DPeopleTurkic republics in Russia
Tatars (Volga Tatars)
The largest Turkic people of the Volga-Ural region. Heirs of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde, they sustained the Kazan Khanate from 1438 to 1552.
The Tatars are a Turkic people of the Kipchak branch and the second-largest people of Russia after the Russians. Their roots lie in the Volga Bulgars and the Kipchak tribes of the Golden Horde era. The Kazan Khanate, founded in 1438, was conquered by Tsar Ivan IV in 1552.
Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. In the 19th century the Tatars led a strong enlightenment movement that gave the Turkic world some of its first modern schools and newspapers. Most Tatars live outside Tatarstan — in Bashkortostan, the Urals, Siberia and Kazakhstan.
Updated: September 28, 2026