The “eternal” question: who are Russians – Europeans or Asians? Sublaponoid type.

But the image of the Tatars as fiends of hell will be present in the subconscious of the inhabitants of the Old World for a long time

NOBODY SEEMS TO NEED HISTORIANS

The centuries that have passed over the world
In the lingering voice of the shadows
They still call on our lyres
Because of the Stygian reeds.

And we, having heard a groan and a grinding sound,
Let's take the Orpheus path,
And our tune, like the sun, is undead
Their cooling chest.

The resurrector of past unrest,
Each of us carries the shadows
To their disconsolate abode
Your delightful story.

But woe! we sometimes dare
Put everything into the tunes of the lyre,
How do we torment our own age,
What is his stamp on?

And the shadows listen motionless,
Raising the angles of the high shoulders,
And incomprehensible to dead ancestors
Descendants are vain speech.

Vladislav Khodasevich (1912)

European historians in the post-war years made a radical turn in scientific terms, offering a new perspective on the events of the past. They began to study not so much the description of events “as they really happened” (as the German classical school taught), but the deep essence of social changes, social structure, mentality, economics, and everyday life. The main merit in this, of course, is the French school “Annals”. Following the French, similar works appeared in other countries. The new generation of historians approached history not as traditional chroniclers, everyday life writers, chroniclers, but based on the tasks of today. The problem was posed by modernity, and answers were sought in the past. Historians began to resemble sociologists and anthropologists; they brought a historical perspective to a variety of fields of study, taking into account the role of the individual, not just great personalities.

Over the past half century, European historians, thanks to the inclusion of history in all humanistic studies, have made enormous strides in understanding social phenomena. In terms of level, scale, and depth of analysis, European humanists have gone so far ahead that it is difficult to compare them with Russian scientists who were stuck somewhere at the end of the 19th century. In Russia, historical science is not only lagging behind, it is also extremely politicized. God forbid you find something positive in Tatar history, you will immediately fall into the category of separatists, nationalists and destroyers of Russian statehood. And God forbid you find something negative in Russian history, then you will be accused of all mortal sins, you will become an enemy of the human race. The situation in Russia is aggravated by the fact that the next generation of historians will not appear soon - they have stopped preparing them. Nobody seems to need historians, just like true history. Nobody welcomes an honest story; it’s calmer when old myths are promoted.

It is characteristic that the new generation of European historians, in order to understand modernity, intensively studies the Middle Ages. Medieval studies has become one of the most popular areas of historical science. In fact, many modern phenomena in the world have their origins precisely in the European Middle Ages; more precisely, they appeared as an overcoming of the past. In Russia, modern processes are also impossible to understand without analyzing the past, but unlike Europe, the country cannot get out of the Middle Ages; it is hampered either by the absolutism of the monarchy or by Stalinist absolutism.

HAVE YOU MARRIED ANYONE?

Nothing changes as often as the past.

Jean Paul Sartre

Despite the obvious successes of European historians, they nevertheless have a significant gap - they have little knowledge of the times of the Golden Horde, despite the fact that capitalism in Genoa and Venice arose thanks to trade with the Tatars. Moreover, the Italian states had their own colonies in the Black Sea region and were closely integrated into the Horde economy. The most important export item of the Golden Horde to Europe was wheat; it saved the European population from hunger. This plot in itself is curious, because Europeans consider the Tatars, like all nomads, to be wild, although they ate bread from their hands. It turns out that the supposedly higher agricultural culture could not feed itself, but the nomads fed both themselves and Europe with bread. All this does not fit into the stereotypes about wild nomads and developed agricultural civilization, but it is precisely such views that continue to circulate in public opinion. Europeans do not try to understand why the Tatars built hundreds of cities, had the best weapons in the world made of the best steel, built roads and seaports, introduced paper money called “balishi” into circulation, etc. and so on.

All of Eastern (and partly Central) Europe in one form or another depended on the Golden Horde. First of all, this is Hungary, conquered by Batu in revenge for harboring the Polovtsians (Cumans) who fought with the Tatars. Bulgaria paid tribute to Nogai and his son Cheka, their capital was the city of Isakchi (in Tat. Sakche) in Dobruja. Nogai and Cheke minted coins in Isakchi, thereby emphasizing the relative autonomy of Bulgaria.

Along with the influence of the Tatars in the Balkans, relations with Byzantium worsened, but relations with the Egyptian Mamluks, relatives of the Volga and Crimean Tatars and modern Kazakhs, strengthened. Sultan Baybars wanted to establish official relations with Berke, who converted to Islam, for which he equipped ambassadors, but they were arrested in Constantinople. This complicated the relations of the Mamluks and Tatars with Byzantium. In addition, the Sultan of Iconium (Konya in Anatolia) ‘Izz ad-Din was captured by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, which the Tatars were unhappy with. All this served as the basis for the start of military operations, as a result of which the Tatars freed the Mamluk captives and ‘Izz ad-Din, to whom Berke Khan granted lands in the Crimea (Old Crimea and Sugdaya/Sudak). Since then, Byzantium has tried to maintain friendly relations with the Tatars. In particular, Nogai married the Byzantine princess Euphrosyne in 1272; the third wife of Uzbek Khan was the daughter of Emperor Andronikos III.

Today, Russian historians have built a whole theory about the Byzantine roots of the Russian Empire based on the marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus. Allegedly, Sophia brought the symbol of the empire, the double-headed eagle, to Moscow and strengthened Rus'’s commitment to Orthodoxy. If wives determined the character of empires, then world history would have to be rewritten anew. You never know who married whom. Monarchs took wives for political reasons, this is also part of history, but this does not determine the nature of the country. In addition, by the time of her marriage, Sophia was already a Catholic, and the double-headed eagle came to Muscovy during the time of Janibek, who minted a copper coin with a double-headed eagle. How the double-headed eagle got into the Horde is another question. But why look for a roundabout and very dubious path of the double-headed eagle, when its image rang in a wallet in the form of a specie and the Russians knew its denomination well.

And in general, by the time of the heyday of the Golden Horde, Byzantium was already a “decrepit old woman,” as one of the Russian historians put it. The destruction of Constantinople by the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 undermined the forces of Byzantium, then in the 14th century the Serbs expanded their territory at the expense of Byzantium, and the issue was finally resolved in 1453 with the capture of the capital by the Turks. Byzantium could not possibly be a positive example for Russia. In general, empires are not built through the emanation of ephemeral spiritual forces; for their emergence, specific structures are needed, human experience in conducting large-scale government affairs, modern weapons, a financial system, and an economy capable of supporting a large army. All this was in the Golden Horde, close at hand, which became the source for the construction of the Russian Empire. The ideology formulated by the Pskov monk Philotheus in a letter to Grand Duke Vasily III: “Watch and listen, pious king, as the entire Christian kingdom has descended into yours as one, as two Romes have fallen, and the third [Moscow] stands, and the fourth will not exist” says no about the mechanism of building an empire, but about the ambitions of Russian monarchs who lay claim to the Golden Horde heritage, but in an Orthodox shell. This is the imperialist temptation of messianic consciousness (Nikolai Berdyaev).

THE INFLUENCE OF THE HORDE ON EUROPE WAS RELATIVELY SHORT-TERM BUT NOTICEABLE

Almost every event, a moment after it happened,
may be interpreted in different ways.

