Dubious History1

Rise and Fall of Tartaria

01 Jul 2022

The history of Tartary is certainly not very well known in the Western world. Some even go as far as to suggest that it was “scrubbed from history books” and “only remained on the old maps.”

But that is obviously not the case. There are many reports and first-hand accounts from travelers, diplomats, and merchants spanning centuries. In fact, the first maps which featured Tartaria didn’t start to appear until the 14th century - centuries after it was well-established in the literature.

Books that previously required access to the World’s best libraries can now be read in just a few clicks and for free. So let’s dive in!

Tartaria in Literature

European sources

Asian sources

Tartaria on Maps

Tartaria figured in countless of maps until the 19th century. But did you ever wonder when it started to appear?

Although the name Tartaria was already well established in the European literature (as we saw above), it wasn’t found on maps until the 14th century.

Before that, the European cartography was dominated by very symbolical T-O maps and later by Ptolemy’s Geography-inspired maps.

The areas associated with Central Asia and Far East were therefore labeled as Scythia, the controversial Serica, the mythical Hyperborea, but also as the legendary lands of Gog and Magog, or just simply Paradise.

The T-O maps like Cotton World Map (c. 1040), Ebstorf Map (c. 1235), Psalter World Map (c. 1260), or Hereford Mappa Mundi (c. 1300) do not mention Tartaria at all.

1375 - Catalan Atlas

To my knowledge, this is the first map which uses the word Tartaria. But not as a placemark - it is only mentioned in one inscription near the Caspian mountains:

The Caspian Mountains where Alexander saw trees so tall that their canopies touch the clouds. This is where he almost died had it not been for Satan who took him out of there using his arts. And with his stratagem he locked here the Tartarians Gog and Magog; and for them, he ordered made two metal images above described. Item he locked here many diverse races who don’t hesitate to eat all kinds of raw meat, and from this group will come the Antichrist and their end will be caused by the fire that will fall from the sky and will confound them. (Source)

This story references a story in literature genre known as Alexander romance, specifically the Gates of Alexander.

c.1450 - Borgia Mappa Mundi

The number of inscriptions referring to Tartaria slowly grows bigger:

Here dwell the Scythians, or poor Tartars, who sell their children and parents in the
markets just as cattle amongst Christians.

The great district of Tartary, which the Tartars traverse with their beasts of burden and cattle as long as there is grass. They construct their towns of many tents and skin.

Lower India in which is the City of Cathay, and the seat of the great Canis, Emperor of the Tartars.

One curious inscription, not found on other contemporary maps, references Scythian Queen Tomrys:

Here Tamaris, queen of the Scythians, slew Cyrus with 300,000.

(Source)

1455 - Pareto’s nautical chart

This map features a depiction of King of Tartars, but there’s no legend associated with the drawing.

However, there is a lengthy passage under the Tataria label. Interestingly, it is the longest legend on the entire map.

Here is a plain of Tartary where the Tartars have no home, that is to say neither city nor fortified place. But they have their homes in carts pulled by horses. They have no fixed place or sturdy houses because they find what they need to live in each spot they stop, and then they move on to other places. There are many different tribes among them, [each consisting of] from ten to forty carts, which travel from one place to another. And at certain times these tribes gather into one group with their carts at a designated place. They make streets and ways from the carts themselves, and make a circular barrier of them as if it were a city. No one may enter the city except through the gates and places prescribed. They do this to collect seeds and to hold a meeting. This gathering is called the horde. (Source)

1460 - Fra Mauro map

This revolutionary work of catrography combines portolan charts advancement, Ptolemy, and Biblical references but more importantly a plethora of new information from travel literature into a huge (2.5 m²) world map featuring hundreds of illustrations and thousands of inscriptions and fairly accurately charted coastlines. (most notably in the Mediterranean region)

Sadly, the two lengthy inscriptions near Tartaria label don’t actually say anything related to it. But Tartaria or Tartars are mentioned elsewhere. This inscription seems to be near Kandahar (today’s Afghanistan). Here, Fra Mauro retells a story from Marco Polo’s Travels:

In ancient days here ruled a lord known as The Old Man of the Mountain, who through his cunning had created a place full of every delight and pleasure. Here he brought men and fooled them into thinking it was paradise. Out of devotion to this lord, these men then committed great robbery and murder, which was the reason why a Tartar lord seized control of this place.

