History of the volga region tatars' conversion to christianity in xviii -xix centuries

Abstract

© Serials Publications.The relevance of the problem under study is based on the fact that, although the history of the Tatars' Christianization is described in more than ten scientific, historical and publicistic works, it hasn't still been scientifically interpreted. In addition, in recent years the appearance of an independent nation of the Kryashens has been discussed, which keeps the problem relevant up to date. The purpose of this article is to examine the features of the Christianization which was forcible baptizing of the Muslim Tatars in the Middle Volga region beginning with the reign of Peter the Great and to the end of the 19th century, the time of Ilminskiy's research work. The leading approach to the study of this problem is a system approach. This work widely uses the method of unity of the historical and logical study of processes in the past. In this article we have examined the background and the main stages of Christianization and found that if in the 16th century the Christianization of the Tatars was carried out using economic methods, in the 18th century the Christianization of the Tatars had the form of forcible baptism and was large - scale. The article also studies the problem of an attempt to individualize an independent nation of the Kryashens. Based on the analysis of historical sources, the authors have come to the conclusion that this problem has no scientific basis, because the modern "Kryashens" are the result of forcible Christianization of a part of the Tatar population, consequently, they are an integral part of the Tatar nation.