Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar / ????????; sometimes spelled Tartars) are a Turkic speaking people; numbering around 7 million. The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation; with a population of 5.5 million; 2 million of which live in the Republic of Tatarstan; 1 million in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the other 2.5 million in different regions of Russia. Significant minority populations are found in Poland; Lithuania; Belarus; Ukraine and countries of Central Asia.

The Tatars originated with the Tatar confederation in the north-eastern Gobi desert in the 5th century. After subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans; they migrated southward. In the 13th century; they were subjugated by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan; they moved westwards; forming part of the Golden Horde which dominated the Eurasian steppe during the 14th and 15th centuries. In Europe; they were assimilated by the local populations or their name spread to the conquered peoples: Kipchaks; Kimaks and others; and elsewhere with Uralic-speaking peoples; as well as with remnants of the ancient Greek colonies in the Crimea and Caucasians in the Caucasus.

Siberian Tatars are survivors of the Turkic population of the Ural-Altaic region; mixed to some extent with the speakers of Uralic languages; as well as with Mongols.

The three ethnic descendants of the 13th-century westward migration are Volga Tatars; Lipka Tatars and Crimean Tatars; most of whom adopted Islam in the medieval period.