Mishar Tatars

Mishar Tatars
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: Penza Oblast; Mordovia; Ulyanovsk Oblast; Chuvashia; Nizhny Novgorod Oblast; Tatarstan; Samara Oblast; Saratov Oblast; Volgograd Oblast; Orenburg Oblast; Bashkortostan;	1.5–2.3 million
Languages
	Mishar dialect of Tatar, Russian
Religion
	Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
	Kazan Tatars, Kryashens

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.^[4] Mishars also comprise the majority of Finnish Tatars and Tatars living in other Nordic and Baltic countries.^[5]

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. Different versions about their origin exist to this day, but most researchers connect their ancestors to the population of Golden Horde. The Mishar dialect is said to be "faithfully close" to the ancient Kipchak Turkic language.

In the 1897 census, their total number was 622,600. The estimates have varied greatly since, because they are often identified simply as Tatars.

^ Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2016, page 273
^ "Selçuk Üni̇versi̇tesi̇". Archived from the original on 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
^ Vovina, Olessia (September 2006). "Islam and the Creation of Sacred Space: The Mishar Tatars in Chuvashia" (PDF). Religion, State & Society. 34 (3). Routledge. doi:10.1080/09637490600819374. ISSN 1465-3974. S2CID 53454004. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
^ Leitzinger 1996, p. 6 (S. Ishkhakov)
^ Larsson, Göran (2009). Islam in the Nordic and Baltic Countries. Routledge. pp. 94, 103. ISBN 978-0-415-48519-7.

[1] Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2nd Edition: Ethnic and National Groups around the World, 2016, page 273

[2] "Selçuk Üni̇versi̇tesi̇". Archived from the original on 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-04-21.

[3] Vovina, Olessia (September 2006). "Islam and the Creation of Sacred Space: The Mishar Tatars in Chuvashia" (PDF). Religion, State & Society. 34 (3). Routledge. doi:10.1080/09637490600819374. ISSN 1465-3974. S2CID 53454004. Retrieved 4 April 2019.

[4] Leitzinger 1996, p. 6 (S. Ishkhakov)

[5] Larsson, Göran (2009). Islam in the Nordic and Baltic Countries. Routledge. pp. 94, 103. ISBN 978-0-415-48519-7.

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