Stefan Zweig

The Tatars participated in all political events in the Balkans until the 14th century. This concerned the territory of present-day Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, and Moldova. In addition, all these campaigns involved their own Danube Cumans (Cumans), who spoke almost the Tatar language, and in Bulgaria the influence of the Asenei family, the ancestors of the Turkic Ashin Khagans, immigrants from Altai and the Volga region, was still felt. After the death of Uzbek Khan, the influence of the central government of the Golden Horde in the Balkans weakened and the Tatar clans in Dobruja and Budzhak gained independence (today they are called Romanian Tatars). At the same time, Turkish influence in the Balkans is increasing.

The Tatars intervened no less actively in the events of medieval Poland and Lithuania, which not only were in vassal relations with the Golden Horde, but also sought to influence its policies in Eastern and Central Europe. Moreover, it is difficult to talk about Lithuania and Poland only in terms of vassalage, because they had friendly and even family relations with the Horde. Suffice it to say that after the Battle of Kulikovo, the defeated troops of Mamai fled to friendly Lithuania, where they received the reign of the Glina tract, where the Glinsky family, who at one time ruled in Rus', came from. Ivan the Terrible comes from this family (through his grandmother). The appearance of “Lithuanian people” in Muscovy during the Time of Troubles is not an accident - these are the same Tatar warriors.

The descendants of Khan Tokhtamysh, who after the Battle of Kulikovo actually finished off Mamai, driving him to the Crimea, subsequently, after the collapse of the Golden Horde, also found themselves in exile and found refuge in Poland. They served faithfully to the Polish king in his guard and became famous as brave lancers. The contribution of the Tatar cavalry during the Battle of Grundwall was especially memorable, for which grateful descendants erected a monument to the Tatar warrior in Gdansk. The appearance of Polish lancers near Moscow during the Time of Troubles was by no means an accident; the Tatars in Rus' were not strangers.

Of course, the influence of the Horde on Europe was relatively short-lived, about 150 years, but noticeable. The influence itself cannot be represented as political pressure or in the form of raids; the boundaries were precisely established with the customs office where duties were collected. Autonomous formations in Eastern Europe could be headed by local leaders, but they were proteges of the Horde and, accordingly, paid tribute, were responsible for order in the territory and participated with their troops in military operations of the Tatars. At that time, the Tatars represented a high culture both in military affairs and in civil affairs: managing the empire, financial matters, road construction, etc. Europe imitated the Tatars not only in terms of weapons (bows, sabers, equestrian tactics), but even in fashion. Tatar clothing was considered beautiful, and military art and finance were considered unsurpassed.

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE TATARS MAY CHANGE AFTER SEVERAL HOLLYWOOD MOVIES

The whole history of the world is focused on the following point: when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they want to be just, they are often no longer strong.

Winston Churchill

The relationship between the Golden Horde and the Italian states was extremely fruitful until Pope Innocent IV in 1234 declared a crusade against the Tatars, as “messengers of Satan and servants of Tartarus.” He not only wanted the liberation of the Catholic countries of Europe from the Tatars, who, by the way, did not interfere in religious affairs, but he wanted to incite the Mamluks against the Golden Horde and convert the Slavs to Catholicism. Alexander Nevsky flatly refused to participate in the Crusade against the Tatars, telling the Polish ambassadors Gold and Gement in 1248: “We do not accept teachings from you.” But the southern Russian prince Daniil Galitsky accepted the title of “King of Rus'” from the hands of the Pope, although he did not receive real help to fight the Horde.

The European peoples were in no hurry to respond to the Pope’s call, but with the weakening of the Horde and the strengthening of maritime trade, new prospects appeared for Europe, and the Tatars began to be viewed (according to the ancient Roman tradition) as savage barbarians. Some Russian historians like to contrast Russians and Tatars in the Roman paradigm, i.e. They consider themselves part of European civilization in contrast to the Tatars - backward Asians. I hasten to warn you: Europeans in those days considered Russians as natural Tatars, and on maps Muscovy was designated “Moscow Tartary” in contrast to Novgorod Rus'. In fact, Russians are no more European than Tatars.

No man is rich enough to buy his past.

Oscar Wilde

Such a preface was necessary to understand the significance of the conference on the Golden Horde, which was organized this month by Leiden University (jointly with Oxford and the European University at St. Petersburg). Well-known experts on the history of the Golden Horde from different countries took part in the scientific forum. Before that, at the Institute of History. Marjani hosted the next Golden Horde forum, where scientists from 11 countries participated. It was very informative. The conversation that began in Kazan continued in Leiden, but there was one significant difference - the conference was held in the Netherlands on the initiative of European universities. This is a significant event. Oxford, following Cambridge, included the Golden Horde in the topics of its historical research. For the Institute of History, this was a new step for the international recognition of the Tatars as a significant part of world history.

It is characteristic that not only Russian, but also European universities acted as partners of the Golden Horde Review magazine, published at the Institute of History. I am glad that a detachment of “Horde men” is growing in Russia. Interest in this period of history is so high that candidates and doctors of science on the Golden Horde appeared not only in Moscow, but practically throughout the country. In fact, the potential of a new generation of scientists is being accumulated, who, under favorable political conditions, will write the true history of the country.

Changing public opinion, especially one imposed by the Pope as a crusade, turns out to be extremely difficult. The image of the Tatars as fiends of hell will be present in the subconscious of Europeans for a long time. Changes in public opinion in the West always begin with universities, where scientific works are prepared, followed by scientists by journalists and the media. And only after several Hollywood films can one count on a change in attitude towards the Tatars. But the first step on this thorny path was taken at the famous Leiden University.

Whistle, O wind, with sleepless force
All through the lonely night
The melancholy of your deserted and sad song
I still undertake to overcome.
I will begin to dream majestically and harmoniously
About the future of our country, -
In a trusting thought it is light and calm,
Dreams will seem like a thing to me.
I will remember the past, the life of the heart,
The mysterious whisper of the maidens,
And I’ll carelessly forget myself in a child’s nap
To your funeral chant.

Nikolai Ogarev (1859)

Millions of you. We are darkness, and darkness, and darkness.
Try it and fight us!
Yes, we are Scythians! Yes, we are Asians
With slanted and greedy eyes!
For you - centuries, for us - a single hour.
We are like obedient slaves,
Holding a shield between two hostile races
Mongols and Europe!
...
O old world! Until you die
While you're languishing in sweet flour,
Stop, wise as Oedipus,
Before the Sphinx with an ancient riddle!
Russia - Sphinx! Rejoicing and mourning,
And dripping with black blood,
She looks, looks, looks at you
Both with hatred and with love!..
Yes, to love as our blood loves,
None of you have been in love for a long time!
Have you forgotten that there is love in the world,
Which both burns and destroys!
...
We love everything - and the heat of cold numbers,
And the gift of divine visions,
We understand everything - and the sharp Gallic meaning,
And the gloomy German genius...
We love flesh - both its taste and color,
And the stuffy, mortal smell of flesh...
Are we guilty if your skeleton crunches?
In our heavy, tender paws?
We are used to grabbing by the reins
Zealous playing horses,

Breaking horses' heavy rumps
And pacify the obstinate slaves...
Come to us! From the horrors of war
Come into peaceful embraces!
Before it's too late - the old sword is in its sheath,
Comrades! We will become brothers!
And if not, we have nothing to lose,
And treachery is available to us!
Centuries, centuries - you will be cursed
Sick late offspring!
We are wide through the wilds and forests
Let's make way for beautiful Europe!
We'll come back to you
With your Asian face!
Go everyone, go to the Urals!
We are clearing the battlefield
Steel machines where the integral breathes,
With the Mongolian wild horde!
But we ourselves are no longer your shield,
From now on we will not enter into battle ourselves,
We'll see how the mortal battle rages on,
With your narrow eyes.
We will not move when the ferocious Hun
He will rummage through the pockets of corpses,
Burn the cities and drive the herd to the church,
And fry the meat of the white brothers!..
For the last time - come to your senses, old world!
To the fraternal feast of labor and peace,
For the last time at the bright fraternal feast
The barbaric lyre is calling!
Alexander Blok. "Scythians"

Where did you see the Mongoloid Hun?
From scientific discussion 2

It is not easy to argue with a poet. But we don’t have to argue with what is really important in this poem by Blok. We won’t have to argue at all - we’ll just look at what the scientific evidence is about “us Asians” and where the myth that we are them came from.
It is worth mentioning in any audience that we are studying the Russian gene pool, and this is always followed by the question: how much did the Tatars change it? Sometimes the same question is phrased differently: “Did the Mongols change it much?” And in both cases they mean the same thing: not similarity with the gene pool of contemporary Caucasian Tatar farmers living in the Urals, but genetic similarity with those hordes of nomads who in the 13th-15th centuries came from Central Asia and carried its alien genes to Europe. We were asked this question in a variety of audiences, not only in Russia, but even in the USA. It seems that the most common idea about the Russian gene pool is expressed in the phrase “scratch a Russian and you will see a Tatar.” Now we will try to honestly answer this question asked many times.
However, as is the question, so is the answer. We will use (may the professionals forgive us!) the same terminology as non-professionals asking these questions. Otherwise, this section would turn into a lecture on “what is meant by the term...”, and to interested parties not inclined to lengthy scientific clarifications, this would seem like a way to avoid a direct answer. No, we want to give the most direct and correct answer to an unprofessionally asked question that worries everyone. But at the same time, we ask the reader to leave ready-made answers for a while - at least until the end of this section.

FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM

In order not to get confused in words, let's start with the fact that modern Tatars and Mongols are two different peoples, whose gene pools have very little in common. Therefore, we will talk specifically only about what consequences the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” had for the Russian gene pool, that is, the conquest of Rus' in the 13th century and the subsequent dependence of the Russian principalities on the Golden Horde and its heirs. More specifically: what was the contribution of the steppe conquerors of the 13th century and several subsequent centuries to the Russian gene pool? Or even closer to the questioners of this century: did (and if so, then to what extent) the Russian gene pool as a result of these conquests become Mongoloid - “with slanted and greedy eyes”? It is natural to assume that the conquerors left their descendants among the local population, that the conquest was accompanied by mixed marriages and migrations of individual groups - probably no one doubts that with the political subordination of one people to another, a mixture of their gene pools occurs. The only question is to what extent.
The "conquerors" came from the steppes of Central Asia. Therefore, we can only determine how similar the Russian gene pool has become to the Central Asian one (and not to the gene pool of our modern Tatars!).
Comparative genogeography will help us separate the genetic trace of the “Tatar-Mongol” yoke from the trace of more ancient and much longer interactions of the gene pools of the West and East (see Chapter 9). If, say, the gene pool of the Poles (another Slavic people, which the Mongol conquests affected only partially, and the three-hundred-year yoke did not affect at all) or the peoples of the North of Europe (where waves of nomads never reached) turn out to be not similar to the Central Asian gene pool, but the Russian gene pool , on the contrary, is close to it - then this proximity to the Central Asian gene pool can be partly associated with the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Why only partly? Because the presence of such similarities between the Russian gene pool and Central Asia may be the result of more ancient migrations, but if there is no similarity, this will clearly indicate the absence of a “Tatar trace”. All this is a plausible model, but the reality, of course, is more complex. But population genetics always uses relatively simple models to get a clear quantitative answer, and then move on with refined models.
So, we formulate the question about the “genetic heritage of the Tatar-Mongol yoke” as follows: how similar is the Russian gene pool to the gene pool of Central Asia against the background of the absence of such similarity among peoples who were not “under the yoke”.

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA DATA

According to this type of markers, the peoples of Central Asia and Europe differ remarkably clearly: in Central Asia, almost the entire population - more than 90% - has East Eurasian haplogroups, while in Europe almost the entire population - more than 95% - has other, West Eurasian haplogroups ( see maps in section 9.2). Therefore, the share of East Eurasian haplogroups in the Russian gene pool will directly show: is there a noticeable contribution of the Central Asian population to the Russian gene pool or not?

Let’s immediately agree on what should be considered mixing effects and a “noticeable contribution” - 0.5%, 5% or 50% of East Eurasian haplogroups in the Russian gene pool? Let us take into account that the division into Western and Eastern Eurasian haplogroups is not absolute. So, if in Europe (including the entire population up to the eastern slopes of the Urals) approximately 5% of the gene pool is “non-Western”, and in Central Asia approximately 10% of the gene pool is “non-Eastern”, then the presence of 15-20% of East Eurasian haplogroups could clearly mark the presence of a “Mongoloid” Central Asian layer in the Russian gene pool. 20% of East Eurasian haplogroups would mean an influx of 18% “Mongoloid” genes into the Russian gene pool, and 15% of East Eurasian haplogroups would mean an influx of 13% Central Asian genes 3. If someone wants to see even less significant and almost imperceptible influences, then in order to recognize them, he needs to analyze very large samples - otherwise the results will be unreliable.

WE ARE NOT ASIANS...ALS...

However, the share of East Eurasian haplogroups in the Russian population was only 2% (see section 6.2). That is, a very small amount. Almost as small as in the gene pool of the Poles (1.5%) or northern Europe, where there were certainly no “Tatar-Mongol contributions” (Norwegians 0.6%, Icelanders 0.7%, Karelians 4.8%, etc. ). The average “background” frequency of East Eurasian haplogroups in Europe is 3.6%. That is, in the Russian gene pool (2.0%) it is even less than the “European average”, so the Mongoloid component among Russians turns out to be not just zero, but even with a negative sign 3 . So, we do not see the consequences of the Mongol invasion in the Russian gene pool - or then we should see these consequences in the Polish, and Norwegian, and Karelian, and in other gene pools of Europe.
Have we made a mistake? Let's check. All the data used, that is, the frequencies of mtDNA haplogroups, were obtained from large samples, by a variety of researchers, and therefore are completely reliable. But maybe the armies of Genghis Khan and Batu consisted not so much of the population of Central Asia, but of the steppe peoples of Southern Siberia? But even in Southern Siberia, East Eurasian haplogroups make up perhaps not the full 90%, but only 60-80%, but this is still incomparably more than 2%! Perhaps another reader - who does not want to part with the romantic picture of the “Mongol trace” - will prefer to assume that the Mongol armies consisted of Caucasian warriors! But we are checking the opinion about “us Asians,” and such a reader, in the heat of controversy, begins to defend a completely different myth - that the “Tatar-Mongols” were not genetically different from the population of Europe. But such a reader forgets that then the problem itself is removed - if genetically the Golden Horde and its heirs were, in his opinion, Europeans, then this already becomes an internal matter of Europe: the movement of peoples within its borders. But we are solving the problem of Asia’s influence on the gene pool of Europe.
To form your opinion about the “Asian contribution”, just look at the map of the distribution of East Eurasian haplogroups (Chapter 9). The map clearly shows how the total frequency of these haplogroups gradually decreases to the west: in China the frequency is maximum, in Southern Siberia it is lower, it is even lower in the Urals, on the European slopes of the Urals these haplogroups are already rare, and they barely touch the settlement zones of the Eastern Slavs.
There may be another objection: mtDNA is inherited on the maternal side, and the “genetic contribution of the conquerors” is expected rather on the paternal side. Well, to us personally, the “genetic contribution” usually appears not in the smoke of fires, but rather in the form of marriages with neighboring, albeit not always friendly, peoples. This means that mixing of populations occurs along both male and female lines. But still, this objection cannot be dismissed, so let’s look at the data on the Y chromosome (“male”, paternal line of inheritance).

