Nağaybäk

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Nağaybäk ([nʌɣɑɪbæk]; plural Nağaybäklär; Russian: Нагайбаки) are an indigenous people of Russia. The Nağaybäk language is a sub-dialect of Tatar language's Middle dialect. While the Nağaybäks identify themselves as a separate ethnic group, neighboring peoples, including Tatars, consider them to be Tatars.

The origins of the Nağaybäks are unclear. One theory places the Nağaybäks as an offshoot of the Nogais. Another theory is that they are Bashkirs once ruled by a beg (noble) named Nağay. Other accounts claim that they are tatarized Finno-Ugric people that kept the Kazan Khanate's borders. The most popular theory in Tatarstan is that they were Serving Tatars from Kazan Khanate that were forcibly baptized by Ivan IV and relocated to the border between nomad Bashkirs, that were already incorporated to Russia and nomad Kazakhs as border keepers.

The Nağaybäk adopted many Cossack traditions and sometimes are described as Tatar Cossacks. Traditional Nağaybäk female clothing is similar to that of the Keräşen Tatars, but male clothing contains many elements of the Cossack uniform.

In 1729, 25 Nağaybäk villages were mentioned in Keräşen of Ufa area, in Kazan darugha of Ufa uyezd. In 18th-19th centuries they served in the Ufa and Orenburg guberniyas.

Nağaybäk cavalry participated in the Napoleonic Wars and in the subsequent occupation of Paris. Returning to their native land, the veterans founded a village named Parizh, named after the French capital. Today, Parizh is an administrative centre of the Nagaybaksky District.

Today, most Nağaybäks live in the Nagaybaksky and Chebarkulsky Districts of Chelyabinsk Oblast. According to the 2002 census, there are 9,600 people living in Russia who identify themselves as being of Nağaybäk ethnicity. In 1926, there were 11,200 such people. The majority of Nağaybäklär are Orthodox Christians.