Wikipedia

Tartary

Not to be confused withTatarstan,Strait of Tartary,orTărtăria.

Tartary(Latin:Tartaria;French:Tartarie;German:Tartarei;Russian:Тартария,romanized:Tartariya) orTatary(Russian:Татария,romanized:Tatariya) was ablanket termused inWestern Europeanliterature andcartographyfor a vast part ofAsiabounded by theCaspian Sea,theUral Mountains,thePacific Ocean,and the northern borders ofChina,IndiaandPersia,at a time when this region was largely unknown to European geographers.

Map of independent Tartary (in yellow) andChinese Tartary(in violet), in 1806.

The active use of thetoponym(place name) can be traced from the 13th to the 19th centuries. In European sources, Tartary became the most common name forCentral Asiathat had no connection with the real polities or ethnic groups of the region; until the 19th century, European knowledge of the area remained extremely scarce and fragmentary. In modern English-speaking tradition, the region formerly known as Tartary is usually calledInner AsiaorCentral Eurasia.Much of this area consists of arid plains, the main nomadic population of which in the past was engaged inanimal husbandry.[1]

Ignorance surrounding Tartary's use as a place name has spawnedconspiracy theoriesincluding ideas of a "hidden past" and "mudfloods".Such theories assert that Tartary (or the"Tartarian Empire") was a lost civilization with advanced technology and culture. This ignores the well-documentedhistory of Asia,which Tartary refers to.[2]In the present day, the Tartary region spans from centralAfghanistanto northernKazakhstan,as well as areas in presentMongolia,Chinaand theRussian Far Eastin "Chinese Tartary".

Geography and history

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Tartaria map and description byGiovanni Boterofrom his "Relationi universali" (Brescia,1599).

Knowledge ofManchuria,SiberiaandCentral Asiain Europe prior to the 18th century was limited. The entire area was known simply as "Tartary" and its inhabitants "Tartars".[3]In theearly modern period,as understanding of the geography increased, Europeans began to subdivide Tartary into sections with prefixes denoting the name of the ruling power or the geographical location. Thus, Siberia wasGreat TartaryorRussianTartary,theCrimean KhanatewasLittle Tartary,ManchuriawasChinese Tartary,and western Central Asia (prior to becomingRussian Central Asia) was known asIndependent Tartary.[3][4][5]By the seventeenth century, however, largely under the influence of Catholic missionary writings, the word "Tartar" came to refer to the Manchus and the lands they ruled as "Tartary".[6]

European opinions of the area were often negative, and reflected the legacy of theMongol invasionsthat originated from this region. The term originated in the wake of the widespread devastation spread by theMongol Empire.The adding of an extra "r" to "Tatar" was suggestive ofTartarus,aHell-like realm inGreek mythology.[3]In the 18th century, conceptions of Siberia or Tartary and its inhabitants as "barbarous" byEnlightenment-era writers tied into contemporary concepts ofcivilization,savagery andracism.[7]

More positive opinions were also expressed by Europeans. Some saw Tartary as a possible source of spiritual knowledge lacking in contemporary European society. InFive Years of Theosophy,edited by theTheosophistand scholarG.R.S. Mead,the polymath and "seer"Emanuel Swedenborgis quoted as having advised, "Seek for the Lost Word among thehierophantsof Tartary, China, and Tibet. "[8]

Decline

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The use of "Tartary" declined as the region became more known to European geographers; however, the term was still used long into the 19th century.[5]Ethnographical data collected byJesuitmissionaries in China contributed to the replacement of "Chinese Tartary"withManchuriain European geography by the early 18th century.[3]The voyages of Egor Meyendorff andAlexander von Humboldtinto this region gave rise to the termCentral Asiain the early 19th century as well as supplementary terms such asInner Asia,[5]and Russian expansionism led to the term "Siberia"being coined for the Asian half of theRussian Empire.[4]

By the 20th century, Tartary as a term for Siberia and Central Asia was obsolete.[citation needed]However, it lent the title toPeter Fleming's 1936 bookNews from Tartary,which detailed his travels in Central Asia.

Tartaria conspiracy theory

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Main article:Tartarian Empire

Misinterpretations of Tartary as an empire distinct from theMongol Empire,rather than as an archaic name for Central Asia, gave rise to a conspiracy theory alleging the existence of an advanced "Tartarian Empire".[9]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^Connell 2016.
  2. ^Dunning, Brian (February 2021)."Skeptoid #765: Tartaria and the Mud Flood".Skeptoid.Archivedfrom the original on 16 September 2021.Retrieved16 September2021.
  3. ^abcdElliott 2000,pp. 625–626.
  4. ^abVermeulen 2018,p. 88.
  5. ^abcSela 2016,p. 542.
  6. ^Dong 2020,pp. 82–83.
  7. ^Wolff 2006,p. 448.
  8. ^Mead, G.R.S. (2004).Five Years of Theosophy.Project Gutenberg.
  9. ^Mortice, Zach (April 2021)."Inside the 'Tartarian Empire,' the QAnon of Architecture".Bloomberg News.Retrieved2021-09-20.

Sources

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Media related toTartaryat Wikimedia Commons

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