Written source · German

Georgi's catalogue of all the peoples of the Russian Empire

A German academician's 1770s encyclopedia of the empire's peoples, with a whole section on the 'Tatar nations'.

Full title Description of All the Nations of the Russian Empire, their way of life, religion, customs, dwellings, clothing and other remarkable features, 4 parts with coloured plates (part 2: Tatar nations; part 4: Mongolian nations)

Johann Gottlieb Georgi

Read the 4 passages Open the original book

Johann Gottlieb Georgi, a German naturalist of the St Petersburg Academy, travelled in Siberia and the Urals in 1770 to 1774 and then compiled this survey of every nation in the Russian Empire (first published 1776 to 1780). He combined his own observations with the reports of Pallas, Falck, Lepekhin, Gmelin, Müller and others. The second part treats the 'Tatar nations' from Kazan to the Yenisei, with an overview of their names, history, ruins and legal status, followed by entries on each group; a later part covers the Mongol peoples (Kalmyks, Buryats). The copy read here is the 1783 reissue in two volumes held by the Bavarian State Library.

How they knew: Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here: The Turkic-speaking peoples of the Russian Empire (Kazan, Siberian, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Crimean and Nogai Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs and others), which Georgi carefully separates from the Mongol peoples such as Kalmyks and Buryats.
Why read it: It shows an eighteenth-century scholar sorting the old catch-all 'Tartary' into distinct peoples, and it lists real Tatar ruins (Kazan, Kasimov, Bolgar, Sibir) with the stone and brick they were built of.
Watch out: A compilation: Georgi seldom says which colleague supplied which detail, and his history leans on Abulghazi and older European writers. The German is eighteenth-century Fraktur, so quotes are OCR-normalized.

What it says: 4 passages

Cities Tyumen13th century to 1580, and the 1770s

The 'town people' of the Tura and the old city of Tyumen

Editorial contextGeorgi explains that one Tatar colony in western Siberia took to fixed dwellings and towns earlier than others, and so was called Turali, 'town people', from the Tatar word tura, a town. Their oldest seat was Chingi Tura, later called Tyumen, a name the Russians gave to the city they built in its place. He adds that when Yermak conquered them in 1580 their ruler lived in another town, Tura, rebuilt by the Russians in 1600 as Turinsk.

the Tatar colony … had more and earlier reason than other colonies to think of permanent, fixed dwellings or towns (Tatar tura), from which they were called Turali or Turalinzy, that is, town or settled people. … Their oldest fixed seat was Chingi Tura (the town of Chingi), which they later named Tyumen
Working translation
Original wording
fand die tatarische Kolonie … mehr und früher Veranlassung als andere Kolonien, auf beständige und feste Wohnsitze oder Städte (T. Tura) zu denken, wovon sie Turali oder Turalinzi das ist Stad- oder seßhafte Leute genennet wurden. … Ihr ältester, fester Sitz war Tschingi Tura (die Stadt Tschingi,) die nachher von ihnen Tiumen genannt ward

Johann Gottlieb Georgi

See the original page (p. 111)

About Turalinzy (Siberian Tatars of the Tura river)

Buildings Kasimovruins seen in the 18th century; tomb inscription dated 962 of the Hijra

A khan's tower, mosque and mausoleum at Kasimov

Editorial contextGeorgi says that across the old Tatar lands one finds ditches, ramparts and ruined towns, which Russians call gorodishche. At Kasimov on the Oka he lists a tall round tower, a mosque, palace walls and a mausoleum, all of rubble stone and fired brick, with an Arabic inscription naming the local khan Shah Ali. On the same page he describes the 'splendid' ruins of Bolgar on the Volga (towers, mosques, houses and tombs of stone and brick) and the stone walls, towers and former khan's palace inside the Kazan fortress, which he calls a monument of the Tatar kingdom.

At Kasimov on the Oka, for example, the Tatar suburb (sloboda) seems to have been the court of a khan. Among the ruins there is a tall round tower (Tatar misgir [minaret]), a prayer house (Tatar mechet [mosque]), walls of a palace, and in a cemetery (Tatar mazar) a handsome mausoleum, all of rubble stone and fired brick.
Working translation
Original wording
In Kasimow an der Oka z. B. scheint die tatarische Vorstadt (Slobode) ein Hoflager eines Chans gewesen zu seyn. Unter den Trümmern daselbst ist ein hoher, runder Thurm (Tat. Misgir), ein Bethhaus (Tat. Medsched), Mauern von einem Pallast, und auf einem Todtenacker (Tat. Masaret), ein ansehnlich Mausoleum, alles von Bruchsteinen und gebrannten Ziegeln.

Johann Gottlieb Georgi

See the original page (p. 89)

About Kasimov Tatars (a Tatar khanate under Muscovite rule)

Keep in mind

Georgi does not say whether he saw Kasimov himself; like much of the book it may rest on colleagues' reports.

