Bashkirs

The Bashkirs (UK: bash-KEERZ, US: bahsh-KEERZ) or Bashkorts (Bashkir: Башҡорттар, romanized: Başqorttar, pronounced [bɑʂ.qʊɾt.ˈtaɾ]; Russian: Башкиры, pronounced [bɐʂˈkʲirɨ]) are a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Russia. They are concentrated in Bashkortostan, a republic of the Russian Federation and in the broader historical region of Badzhgard, which spans both sides of the Ural Mountains, where Eastern Europe meets North Asia. Smaller communities of Bashkirs also live in the Republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, the oblasts of Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, and other regions in Russia; sizeable minorities exist in Kazakhstan. Most Bashkirs speak the Bashkir language, which is similar to the Tatar, Kazakh and Kyrgyz languages. The Bashkir language belongs to the Kipchak branch of Turkic languages; they share historical and cultural affinities with the broader Turkic peoples. Bashkirs are mainly Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school madhhab, or school of jurisprudence, and follow the Jadid doctrine. Previously nomadic and fiercely independent, the Bashkirs gradually came under Russian rule beginning in the 16th century; they have since played a major role through the history of Russia, culminating in their autonomous status within the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia.