Aborigines of the Urals. Peoples of the Southern Urals

The history of the Southern Urals is the history of all the peoples who have inhabited its territory since ancient times. Ethnographers note the ethnic complexity and heterogeneity of the population of the South Ural region. This is due to the fact that the Southern Urals from ancient times served as a kind of corridor along which in the distant past the “great migration of peoples” took place, and subsequently waves of migration rolled forward. Historically, three powerful layers formed, coexisted and developed on this vast territory - Slavic, Turkic-speaking and Finno-Ugric. Since time immemorial, its territory has been an arena of interaction between two branches of civilizations - sedentary farmers and nomadic pastoralists. The consequence of their interaction over thousands of years was the heterogeneous ethnographic and anthropological composition of the local population. There is one important aspect of the population problem. In strict accordance with the definition of the concept “aboriginal” (“indigenous people”), there is no reason to consider any people in the region as indigenous. All peoples currently living in the Southern Urals are newcomers. The peoples who settled here at the earliest different time, chose the Urals as their permanent place of residence. Today it is impossible to divide peoples into indigenous and non-indigenous.

The first written information about the peoples of the Southern Urals dates back to ancient times. Parking lots ancient man A lot has been discovered in the Southern Urals. Only near 15 lakes, about 100 of them were discovered. And there are more than three thousand lakes in our region. This is a parking lot at Lake Elovoe in the Chebarkul district, parking at Lake Itkul in the Kaslinsky district, at Lake Smolino near Chelyabinsk and many others.

People settled in the Urals gradually. They most likely came from the south, moving along river banks following the animals they hunted.

Around 15-12 millennia BC. e. the ice age is over. The Quaternary glacier gradually retreated, and the local Ural ice melted. The climate became warmer, the flora and fauna acquired a more or less modern appearance. The number of primitive people increased. More or less significant groups of them wandered, moving along rivers and lakes in search of hunting prey. The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) came.

Around the fourth millennium BC, copper came to serve man. The Southern Urals is one of those places in our country where man first began to use metal. The presence of native pieces of pure copper and fairly large deposits of tin created favorable conditions for the production of bronze. Bronze tools, being stronger and sharper, quickly replaced stone ones. In the II-I millennium BC. The ancient inhabitants of the Urals not only mined copper and tin and made tools, but also exchanged these tools and bronze with other tribes. Thus, the products of ancient Ural craftsmen found distribution in the Lower Volga region and Western Siberia.

During the Copper-Bronze Age, several tribes lived in the Southern Urals, which differed significantly in culture and origin. Historians N.A. talk about them. Mazhitov and A.I. Alexandrov.

The largest group consisted of tribes that went down in history under the name “Andronovo”. They are named after the place where the remains of their life were first found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory back in the 19th century.

The forests at that time were inhabited by the “Cherkaskul people,” who are called so because the remains of their culture were first found on Lake Cherkaskul in the north Chelyabinsk region.

In the Southern Urals, an idea of the time of the Bronze Age is given by mounds and settlements related to the Andronovo culture (Salnikov K-V. Bronze Age of the Southern Trans-Urals. Andronovo Culture, MIA, No. 21, 1951, pp. 94-151). This culture, which existed on a vast territory from the Yenisei to the Ural ridge and the western borders of Kazakhstan, in the XIV-X centuries. BC e. extended to the territory of the Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions. Its characteristic features are burial mounds in wooden frames and stone boxes with crumpled bones laid on their sides and the head facing west.

The development of the Early Iron Age in the Southern Urals covers the time from the 6th century. BC e. according to the 5th century n. e. Savromatian, Sarmatian and Alanian burial mounds and settlements give an idea of it. The Sauromatians and Sarmatians lived in the Southern Urals at a time when the Scythians dominated the Black Sea region. Sarmatian culture is the culture of the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of a class society, developed nomadic cattle breeding, agriculture and crafts. All finds indicate that the Sarmatians had metalworking, ceramics, weaving and other industries. (Salnikov K.V. Sarmatian burials in the Magnitogorsk region: Brief communications of the Institute material culture, XXXIV, M.-L., 1950)

The Late Iron Age of the Urals coincides in time with the Early Middle Ages of Europe. During the Iron Age, in the vast steppe expanses of the Southern Urals, the ancient sedentary pastoral and agricultural population began to switch to nomadic cattle breeding, and for more than two thousand years this territory became a place of nomadic tribes.

It was the time of the “great migration of peoples.” The formation of Bashkir people and the spread of the Turkic language in the region.

Anticipating the upcoming narrative about the history of peoples, I will make a reservation in advance. I'll start it with the history of the Bashkir people. And that's why. Among modern peoples living in the Southern Urals, the first inhabitants of the region were the Bashkirs. Therefore, the beginning of the story with the Bashkirs in no way distorts the historical truth or diminishes the role of other peoples. At the same time, the historicism of the presentation of the material is observed.

The first historical information about the Bashkirs dates back to the 10th century. The traveler Ibn Fadlan reported that he visited the country of the Turkish people, called al-Bash-tird (Ibn Fadlan's Travel to the Volga. M.-L., 1939, p. 66).

Another Arab writer Abu-Zand-al-Balkhi (who visited Bulgaria and Bashkiria in the first half of the 10th century) wrote: “From the internal Bashjars to Burgaria there are 25 days of travel... The Bashjars are divided into two tribes, one tribe lives on the border of Georgia (the country of Kuman) near the Bulgars. They say that it consists of 2000 people who are so well protected by their forests that no one can conquer them. They are subject to the Bulgars. Other Bashjars border on the Pechenegs. They and the Pechenegs are Turks” (Abu-Zand-al-Balkhi. Book of Land Views, 1870, p. 176).

Since ancient times, the Bashkirs lived on the lands of modern Bashkiria, occupying territory on both sides of the Ural ridge, between the Volga and Kama rivers and the upper reaches of the Ural River. They were nomadic pastoralists; They also engaged in hunting, fishing, and beekeeping. In the western part of Bashkiria, agriculture developed, destroyed by the Tatar-Mongol conquerors and restored with the appearance of the Russian population in Bashkiria.

The craft of the Bashkirs was poorly developed. But still, as written sources testify, already in the 10th century. The Bashkirs knew how to extract iron and copper ores using artisanal methods and process them. They tanned leather, made pikes and arrowheads from iron, and decorated horse harnesses from copper.

Western part of Bashkiria in the 9th-13th centuries. was subordinated to the Bulgar kingdom, to which the Bashkirs paid tribute in furs, wax, honey and horses. According to Ibn Rust (around 912), each of the subjects who married the Bulgar khan had to give a riding horse.