Y CHROMOSOME DATA

The results of the study of Y chromosome haplogroups (section 6.3.) also do not show a significant proportion of “steppe Mongoloid” genes in the Russian gene pool. Among the eight haplogroups that predominate in the Russian gene pool, there are “Eastern European” R1a, “Scandinavian” I1a, “Balkan” I1b, “Western European” R1b, “Middle Eastern” J2, “African-Mediterranean” EZb, “West Siberian” N2, “Eastern European- Siberian" N3 - but there are no "steppe", "Central Asian" haplogroups. True, R1a is also found in the steppes of Siberia - but less often than among Russians. Haplogroup N3, whose frequency in Siberia is higher than among Russians, remains the only candidate for “steppe” origin (although this haplogroup is more likely “taiga”) - but, alas, it was found only in northern Russian populations, and the genetic influence of the steppe population should have been would appear in the southern regions of the historical Russian area. In any case, N3 is distributed throughout the north of Eastern Europe, and is found much more often among Estonians, Finns, and Latvians than among Russians, so the Mongolian armies clearly have nothing to do with it.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL DATA

Interesting data on epicanthus - the most typical feature of the Mongoloid race, especially characteristic of the steppe population of Central Asia. An anthropological study conducted on a huge sample of Russians (several tens of thousands of people) revealed virtually no cases of pronounced epicanthus [Khrisanfova, Perevozchikov, 1999].

PROFESSIONAL OPINION

So, no matter what sign we take, we see that Russians are typical Europeans, and the Asian conquest left a mark on Russian history, but not on the Russian gene pool.
And could it have left a mark on the gene pool? Our epigraph begins with Blok’s words: millions of you (Europeans), us (Asians-steppes) - darkness, and darkness, and darkness. The word “darkness,” along with the figurative meaning of “many,” also had the direct meaning of “ten thousand.” So, for “millions” of Europeans there are “tens of thousands” of steppe inhabitants. Demographically, this estimate is quite realistic. That is, the direct meaning of Blok’s poem is the opposite of its poetic meaning: the conquerors were by no means numerous in comparison with the population in the conquered territories. And there was simply nowhere for the significant genetic contribution to come from! 4
So where does such a widespread belief come from that genetically “we are Asians,” or at least an intermediate link between Europe and Asia? Unfortunately, this opinion is also widespread in the scientific community. We have already mentioned one - but a characteristic one! - a case when, according to some indicator, the Russians found themselves intermediate between the French and the Chinese, and the Academic Council, consisting of excellent scientists, considered this completely natural. The opinion about the intermediate nature of the Russian gene pool is so widespread - but there is no serious scientific evidence for it. Only serious scientific refutations.
We do not undertake to talk about Russia and Russians in a cultural, historical, humanitarian sense. But biologically (genetically) - no, no, no. The Russian gene pool is not intermediate between the typical European and typical Asian gene pools 5 . The Russian gene pool is a typical European gene pool.

I must say that we ourselves were saddened by this conclusion. The myth of our “intermediality” took deep roots... The heroic role of the “genetic shield” between Asia and Europe warmed the soul and awakened thoughts... And from an aesthetic point of view, too - I so wanted to believe that the Mongoloid layer was built into the Russian gene pool: During the expeditions, we learned to see the subtle beauty and harmony of Mongoloid faces. But, alas! It was not the Russian gene pool that played the role of a “buffer zone” between the West and the East, it did not become the meeting place for them - this role went to other peoples living east of the Urals. But the Russian gene pool remained in the ranks of the Caucasian and Western Eurasian peoples.
Only when we understand it, will we firmly understand it! - this is the main property, only then can we begin to clarify: the Russian gene pool is the most eastern of the typically European ones; individual Asian influences can be traced in the Russian gene pool somewhat more than in its Western neighbors; the level of heterogeneity of European gene pools is small, Siberian gene pools are high, and Eastern European gene pools, including Russian, are intermediate (but not in genetic composition, but in level of heterogeneity!) between Western European and Siberian ones; the structure of the modern Tatar gene pool and its interaction with the Russian one is much more complex than it might seem at first glance, and deserves a separate monograph; and so on.
But the basic, main conclusion that follows from the study of the Russian gene pool is the almost complete absence of Mongoloid contribution to it. Even when examining exceptions, one should never forget this rule.

AMATEUR OPINION

Having fulfilled our professional duty, we cannot resist expressing our own, now amateurish, opinion. It seems to us that there are consequences of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke” for the Russian gene pool, but they are not at all in the way it is usually presented. Not in the contribution of “Central Asian genes”, but in changes in migrations of the Russian population itself. That is, in changing the direction and intensity of gene flows, which, in turn, affected the Russian gene pool, to some extent restructuring its structure. Perhaps only to a small extent and only for the eastern part of the Russian range.
It is known that the Mongol conquest found Kievan Rus in a period of feudal fragmentation.

The Tatars found out
Well, they think, don’t be a coward.
We put on bloomers,
We arrived in Rus'.
Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy

Some of the ancient Russian principalities became dependent on the Golden Horde, and the Russian people subsequently formed on this territory. Another part of the ancient Russian principalities became part of the Lithuanian (later Polish-Lithuanian) state, and formed the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. The division of the ancient Russian people into different peoples - isn’t this a significant consequence of the Mongol conquest! However, the same processes could have occurred both before and after the “Tatar-Mongol yoke,” and perhaps independently of it.
Let us also think about the fact that the Eastern Slavs - for a millennium, with unprecedented energy - colonized vast spaces, from the Dnieper to the Volga, to the Yenisei, to the Yukon. The only pause in this centuries-old process was the period of the yoke, when the eastern direction was closed by the Golden Horde and its heirs. During these centuries, the so-called internal colonization of Russian lands took place, and was it not during these centuries of forced sitting within their borders that the very formation of the Russian people took place?
We are writing these lines in Makarievo, a town in the Kostroma region, which arose around the monastery founded by the Monk Macarius of Zheltovodsk and Unzhensky. We read in his life. that the Zheltovodsky monastery he founded on the Volga was destroyed by the Tatars, and he himself and “about four hundred people, not counting women, children and old people” were taken prisoner, but then released. A new place for settlement was chosen on Unzha in the Galich lands, and near the city of Unzhensk in 1439 the Makarievo-Unzhensky Monastery was founded:

And he floats over Unzha like a shield
From a damned nomad.

“In 1522, during the reign of Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, there was a terrible invasion of the Tatars on Unzhensk. There were over twenty thousand enemies, and the town was small and the inhabitants were inexperienced in military affairs. ... Their main leader was a certain governor Fedor. At the sight of the attackers, he fell into confusion, but... Having learned from the residents that the holy elder Macarius of Zheltovodsk had always protected them from the Tatars, Fyodor went to church, fell on his knees in front of the icon of the monk and began to pray with tears, asking to take the trouble away from Unzhensk and save people from death and captivity. Meanwhile, the Tatars again launched an attack and set fire to the city from all sides. ... Suddenly it began to rain, soon it turned into downpour, and there was a flood. Water flooded the streets and houses, it seemed that the whole city was floating, and the fire subsided. Now the Tatars were in confusion... Those taken prisoner said that they saw a monk standing in the air above the city and shooting at them: then he, on a large white horse, crashed into their army and they, mad with fear, began to chop each other with swords , thinking that they are fighting the Russians.”
“In 1535, through the prayers of Macarius of Zheltovodsk, the city of Soligalich was saved from the Tatars.”
“When the Kazan Tatars besieged Unzhensk, one young woman named Maria was captured.... When they made another halt. Maria collapsed to the ground and... tied up, she fell into a deep sleep. It was in the steppe. It was the dead of night. Towards morning, the Monk Macarius appeared to the sleeping woman. ... Maria woke up and, seeing the monk no longer in a dream, but in reality, recognized him by the icon she saw and followed. ... When it was completely dawn, Maria saw that she was standing on the road leading to Unzhensk. and not far away you can see the city itself).
“Once upon a time, governor Ivan Vyrodkov was seriously wounded. Meanwhile, the prince ordered him to go against the Tatars again. Despite his illness and the entreaties of his loved ones, the governor was going to carry out the command, and since he could not walk, he ordered himself to be carried in a cart. On the way they brought him to the Makariev monastery.”