One note describes a tunnel, or a passageway, dug through the mountains to link Tartary and China:

This excavation in the mountains shown here on the left was made by the people of Cathay and the Tartars to shorten the route of the caravans that went into Cathay. It was dug entirely with the stonecutter’s chisel and is about twenty miles long and very dark. Thus, those inside have to shout and beat drums so that they can be heard by the other caravans coming in the opposite direction. They also do this to drive off the lions that sometimes go into the cave.

Interesting stuff. However, the Tartaria label is still not glooming over the entirety of Central Asia as it is on the later maps; it is placed near Black and Caspian seas.

Unlike many other map makers of the period, Fra Mauro disagrees with Marco Polo’s identification of biblical Gog and Magog with Ung and Mongul:

[…] But certainly this mistake is due to the way some force the Sacred Scriptures to mean what they want them to mean. So, I am not differing here from the authority of St. Augustine, who in his De Civitate Dei rejects all the opinions of those who claim that Gog and Magog are the peoples that will support the Antichrist. And Nicholas of Lyra agrees with this claim, explaining the two names by their Hebrew origin.

But still, he places lands of Gog and Magog on the map, north of Tenduc.

(Source)

1450-1460 - Catalan-Estense World Map

This Tartar king is great and powerful; he is called Bonsaiti [Abu Saïd(?)], and he is the king of the Tartars of Tarsia and of Persia. In his province there is an abundance of silk and of other goods, spices, and merchandise. This province was conquered by the Great Tartar, Tamerlane, and is called Theyomet. (Source)

1476 - Andrea Benincasa’s atlas

This emperor, who is called the Great Tartar, is so very powerful that he leads 400,000 horsemen and foot soldiers beyond number, and for that reason he always remains in the fields. (Source)

1497-1539 - Nautical charts of Conte di Ottomano Freducci

This emperor who is called the Great Tartar and the ruler of the countryside is very powerful: or when he orders it, two hundred thousand horsemen and a mass of foot soldiers without number are gathered together, but their habits are wild rather than urbane.
They have an ugly and repulsive visage, with wide faces and small eyes. Their houses and cities are wagons which are pulled by horses and cows, which they live in with their families. Their land is marshy.
From among these people and among other emperors came an extremely active man and very powerful who brought into his empire all of Greece, Turkey, both Armenias, Mesopotamia, the Chaldeans, Syria, Medea, Persia, and part of India, and he burned many cities, and he was called Tamerlane the Great.

This legend is a substantial expansion of a traditional nautical chart legend, without any apparent influence from previous maps, but sources can be easilly traced. The wagons or carts of Tartars are described by John of Plano Carpini, William of Rubruck, and Marco Polo. The detail about the wide faces and small eyes of the Tartars also occurs in a number of sources.

Carpini (ca. 1180-1252) in his Ystoria mongalorum, chapter 2, writes that

In appearance the Tartars are quite different from all other men, for they are broader than other people between the eyes and across the cheek-bones. Their cheeks also are rather prominent above their jaws; they have a flat and small nose, their eyes are little and their eyelids raised up to the eyebrows.

(Source)

1492 - Behaim’s Erdapfel globe

This is the first map (or rather globe) where Tartaria covers a significant portion of Central Asia. This label is used in more than 10 places and the name figures in two inscriptions:

The country towards midnight is ruled by the Emperor Mangu, khan of Tartary, who is a wealthy man of the great Emperor, the Master John of India. The wife of the great King is likewise a Christian.

Also, near Caspian Sea we read:

This is the country which the great Tamerlane brought into Tartaria.

(Source)

16th century

Tartaria on most of the maps from the second half of 16th century onwards continues to expand and incorporate all regions previously labeled as Scythia, Serica, Tangut/Tenduc, Ung, Organti, etc.

It is not to be found on the Cantino Planisphere (1502), but it figures on Caverio map (1505), Ruysch World Map (1507), and on Waldseemüller map (1507).

