Kotrag | |
---|---|
Reign | 665 - around 700 |
Died | around 700 |
House | Dulo |
Father | Kubrat |
Religion | Tengrism |
Kotrag was according to Nikephoros I of Constantinople a son of Kubrat of the Dulo clan of Bulgars. Following the death of his father, he began to extend the influence of his Bulgars to the Volga River. He is remembered as the founder of Volga Bulgaria.[1][2][3]
After the death of Kubrat, however, the newly founded and still unstable state collapsed and the Bulgar tribes started a new diaspora. Part of them settled permanently on the territories of the former Great Bulgaria; others, under the leadership of Kubrat's son Kotrag, headed northward and established themselves in the area of the Volga River. Available historical data points out that in X century the Kotragian Bulgars adopted Islam as their religion while preserving their Turkic language.