Zabolotnie Tatars


Zabolotnie Tatars are a subgroup of the Tobol-Irtysh group of Siberian Tatars. They live in the North-West parts of the Tobolsky District, Tyumen Oblast, mainly in the Achir and Laytamak rural settlements.
Zabolotnie Tatars traditionally practiced hunting and fishing.

Origins

Their traditional areas of settlement are separated from Tobolsk, the Russian and Siberian Tatar settlements by Irtysh River, by impassable swamps which is the reason for their name in the Russian language. This separation also helped them to preserve some elements of their traditional culture, which has been lost by other Siberian groups.

Groups

They are divided into three local sub-groups:Yaskolba TatarsKoshuk TatarsTabara Tatars.

Genetics

Eight Y-DNA haplotypes were detected among Zabolotnie Tatars. A research found that 62 % of Zabolotnie Tatar males belong to N1b-P43, following by N1c-LLYY22 10 % and N-M231 10 %. Other, less widespread haplogroups are O3-M122 4 %, R1b1-M73 4 %, J2b-M12 2 %, R1a-M198 1 %, L2-M317 1%. Other haplogroups accounted for additional 6 %.
The closest populations to Zabolotnie Tatars are Khanty, Mansi and forest Nenets people, and just a little bit more distant, but also very close, are the Khakas, Shor and Altai people. Because of that geneticists are making conclusion about genetic contribution of Ugric and Samoyedic peoples to the gene pool of Zabolotnie Tatars. It is the high percentage of the haplogroup N1c2b that connects Zabolotnie Tatars to the peoples of the Arctic and South Siberia. It is probably the common heritage of ancient populations of North Eurasia.

Language

The Zabolotnie Tatars speak Zabolotnie, a variant of the Tobol-Irtysh dialect of the Siberian Tatar language. It differs from other forms of Siberian Tatar as it also uses letter f, which lacks in other Siberian Tatar dialects.