In the pre-Mongol period, the population of Bashkiria traded with neighboring peoples and with Russian merchants in wax and honey. Bashkiria was divided into clans and tribes, headed by ancestors and collectors.

The most powerful of the bays subjugated other clan associations and sometimes became khans. However, the power of such khans was fragile, and not one of them managed to subjugate all the Bashkir tribes. Particularly important issues were resolved at public assemblies and at the council of elders (kurultai). People's Assemblies The Bashkirs ended with festivities at which competitions were held in wrestling, horse racing, horse riding, and archery.

The decomposition of the clan system and the transition of the Bashkirs to a class society falls in the X-XII centuries, and the end of the XII and XIII centuries. characterized by the emergence of feudal relations. In the XII-XVI centuries. The Bashkir people formed. The tribes of Alans, Huns, Hungarians and especially Bulgars played a major role in the formation of the Bashkir people. In 1236, the Tatar-Mongols conquered the Bulgarian kingdom and with it the southwestern part of Bashkiria. Following this, all of Bashkiria was conquered, becoming part of the Golden Horde formed in the Volga region. The Golden Horde khans imposed a tribute on the Bashkirs in the form of expensive furs, and possibly a tax in the form of one tenth of their herds.

The intensification of the struggle of the peoples conquered by the Tatar-Mongols for their liberation and, especially, the remarkable victory of the Russian united army on the Kulikovo field in 1380 weakened the Golden Horde. In the 15th century she began to fall apart.

With the collapse of the Golden Horde, a significant part of the population of Bashkiria fell under the rule of the Nogai Horde, which wandered between the middle and lower reaches of the Volga in the west and the river. Yaik in the east. The Trans-Ural Bashkirs recognized their dependence on the Siberian Khanate, and the western regions of Bashkiria - on the Kazan Khanate. Bashkiria was dismembered.

In addition to the Bashkirs, the territory of the Southern Urals was inhabited by Tatars, Mari, Udmurts, Kazakhs, Kalmyks and other peoples. They, like the Bashkirs, were initially subordinate to the khans of the Golden Horde, and with the collapse of the latter - to the Kazan, Siberian and Nogai khans.

The severity of the Tatar-Mongol oppression was aggravated by the fact that the Bashkirs, being part of different khanates, were divided and used by khans and other feudal lords in the fight against each other. Civil strife was detrimental to the working masses. Often the khan or murza himself, when defeated, fled from the enemy, leaving his subjects to the mercy of fate. The latter were subjugated by another khan or Murza and established an even more cruel regime for them.

The Bashkirs waged a long and stubborn struggle against Tatar-Mongol yoke. IN Bashkir folklore and genealogies, echoes of the actions of the Bashkir people against their oppressors have been preserved. In the 16th century, the struggle in the Nogai part of Bashkiria between the Nogai Murzas and the Bashkir elders, who sought to free themselves from foreign rule, especially intensified. But the Bashkirs could not do this on their own.

The only correct way out of the extremely difficult situation in which the Bashkirs were under the rule of the Tatar-Mongols was to join the then strengthened Russian state. However, the lack of an organization uniting all Bashkirs and the fragmentation of the tribes did not allow them to join the Russian state at the same time.

Ethnographers managed to restore the tribal composition of the Bashkirs in the 17th-19th centuries. They identified the most ancient Bashkir ethnic formations, which consisted of a number of independent tribal groups - the Burzyans, Usergans, Tangaurs, Tamyans, etc. All of them were carriers of the Bashkir ethnic group, but had their own names that had large areas spread among the Turkic peoples.

Previously, the Bashkirs lived in the steppes and led nomadic image life. Subsequently, pressed from the south by other nomads, primarily the Kyrgyz, they left the steppes and moved to the mountainous and wooded areas of the Southern Urals. At the end of the 19th century, the Bashkirs lived, in addition to Bashkiria, on a large territory of the Chelyabinsk, Troitsky, Verkhneuralsky, Orsk and Orenburg districts. They switched to a semi-nomadic lifestyle - in the winter they stayed in the villages, and in the spring they went with their family and livestock to the mountains and stayed there until winter, when they returned to the village again.

Over many centuries of fixed history, the Bashkir people have created a unique, inimitable and rich culture, which includes all types human creativity: art, architecture, language, music, dance, folklore, jewelry, original clothing, etc. Knowledge of the foundations and stages of development of various spheres of culture helps the study of the history of the people, a better understanding of the specifics and ways of further development of the national culture of the Bashkir people.

Ethnically close to the Bashkirs are the Tatars, and their long life in the neighborhood has led to a significant erasure of many national differences. It is interesting to note that a significant part of the Bashkir population of the Urals speaks Tatar and considers the Tatar language to be their native language. In most areas of the modern Southern Urals, Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, and other peoples live interspersed. They work together at enterprises, organizations and institutions of the region, live in peace and harmony.

There is an opinion among historians that the Tatars do not exist as a separate people; the word “Tatars” is a collective name for a whole family of Mongolian peoples, and mainly Turkic origin speaking the Turkic language and professing the Koran. In the 5th century, the name Tata or Tatan (where, apparently, the word “Tatars” comes from) meant a Mongolian tribe.

Where did this name come from anyway? Some authors believe that the word “Tatar” does not at all mean the “name” of some nationality, but rather it is a nickname, the same as the word “German”, that is, a dumb person who cannot speak our language.

Tatars began to appear in the region with the founding of the city of Orenburg in 1743 and the construction of fortified settlements along the Yaik, Samara and Sakmara rivers. This opened up broad prospects for the vigorous settlement and development of sparsely populated and uninhabited lands. The bulk of people arrived here from the Middle Volga region. The settlers were distinguished by complex ethnic composition population, a significant proportion of which were Tatars - immigrants mainly from the Kazan Khanate.

The main reasons that prompted the Tatars, like the peasant masses of other peoples, to move to new places of residence were land shortage, extreme need, and the natural desire of people to improve their material well-being by obtaining land in the Southern Urals, where it could easily be purchased.

For the Muslim world, moving from a previous location to another, more distant one, was also associated with the fear of being converted to a different faith. This was a kind of protest against the policy of the tsarist authorities to forcibly impose Christianity on people of other faiths. In turn, tsarism, interested in the development of free lands, not only did not prohibit, but also promoted the resettlement of the population to the Southern Urals. This made it possible to bring new agricultural areas into economic circulation. And finally, the authorities sought to attract individuals Tatar nationality to establish trade relations with the Muslim peoples of Kazakhstan, Central Asia and even distant India. After all, the Tatars were considered good traders.