The first map that was focused directly on Tartaria seems to be Tartariae Sive Magni Chami Regni typus from c. 1584, but many more soon followed. These maps depict Tartaria in much more detail and mysterious names like Molgomzaia, Bargu, Baida, or Lukomorie start to appear (more on that below).

c.1584 - Tartariae Sive Magni Chami Regni typus

The text in the right-bottom vignette says:

This map contains the area of Tartaria, with the remaining part of East Asia to the Morning Ocean, subject to the great Khan whose might is bounded by the river Ob, Lake Kataia, the Volga, the Caspian Sea, the river Chesel, the mountains of Usson, the area of Tibet, the river Caromora and the Ocean.

In the far northeast of Tartary there is an inscription that translates to:

The Nephalites are named Neptali after one of the 10 tribes with a Hebrew name, and after the Danites, who by way of punishment were called the Danes of the dark North, and they were on account of the claims of Rachel Balbah placed to the side, in the area of the Hudores or Iehudeores; in the year 476 they were victorious in their battle against Perosa. Others call them incorrectly Euthalites.

In the center of Tartary is another tent, with an imposing figure exiting via the flap. The text says:

The great Khan (which in the language of the Tatars means emperor), the highest ruler of Asia.

In the east of Tartary:

Argon. Once there was in Asia a Christian kingdom, known to Prester John, and D. Thomas founded it in this place, so that it was in contact with the church of Rome, and was subjected to Rome through Prester John of Africa. Before it was defeated by the Goths, it was known as Crive Romove.

(Source)

But the map is just a part of whole atlas - Theatre of the World by Abraham Ortelius, which also includes a longer supporting text dedicated to Tartaria.

Parts of Tartaria can be also seen on Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae Descriptio from the same atlas.

In the seventeenth and eighteen centuries, the number of maps focused on Tartaria starts to grow bigger:

But although the maps give an impression of a lost empire with hundreds of lost cities, most of the toponyms are either geographical features like rivers and lakes, or easily identifiable placenames. But some still remain unidentified or controversial. Namely:

After the Russian conquest of Central Asia, maps initially labeled Central Asia as Russian Tartary, Chinese Tartary and Independent Tartary before they “disappeared” altogether under the ever-expanding Russian and Chinese borders.

Note: Mongols vs. Tartars vs. Tatars

The “original” Tatars were one of the most powerful and numerous nomadic tribes from Eastern Mongolia, who spoke in either Turkic or Mongolic language or both.

The 8th century inscriptions, erected in Orkhon valley by Göktürks, mentions Tatars among other tribes. After the Tatar confederation was formed, the word Tatar was used to refer to almost all of the tribes.

During the Liao dynasty (916-1125), a classification system developed which grouped the tribes into White Tatars, Black Tatars and Raw (or Wild) Tatars. Mostly based on how far from China they were and how primitive did Chinese consider them. Song dynasty records still used this system in the 1220s, refering to Genghis Khan as a Black Tatar.

It’s not certain where the name Mongol comes from, but it was Genghis who put it on the map. The Secret History of Mongols traces his ancestry to khans of Khamag Mongol, said to cease to exist shortly before his birth. It’s possible he was trying to bring back the glory of a “great Mongol state” which was dissolved by other clans in the Tatar conferedation. But it’s possible that the name is even older.

In fact, most of the texts where Mongol is preferred over Tatar are official histories commisioned by Mongols. And some European sources suggest the same:

Saint-Quentin: “…speaking of themselves, the same Tatars call themselves Mongli or Mongol.”

Rubruck: “Do not say our master is Christian; he is a [Mongol]… they have no desire to be called Christians, since they want to promote their own name [Mongol] above all others. Nor art they willing to be known as Tartars. The Tartars were a different people, of whom I was given the following account…”

And later: “But now on account of their frequent wars [the Tartars] have almost all been wiped out, and so the Mongols wish to abolish [the Tartar’s] name and bring their own to the fore.”

This recent (2019) paper by Stephen Pow goes into much more detail on this matter. I also highly recommend this video on The Jackmeister channel, which does a great job summarizing it to a layman.

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See also:

» Marco Polo's Toponyms [14 Nov 2022]

» Patagonian Giants [20 Mar 2021]

» Piri Reis Map (1513) [01 Jan 1513]