Volga Bulgars

Abstract: This study discusses the considerable efforts carried out by Volga Bulgaria in its endeavour to
establish resolute relations with Baghdad nnder the Abbasid Caliphate. The study employs a historical
approach that involves systematic organization and assessment of data from past writings such as records from
Ibn Fadlan. Data collection involved the qualitative method including library research while data were analysed
through text and docwnent analysis comparison as well as induction and deduction. The objective of this study
is to effectuate an Islamic state. The study fmmd that the relations between Baghdad and Volga Bulgaria had
a positive impact on the development of Volga Bulgaria as an Islamic state and propelled a momentlllll for it to
attain its zenith in the history of Islam in Central Asia. However, this high point did not last as a result of a
series of attacks by the Mongols in the early 1230 A. C. which ultimately led to its conquest by former in 1236.

En el año 922, un emisario del califa de Bagdad se encontró con un grupo de comerciantes vikingos en el curso alto del Volga. Como parte de su misión diplomática, Ahmad Ibn Fadlan recogió por escrito todo lo que observó y vivió durante su viaje, describiendo lo más fielmente posible las costumbres de diversos pueblos como los saqaliba y los jázaros. En el caso de los vikingos, Ibn Fadlan nos habla de su religión y de otros aspectos de su cultura, además de ofrecer el único testimonio directo de un funeral vikingo y sus rituales, como, por ejemplo, la presencia del denominado “ángel de la muerte”, la realización de sacrificios humanos y la cremación de un barco. El relato de Ibn Fadlan es uno de los primeros testimonios escritos sobre los vikingos y sus costumbres, así como del impacto que estos causaron tanto en Europa como en Asia.

Publicación completamente gratuita.

This is a longer version of the script written for the Youtube Channel "Kings and Generals," and their video and podcast biography on Subutai. The author gives thanks to Stephen Pow and Norman Schlimmer for their kind assistance, comments and sources provided.

Bulgar diye anılan boylar birlikteliğinin oluşumunda ve Magna (Büyük) Bulgar ile Tuna Bulgar devletlerinin kurucu unsurları arasında yer alan Onogurlar, Oğuzların kardeşi ve batı kolu olan Ogurlara mensup idiler. Avrupa Hun Devleti’nin yıkılış sürecinde Onogurlar başta olmak üzere Ogur boyları kolayca Karadeniz’in kuzeyin- deki bozkırlara yayıldılar. Onogurlar, Macarlarla beraber Hazar Bozkırı’ndan geçip Kafkaslar’a Kuban Bozkırı’na göçtüler. Onogurlar, Ugor-Macarlara siyasi, askeri ve kültürel bakımdan tesir etmişler, onları da kendileriyle beraber güneye sürükle- mişlerdir. Orta Asya’dan Doğu Avrupa coğrafyasına göç eden Ogurların yaşadıkları yerler İtil Nehri ile Karadeniz arasındaki bozkır bölgesinde Hazar Denizi’nin kuzey- batı kıyısında ve Kuban Nehri civarındaydı. Onogurlar Karadeniz’in kuzeyindeki ticarette rol oynamışlardır. Doğu Romalıların tahminen VII. yüzyılda başladıkları misyonerlik faaliyetleri sonucunda Onogurlar arasında Hristiyanlık yayılmaya baş- lamıştır. Bunun sonucunda Onogur Piskoposluğu dahi tesis edilmiştir. Onogurlar, yaşadıkları sahalarda askeri ve siyasi olarak değil, ticari yönleri ve şehirler kuracak sosyo-kültürel birikimleriyle dikkat çekmişlerdir.
Tarih Dergisi, Sayı 65 (2017 / 1), İstanbul 2017, s. 1-18