Arriving from different districts of the Middle Volga region to the lands of the Southern Urals, the Tatars settled near coachman stations. They settled for the most various jobs: engaged in the sale of horses, camels, sheep, became coachmen, artisans, saddlers, shoemakers, tanners, herders, shepherds, buyers.

After the fall of the Kazan Khanate in the 16th century, a significant part of the Tatar population first settled in the Southern Urals, on the territory of modern Bashkortostan, and then they settled throughout the Urals. A large number of Tatars settled in the Orenburg region. By the end of the 19th century, Tatars lived everywhere - in cities and villages. In cities they were mainly engaged in petty trading, and in villages - farming and cattle breeding. The Tatars, as I. S. Khokhlov testifies, are a sober, hardworking people, capable of hard work. They were engaged in farming, carting, and cattle breeding, but their favorite craft was still trade.

Along with the Tatars, the Teptyars also moved to the Southern Urals in the 16th century. Some researchers, until the end of the 19th century, accepted the Teptya as a separate nationality, independent group population. However, most of them came to the conclusion that there is no reason to consider them as such. Rather, the Teptyars are an estate. It was formed from a mixture of different foreign tribes - Cheremis (since 1918, Mari), Chuvash, Votyaks (Udmurts), Tatars, who fled to the Urals after the conquest of Kazan. Subsequently, the Teptyars also mixed with the Bashkirs, adopted their morals and customs, so that it became even difficult to distinguish them from each other. Most of them spoke the middle dialect of the Tatar language. Separate groups of Teptyars, living in a dense environment of the Bashkirs, were subjected to strong influence Bashkir language. This is how the Zlatoust dialect appeared. Completely switched to Bashkir colloquial Chalinsky Teptyars. According to religion they were divided into separate groups. Some of them were Sunni Muslims, others were pagans (from the Finno-Ugric peoples), and others were Christians.

The Teptyars existed until 1855, when they were included in the “Bashkir army”. At the same time, a second name for the Teptyars appeared - “new Bashkirs,” although it was not possible to completely displace the previous name. At the same time, the Teptyars formed a special community of ethnic character with their own ethnonym and ethnic identity.

Until the second half of the 16th century. There was no Russian population in the Southern Urals. Russian people appeared here with the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. The conquest of the Kazan Khanate was of great importance both for the peoples of the Volga region and for the Bashkirs, who began the struggle for liberation from the power of the Nogai Horde and the Siberian Khanate.
Immediately after the defeat of the Kazan Khanate, in 1552, an embassy was sent to Moscow offering citizenship from the Bashkirs of the Minsk aimaks. Following the Mints in the winter of 1556-1557, two more embassies from the Bashkir tribes went to Moscow with a request to join. Both embassies reached Moscow on skis.

After 1557 only a small eastern and northeastern part of Bashkiria remained subject to the Siberian Khanate. They submitted to Moscow at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, after the fall of the Siberian Khanate (1598).

Voluntary accession to the Russian state was a deeply progressive event in the history of Bashkiria. It put an end to the cruel rule of the Nogai, Kazan and Siberian khans. Bashkiria, having become part of the strong Russian state, received protection from attacks from neighboring nomadic tribes. The separated Bashkir tribes began to come closer together, forming the Bashkir nation. The trade ties of the Bashkirs also strengthened. They sold cattle, leather, furs of fur-bearing animals, honey, wax, and hops to the peoples of the Volga region and Russian merchants.

Close communication with the Volga tribes and peoples and, mainly, with the more developed and culturally advanced Russian people was very fruitful for the Bashkirs. Russian peasants brought with them a relatively high agricultural culture and had a positive impact on the economic and cultural development Bashkir people. A significant part of the Bashkir population, who had almost no knowledge of agriculture in the past, during the 17th-18th centuries. transitions to settled life and farming.

Settlement mainly occurred from below. Fugitive serfs, schismatics fleeing persecution, and later state peasants, to whom the government allocated free lands in Bashkiria, known as “wild fields,” arrived here from the center of Russia.

Settlement also took place “from above,” by order of the tsarist government. With the construction of military fortresses in the region, a Russian military service class was formed - governors, officials, archers. For their service, they began to receive Bashkir lands as allotments and settle peasants on them (especially many near the city of Ufa). Russian landowners also began to acquire Bashkir lands and resettle their peasants from the central provinces to them. Among the colonizers were, as everywhere else, Russian monasteries, which appeared here quite early, but then for the most part ruined by the Bashkirs.

In addition to the Russians, settlers from the non-Russian population were sent from the north-west to the Southern Urals: Tatars who did not want to submit to Russian power, Meshcheryaks, Chuvashs, Maris, Teptyars, Mordovians, etc. All of them rented Bashkir lands as “attendants”. The Russian government initially viewed them as almost serf Bashkirs. Among these new settlers there were many people from Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Bukhara, Khiva, Turkmenistan - Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Persians, etc.
In the 17th century colonization began to move south towards our Chelyabinsk region, then known as Isetsky. The Iset region abounded in many small rivers, tributaries of the Miass and Techa, convenient for settlement and rich in fish. Famous traveler and scientist of the 18th century. Peter Simon Pallas, who lived for quite a long time in the Iset province, was delighted with the abundance of its nature. Rich black soil made it possible to engage in farming here. The nature of the region was suitable for gardening, sheep and horse breeding. The region abounded in fish and animals. Indigenous people The Iset region was composed mainly of Bashkirs, followed by Meshcheryaks, Tatars, Kalmyks and other peoples.

The first Russian settlers here were black-growing peasants and townspeople from various districts of Pomerania, palace peasants of the Sarapul district, peasants and salt workers of the Stroganov estate and people from other places who were seeking salvation from increasing feudal exploitation.

First they settle at the mouth of the Iset River, then move up the river and its large tributaries: Miass, Barnev and Techa. From 1646 to 1651 the Chinese fort was built. In 1650, the Isetsky and Kolchedansky forts were built on the Iset River. The mounted Cossack from Verkhoturye, David Andreev, who gathered hunters in various places of the Kazan province, took an active part in the construction of the Isetsky fort. In 1660, the Mekhonsky fort was built, in 1662 - Shadrinsky, in 1685 - Krutikhinsky, on the right bank of the Iset, downstream of the Krutikha tributary.

There were few settlers, and in order to withstand the raids of nomads, some of them went to Rus', where they recruited peasants, luring them to a distant land with promises of various benefits and natural resources. The peasants of Ukraine, the Don and inner Russia responded to their call. The government at this time provided assistance to the settlers with plots of land and the issuance of money.

The settlement of the Iset region was greatly facilitated by the early emergence of monasteries. The monasteries served as a reliable refuge for the surrounding Russian residents when they were attacked by the neighboring Bashkirs and Kazakhs. They attracted many Russian peasants who had a hard time living in the center of Russia.

