Mishar Tatars
The Mishar Tatars (endonyms: мишәрләр, мишәр татарлары, mişärlär, mişär tatarları), previously known as the Meshcheryaki (мещеряки), are the second largest subgroup of the Volga Tatars, after the Kazan Tatars. Traditionally, they have inhabited the middle and western side of Volga, including the nowadays Mordovia, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Ryazan, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions of Russia. Many have since relocated to Moscow. Mishars also comprise the majority of Finnish Tatars and Tatars living in other Nordic and Baltic countries.
мишәрләр, мишәр татарлары, татарлар
mişərlər, mişər tatarları, tatarlar | |
|---|---|
Mishar Tatar couple, late 1800s. | |
| Total population | |
| apprx. 2.3 million (or 1/3 of Volga Tatars) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Russia: | 1.5–2.3 million |
| Languages | |
| Mishar dialect of Tatar, Russian | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kazan Tatars, Kryashens | |
Mishars speak the western dialect of the Tatar language and like the Tatar majority, practice Sunni Islam. They have at least partially different ethnogenesis from the Kazan Tatars, though many differences have since disappeared. In the 1897 census, their total number was 622,600. The estimates have varied greatly, mainly because they are often identified simply as Tatars.