Tartary (Latin:Tartaria;French:Tartarie;German:Tartarei;Russian:Тартария,romanized: Tartariya) orTatary (Russian:Татария,romanized: Tatariya) was ablanket term used inWestern European literature andcartography for a vast part ofAsia bounded by theCaspian Sea, theUral Mountains, thePacific Ocean, and the northern borders ofChina,India, andPersia, at a time when this region was largely unknown to European geographers.
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 Asia that 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 Asia orCentral Eurasia. Much of this area consists of arid plains, the main nomadic population of which in the past was engaged inanimal husbandry.[2]
Ignorance surrounding Tartary's use as a place name has spawnedpseudohistoricconspiracy theories including ideas of a "hidden past" and "mud floods". 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.[3] In the present day, the Tartary region spans from centralAfghanistan to northernKazakhstan, as well as areas in presentMongolia,China, and theRussian Far East in "Chinese Tartary".
Knowledge ofManchuria,Siberia, andCentral Asia in Europe before the 18th century was limited. The entire area was known simply as "Tartary" and its inhabitants as "Tartars".[4] 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 Tartary orRussian Tartary, theCrimean Khanate wasLittle Tartary, Manchuria wasChinese Tartary, and western Central Asia (before becomingRussian Central Asia) was known asIndependent Tartary.[4][5][6] But by the 17th century, largely under the influence of Catholic missionary writings, the word "Tartar" came to refer to theManchu people and "Tartary" to the lands they ruled.[7]
European opinions of the area were often unfavorable, and reflected the legacy of theMongol invasions that originated from the 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.[4] In the 18th century, conceptions of Siberia or Tartary and its inhabitants as "barbarous" byEnlightenment-era writers tied into contemporary concepts ofcivilization, savagery, andracism.[8]
But some Europeans saw Tartary as a possible source of spiritual knowledge lacking in contemporary European society.Theosophist writerTallapragada Subba Row quotesEmanuel Swedenborg as having advised, "Seek for the Lost Word among thehierophants of Tartary, China, and Tibet."[9]
The use of "Tartary" declined as the region became more known to European geographers, but was still used long into the 19th century.[6] Ethnographical data collected byJesuit missionaries in China contributed to the replacement of "Chinese Tartary" withManchuria in European geography by the early 18th century.[4] Egor Meyendorff's andAlexander von Humboldt's voyages into this region gave rise to the termCentral Asia in the early 19th century as well as supplementary terms such asInner Asia,[6] and Russian eastward expansionism led to the term "Siberia" being coined for the Asian half of theRussian Empire.[5]
By the 20th century, the use of Tartary as a term for Siberia and Central Asia had waned.[citation needed] However, it lent the title toPeter Fleming's 1936 bookNews from Tartary, which detailed his travels in Central Asia.
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".[10]
Media related toTartary at Wikimedia Commons
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