Volga Bulgaria in the context of "Volga"

Old Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría), also often known by the Latin names Magna Bulgaria and Patria Onoguria ("Onogur land"), was a 7th-century Turkic nomadic empire formed by the Onogur-Bulgars on the western Pontic–Caspian steppe (modern southern Ukraine and southwest Russia). Great Bulgaria was originally centered between the Dniester and lower Volga.

The original capital was Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula between the Black and Azov seas. In the mid-7th century, Great Bulgaria expanded west to include Avar territory and was centered on Poltava. During the late 7th century, however, an Avar-Slavic alliance in the west, and Khazars in the east, defeated the Bulgars, and Great Bulgaria disintegrated. Successor states are the First Bulgarian Empire and Volga Bulgaria.

Bulgar (also known as Bulghar, Bolgar, or Bolghar) is the extinct Oghur Turkic language spoken by the Bulgars.

The name is derived from the Bulgars, a tribal association that established the Bulgar state known as Old Great Bulgaria in the mid-7th century, giving rise to the Danubian Bulgaria by the 680s. While the language initially went extinct in Danubian Bulgaria (in favour of Old Bulgarian), it persisted in Volga Bulgaria, but even there it was eventually replaced by the modern Chuvash language. Other than Chuvash, Bulgar is the only language to be definitively classified as an Oghur Turkic language.

The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars (Tatar: татарлар, romanized: tatarlar; Russian: татары, romanized: tatary) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of western Russia, and contains multiple subgroups. Tatars are the second-largest ethnic group in Russia after ethnic Russians. They are primarily found in Tatarstan, where they make up 53.6% of the population. Their native language is Tatar, and are primarily followers of Sunni Islam.

"Tatar" as an ethnonym has a very long and complicated history, and in the past was often used as an umbrella term for different Turkic and Mongolic tribes. Nowadays it mostly refers exclusively to Volga Tatars (known simply as "Tatars"; Tatarlar), who became its "ultimate bearers" after the founding of Tatar ASSR (1920–1990; now Tatarstan). The ethnogenesis of Volga-Ural Tatars is still debated, but their history is usually connected to the Kipchak-Tatars of Golden Horde (1242–1502), and also to its predecessor, Volga Bulgaria (900s–1200s), whose adoption of Islam is celebrated yearly in Tatarstan. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, ancestors of modern Tatars formed the Khanate of Kazan (1438–1552), which lost its independence to Russia after the Siege of Kazan in 1552.

In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea and the Sasanian Empire, via the Volga River. The Rus used this route to trade with Muslim countries on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, sometimes penetrating as far as Baghdad. The powerful Volga Bulgars (cousins of today's Balkan Bulgarians) formed a seminomadic confederation and traded through the Volga river with Viking people of Rus' and Scandinavia (Swedes, Danes, Norwegians) and with the southern Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) Furthermore, Volga Bulgaria, with its two cities Bulgar and Suvar east of what is today Moscow, traded with Russians and the fur-selling Ugrians. Chess was introduced to Medieval Rus via the Caspian-Volga trade routes from Persia and Arabia.

There was a second route from the Baltic Sea to the Dnieper, which ran along the Western Dvina (Daugava) between Lovat and Dnieper in the Smolensk region and along the Kasplya River to Gnezdovo. The Volga trade route functioned concurrently with the Dnieper trade route, better known as the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, and lost its importance in the 11th century.

From the 1220s to the 1240s, the Mongols conquered the Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania and Iranian state of Alania, and various principalities in Eastern Europe. Following this, they began their invasion into Central Europe by launching a two-pronged invasion of then-fragmented Poland, culminating in the Battle of Legnica (9 April 1241), and the Kingdom of Hungary, culminating in the Battle of Mohi (11 April 1241). Invasions were also launched into the Caucasus against the Kingdom of Georgia, the Chechens, the Ingush, and Circassia though they failed to fully subjugate the latter. More invasions were launched in Southeast Europe against Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Latin Empire. The operations were planned by General Subutai (1175–1248) and commanded by Batu Khan (c. 1207–1255) and Kadan (d. c. 1261), two grandsons of Genghis Khan. Their conquests integrated much of Eastern European territory into the empire of the Golden Horde. Warring European princes realized they had to cooperate in the face of a Mongol invasion, so local wars and conflicts were suspended in parts of central Europe, only to be resumed after the Mongols had withdrawn. After the initial invasions, subsequent raids and punitive expeditions continued into the late 13th century.

Melik, one of the princes from the Ögedei family who participated in the expedition, invaded the Transylvania region of the Hungarian kingdom, called Sasutsi in sources.

Batu Khan (c. 1205–1255) was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire established after Genghis Khan's demise. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus ruled over the Kievan Rus', Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, and the Caucasus for around 250 years.
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Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is a belief system originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on shamanism and animism. It generally involves the titular sky god Tengri. According to some scholars, adherents of Tengrism view the purpose of life as to be in harmony with the universe.

It was the prevailing religion of the Göktürk, Hun, Xianbei, Bulgar, Xiongnu, Yeniseian and Mongolic peoples, as well as the state religion of several medieval states such as the First Turkic Khaganate, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Old Great Bulgaria, the First Bulgarian Empire, Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria, and the Mongol Empire. In the Irk Bitig, a ninth century manuscript on divination, Tengri is mentioned as Türük Tängrisi (God of Turks). According to many academics, Tengrism was, and to some extent still is, a predominantly polytheistic religion based on the shamanistic concept of animism, and was first influenced by monotheism during the imperial period, especially by the 12th–13th centuries. Abdulkadir Inan argues that Yakut and Altai shamanism are not entirely equal to the ancient Turkic religion.

The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria during the medieval First (c. 681–1018) and Second (1185–1422) Bulgarian empires, as well as during the modern Principality (1879–1908) and Kingdom (1908–1946) of Bulgaria. This list includes monarchs from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire until modern times, omitting earlier mythical rulers as well as rulers of separate states such as Old Great Bulgaria and Volga Bulgaria.

Various titles have been used by the rulers of Bulgaria. The only recorded title, used before Bulgaria's conversion to Christianity, is kanasubigi, likely meaning "Khan, Lord of the Army" or "the sublime Khan". When Bulgaria converted to Christianity in the ninth century, the ruler Boris I (852–889) was using the title knyaz (prince). For much of its later history under the first and second empires, Bulgaria functioned as a multi-ethnic imperial state modelled on the neighbouring Byzantine Empire, which contributed to the adoption of the title of tsar (emperor) by Bulgarian monarchs beginning with Simeon I (893–927) in 913. Some powerful medieval Bulgarian rulers challenged Byzantine authority by proclaiming themselves as both Bulgarian and Roman emperors.

Sviatoslav I or Svyatoslav I Igorevich (Old East Slavic: Свѧтославъ Игорєвичь, romanized: Svętoslavŭ Igorevičǐ; Old Norse: Sveinald; c. 943 – 972) was Prince of Kiev from 945 until his death in 972. He is known for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers in Eastern Europe, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He conquered numerous East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgars, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars (Hungarians).

Following the death of his father Igor in 945, Sviatoslav's mother Olga reigned as regent in Kiev until 962. His decade-long reign over the Kievan Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic steppe, and the Balkans, leading him to carve out for himself the largest state in Europe. In 969, he moved his seat to Pereyaslavets on the Danube. In 970, he appointed his sons Yaropolk and Oleg as subordinate princes of Kiev and Drelinia, while he appointed Vladimir, his son by his housekeeper and servant Malusha, as the prince of Novgorod.