The Tatars are a Turkic people living in Asia and Europe.

Tatars are one of the five major tribal confederations (khanlig) in the Mongolian plateau in the twelfth century.

The name "Tatar" is first recorded on the Kul Tigin monument as Old Turkic Otuz Tatar Bodun in CE.

732.After the establishment of the Mongol Empire, the Tatars are subjugated by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan.

Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan, they move westwards, driving with them many of the Turkic peoples toward the plains of Russia.

The "Tatar" clan still exists among the Mongols and Hazaras.Their name is used by Russians and Europeans to denote Mongols as well as Turkic peoples under Mongol rule (especially in the Golden Horde).

Later, it is used for any Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking people encountered by Russians.

Eventually however, the name sticks onto the Turkic Muslims of Ukraine and Russia, namely, the descendants of Muslim Volga Bulgars, Kipchaks, and Cumans, and Turkicized Mongols or Turko-Mongols (Nogais), as well as other Turkic-speaking peoples (Siberian Tatars, Qasim Tatars, Mishar Tatars) in the territory of the former Russian Empire (and as such generally includes all Northwestern Turkic-speaking peoples).

The Tatars form the Turkic-speaking population of Tartary, the lands ruled by Mongol elites from the fourteenth century until their conquest by the Russian Empire in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries.

The largest group by far that the Russians have called "Tatars" are the Volga Tatars, native to the Volga region (Tatarstan and Bashkortostan), who for this reason are often also simply known as "Tatars", with their language known as the Tatar language.

As of 2002 they have an estimated population close to six million.