Tatar

Information about the Tatar

Historically, the term Tatar (or Tartar) has been ambiguously used by Europeans to refer to many different peoples of Inner Asia and Northern Asia. For example, the Russians refered to various peoples they came into contact with on the Eurasian steppes as Tatars yet the British and Americans generally refered to the Manchu and related peoples as Tatars when they first arrived in China. The old English language designation is now regarded as archaic, although the meaning is preserved in the name of the Strait of Tartary that seperates the island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia. Today, the word is generally confined to meaning one of the following: