Anton Salmin

Savirs - Bulgars - Chuvash Anton Salmin

In book analyzed the two main versions of the origins and formation of the Chuvash people ? the Savir and Bulgar hypotheses. The tribes of Eurasia were all connected with each other to one degree or another; yet each people travelled its own historical road. For the ancestors of the Chuvash the genetically nearest tribes and closest neighbours up until the middle of the first century AD were the Ugrians and Iranians, in the second to fifth centuries the Huns. After that came the Bulgars, Khazars, Eastern Finns, Tatars and Russians. Originally the Savirs were closest to the Ugrians and Iranians. According to the primary sources and in my own opinion, the Savir hypothesis is closest to the truth. Nevertheless the present-day Chuvash cannot be called direct descendants of the Savirs because their history, anthropology, traditional rites and beliefs as well as their language have to one extent or another absorbed components from all their historical neighbours.