We almost didn’t select these few fragments - almost all of the saint’s miracles listed in his life are connected with protection from the Tatars. This hagiographical source, probably written by contemporaries, paints a picture of constant wars with the Tatars in the Volga lands. (We mean the middle course of the Volga approximately from Kostroma to Kazan, and the corresponding tributaries of the Volga - Unzhu, Oka, Vetluga, Sura). We read about war-induced relocations, extermination of villages, captivity... There is no doubt that all these events influenced the migrations and demographic structure of the Russian population. But was there a genetic contribution from the “Tatar component”?
We studied the Russian population along the Unzha River using mitochondrial DNA (section 6.2). The total frequency of East Eurasian haplogroups was 4%, with an average level in Russian populations of 1-2%. Among modern Tatars, the frequency of East Eurasian haplogroups is about 10%. Such low frequencies and insufficient volumes of both samples do not allow accurate calculations. But even if we consider a two percent increase in frequency a reality, it is still too small. And most importantly, the increase in the frequency of East Eurasian haplogroups to the east is, as stated, a general Eurasian trend, the antiquity of which is measured in millennia. And the slightly increased frequency among the Russians of Unzha is most likely caused by mixing not with the Tatars, but with the Finno-Ugric tribe Merya (related to the modern Mari), who lived on Unzha before the arrival of the Slavs.

Let us emphasize once again: the influence of the Tatar states is not at all the contribution of the “Central Asian gene pool”, the possibility of which we discussed a little higher. Not at all the same, if only because the gene pool of both modern and medieval Tatars is made up of many components, and the “Asian” steppe component may not be the main one in it, as we see from the low frequency of East Eurasian haplogroups among the Tatars. The whole difficulty of the task of reconstructing history on the basis of the modern Tatar gene pool lies precisely in the fact that “scratch the Tatar and you will see the Finno-Ugric”- the same Finno-Ugric layer that underlies the Russian gene pool in the east of its range. In Chapter 2 we saw that “scratch the Eastern Russian and you will see the Finno-Ugric.” And now try to somehow distinguish them all!

So, our mini-study of the Unzhensky region did not reveal a special contribution from the “Tatar component”. It seems to us that the influence of the Tatar states lay rather in the outflow of population they caused, changes in the structure, patterns of migration - that is, in demographic rather than genetic changes. These are completely different processes, and they should not be confused: one thing is the migration of “local Russian genes” within the Russian area (which actually took place in connection with the Russian-Tatar wars), and another thing is the direct genetic contribution of “alien Tatar genes” ( little or none at all).
Let us recall that it is all the more important to clearly distinguish genetic influence of the steppe nomads of Asia (which we can only talk about as geneticists) from cultural influences 6.
Moreover, after a while, as we know, military happiness turned to Moscow.

And in Moscow captivity
The Tatar khans languished,
Messengers of the Golden,
Changemen of the Black Horde.
Dmitry Kedrin

And the Russian conquest of the fragments of the Golden Horde, not so widely known, was no less dramatic and important for the history of the region than the Mongol conquest of Rus' three and a half centuries earlier. But let us leave it to historians and poets to evaluate these events. For geneticists, it is more important that after the conquest of Kazan by Moscow, migrations of both the Russian and Tatar populations continued again. Perhaps the forced resettlement of many groups of Tatars to “more Russian” lands, which was practiced after the fall of Kazan, could have had a much more significant impact on the influx of Tatar genes into the eastern Russian gene pool than all the components of the Tatar-Mongol yoke combined! Therefore, it would be important to study the gene pool of modern Tatars and collect more data on the Russian population of the Volga regions. This special study could clarify many pages of the history of the Russian and Tatar gene pools. It is possible that not only a re-arrangement of gene pools as a result of resettlement will be revealed, but also individual cases of real mixing of the Russian and Tatar populations. It is only important to constantly remember that all these are events on a local scale and not to attach importance to them as a fundamental factor in the formation of the Russian gene pool as a whole.
So, the analysis of the Russian gene pool unambiguously showed the almost complete absence of the contribution of the Mongoloid population (Asian steppes). Limited interaction with the Tatar gene pool (European steppes) may have occurred. But it is not noticeable that the intensity of mixing of the Russian population with the Tatar population exceeded the usual level of mixing in the contact zone of the two peoples. It is worth recalling that the Russian gene pool is in contact with many peoples - the North Caucasus, with Ukrainians, Belarusians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Komi, Udmurts, Mari, Mordovians and - in this general series - with the Tatars.

2 This formulation of the problem belongs to Professor L. T. Yablonsky, head of the steppe archeology sector of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. one of the leading experts on medieval nomads.
3 Simplified calculation formula: MC = P-E, whence the desired M = (P-E)/C, where
M is the desired proportion of the Mongoloid component (influx of Central Asian genes);
Ρ is the observed proportion of East Eurasian haplogroups among Russians.
E=0.036 - observed proportion of East Eurasian haplogroups in Europe;
C=0.90 - the observed proportion of East Eurasian haplogroups in Central Asia.
It is assumed that the original Russian gene pool (P 0) had the same proportion of East Eurasian genes as the average Europe (P 0 = E).
If P=20%. then M=(0.20-0.036)/0.90 = 18% Mongoloid component.
If P=15%, then M=(0.15-0.036)/0.90 = 13% Mongoloid component.
If P=10%, then M=(0.10-0.036)/0.90 = 3% Mongoloid component.
But in fact, P = 2%, that is, M = (0.02-0.036)/0.90 = -2% of the Mongoloid component in the Russian gene pool. The negative sign arose because the original condition was violated: P 0 = E.
4 This is a common feature of many conquests. For example, the Magyars (Hungarians), who came from the Trans-Urals, at the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. conquered the Middle Danube lowland, inhabited mainly by the Slavs, and mixed with them. The people living there are still called Hungarians and speak Hungarian (the language of the Ural family). But the excellent Hungarian scientific school of physical anthropology, despite enormous efforts, finds practically no obvious traces of immigrants from the Urals in the physical appearance of today's Hungarians - only the features of the former (substrate) Slavic population. And the reason is still the same - the relative smallness of the newcomer population (superstrate).
5 Asia is large and diverse, and it is incorrect to compare small, homogeneous Europe with it. Here, by “Asia” we do not mean either South-West Asia, which is genetically similar to Europe, or South Asia (Hindustan), but we compare Europe with Siberia, Central and East Asia.
6 The authors thank one of the visitors to our website www.genofond.ru for writing about the curious history of this phrase:
The expression “Scratch a Russian and you will find a Tatar” came to us from the French language, and in the original it sounds like this: “Gralle: le Russe, et vous verre: tin Tarlare.” This is simply a short version of a quote from the essay “Russia in 1839” by the Marquis de Custine: “ After all, a little more than a hundred years ago they were real Tatars. And under the outer veneer of European elegance, most of these upstart civilizations retained the bearskin - they just put the fur on it inside. But just scratch them a little - and you will see how the wool comes out and bristles" But over time, this dubious maxim “Under the thin shell of feigned culture, Russians still hide cannibal savages” turned into a peaceful and generally true thesis “A Russian and a Tatar are brothers forever.”
It turns out that initially the aphorism about the Russian and the Tatar did not have any biological, genetic background at all (the Marquis did not believe that the Russian gene pool had a large percentage of bear genes), but concerned only the European’s perception of the cultural features of Russia - which have no connection with the gene pool and , therefore, with our book. So even the very phrase about “scratch the Russian...”, it turns out, does not speak at all about the influence of the “Asian” gene pool. Once again, “Asian influence” turns into just a myth...

