Usergan Tavarikhy (‘History of the Usergan’): One Bashkir Manuscript Reviewed

Abstract

Introduction. Bashkortostan is one of Russia’s major center of Arabic-script publications and manuscripts. The latter include quite a number of handwritten documents that contain valuable material on the history of the region. The article examines one of such texts — an understudied historical document titled ‘Usergan Tavarikhy’. Goals. The work aims to provide a brief review of the manuscript’s content and focuses on data directly related to Bashkir history. Materials. The paper analyzes one anonymous Arabic-script Turki-language manuscript of Usergan Tavarikhy stored at Ufa Federal Research Centre (Scientific Library, Rare Book Section). Results. The anonymous source proves quite rich in material describing most important periods in the history of the region. The author tends to focus on external factors that had had their impacts on Bashkir history, such as the spread of Islam, Mongol invasion and embassy to Genghis Khan, relations with Nogais under the rule of the Nogai Horde, and the beginnings of Russia’s period. The document begins with legends about saints and prophets. A significant part of the manuscript deals with genealogies of the Golden Horde rulers introduced in the form of diagrams and supplemented with comments. Conclusions. The Usergan Tavarikhy manuscript is certainly a valuable historical source that examines not only the past of Bashkirs but rather covers far more extensive geographic areas. And despite the document is widely known as ‘tawarikh’, its content makes it closer to the historical and functional genre of tarikhname.