The government gave the monasteries land with the right to settle peasants on them, awarded letters of grant, according to which the trial of the monastery peasants was presented to the abbot and the brethren, and in the case of a “local” (joint) trial, the abbot had to judge with the governors and clerks. Due to the fact that the monastic courts were more lenient compared to the courts of the voivodes, peasants willingly settled on the monastic lands. Under the cover of forts and monasteries, the settlement of the region by Russian peasants began. The Iset region attracted them not only for its land wealth, but also because the peasants settled here as free people. They had to bear only a number of duties in favor of the state, among which the sovereign's tithe arable land was very common.

From Iset, Russian colonization moves to the lower reaches of the Sinara, Techa and Miass. The first Russian settlement on these rivers is the Techenskoe monastery settlement (1667), extended far to the west. Following this, the activities of peasant settlements intensified. In 1670, in the lower reaches of the Miass, the Ust-Miassskaya Sloboda was built, then in 1676, the settlement owner Vasily Kachusov founded the Middle Miass or Okunevskaya Sloboda. In 1682, the Beloyarskaya Sloboda (Russkaya Techa) was founded by the settlement dweller Ivashko Sinitsyn. In 1684, Vasily Sokolov built the Upper Miass, or Chumlyak, settlement at the confluence of the Chumlyak and Miass rivers, and in 1687, settlement owner Kirill Suturmin founded the Novopeshchanskaya settlement (on Lake Peschanom in the area between the Techa and Miass rivers). The semicircle of Russian settlements thus formed created the preconditions for the further advance of the Russian peasantry to the west, to the eastern slopes of the South Ural mountains. In 1710, along the lower reaches of the Miass there were already 632 households, in which 3,955 people lived. Most of the households belonged to state peasants (524 households). But there were also farmsteads of peasants (108) that belonged to the Tobolsk bishop's house.

All settlements were located on the left bank of the river. Miass. This is explained by the dangerous proximity of nomadic tribes. The settlers used the Miass River, which flowed from west to east, as a barrier protecting them from sudden attacks by nomads from the south.

As can be seen from the census books of L.M. Poskotin, the population who arrived in the 17th century. to the Isetsky region, came directly from the Verkhoturye and Tobolsk districts, from the Kama region, from the northern Russian Pomeranian districts, the Upper and Middle Volga regions. A small part of this population also came from central Russia.

But in the 17th century. Peasant colonization of the Southern Trans-Urals had not yet developed sufficiently. She was held back by the danger of constant raids steppe nomads. Intervention from the Russian government was required in order to secure the lives of peasant settlers and create favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, crafts and trade throughout this rich region.

As a result of a powerful migration flow that captured a significant territory of the Southern Urals, by the last quarter of the 17th century this vast region found itself in a dense ring of Russian and Cossack settlements. Populating and developing uninhabited lands, Slavic, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples settled nearby. For many decades, Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Chuvash, Mordovians, Germans and other peoples lived next door and collaborated with each other.

In 1734, the Orenburg expedition began working in the Southern Urals under the leadership of I.K. Kirilov. She lays down the Orenburg fortified line to cover the south-eastern borders of the Russian state from raids by the Kazakhs and Dzungarian Kalmyks. Strongholds - fortresses - are placed along the Ural (Yaik) and Uy rivers. The first of the fortresses created then was the Verkhneyaitskaya pier, which later became the city of Verkhneuralsk.

On the Orenburg fortified line there were fortresses, redoubts, which much later turned into villages and villages on the territory of the Chelyabinsk region: Spassky, Uvelsky, Gryaznushensky, Kizilsky and others. Stanitsa Magnitnaya became one of the most famous cities in the country - Magnitogorsk. A continuation of the Verkhneyaitskaya line in the east was the Uyskaya fortified line, the key fortress of which was Troitskaya.

The first inhabitants of the newly built fortresses were soldiers and officers, as well as Cossacks. Most of them were Russians; later Ukrainians and Tatars, Mordovians, Germans and Poles appeared among them, as well as representatives of other nationalities who served in the Russian army.

Soldiers, as well as free settlers who became Cossacks, populated the Chelyabinsk, Chebarkul and Miass fortresses, built in 1736 north of the Uyskaya line, on the way from the inhabited Trans-Urals to the Yaik-Urals.
In the second quarter of the XIX century, the border of Russia, which ran along modern territory Chelyabinsk region, is moved east by 100-150 km. The newly formed Novolineiny district was also limited on the east by fortresses, two of which - Nikolaevskaya and Naslednitskaya - were located on the territory of the current region. Brick fences were built around the fortresses, which are still preserved.

The settlement of the western and northwestern mountainous parts of the region began somewhat later than the southern regions, only in the 50s of the 18th century. Then, in the Southern Urals, the richest iron and copper ores, often lying on the surface, began to be developed, and metallurgical plants were built. Such industrial settlements - now cities - as Sim, Minyar, Katav-Ivanovsk, Ust-Katav, Yuryuzan, Satka, Zlatoust, Kusa, Kyshtym, Kasli, Verkhniy Ufaley and Nyazepetrovsk were founded.

Land for factory dachas was bought from the Bashkirs. Serfs from different provinces of Russia moved to the purchased lands, becoming “working people” of mining factories.

Foreign specialists, mostly Germans, were then invited to the Urals to build factories and debug smelting technologies. Some of them did not want to return to their homeland. Places of their compact residence arose - streets, settlements, and later villages; most of them remained in Zlatoust.

It is worth noting that the Germans were well known in Rus' since ancient times. And, above all, because German and Slavic tribes lived next door.

In the 18th century, the Russian government adopted a Decree authorizing German settlements on the territory of the Russian state. But foreigners, including Germans, also settled in Russian cities in the 16th-17th centuries. But the Germans at that time meant not only people of German nationality, but also the Dutch, Austrians, Swiss, and Frisians. In the 18th - early 20th century, German colonies appeared on empty lands in the Volga River region, in Ukraine, and the Urals.

Huge plots of land, the richest Natural resources attracted immigrants here. The indigenous population of Kalmyks, Bashkirs, Russians, Chuvashs, Tatars and others greeted the newcomers friendly, without preventing German settlements from settling here. Moreover, many of the local peoples led a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle.

