The Eushta Tatars (, ) are one of the three subgroups of Tom Tatar group of

Siberian Tatars Siberian Tatars () are the Indigenous peoples of Siberia, indigenous Turkic languages, Turkic-speaking population of the forests and steppes of southern Western Siberia, originating in areas stretching from somewhat east of the Ural Mountains to ...

. Eushta mainly inhabit the lower reaches of the Tom river in

Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited loca ...

. Their historical and cultural centre is the Eushta village. Eushta are especially closely related to Chat Tatars. Eushta Tatars consist of three sub-groups: Eushta, Basandai, Evaga.

History

Eushta are considered to be originally Samoyedic Selkup inhabitants of western

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, who were greatly influenced by

Turkic peoples Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members ...

and lately Turkicised. In the beginning there were migrations from Altai.

Yenisei Kyrgyz The Yenisei Kyrgyz () were an ancient Turkic people who dwelled along the upper Yenisei River in the southern portion of the Minusinsk Depression from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. The heart of their homeland was the forested T ...

and Tyolyos tribes formed a role in their ethnogenesis. In 9th and 10th centuries Kimeks arrived in the region, from which the

Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...

derived, who also had impact on Eushta Tatars. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Eushta were under the rule of the Sibir Khanate. When

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

first came into contact with the Eushta, they numbered around 800 people. Eushta Tatars adopted Islam at the middle of 19th century.

Genetics

According to Valikhova L.V. ''et al.'' (2022), the three main Y-DNA haplogroups that have been observed among a sample of Tatars from the village of Eushta are R1b1a1a1b-Y20768(xY20784) (35.3%), Q1b1b-YP4004 (17.6%), and R1a1a1b2-CTS9754 (14.7%). The authors have reported that these lineages among the Tatars of Eushta village are closely related to lineages observed among Teleut, Khakas, Shor, Chelkan, Tubalar, and Tuvan populations, all of which are Turkic-speaking populations of

South Central Siberia South Central Siberia is a geographical region in North Asia, just north of the meeting point between Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The Four Corners At approximately , the borders of Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan inters ...

.Valikhova L.V., Kharkov V.N., Volkov V.G., Khitrinskaya I.Yu., Stepanov V.A., "The structure of the gene pool of Tomsk Tatars according to Y-chromosome markers." ''Medical genetics edicinskaya genetika' 2022; 21(12): 33-35. (In Russ.)

References

Siberian Tatars Khanate of Sibir Tomsk Oblast {{Ethno-group-stub