FACTS AND STEREOTYPES: TATARS

1. About the name ‘’Tatars’’

Usually the word “Tatars” refers to the Turkic inhabitants of the Middle Volga region (specifically, Kazan and its environs), who are descendants of the Bulgars with a significant proportion of Kipchak, Finno-Ugric and Sarmatian elements. At the same time, there are also Astrakhan Tatars (who do not have Bulgarian origin, but in a number of historical, geopolitical, linguistic and cultural connections are close to the Kazan Tatars), Siberian Tatars (who live outside the Volga region and by origin are Kipchaks with a strong admixture of Samoyed and Paleo-Siberian peoples ), Crimean Tatars (who are a completely different people) and Dobruzhian Tatars (heavily mixed with Romanians, Turks and Rusyns).

The word ''Tatar'' comes from the name of the Mongolian tribe ''Tatars'', who lived in Manchuria. These Tatars were at enmity with the Mongols themselves to the point that they surrendered the Mongol Khan Ambagai to the Jurchens because of blood feud, killed Yesugei-Baghatur for the same reason and were almost completely exterminated by Genghis Khan. The only problem was that Genghis Khan destroyed the adult Tatar population, and took the young Tatars into his Horde, where they were actively used during Batu Khan’s Western campaign. Therefore, the peoples conquered by the Mongols both in the West and in China (according to the old tradition of the time when the Tatars were the most powerful nomadic tribe) began to call all the Turks of the Mongol Empire and its fragments - Tatars (just as the Tatars had long been called all farmers - tatami). Later, in Russian chronicles, the word “Tatars” began to designate generally all strangers living east or south of Moscow (this is how Azerbaijanis were called Tatars, who never called themselves that). From the Russians, this word was picked up by Europeans, who crossed the ethnonym “Tatars” with the ancient Tartarus (they had an extremely poor understanding of the geography of Siberia and Central Asia) and began to call the Manchus or Chukchi Tatars. The situation more or less settled down only in the 19th century, when there were no blank spots left in the region, and the world became a little more globalized.

The ancestors of the Kazan Tatars called themselves Bulgars or Besermens (a twisted word “Muslim”), and in the era of transformation of primordial nations into modern ones, the word “Tatar” replaced more ancient ethnonyms. Although the Tatars of the XIV-XVI centuries in official documentation called themselves Tatars and represented what we call a political nation. Thus, the Kazan Tatars, Chuvash, Mari, Bashkirs and Mokshans were subjects of the Kazan Khanate, and the Tatars and Bashkirs had one literary language called Turki (emphasis on the last syllable). Despite the fact that the Chuvash, who are direct descendants of the Bulgars, retained their ancient language, and the language of the Bashkirs was more influenced by the Kipchak element than the Tatar dialects themselves.

2. Tatars descend from the Mongols

No. Only the Tatar nobility descends from the Mongols. And that’s not all, because there are seids (direct descendants of the Prophet) and ordinary ulema (theoretically, anyone can become one). Very distant descendants of the Mongols are the Chingizids (the last legitimate ruler of Kazan was Ottemish Girey, who was overthrown thanks to Russian “help.” Yadigar-Muhammad, who was later elected, was a pro-Moscow ruler). Other Tatar noble families descend from the Horde beys or murzas. It is also worth saying that the Tatar aristocracy greatly influenced the genesis of the Russian aristocracy. The Arakcheevs, Bibikovs, Chiripovs, Sheremetyevs, Akhmatovs, Turgenevs, Berdyaevs, Timirevs, Timirzyaevs, Urusovs, Karamzins, Suvorovs, Kutuzovs and Shubins come from baptized Tatars. These surnames are just the tip of the iceberg, and a third of the Russian nobility directly descends from the Tatars, and the rest have family ties with it.

3. Tatars are Asians

Another stupid stereotype. The Tatars, strange as it may sound, are a European people. Anthropologically, they are not much different from the Russians (except that the Tatars, who lived closer to the Urals and the Nogai steppe, have a Mongoloid element). Some Tatars profess Christianity (and this is not the result of Russification. Christianity in the Volga region has roots going back to the era of the Volga Bulgaria, and the formation of the Russian Orthodox Church occurred precisely in the era of the Golden Horde). The Tatar mentality is closer to the Slavic than to the Turkish or Arabic. The Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate were states in which the power of the khan was never absolute, but depended on the interaction between the Kurultai (congress of Karachi Beys, the most powerful noble families of the country) and the Divan (estate-representative body). The main partners of the Horde were Venice, Egypt and Byzantium. The lands of the Volga region, both during the Ulus of Jochi and during the Kazan Khanate, flourished precisely thanks to trade: mediation between Central Asia (with its access to Chinese and Indian markets) and Europe (especially Eastern and Northern). The Kazan Tatars knew how to fight, but did not particularly like it (mostly Nogais served in the cavalry, Mari in the archers, and the city militia in the infantry). The main population of the country was city dwellers, not nomads, contrary to widespread myth. Strongly developed individualism, meritocratism, connections with Christianity and ancient culture (with the official dominance of Islam) make the Kazan Tatars Europeans.

4. About history

The first state on the territory of the Middle Volga region was Volga Bulgaria. Its founder was a certain Khan Kotrag, one of the children of Kubrat, the last significant ruler of Great Bulgaria. Under pressure from the Khazars, Kotrag at the end of the 7th century gathered people subordinate to him, led his people through the steppes, crossed the Volga and hid from enemies in dark forests. This place was inhabited by primitive Finnish tribes (Mokshas, ​​Erzyans, Maris, Muromas, Meshcheras and others) and nomadic Sarmatians. The arriving Bulgars (who themselves are distant descendants of the Huns, also an explosive mixture of everything) founded the city of the same name, which became the capital of the state with the same name. In 922, the Bulgars, seeking support against the Khazars (Jews), converted to Islam (in order to secure the Persians, who were constantly fighting with the Khazars, as allies). A century later, the Bulgars gradually consolidated as a nation (the Mari, who did not want to become Bulgars, went to the meadows, and the Bulgars, who did not want to accept Islam, moved to the north, becoming the ancestors of the Chuvash) around five tribes (the later Bulgar ulus and the Kazan Khanate would be divided into 5 parts). Bulgaria itself was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state (although Islam was considered the state religion), a civilization of cities living on trade between Russia and Central Asia. The Russians repeatedly tried to conquer the Bulgars, but this did not end with much success (the Bulgars constantly burned Murom or Suzdal, and the Zalessi princes went on campaigns against the Bulgars, as a result of which the capital was moved to Bilyar). The final blow to Volga Bulgaria was made by the Mongols, who destroyed Bulgaria in 1236 (before this, the Bulgars became the only people in the world who at that time defeated the Mongol army in the Battle of Saksin).