COMPOSITION OF BULGARIA AND THE POSITION OF
ONOGURES ON THE COURSE OF THE BULGARIAN STATES
The Onogures, the brother of the Oguz, and the Ogur, the west line, were among
the founding elements of the Bulgarian union called the Bulgarians and the founders of the Magna (Great) Bulgarian and Danube Bulgarian states .In the process of
the collapse of the European Hun State, Onogures, especially Ogur, spread easily
to the steppes in the north of the Black Sea.The Onogurs, together with the Hungarians, passed through the Caspian Steppe and emigrated to the Kuban Steppes in
the Caucasus. Onogurs , Ugor-Hungarian political, military and cultural influence,
they have dragged them along with them to the south. The places where the Ogur
migrated from Central Asia to Eastern Europe were located on the north-west coast
of the Caspian Sea and near the Kuban River in the steppe region between the Itil
River and the Black Sea. The Onogurans played a role in the trade in the north of
the Black Sea. As estimated, the Eastern Romans in VIIth century, as a result of the
missionary activities they started in the century, Christianity began to spread among
Onogurlar. As a result, even the bishop of Onogur was established. The Onogurs
attracted attention not only military and politically, but also their commercial aspects
and their socio-cultural accumulation in cities

Рахно К.Ю. Небесные битвы в булгарской мифологии // Традиционная культура народов Поволжья:  материалы  III  Всероссийской научно-практической конференции с международным участием (9-11 февраля 2016 г.): в 2 ч. – Казань: Ихлас, 2016. – Часть вторая. – С. 99-108.

Рахно К.Ю. Великаны: страничка из эпоса волжских булгар // «Джангар» и эпические традиции тюрко-монгольских народов: проблемы сохранения и исследования. Материалы III Международной научной конференции (г. Элиста, 15–16 сентября 2016 г.). – Элиста: КИГИ РАН, 2016. – С. 213-216.

The work considers well-known plot from The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu, about the ruler of some barbarous nation – Qetrades (Ketrades). The author refers to information about John’s life and explores the information considering his awareness on the matter. The work presents an analysis of historiography on the relationship between historical characters, recorded by various medieval authors.
The author concludes that the information about the upbringing of Qetrades by the Byzantine royal court and also his baptism, known only from The Chronicle of John, has been mistakenly brought on Kubrat – The Ruler of Great Bulgaria on the basis of a mistranslation and questionable historical interpretation.

Данная работа рассматривает известный сюжет из Хроники Иоанна Никиусского о правителе некоего варварского народа Кетрадесе. Автор приводит сведения о жизни Иоанна, изучает сведения о его информированности. В статье приведен анализ историографии по вопросу о соотношении исторических персонажей, зафиксированных у различных средневековых авторов.
Автором сделан вывод о том, что информация о воспитании при византийском дворе и крещении Кетрадеса, известная только из пассажа Хроники Иоанна Никиусского, была перенесена на Кубрата – правителя Великой Болгарии лишь на основании неточного перевода и сомнительной исторической интерпретации.

The paper is devoted to a large group of Turkic-speaking Bulgarians who migrated to Bavaria, Carinthia and Italy in the 7th century. The author cites information from written sources about the Bulgarians led by Alzek and considers the correlation of these data with modern archaeological data.

Статья посвящена большой группе тюркоязычных болгар, мигрировавшей в VII веке в Баварию, Карантанию и Италию. Автор приводит сведения письменных источников о болгарах, предводительствуемых Алзеком, и рассматривает корреляцию этих сведений с современными археологическими данными.

The article is devoted to one of the parts of the Turkic speaking Bulgarian people, who migrated to Western Europe in the VII century. The author presents the information of the written sources on Bulgarians led by Alzec and considers the correlation of the data with the modem archaeological views.

ONE EXAMPLE FROM THE ARCHTECTURAL HISTORY OF THE VOLGA BULGARIA

The article is on the unconsidered in our medievalism issue about the representative architecture in the Volga Bulgaria, the monumental luxury construction in Bolghar in the times of the Golden Horde, the attempts it to be defined and recognized as archaic analog of the past monuments of the pagan Danubian Bulgaria. Different examples from written and archeological sources are given. The approved concept is that the analytical approach should reflect as a priority on the variety, stemming from context, confession and historical events rather than on the intentionally postulated unity based on common origin and other non-scientific comparisons.