In the 19th century, entrepreneurial farms based on the use of hired labor and selling their goods on the market gradually developed in Russia. The first of them began to appear, first of all, in those areas where there was no landownership or where it was poorly developed. Free and fertile land attracted settlers. And not only Germans. In the Urals, the German population was a small percentage compared to other nationalities. And only by the time of the First World War the number of German colonists increased to 8.5 thousand people. Where did the Germans move to the territory of the Orenburg region from? Since the First World War, repressions against German settlers began: evictions, arrests and detention of suspicious people of German nationality, restrictions on economic and political activities. In addition, according to wartime laws, in Orenburg and other cities of the province, a significant part of the German and Austrian population found themselves evicted Russian government from settlements and cities in the western provinces of Russia, where fierce battles took place between Russian and German-Austrian troops. The Orenburg governor was obliged to check numerous inquiries about the political reliability of individuals who, even at this Time of Troubles wanted to accept Russian citizenship. The German population adhered to the Protestant religion. It's basically Baptist. The population strives to preserve national customs, culture, and language. Main activity – Agriculture. But at the same time, the Germans were also willing to engage in handicraft production: they produced various painted and carved objects, pottery, and were fond of artistic metalworking, weaving and embroidery. The originality and national traits in the planning of farmsteads, residential and commercial premises, roads. For example, German homes are characterized by the so-called Saxon house, where various living and utility rooms are located together under one roof. The subsequent decades of the Soviet period dramatically affected the life of the German population, as well as the entire country as a whole: there were repressions and dispossession. Many German residents in the Urals were arrested, evicted, and ended up in Siberia, Altai, and Northern Kazakhstan. Part of the population moved to the cities of Orenburg, Orsk, Chelyabinsk, and Perm. Even in some cities, entire districts populated by Germans appeared.

The composition of the population of the region, as well as the entire Urals, was greatly influenced by the First World War and the revolution that followed it. Large masses of people moved from east to west and vice versa. Some of these people remained in the Urals. The economic difficulties associated with the war were not so severe here.
For example, there are quite a few representatives of Belarusian nationality in the Southern Urals.

The appearance of the first Belarusians in the Southern Urals (as well as in the Trans-Urals and Siberia) is associated with the fact that they arrived here as exiled prisoners of war in the 17th century, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, when the Russians conquered Ukraine and pushed back the Lithuanians. Then people who were called Litvins were captured and sent away from the western borders of Russia. These are the Belarusians, they spoke their own language, they were Orthodox. The name “Litvinov” came from the name of these prisoners. At that time, the territory inhabited by Belarusians was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Nowadays, few people know that its state language until the end of the 17th century was Belarusian, since the bulk of the population of this state are Slavs. In the 17th century, captured soldiers of the Lithuanian state were called both “Litvins” and “Lithuanians”. Moreover, these names had nothing to do with nationality. A Ukrainian, a Belarusian, or a Lithuanian himself could be called a Lithuanian (and later a Pole).

In the cities of the Urals and Siberia in the 17th century there were special groups service people, the so-called “Lithuanian list”. Subsequently, the main part of them settled in Siberia, and soon nothing except their surname reminded them of their “Lithuanian” or “Polish” origin. In the XVIII – early XIX centuries, Belarusians also came to our region more often as exiles; unfortunately, we do not know the statistics of that time.

The beginning of the active resettlement of Belarusians to the east is associated with the abolition of serfdom. Like the population central regions Great Russia, the inhabitants of Belarus began to gradually go to the Urals and Siberia in search of a better life.

A sharp intensification of the resettlement movement occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, in connection with the Stolypin agrarian reform. Then the great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers of many of our Belarusians arrived in the Southern Urals, and very often they came with whole families. Belarusians live everywhere in the Urals; according to the census, their number is slightly more than 20 thousand people.

The population of the modern Southern Urals (Chelyabinsk region) represents more than 130 nationalities.

The Russian population is still the largest and makes up 82.3 percent of the total population of the region. This predominance is typical for both urban and rural areas.
In progress historical development in the Urals there was a mixing of many nationalities, as a result of which there was a modern population. Its mechanistic division along national or religious lines is unthinkable today (thanks to the huge number of mixed marriages) and therefore there is no place for chauvinism and interethnic enmity in the Urals.

National Unity Day is celebrated in Russia on November 4. For the Southern Urals, with its multinational way of life, this holiday is especially important, because about 40 peoples live in the Chelyabinsk region.

Although the largest ethnic group in the Chelyabinsk region are Russians, these people are not indigenous: the first Russian settlements arose in the Southern Urals only in late XVII century in the Techa River basin.

From the point of view of ethnography, Russian South Urals are divided into three groups: descendants of the Orenburg Cossacks, Russian mining workers (mainly workers) and simple peasants, - Associate Professor of the Faculty of History and Philology of ChelSU, Ph.D., told Gubernia historical sciences Andrey Rybalko. - The Tatars are also a non-indigenous people, consisting of several ethnographic groups. The Southern Urals are inhabited mainly by Volga Ural Tatars. They, like the Russians, came to the territory of the Southern Urals during the development of lands in the 17th century.

But the Bashkirs are an indigenous people, like the Kazakhs. In the Chelyabinsk region there are several districts where the Bashkir population predominates: Argayashky, Kunashaksky, Kaslinsky, Kizilsky. The Kazakhs appeared earlier than the Russians in the steppe regions of the Southern Urals. There they are present in almost all settlements, but there are villages in the Kizil and Nagaybak regions where they make up the majority.

The top ten peoples predominant in the Southern Urals include Ukrainians - descendants of Ukrainian settlers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, as well as Germans, Belarusians, Armenians - they are dispersed throughout the territory. There are quite a lot of representatives of the Mordovians. In the Uisky district there is the Mordovian village of Gusary, there is also a Cossack Mordovian settlement - Kulevchi in the Varna region, there are many of them in the Troitsky, Chesme and Verkhneuralsky regions.

The top ten largest ethnic groups are closed by the Nagaibaks - this people live compactly only in the Chelyabinsk region. This is mainly the Nagaibaksky district - Ferchampenoise, Paris, part in the Chebarkulsky district, as well as in Uysky: Varlamovo, Popovo, Lyagushino, Bolotovo, Krasnokamenskoye. They speak a language that, from a linguistic point of view, is considered Tatar, although they themselves prefer to call it Nagaybak. By religion, the Nagaibaks are Orthodox, and before the revolution they were part of the Orenburg Cossack army,” said Associate Professor, Candidate of Historical Sciences Andrei Rybalko.

Every nation is unique, people remember and honor their national customs and traditions.

Daria Nesterova

14:30 The National Guard named the most dangerous and safe areas of the Southern Urals

Where is the quietest place in the Chelyabinsk region? How are criminals caught using drones? Why can any civilian envy a riot policeman? About this and much more in an interview with Gubernia.