However, the cities devastated by the Mongols quickly rose from the ashes, the Bulgar merchants received a number of privileges from Batu Khan, the Bulgar aristocracy retained their possessions, and the lands of Bulgaria itself were allocated to a separate ulus as part of the Golden Horde. Batu Khan has the same meaning for the Tatars as Caesar did for the French or Trajan for the Romans. That is, on the one hand, a foreign invader, and on the other, a person who helped create a new statehood, better than the previous one. For this reason, the period of the Volga Bulgaria and the period of the Golden Horde (and the Kazan Khanate) are equally revered among the majority of Tatars (if you do not take into account the pro-Russian Mankurts or radical Bulgarists who unknowingly repeat the Turkophobic myths of Russian propaganda). The Golden Horde was similar to the Habsburg monarchy. It could not be called the state of any specific people; it rested mainly on the personality of the khan and on economic ties between its lands; there were never any national or religious contradictions. However, it was destroyed by two things: the plague (which decimated the population of the cities) and the right of the ladder (after the death of the khan, the throne was inherited not by the eldest son, but by the eldest brother. This contributed to civil strife in the state). Tokhtamysh tried to save the Horde with colossal efforts, but after Timur’s invasion, one khan after another changed on the throne, the rulers of the outskirts declared themselves the real rulers of Sarai, and the khans of the Great Horde fought with the Russians. The Kazan Khanate, created on the site of the Bulgar ulus, seemingly preserved the best traditions of the Golden Horde and was close to its restoration under the shadow of the house of Giray. This was prevented by Ivan the Terrible, who committed real genocide in Kazan and destroyed the thousand-year-old trading civilization of the Volga region.

The Tatars repeatedly rebelled in order to regain their former glory: during the Time of Troubles, under Razin, under Pugachev, during the Civil War, in addition, a number of Tatars fought on the side of the Germans during the Second World War. The last attempt to regain independence took place in the 90s (even Yeltsin himself was in favor) - but it was merged by the local Kazan elite by agreement with the Kremlin. Now Tatarstan is one of the most non-Russian regions of the Russian Federation, so it will be continued.

5. About the language

The Tatars have always been famous for their almost universal literacy, since representatives of this people traditionally worked in trade or craft (and the nobility and clergy are simply required by law to be literate). At the end of the 19th century, a trend of Jadidism appeared among Tatar educators, which called for crossing Islamic institutions with constitutional democracy. The most prominent Jadidist was Gayaz Ishaki, who called for the return of the Turks as a literary standard, the creation of the Latin alphabet instead of the Arabic alphabet, the transition to the European education system, the reduction of the influence of the ulema and liberation from Russia. Some of these ideas were stolen by the Bolsheviks, who carried out the Latinization of the Tatar language. Later the language was translated again - this time into Cyrillic. However, Tatar migrants and nationalists still write in Latin (Arabic, unlike Turkey, is not popular among them).

The Tatar language is Turkic with all its agglutinative charms and other things. It has a Bulgaro-Kipchak basis with a significant number of Iranianisms, Arabisms, Russianisms and words from Finnish languages. So, many Tatars say not arkadaşlar, but druzyalar.

6. About the subethnic groups of the Tatars

Since the Tatars had a very turbulent history and have always been a state-forming nation (unlike the Mari or Bashkirs), they are scattered throughout the region and have many subethnic groups. There are actually Kazan Tatars who live in Kazan and surrounding cities (the indigenous population of Kazan was exterminated by Grozny and Tatars from the region settled here). These are typical urban people with a number of local characteristics. There are Mishar Tatars, who are Turkified Finns. There are Teptyar Tatars living in Bashkiria. There are Nagaibak Tatars, who are Tatarized Nogais and live in the Urals. In addition, there are also Kryashen Tatars, who differ from others in that they are all Christians (some were baptized voluntarily, some forcibly). There are also a lot of Volga Tatars in Siberia and Central Asia, where they went for trade and settled there forever.

7. About kitchen and clothes

Tatar cuisine is a mixture of the Finnish culinary tradition (consumption of large quantities of meat with berries and vegetables) with the Turkic one (meat and dairy diet). All this is seasoned with borrowings from Russian and Central Asian cuisine. Thus, Tatars eat sherbet, pilaf and halva (Central Asian dishes), dumplings (a dish of the Finnish people of the Urals), dumplings and pickled vegetables (Slavic cuisine), as well as beleshi (meat pies), kuzikmyaki (pies with vegetables), azu ( stew), tunterma (fried eggs with onions), shorba (lamb or beef soup), kubite (chicken pies), kystyby (pancakes), pasties, chak-chak (sweets with honey), kazylyk (horse sausage), kumiss , echpochmak (pies with sesame or cumin). There are no pork dishes in Tatar cuisine (an Islamic culinary tradition). This really doesn’t concern the Kryashens. It is also not customary for the Tatars to eat mushrooms (because the berry and mushroom diet was typical for the Mari and Mordovians, but not for residents of the cities of the Volga region), and this culinary taboo persists even in emigration.

The Tatar men's costume includes trousers, a shirt, a beshmet (jacket with a standing collar) or chekmen (ceremonial clothing). Rich people wore robes. It is still customary to wear skullcaps as a headdress. The Tatar women's costume, despite the fact that the majority of Tatars are Muslims, does not include a hijab; instead, women walked either with their heads uncovered or in a kalfak (cone-shaped hat). In all other respects, Tatar women dress the same as Russians. Moreover, this appearance, adjusted for globalization, following fashion and other things, is accepted even now (especially in the villages) since many Tatars still wear robes or skullcaps, thus standing out from the Russians.

Discussing the “eternal” question of who the Russians are – Europeans or Asians – many, either intentionally or due to little experience communicating with the “yellow race,” are trying to prove that the Russian people are identical to Genghis Khan’s “Mongols” and are one hundred percent Asian.
The reality is that Europeans differ from Asians as much as Russians differ from both. Therefore, by Russian I will mean those who have no other native language other than Russian. “Asians” I will call the Japanese, Chinese, Mongols, all Turkic-speaking peoples, and in some cases the peoples of the North Caucasus. Mongol-Tatars - modern Tatars, as well as Kazakhs, who formed the basis of Genghis Khan's army.
I am a Russian Asian, in the fifth generation. Living in Kazakhstan, I have the opportunity to study the issue under discussion in comparison. Therefore, I will try to substantiate the difference between Russians and Europeans using the example of “Russian” Germans. The Germans, despite living in Russia for 300 years, retained the main features of their national character. We, in contact with the Mongol-Tatars, were also able to preserve our national characteristics.

