Mashanov М.А. and His Contribution to the Studies of the History and Ethnography of Turkic and Finno-Ugric Peoples of the Middle Volga Region and Cisural Area (1852–1924)

The issues of inter-ethnic and inter-confessional relations have always attracted the attention of researchers. The given paper is aimed at studying the life and activity of a missionary, a scientist and a lecturer of the missionary anti-Muslim department of the Kazan Theological Academy Mikhail Aleksandrovich Mashanov; his contribution to the investigation of the history, ethnography, language and culture of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples of the Middle Volga region and Cisural area in the second half of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries; the examination and development of the problems of Islam and Christianity in Russia and Middle East. The authors explored the missionary and social activity of Mashanov who played an important role in the process of Christianization and Russification of the non-Russian peoples in the Volga region and Cisural area. The research reviews the scientist's contribution to the education of the Tatars, Chuvash, Maris, Udmurts and Mordvins as members of the orthodox organization, the Brotherhood of St. Gurias; analyzes the scientific works and Mashanov's contribution to historico-confessional and ethno-political study of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia and the Republic of Tatarstan in the second part of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the preservation and development of the languages, the formation of national education. The authors managed to find out and collect a huge number of various (historical, linguistic, ethnographic) materials about the Tatars, Maris, Chuvash, Udmurts, Mordvins, which are of great importance while investigating the roots of modern international and inter-confessional relations in the Republic of Tatarstan and the Russian Federation. The paper findings may be useful for researches who deal with the missionary policy and modern ethno-political processes in the Russian Federation.