09:05 Alexey Texler to Magnitogorsk residents: “I will deal with your questions every day”

The acting governor of the Chelyabinsk region again changed the plan of his working trip in order to personally visit the apartment of one of the residents of a Magnitogorsk building damaged by a gas explosion, and forced his subordinates to listen to each resident and relatives of the wounded and dead in order to help them

08:53 Alexey Teksler personally inspected the apartment about which he was complained about

Yesterday, the acting governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Alexey Teksler, changed the plan for his working trip to Magnitogorsk in order to personally visit the apartment of one of the residents of a building damaged by a gas explosion

The Urals are known as a multinational region with a rich culture based on ancient traditions. Not only Russians live here (who began to actively populate the Urals since the 17th century), but also Bashkirs, Tatars, Komi, Mansi, Nenets, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovians and others.

The appearance of man in the Urals

The first man appeared in the Urals approximately 100 thousand years ago. It is possible that this happened before, but there are no finds associated with more early period, scientists do not yet have at their disposal. The oldest Paleolithic site primitive man was discovered in the area of Lake Karabalykty, near the village of Tashbulatovo, Abzelilovsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.A. Oborin, famous researchers of the Urals, claim that the Proto-Urals were ordinary Neanderthals. It has been established that people moved to this territory from Central Asia. For example, in Uzbekistan, a whole skeleton of a Neanderthal boy was found, whose life span coincided with the first exploration of the Urals. Anthropologists recreated the appearance of a Neanderthal, which was taken as the appearance of the Urals during the settlement of this territory.

Ancient people were not able to survive alone. Danger awaited them at every step, and the capricious nature of the Urals every now and then showed its obstinate disposition. Only mutual assistance and caring for each other helped primitive man to survive. The main activity of the tribes was the search for food, so absolutely everyone was involved, including children. Hunting, fishing, and gathering are the main ways to obtain food.

A successful hunt meant a lot to the entire tribe, so people sought to appease nature with the help of complex rituals. Rituals were performed before the image of certain animals. Evidence of this is the preserved rock paintings, including a unique monument - the Shulgan-tash cave, located on the banks of the Belaya (Agidel) River in the Burzyansky district of Bashkortostan.

Inside, the cave looks like an amazing palace with huge halls connected by wide corridors. The total length of the first floor is 290 m. The second floor is 20 m above the first and stretches 500 m in length. The corridors lead to a mountain lake.

It is on the walls of the second floor that unique drawings of primitive man, created using ocher, have been preserved. Figures of mammoths, horses and rhinoceroses are depicted here. The pictures indicate that the artist saw all this fauna in close proximity.

The drawings of the Shulgan-tash cave were created about 12-14 thousand years ago. There are similar images in Spain and France.

Indigenous peoples of the Urals

Voguls - Russian Hungarians

The original Uralian - who is he? For example, the Bashkirs, Tatars and Mari have lived in this region for only a few centuries. However, even before the arrival of these nations given land was inhabited. The indigenous people were the Mansi, called Voguls before the revolution. On the map of the Urals you can now find rivers and settlements called “Vogulka”.

Mansi belong to the people of the Finno-Ugric language group. Their dialect is related to the Khanty (Ostyaks) and Hungarians. In ancient times, these people inhabited the territory north of the Yaik River (Ural), but later they were forced out by warlike nomadic tribes. Vogulov was even mentioned by Nestor in his “Tale of Bygone Years”, where they are called “Yugra”.

The Voguls actively resisted Russian expansion. Foci of active resistance were suppressed in the 17th century. At the same time, the Christianization of the Voguls took place. The first baptism occurred in 1714, the second in 1732, and later in 1751.

After the conquest of the indigenous inhabitants of the Urals, the Mansi were obliged to pay taxes - yasak - subordinate to the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. They had to pay the treasury one tribute in two foxes, for which they were allowed to use arable and hay lands, as well as forests. They were exempted from conscription until 1874. From 1835 they had to pay a poll tax, and later perform zemstvo duties.

The Voguls were divided into nomadic and sedentary tribes. The first had canonical plagues in the summer, and spent the winter either in huts or in yurts with a fireplace equipped there. The sedentary people built rectangular huts from logs with an earthen floor and a flat roof covered with chopped logs and birch bark.

The main activity of the Mansi was hunting. They lived mainly on what they got with bows and arrows. The most desirable prey was considered to be elk, from whose skin national clothing was made. The Voguls tried their hand at cattle breeding, but practically did not recognize arable farming. When the factory owners became the new owners of the Urals, the indigenous population had to engage in logging and burning coal.

A hunting dog played an important role in the life of any Vogul, without which, like without an ax, no man would leave the house. Forced conversion to Christianity did not force this people to abandon ancient pagan rituals. Idols were installed in secluded places, sacrifices were still made to them.

The Mansi are a small people, which includes 5 groups isolated from each other according to their habitat: Verkhoturye (Lozvinskaya), Cherdynskaya (Visherskaya), Kungurskaya (Chusovskaya), Krasnoufimskaya (Klenovsko-Bisertskaya), Irbitskaya.

With the arrival of the Russians, the Voguls largely adopted their orders and customs. Mixed marriages began to form. Living together in villages with Russians did not prevent the Voguls from preserving ancient activities, such as hunting.

Today there are fewer and fewer Mansi left. At the same time, only a couple of dozen people live according to old traditions. Youth is looking for better life and doesn't even know the language. In search of income, young Mansi tend to go to the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug to get an education and earn money.

Komi (Zyryans)

This people lived in the taiga zone. The main occupation was hunting fur-bearing animals and fishing. The first mention of the Zyryans is found in a scroll dating back to the 11th century. Starting from the 13th century, tribes were obliged to pay tribute to Novgorod. In 1478, the Komi territory became part of Russia. The capital of the Komi Republic, Syktyvkar, was founded in 1586 as the Ust-Sysolsk churchyard.

Komi-Permyaks living in Perm region, appeared towards the end of the first millennium. Since the 12th century, Novgorodians entered this territory, engaged in the exchange and trade of furs. In the 15th century, the Permians formed their own principality, which was soon annexed to Moscow.

Bashkirs

Mentions of the Bashkirs are found in chronicles starting from the 10th century. They were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, and beekeeping. In the 10th century they were annexed to the Volga Bulgaria and during the same period Islam penetrated there. In 1229, Bashkiria was attacked by the Mongol-Tatars.

In 1236, this territory became the inheritance of Khan Batu’s brother. When the Golden Horde disintegrated, one part of Bashkiria went to the Nogai Horde, the other to the Kazan Khanate, and the third to the Siberian Khanate. In 1557, Bashkiria became part of Russia after the Russians captured Kazan.

