History of Tatarstan

History Of Tatarstan

Human habitation in Tatarstan dates back to the Palaeolithic period. Remains of several cultures of the Stone and Bronze Ages have been discovered within Tatarstan. During the Iron Age (8th c. BCE–3d c. CE), the Ananino culture, probably a Finno-Ugrian people, dominated the area of the upper Volga and Kama river valleys. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC western Tatarstan was occupied by the Gorodets culture.

From the 4th century BCE much of the Volga–Kama basin was occupied by tribes of the İmänkiskä culture, who are thought to have been related to the Scythians, speakers of one of the Indo-European languages. Around the beginning of the 1st century CE a new group, the so-called Pyanobor culture (probably of Finnic origin) appeared at the lower Kama.

During the great migrations of late antiquity Siberian Turkic and Ugric tribes settled the region east of the middle Volga and forced out the Pyanobor culture from the Kama basin. The Pyanobor tribes lingered on in what are now the north and north-western parts of Tatarstan.