In rural areas of Kazakhstan, one can unmistakably determine: this is a German village, this is a Kazakh village, and this is a Russian village. In German villages there is neatness even in small things, cleanliness, painted front gardens. There is a lot of greenery around the houses. There is no greenery at all in the Kazakh village, the fences have been knocked down, the plaster on the houses has been torn off. Russian villages have a lot of greenery, the buildings are in good condition, but they don’t have the sleekness that the Germans have.
Russians consider Germans greedy, Germans consider Russians wasteful. Germans are punctual, Russians are not. Germans strive for order in everything; Russians are irritated by such order. For Russians, passion for work is typical; the process of work itself can bring joy, and in order to achieve creative results, Russians are often ready to sacrifice personal time. The Germans don't have this; even if the German raised the hammer, but at that time the end of shift signal sounded, he would not strike the workpiece, but would lower the hammer and begin to get ready to go home.
A German will not work if the pay is insufficient. A Russian, if the work has social significance, will work even for minimal pay.
It is generally accepted that Russians and Germans are good soldiers, and they are equal in the quality of fortitude. However, the resilience of German soldiers was developed by a subconscious, at the level of genetic memory, desire for order. The tenacity of Russian soldiers is due to an innate sense of public duty and the need to accomplish a feat (at least to prove one’s own worth), as well as a completely conscious desire to die gracefully, as evidenced by the sayings: “Even in the world, death is beautiful”, “To die, so with music” etc.
A Russian in battle is completely different from what he is in a peaceful situation. Many Russians only understand in battle that they are full-fledged people (I say this because I have combat experience, I have seen various national groups in a combat situation). At the same time, many Germans do not understand the Russian’s motives. For example, why did Alexander Matrosov rush to the pillbox without orders? Many Germans, by the way, could repeat this feat if they had a specific order.
It is likely that a lot of time will still be needed before there is an awareness of the fact that what is going on in the world is not so much a struggle of ideologies as a struggle of ethnic groups. And the dominance of one of the ethnic groups will be the logical conclusion of the next stage in the development of the planet. It is typical that an ideology aimed at limiting its numbers is used against the Russian people.
What are the differences between Russians and Asians?
Firstly, the attitude towards a woman. We have an unofficial cult of the Mother of God, and in most houses the “red” corners are decorated with this particular icon. For many Asian peoples, a woman is in the next place after a donkey.
Secondly, humanism (not Western humanism in relation to maniacs, but humanism in relation to women, children, who have surrendered to enemies). Asians, on the other hand, can push women and children, even their own, into machine guns in front of them, and abuse the prisoners and wounded. We have a principle: “Don’t hit someone who’s down.” Asians adhere to the rule: “Hit if you fall.” We teach children: “Take care of the old people because they are old and weak, take care of the little ones because they are small and weak.” An Asian, seeing a strong one, breaks into a smile and is ready to turn inside out to please him, but if a weak one gets in the way, he will sit astride him. The formation of differences in character traits already occurred when, according to fairy tales, our ancestors fought to the death with the “Gorynych Snakes.” In the east, at the same time, dragons were deified and sacrifices were made to them.
Thirdly, among Russians, honesty and directness are considered positive qualities. Asians value cunning and deceit. Such a feeling as shame is completely absent.
Fourth: in the fighting qualities of soldiers, we and the Asians have no similarities at all. In comparison with the Germans, durability has already been mentioned. Asians practically cannot fight on the defensive. When meeting with strong-willed troops, they experience a psychological breakdown, causing them to flee. But if the enemy is weak, they will fight with renewed ferocity.
By fighting the Asians only on the defensive, there is a chance of defeat; they need to be constantly attacked. But war tactics are a topic for another discussion.
...Democracy for Asians means chaos and civil war until each other is completely destroyed or until someone conquers the rest. Even in family cooperatives, without physical violence against relatives, any labor achievements are impossible.
Russians, even if they are under foreign oppression, do not want to wage a fratricidal war, they are waiting for leaders worthy of promotion to the “throne” to appear.
We can say with confidence that the Mongol-Tatars did not take almost any part in the formation of the Russian ethnos, since they did not settle among the Russians, and the Russians, in turn, did not take Tatars as wives (with the exception of the Cossacks, in a short period of time, when on the Don there was a shortage of women). At the same time, it is possible that the Russians contributed to the ethnogenesis of the “horde,” since the Tatars took Russian women away and took them as wives. If anyone objects that some noble families mixed with the Tatars, then it is worth recalling that the Russian ethnic group “cleansed” itself of this back in 1918-1937, while the rest mixed with Jews and do not consider themselves Russian.
The peculiarities of the national character and psychology of the Russian people were formed thousands of years before the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Russians need to know this and not try to imitate either Europeans or Asians, because by acting according to someone else's rules, we will lose to both.
The Russian people do not have any chronic misfortune; An ethnic group develops, experiencing ups and downs (all processes are cyclical). We are overcoming another recession, but another rise is already visible, as evidenced by signs of the formation of a national ideology.

After which those who answer begin to spend a long time and tediously figuring out who, in fact, these same Russians are, who, in theory, should inhabit the Russian land. Sooner or later, everything comes down to the famous phrase attributed to the French writer Marquis Astolphe de Custine: “Scratch a Russian and you will find a Tatar.” Indeed, three hundred years could not pass without a trace! The final chord is , which managed to convince everyone that we, naturally, are “Asians with slanted and greedy eyes.”

Fair or bald?

So who is right? Russians are Europeans after all, and it’s problematic to scrape together an Asian in them. Or is there enough Tatar blood flowing in our veins? I set out to find an answer to this question, rightly believing that I should start with myself.

My path lay in the laboratory of human population genetics of the Medical Genetic Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. My “eyes” don’t seem to be slanted and not so “greedy”. Plus they are light. Hair too. But this is closer to a hairdressing salon than to science. But when you donate a solid tube of blood for DNA analysis of the Y chromosome using “historical” markers, this is already serious.

“The male chromosome, also known as the Y chromosome, carries very few genes,” explains leading researcher of the laboratory, candidate of biological sciences Oleg Balanovsky. - And she is responsible not so much for hair color, but for early or, conversely, late baldness. But by tracing and reading features or markers, we can tell where your ancestor came from in the direct male ascendant line. Please note - there is only one ancestor and only along one line, along the chain “father of father’s father” and so on. Although in a short period of time by genetic standards, say, a thousand years, you, like anyone, will accumulate an incredible number of ancestors. You have two parents. And each of them also had two. And in a thousand years forty generations have passed. How many ancestors will there be?

This is exactly what our methods are for. - Oleg Pavlovich went to the printer to pick up my results. - So. Curious. Your male chromosome belongs to haplogroup N1c. And it is widespread both in Europe and in Asia, and in both parts of the world, mainly in the north. But this is too rough an approximation. Let's see what your historical markers give within this group, where your roots come from... There you go. For seven markers, complete matches were found with people living in Belarus, Poland and Germany. Apparently, you and they are very distant relatives - somewhere in the fifth century AD you had a common ancestor from those regions. There are partial coincidences on the territory of Central Russia. So your descent through the male line is quite Eastern European.”

Scratch the Frenchman

Well, let’s assume it’s more or less clear with me alone. What if you look at it as a whole? Did the Russian poet really hit the mark in his insights? And where did all these “countless Asian hordes” go, and at the same time three hundred years of the Mongol-Tatar yoke?

“And the hordes, and the yoke, and the burned cities, and everything else, including mutual cultural influence, remains in its place,” answers Oleg Pavlovich. - But in the gene pool of the Russian people, if these processes left a trace, it was completely insignificant. Judge for yourself - we are conducting quite large-scale research, and on genetic markers that are inherited in both the male and female lines. If we believe the insights of Blok and Custine, then the Central Asian genes of the Mongol-Tatar conquerors should prevail in the Russian gene pool. Or if not predominate, then at least be present to a significant extent. However, it turns out that the share of these haplogroups in our country is no more than 2%. If it seems to someone that even these vanishing small percentages are enough to say, let him look at “indigenous” Europe, which was not affected by large-scale Mongol invasions, much less the yoke. So, the average “background” frequency of Central Asian genes in Europe is approximately the same. And, by the way, the same French have no less genetic similarity with the peoples of Central Asia than the Russians.”

No, it’s not for nothing that they say that truth is more interesting than any fiction, any legend and any poetic insight. A visit to the laboratory once again confirmed this. You can go looking for confirmation of your Asian essence and come across the fact that if you scratch a Frenchman, then a Tatar will be found in him with approximately the same probability as in a Russian. What to do about it? Probably come to terms with it.