In the 17th century, Russians began to actively come to Bashkiria, among whom were peasants, artisans, and traders. The Bashkirs began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. The annexation of the Bashkir lands to Russia caused repeated uprisings of the indigenous inhabitants. Each time, pockets of resistance were brutally suppressed by the tsarist troops. The Bashkirs took an active part in the Pugachev uprising (1773-1775). During this period he became famous national hero Bashkiria Salavat Yulaev. As punishment for the Yaik Cossacks who took part in the riot, the Yaik River received the name Ural.

The development of these places accelerated significantly with the advent of the Samara-Zlatoust railway, which was built from 1885 to 1890 and passed through the central regions of Russia. An important point in the history of Bashkiria was the discovery of the first oil well, thanks to which the republic became one of the major oil regions of Russia. Bashkiria received powerful economic potential in 1941, when more than 90 large enterprises were relocated here from the west of Russia. The capital of Bashkiria is Ufa.

The Mari or Cheremis are a Finno-Ugric people. Settled in Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Udmurtia. There are Mari villages in Sverdlovsk region. They were first mentioned in the 6th century by the Gothic historian Jordan. The Tatars called these people “cheremysh,” which meant “obstacle.” Before the revolution began in 1917, the Mari were usually called Cheremis or Cheremis, but then this word was considered offensive and was removed from use. Now this name is returning again, especially in the scientific world.

Nagaibaki

There are several versions of the origin of this nation. According to one of them, they may be descendants of Naiman warriors, Turks who were Christians. Nagaibaks are representatives ethnographic group baptized Tatars of the Volga-Ural region. This is indigenous small people RF. Nagaibak Cossacks took part in all large-scale battles of the 18th century. They live in the Chelyabinsk region.

Tatars

The Tatars are the second largest people in the Urals (after the Russians). Most Tatars live in Bashkiria (about 1 million). There are many completely Tatar villages in the Urals.

The Agafurovs were in the past one of the most famous merchants of the Urals among the Tatars

Culture of the peoples of the Urals

The culture of the peoples of the Urals is quite unique and original. Until the Urals ceded to Russia, many local peoples did not have their own written language. However, over time, these same peoples knew not only their own language, but also Russian.

The amazing legends of the peoples of the Urals are full of bright, mysterious plots. As a rule, the action is associated with caves and mountains, various treasures.

It is impossible not to mention the unsurpassed skill and imagination folk craftsmen. The products of craftsmen made from Ural minerals are widely known. They can be seen in leading museums in Russia.

The region is also famous for wood and bone carvings. Wooden roofs traditional houses, laid without the use of nails, are decorated with carved “skates” or “hens”. Among the Komi, it is customary to place wooden figures of birds on separate poles near the house. There is such a thing as “Perm animal style”. Just look at the ancient figurines of mythical creatures cast in bronze, found during excavations.

Kasli casting is also famous. These are amazing in their sophistication creations made of cast iron. Masters created the most beautiful candelabra, figurines, sculptures and Jewelry. This direction has gained authority in the European market.

A strong tradition is the desire to have your own family and love for children. For example, the Bashkirs, like other peoples of the Urals, revere their elders, so the main members of families are grandparents. Descendants know by heart the names of the ancestors of seven generations.

Paleolithic

At the end of the Early Paleolithic 300 - 100 thousand years ago, the settlement of the Urals began. There are two main paths of this movement:

1) From Central Asia

2) From the East European Plain, also Crimea and Transcaucasia.

In 1939, archaeologist M.V. Talitsky discovered a Neanderthal site near the Cave Log on the right bank of the Chusovaya River. The approximate age of the site is 75 thousand years.

Also known are such sites of ancient man in the Urals as the Deaf Grotto and Elniki-2 in the Perm region. The Bogdanovka site, dating back 200 thousand years ago, was discovered in the Southern Urals!

The Neanderthal man of the Paleolithic era was an excellent hunter, knew how to make fire artificially, build primitive dwellings, and make clothes from animal skins. He had human speech and intelligence. He was slightly shorter than the average modern person. Some pronounced features of his face are a sloping forehead, prominent brow ridges, and red hair. The Neanderthal ate the meat of hunted animals and ate the fruits of plants.

Late Paleolithic

In the middle of the last Vyuri-Valdai glaciation (40 - 30 thousand years ago), a Cro-Magnon man already of a modern type. The Urals began to be populated quite densely. Now people occupied not only caves, but also built shelters outside them. These were hut-type dwellings made of branches or poles, covered with skins. For long stays, semi-dugouts with a fireplace inside were built. The objects of hunting were no longer mammoths, but smaller animals - bear, deer, elk, roe deer, wild boar, etc. Fishing appeared. Agriculture had not yet appeared.

Mesolithic

In the Urals, a climate regime close to the modern one is established, and modern flora and fauna are formed. The influx of tribes to the Urals increased. In its natural geographic areas and zones, linguistic tribal communities began to take shape, which laid the foundation for the future peoples of the Urals. The way of life of the Mesolithic tribes of the Urals can be represented by the way of life of the Indians of North America. The economy remained a hunting-fishing-gathering economy (6 thousand - early 3 thousand BC).

Neolithic

Archaeological sites are represented by sites, settlements, stone processing workshops, and rock paintings. The region's population is growing. There is a concentration of settlements on the banks of rivers and lakes. There were no sudden natural changes. Mining is a special branch. Workshops for splitting stones were found near flint and jasper outcrops. The Neolithic is the time of polished tools and wooden products (skis, sleighs, boats). Pottery became an important occupation. The first dishes were semi-ovoid or shell-shaped. The surface was covered with patterns consisting of straight and wavy lines, triangles.

Chalcolithic era

The economy is becoming more specialized. Residents of the Southern Urals are actively involved in cattle breeding. Products made of native copper were found at Eneolithic sites. In the Southern Urals, a large metallurgical center was taking shape by those standards.

The art of this period is represented by ornaments on ceramics and rock paintings. Images of birds and animals and humans appeared.

Bronze Age

II millennium BC-VIII century. BC e. The time of the dominance of bronze. Ore mining, crushing, and enrichment were carried out at the Tash-Kazgan, Nikolskaya, and Kargaly deposits.

In recent decades, over 20 monuments from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC have been discovered in the Southern Urals. with a circular layout, the most famous of which are Arkaim and the Sintashta settlement. Archaeologists call these monuments “the country of cities.”

Arkaim is a settlement with an area of about 20 thousand m2. The outer circle includes 40 dwellings. They had wells, hearths, and storage pits. Remains of metallurgical production were found (for this period of very large production). The inhabitants of such proto-cities can be considered metallurgists, cattle breeders, farmers and warriors. The settlement has 4 entrances, oriented according to parts of the world. The system of ditches and walls was a complex and beautiful composition. Of course, Arkaim was built according to a well-thought-out plan (which was unusual for that time). It is clear that in the Bronze Age there was a high, interesting culture, the development of which was interrupted for unknown reasons. Today Arkaim is a protected land: protected and fenced, although further excavations are planned.

