The Factors of Western Siberian Turkic Population Consolidation inthe XV-XVI centuries
The work is implemented as a part of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science Task, project № 33.1684.2014/К
There have been several factors which influenced the process of gathering of the Turkic-speaking population of the Western Siberia into a unified ethnos. A significant role in this process belongs to the very length of the migration process. For example, in the Tara Irtysh region the first groups of population which we associate with the process of the formation of the Siberian Tatars belong to the end of the IX century, when the last settlers came to this territory in XV-XVI centuries.
Not less important factors of consolidation were the weather and geographical position of the territories the migrants occupied, first of all, river valleys – the Ob, the Irtysh, the Ishym, etc. These regions are separated by heavy-going moors, which significantly complicated the development of social and economic relationships between different groups.
Also important was the direction of migration, which varied from the south-eastern one, from Altay, to the western one, from the Volga region. Among the whole massive of the Siberian Tatars we can presently note down some groups of population with their peculiar material and spiritual culture, their own dialect, ways of household running, etc.
After the conquest of the Western Siberia by the Russian state there started a new period of the consolidation of the Turkic-speaking population of this region, which has resulted in the formation of the Siberian Tatars.