Daily life1770s

Free men who elect their own leaders

Editorial contextGeorgi describes the Tatars' legal position in the empire: they were free, never subject to serfdom, and kept their own customs. They chose their own headmen, usually from nobles and princes who traced their descent in a direct line from Chinggis Khan and Batu. He adds that their tribute was light and some groups served as Cossacks instead.

The Tatars are free people, not subject to serfdom at all, and they remain undisturbed in their ancestral constitutions. They elect their superiors from among themselves, usually from their nobility, which partly consists of princes who are accustomed to derive their descent in a straight line from Chinggis, Batu and other famous rulers.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Tataren sind freye, der Leibeigenschaft gar nicht unterworfene Leute, und bleiben bey ihren väterlichen Verfassungen ungestört. Sie wählen ihre Vorgesetzte aus ihren Mitteln, und gewöhnlich aus ihren Adel, der zum Theil aus Fürsten besteht, welche ihre Abkunft von Tschingis, Bathi und andern berühmten Beherrschern in gerader Linie abzuleiten pflegen.

Johann Gottlieb Georgi

See the original page (p. 90)

About Tatars under Russian rule

Keep in mind

An official Academy view of imperial policy; it describes the law as intended, not every local reality.

The name1770s

Tatars, Turks and a name some found insulting

Editorial contextGeorgi opens his section on the 'Tatar nations' by noting that most of these peoples call themselves Turks or Turkomans rather than Tatars. Following the Khivan khan and historian Abulghazi, he traces both names to an ancestor Turk and his grandson Tatar. He adds that many Tatars found the name itself offensive because their rulers used it with contempt.

The Tatar tribes found under such varied names inside and outside Russia call themselves sometimes Tatars, but mostly Turuks, Turks, also Turkomans. Their historians, especially Abulghazi Bahadur Khan, derive both names from their fruitful ancestor Turuk or Turk and one of his grandsons, Tatar … so many Tatars regard it [the name Tatar] as insulting.
Working translation
Original wording
Die unter so verschiedenen Namen in und ausser Rußland befindlichen Tatarischen Stämme nennen sich bald Tataren, bald und meistens Turuken, Turken, auch Turkomanen. Beyde Benennungen leiten ihre Geschichtschreiber, besonders Abulgasi Bajadur Chan … von ihrem fruchtbaren Stammvater Turuk, oder Turk und einem seiner Enkel Tatar … so halten ihn viele Tataren für kränkend.

Johann Gottlieb Georgi (citing Abulghazi Bahadur Khan)

See the original page (p. 85)

About Turkic 'Tatar' peoples of the Russian Empire

Keep in mind

The Turk and Tatar ancestor story is Abulghazi's seventeenth-century genealogy, a tradition rather than documented history.

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

compilation of Academy expedition results (Pallas, Falck, Lepekhin, Gmelin, Müller, Steller) with Georgi's own observations 1770-1774

Research notes

Secondary compilation; Georgi rarely names his sources per entry. English version (IA bim_eighteenth-century_beschreibung-aller-nati_georgi 1780-1783) not in the English pass.
Further copies: archive.org/details/10691431bsb; archive.org/details/10691432bsb

Why it matters

Codifies the eighteenth-century classification of the empire's peoples into Tatar and Mongol nations with a plate for each; the explicit statement that Tatar and nomad polities are democratic rather than monarchic appears in the sample. Widely translated (English Russia, or a Compleat Historical Account 1780-1783).

Places named

whole Russian Empire; Volga; Siberia; Kalmyk and Kazakh steppe; Caucasus; Kamchatka

Peoples named

Golden Horde and its Tatar successor khanates

Turkic and Central Asian peoples and states

Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the North Pacific

Mongols and the Mongol empire

Western Mongols (Oirat, Dzungar, Kalmyk)

Kalmyks

Peoples of the Caucasus

Caucasian peoples (general)

Tatar nations (Kazan, Siberian, Crimean, Nogai, Bashkir, Kirgis-Kaisak, Teleut, Yakut); Mongolian nations (Kalmyk, Buryat, Mongol); Finnic, Samoyed and Tungusic peoples; Caucasian peoples

Keep exploring

The witness before

1768 to 1774Pallas's journey through the provinces of the Russian EmpireA German naturalist's day-by-day journal of the Academy expedition from the Volga to Siberia and back, 1768 to 1774.Eyewitness · 20 passages

The witness after

1768 to 1774Falck's contributions to the topography of the Russian EmpireA Swedish naturalist's expedition papers of 1768 to 1774, arranged by Georgi, covering the steppes, their ruins and the Tatar, Bashkir, Kirghiz and Kalmyk peoples.Part eyewitness · 8 passages

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