In the year 884, it says, the seven leaders created by our Lord God, who were called 'Hetu Moger', set out from the east, from the land of the Scythians. Presumably, '[...] from the land of the Scythians [...]' means the Central Asian region between the Altai Mountains and the Aral Sea. This geographical name can be taken as an indication that the Turkic-speaking ethnicity of today's Bashkirs also has Central Asian roots. "
But also other medieval authors like Akhmet ibn Fadlan , Massudi or Mahmud al-Kāschgharī counted the Bashkirs among the tribes of the " Turk ".
In addition to the Finnish-Ugric and Old Turkish thesis of Bashkir ethnogenesis, there is also a thesis that ascribes an Iranian origin to the Bashkirs. This means that Iranian-speaking peoples of the Urals and the Caspian Sea are used as the basis of today's Bashkirs. These peoples are now summed up under the names Saken , Sarmatians and / or Massagetes , who are also known in specialist literature under the ethnic- confederate collective term “ Scythians ”.
size
In total there are around 1.8 million Bashkirs worldwide. This includes:
- 1,673,389 in Russia (2002),
- 41,000 in Uzbekistan ,
- 24,000 in Kazakhstan (1999),
- 5,000 in Tajikistan ,
- 4,300 in Ukraine (2001),
- 3,300 in Kyrgyzstan ,
- 2,600 in Turkmenistan ,
- 1,300 in Belarus ,
- 700 in Latvia and
- 400 in Lithuania .
religion
Most of the Bashkirs profess Islam .
history
Mythology and Beliefs
Bashkir mythology has only been the subject of systematic research by ethnographers since the 18th century. The works of the "father of Bashkir ethnography" SI Rudenko are particularly valuable .
The beliefs of the Bashkir people are a complex system in which spirits hold a special rank. These are still preserved in the consciousness of people living today in a weakened form. Winged horses, water and water spirits are often linked in Bashkir mythology. The water spirits, whose clothing and character traits are shown in black or white, are brought into connection with the world beyond. Black and white are colors that, in certain religious beliefs, are often characterized as colors of beings from the world beyond. According to Bashkir folk beliefs, every mountain has its host spirit. He appears as a gray-haired old man or in the form of animals and loves peace and quiet.
music
The Bashkirs cultivate a kind of overtone singing , which is called uzlyau and occurs similarly in eastern Central Asia with the Mongols and Tuwins . Like the Tatars , in folk dance music they play the shepherd's flute kurai, up to 80 centimeters long, with four finger holes and one thumb hole. The solo version of the Bashkir folk song "Song of the Cranes" on the kurai is well known . The kurai is preferably made from a stem of the umbelliferous species Kamchatka pleurospermum ( Pleurospermum uralense ). The plant blooms in July. In autumn the stem is cut to size and dried.
Other musical instruments played in folk music are the diatonic button accordion bayan , which is similar to the Russian garmon , and the kubyz bailey's harp . They play together in small ensembles with mandolin and violin . A pentatonic tone system is characteristic of the small ethnic groups in the Urals .
gallery
Bashkirs in national dress, depiction 1812, Paris
Bashkirs and Cossacks in Bautzen , 1813
Bashkir archer, from: "The German Gravure", 1814.
Bashkire with horse, painting by Alexander Osipovich Orlowski, early 19th century.
Bashkir sergeant, Orenburg 1892.
Bashkir horsemen, depiction 1840.
Bashkirs
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erhard Stölting: A world power is breaking up. Nationalities and Religions in the USSR. Eichborn Verlag, 1990, ISBN 3-8218-1132-3 , p. 156.
- ↑ Erhard Stölting: A world power is breaking up. Nationalities and Religions in the USSR. Eichborn Verlag, 1990, ISBN 3-8218-1132-3 , p. 157.
- ↑ Heinz-Gerhard Zimpel (ed.): Lexicon of the world population. Geography - Culture - Society. Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-933203-84-8 , p. 64, entry "Baschkiren (ETH)"
- ↑ Bashiren. In: Peter Hug: The lexicon of the newspaper reader. accessed on August 25, 2018.
- ↑ Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года. perepis2002.ru, accessed June 20, 2011 .
- ↑ Ethnodemographic situation in Kazakhstan ( Memento from February 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ owep.de
- ^ Anke von Kügelgen: Muslim culture in Russia and Central Asia from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. Schwarz, 1996, p. 5. (books.google.de)
- ^ Anke von Kügelgen: Muslim culture in Russia and Central Asia from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. Schwarz, 1996, p. 9. (books.google.de)
See also
Web links
- The Bashkirs . Report from the radio station "Voice of Russia"
- Audio samples