It's just a limited view of what happened a couple of centuries before Moscow could boast its  dignity of capital city. I tried to depict the circumstances and the events and the people who might have been grumbling upon creating a new absolutistic state in the Russian Plain even before the Tatars invaded the region.

La storia dei Bulgari del Volga effettivamente inizia con la "consacrazione càzara" di Almyš a illetver (viceré) del kaghan càzaro di Itil e la presa in consegna presso la corte del kaghan ora spostatasi dal Terek sul delta del Volga per convenienza, di un paio di figlie bulgare a mo' di pegni-ostaggi per il patto appena stipulato. Il controllo del grande fiume resta così assicurato con le entrate dei vari balzelli e il kaghan può investire più risorse nella sicurezza, ad esempio studiando l'esistenza di un esercito minimo permanente a Itil. Allo stesso scopo magari permetterà misure analoghe, ma minori, anche ai bulgari del Volga.

The work collected historiography of Great Bulgaria, studied ancient written sources. The hypothesis about the upbringing of Kubrat in the Byzantine court and acceptance of his baptism is rejected. The direction of the study of the history of the resettlement of Bulgarian population groups in Central and Western Europe has been determined.

Автор не находит достаточных оснований для недоверия известию Типографской летописи о нападении волжских булгар на Ярославль в начале 1150-х гг. и полагает, что это событие могло способствовать возникновению негативного образа булгар в Суздальской земле.

Статья посвящена анализу материалов Восточного отдела ОГПУ, содержащих информацию о деятельности в Поволжье мусульманской «секты» ваисовцев в первые постреволюционные годы. В ней  приводятся уникальные свидетельства и оценки этого явления, дается их трактовка и объяснение с учетом специфики деятельности самой «секты» и ОГПУ.

The Khazars, who played an active role politically, militarily and economically in the area stretching from the Aral to the Dnieper (Ozu) in the VII-X centuries, dominated a multi-ethnos arena. Peoples with different production styles lived in interaction under the Khaganate. Nomadic Bulgars, one of these peoples, started to adopt a settled lifestyle by getting rid of their nomadic traditions in the process. So much so that the traces of agriculture, which played the most important role in the transition to the settled life style, were recorded in the archaeological researches in the areas where the Proto Bulgars lived. In addition, their ability to build houses, which were shaped by the settled life style, their craft activities or the agricultural products they grew were also confirmed by the written sources of the period. In addition to the physical elements, human elements were also effective behind the Bulgars transition from nomadic to settled, from animal husbandry to farming. However, whatever the reason may be, this agricultural-based change in the lifestyles of the Bulgars has had a positive effect on their historical destinies.
Özet
VII-X. yüzyıllarda Aral’dan Özü’ye (Dnyeper) uzanan sahada politik, askeri ve ekonomik olarak aktif rol üstlenen Hazarlar, çok etnoslu bir arenaya hükmetmiştir. Farklı üretim biçimlerine sahip halklar, Kağanlık çatısı altında bir arada etkileşim halinde yaşamıştır. Bu halklardan biri olan konar göçer Bulgarlar, süreç içerisinde göçebe geleneklerinden sıyrılarak yerleşik yaşam tarzını benimsemeye başlamıştır. Yerleşik yaşam tarzına geçişte en mühim rolü ihtiva eden tarımın izleri, arkeolojik araştırmalar nezdinde Ön Bulgarların meskun olduğu sahalarda kaydedilmiştir. Bunun yanı sıra yerleşik yaşam tarzıyla birlikte şekillenen mesken inşa etme becerileri, zanaat faaliyetleri ya da yetiştirdikleri tarım ürünleri hakkında dönemin yazılı kaynakları da haberler aktarmıştır. Bulgarların konar göçerlikten yerleşikliğe, hayvancılıktan çiftçiliğe geçmesinin ardında fiziksel unsurlarının yanı sıra beşeri unsurlar da etkili olmuştur.  Fakat sebebi her ne olursa olsun Bulgarların yaşam tarzlarında tarım temelli gerçekleşen bu değişim, onların tarihi kaderlerinde olumlu bir etkiye sebebiyet vermiştir.