Volga Bulgaria

Volga Bulgaria
late 9th century–1240s
Status	Vassals of the Khazars (late 9th century-969)[1]
Capital	Bolghar Bilär
Common languages	Bulgar
Religion	Tengrism, later Sunni Islam (after Almish Iltäbär)
Government	Monarchy
Ruler
• 9th century	Şilki
• 10th century	Almış, Ahmad, Mikaʾil, Abdallah, Talib, Muʾmin I, Muʾmin II, Shamgun
• 11th-13th centuries	Khaidar, Mukhammad, Saʾid, Baradz, Ibrahim, Otyak, Ghabdula Chelbir, Ilham Khan
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	late 9th century
• Conversion to Islam	922
• Conquered by the Mongols	1240s
Preceded by Succeeded by Old Great Bulgaria Mongol Empire
Today part of	Russia

Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate

Some scholars propose that the Bulgars may have been a branch or offshoot of the Huns or at least Huns seem to have been absorbed by the Bulgars after Dengizich's death.^[9] Others however, argue that the Huns continued under Ernak, becoming the Kutrigur and Utigur Hunno-Bulgars.^[10] These conclusions remain a topic of ongoing debate and controversy among scholars.

The

Volga Bulgaria adopted

The Rus' principalities to the west posed the only tangible military threat. In the 11th century, the country was devastated by several raids by other Rus'. Then, at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, the rulers of

From the beginning of the 13th century, the Volga Bulgars were subject to multiple raids from the East Slavic principalities as multiple skirmishes took place for control of the Unzha river which was an important commercial route. In 1220, the Grand Duke Yuri II of Vladimir captured Ustiug and besieged the important Bulgar town of Aşlı. The consequence of this was that Vladimir-Suzdal gained access to Volga Bulgaria's northern trade routes and hindered the means of the Bulgars acquiring fur.^[28] The

Volga Bulgar language was an Oghuric language. The only extant member of the Oghuric group that is still spoken today is the Chuvash language. The language persisted in the Volga region up until the 13th or 14th century. Although there is no direct evidence, some scholars believe it gave rise to modern Chuvash language^{[14][15][16][17]} while others support the idea that Chuvash is another distinct Oghur Turkic language.^[29]

Italian historian and philologist Igor de Rachewiltz noted a significant distinction of the Chuvash language from other Turkic languages. According to him, the Chuvash language does not share certain common characteristics with Turkic languages to such a degree that some scholars consider Chuvash as an independent branch from Turkic and Mongolic. The Turkic classification of Chuvash was seen as a compromise solution for classification purposes.^[30]

Definition of verbs in Volga Bulgar^[31][32]

Volga Bulgars left some inscriptions in tombstones. There are few surviving inscriptions in the Volga Bulgar language, as the language was primarily an oral language and the Volga Bulgars did not develop a writing system until much later in their history.^[33] After converting to Islam, some of these inscriptions were written using Arabic letters while the use of the Orkhon script continued. Mahmud al-Kashgari provides some information about the language of the Volga Bulgars, whom he refers to as Bulghars. Some scholars suggest Hunnic had strong ties with Bulgar and to modern Chuvash^[34] and classify this grouping as separate Hunno-Bulgar languages.^[35] However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable.^{[36][37][38][39]}

Numbers and Vocabulary in Volga Bulgar^{[32][31][40][41][42][43][44]}

Mahmud al-Kashgari also provides some examples of Volga Bulgar words, poems, and phrases in his dictionary.. However, Mahmud al-Kashgari himself wasn't a native speaker of Volga Bulgar. Despite its limitations, Mahmud al-Kashgari's work remains an important source of information about the Volga Bulgar language and its place within the broader Turkic language family.

Cases in Volga Bulgar^[31][32]

Coats of arms of Volga Bulgaria during Tsarist Russia

Ivan III was also called the "Prince of Bulgaria". The mention of the Bulgarian land has been present in the royal title since 1490. This refers to Volga Bulgaria.

Ivan by the grace of God is the sovereign of all Russia and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, and Moscow, and Novgorod, and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugra, and Prmsk, and Bolgar and others^[48]

It is known that the Bulgarian coat of arms figure was used to designate the Bulgarian Kingdom and in the Great Seal of Tsar John IV. The seal was a "lion walking" (which is confirmed by the seals of the Volga Bulgarians found by archaeologists). On the coats of arms and seals of the Russian tsars, the lands of Volga Bulgaria were represented on a green field by a silver walking lamb with a red banner divided by a silver cross; the shaft is gold.^[49] The erroneous perception of the beast on the Bulgarian coat of Arms in the Royal Titular as a lamb is explained by the poor quality of the reproduction of the image. In the "Historical Dictionary of Russian Sovereigns ..." by I. Nekhachin (ed. by A.Reshetnikov, 1793), the Bulgarian coat of arms is described as follows: "Bulgarian, in a blue field, a silver lamb wearing a red banner." Over time, the colour of the shield changed to green. In the Manifesto on the full coat of arms of the Empire (1800), the Bulgarian coat of arms is described as follows: "In a green field it has a white Lamb with a golden radiance near its head; in its right front paw it holds a Christian banner." The description of the coat of arms, approved in 1857: "The Bulgarian coat of arms: a silver lamb walking in a green field, with a scarlet banner, on which the cross is also silver; the shaft is gold."

• 
  Coat of arms of the Volga Bulgars on the great state seal of Ivan IV Grozny
• 
  Coat of arms of the Volga Bulgars on the great state seal of Ivan IV Grozny
• 
  Bulgarian Seal from the Great Seal of Ivan Grozny
• 
  Coat of arms of Volga Bulgaria 1672
• 
  Coat of arms of the Volga Bulgars. Tatarnikov K.V. Banners and coats of arms of the regiments of the Russian Army of the reigns of Catherine I and Peter II (1725-1730)
• 
  Coat of Arms of Bulgaria 1857
• 
  Coat of Arms of Bulgaria 1857
• 
  Coat of Arms of Volga Bulgaria
• 
  Coat of arms of Volga Bulgaria 1626
• 
  Upper right corner coat of arms of Volga Bulgaria
• 
  Coat of arms of Volga Bulgaria 1714

Demographics

A large part of the region's population included

According to some historians^[citation needed], over 80% of the country's population was killed^{[citation needed]} during the invasion. The remaining population mostly relocated to the northern areas^{[citation needed]} (territories of modern Chuvashia and Tatarstan). Some autonomous duchies appeared in those areas.

Over time, the cities of Volga Bulgaria were rebuilt and became trade and craft centres of the Golden Horde. Some Volga Bulgars, primarily masters and craftsmen, were forcibly moved to Sarai and other southern cities of the Golden Horde. Volga Bulgaria remained a centre of agriculture and handicraft.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

• 
  Volga Bulgaria in the Eurasian world of AD 1200
• 
  Adzes, Volga Bulgaria, 13-14 century
• 
  Pottery of Volga Bulgaria, 10-14 century
• 
  Necklaces, Volga Bulgaria, 10-14 century

See also

• Timeline of Turks (500-1300)
• Atil
• Balymer
• Khanate of Kazan
• Qol Ghali
• Battle of Samara Bend
• Tatars
• Old Great Bulgaria
• Huns

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Volga Bulgaria.

• Kropotkin, Peter Alexeivitch (1911). "Bulgaria, Eastern" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). p. 786.
• (in Russian) Bariev, R(iza) X. 2005. Волжские Булгары : история и культура (Volga Bulgars: History and Culture). Saint Petersburg: Agat.