Iron Age. Formation of the peoples of the Urals. (3rd century AD - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD)

The Great Migration of Peoples is the numerous movements of tribes in the 1st millennium AD, which began with the migration of the Goths from Scandinavia to the Crimea and groups of Xiongnu tribes from South-Eastern Kazakhstan. The reason for this movement could be the drainage of the steppes. It was the Xiongnu, moving through the steppes of the Southern Urals, who mixed here with the local population of Sarmatians and Sargatians, and from the 3rd century they were known as the Huns. Chelyabinsk archaeologists discovered a Hun burial ground in the river basin. Karaganki. The advance of the nomadic steppe tribes drew the forest-steppe and forest tribes of the Trans-Urals and Cis-Urals into its orbit. The formation of the Bashkir ethnic group and the spread of the Turkic language in the Southern Urals are associated with these processes.

People lived in log houses with cellars. They were engaged in shifting farming (they cut down the forest, burned it, and sown barley, peas, oats, and wheat on the ashes). They raised cows, horses, and poultry. Exploring numerous settlements, we learn that iron smelting and metalworking are becoming an important activity. The center for iron smelting in the Kama region was the Oputyatskoe settlement. The main production team was the family. The tribal nobility and military leaders stand out noticeably.

The beginning of the 2nd millennium AD is the time of the formation of the modern peoples of the Urals. The ancestors of the Bashkirs are formed in the steppes of the Aral Sea region and regions of Central Asia, and then move into the steppes and forest-steppes. The ancestors of the Udmurts are formed in the area between the Volga and Kama rivers.

This date is intended to celebrate the richness of indigenous cultures and to think about addressing the problems associated with the oppression of small nationalities.

Ethnographers agree that the indigenous people of the Southern Urals are the Bashkirs. Today, nothing threatens the Bashkir ethnic group - from the point of view of the law, all citizens of the Russian Federation are equal, regardless of nationality. But a culture that has been created over centuries can eventually dissolve in the rhythm of modern life.

Most Bashkirs live in the Republic of Bashkortostan, and only a small part live in the Chelyabinsk and Kurgan regions: according to the 2010 census, approximately 163 thousand South Urals consider themselves Bashkirs.

The most striking facets of a people's culture are their legends, clothing and cuisine. Let's get to know them.

Soon the fairy tale will tell...

There is no people without fairy tales and legends. The Bashkirs also have a lot of them: from the large-scale poetic epic “Ural Batyr” to short fables about miracles and ingenuity. Legends are also told about where the Bashkirs themselves came from. “In ancient times, our ancestors wandered from one area to another. One day they came across a pack of wolves. The wolf leader separated from the pack, stood in front of the nomadic caravan and led it further. Our ancestors followed the wolf for a long time until they reached a fertile land, abundant in rich meadows, pastures and forests teeming with animals. And the dazzlingly sparkling marvelous mountains here reached the clouds. Having reached them, the leader stopped. After consulting among themselves, the elders decided: “We will not find a land more beautiful than this. There is nothing like it in the whole wide world. Let us stop here and make it our camp.” And they began to live on this land, the beauty and wealth of which has no equal. They set up yurts, began to hunt and raise livestock. Since then, our ancestors began to be called “Bashkorttar”, i.e. people who came for the main wolf. Previously, the wolf was called "Kort". Bash kort means “head wolf”. This is where the word “Bashkort” - “Bashkir” came from.

Bashkir at his house (Yahya). Photo by S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky, 1910

In Bashkir fairy tales, frisky magical horses gallop, daring warriors jokingly crush mountains and reach the sun with arrows, cunning poor people defeat greedy warriors. Where the Ural Mountains came from and why there are so many lakes around them - ancient storytellers knew everything. However, until now, hardly half of the Bashkir legends have been translated into Russian.

Feast on the mountain

Since ancient times, the Bashkirs were engaged in cattle breeding, and if there was a forest nearby, then beekeeping. Therefore, in almost all dishes national cuisine There is meat, preferably lamb or horse meat, and most sweets and drinks are made with honey. Traditional Bashkir food is very filling; boiled pieces of dough are added to the meat. different forms or potatoes. Milk products occupy an important place: katyk, ayran, kumys, korot (salted cottage cheese).

Ayran Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

There is practically no place to try traditional dishes of Bashkir cuisine in Chelyabinsk, but most of them can be prepared at home. At the same time, the housewife will not have to rack her brains over what to serve for the first course and what for the second: many Bashkir dishes are “universal”. For example, for kullama, the flesh of lamb or beef, cut into small pieces, is separately boiled with seasonings, then the dough is kneaded from flour, salted water and eggs, divided into small balls (salma) and boiled in the finished broth. When serving, pieces of meat and salma are placed on each plate and filled with broth. This dish will successfully replace the usual soup and side dishes combined.

But if your soul requires a more substantial meal, you can cook shurpa (the same kullama, only with potatoes) for the first course, and meat stuffed with eggs for the second course. It is prepared like this: beef tenderloin is stripped of tendons, cut on one side in the form of a bag and stuffed with hard-boiled eggs. The hole is sewn up, the meat is sprinkled with salt and pepper and fried in a frying pan, brought to readiness in the oven, periodically pouring over the released juice and fat.

Balish Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Next - tea. It should be strong, aromatic (you can add leaves to the brew black currant and strawberries) and always with milk. Baursaks (pieces of dough fried in oil) or various belishi (pies) are served with tea.

They meet you by their clothes

The national clothing of the Bashkirs is multi-layered: under the thick outer robe it was necessary to wear several thinner ones. Women's outerwear could be fitted, but a belt - with a forged buckle and various decorations - was reserved only for men. The headdresses were made of felt and fur and richly embroidered, and the younger the person, the brighter the colors could be. Where there was a lot of livestock, almost everyone could afford leather shoes. Among the decorations, Bashkir women especially loved silver and coral - they traded them with eastern merchants for honey and furs. The light metal was credited with the ability to ward off evil spirits, so the costume included many noisy silver pendants. There was even a proverb that a Bashkir woman can first be heard, then seen. Corals were associated with fertility and wealth and were considered a mandatory gift from the groom to the bride before the wedding.

Bashkirs. Painting by M. Bukar, 1872 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Now that most Bashkirs live in cities, the national costume in its traditional form can only be seen during performances of dance groups. However, the same can be said about almost all the peoples inhabiting our country, so there is nothing unusual about this.