Keturiasdešimt Totorių (literally: ''Forty Tatars'', tt-Cyrl, Кырык Татар, ''Kyryk Tatar'') is a village in

Vilnius District Municipality Vilnius District Municipality ( lt, Vilniaus rajono savivaldybė) is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It surrounds the capital city of Vilnius on 3 sides, while the rest borders the Trakai District Municipality. At the 2011 Census, Poles a ...

, Pagiriai Eldership, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 451. There is a

wooden mosque The Wooden Mosque ( fa, مسجد چوبی) is a unique mosque situated south-east of the city of Nishapur, Iran. This mosque, built completely of wood, is one of the tourist attractions of the county of Nishapur and is situated inside a garden ...

, built in 1815, three historic Tatar cemeteries and Tatar community center in the village.

History

Keturiasdešimt Totorių is one of the oldest Lithuanian Tatars settlements in the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

. After a successful military campaign to

Crimean Peninsula Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

in 1397,

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

brought the first

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

prisoners of war to

Trakai Trakai (; see names section for alternative and historic names) is a historic town and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. ...

and various places in the

Duchy of Trakai Duchy of Trakai was a subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 14th and early 15th centuries. The Duke of Trakai was an important position held either by the Grand Duke of Lithuania himself or his second-in-command. History After th ...

, including localities near

Vokė The Vokė is a river in south-east Lithuania. It is a left tributary of Neris. Vokė flows from Papis Lake, near Merkys. References

Rivers of Lithuania {{Lithuania-river-stub ...

river just south of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. The first mosque in this village was mentioned for the first time in 1558. It was burnt down during

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. There were 42 Tatar families in the village in 1630. As of 2016, there are around 120

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

living in this village. The rest of the population are Lithuanians,

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and others. Around a third of the population are Muslim. The other localities in

Vilnius district municipality Vilnius District Municipality ( lt, Vilniaus rajono savivaldybė) is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It surrounds the capital city of Vilnius on 3 sides, while the rest borders the Trakai District Municipality. At the 2011 Census, Poles a ...

with sizeable Lithuanian Tatars presence are Nemėžis and Pagiriai. In 2019, a book ''The Village of Forty Tatars – Between History and the Present'' was published.

Name meaning

According to a legend, which explains the name of this village,

granted Tatars the privilege of keeping their religion and customs, including the customary polygamy. One Tatar man had four wives and every wife gave birth to ten sons, thus the name of the village – "Forty Tatars".Vilniaus rajonas Vilnijos Vartai: Pagirių seniūnija, Keturiasdešimt Totorių
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keturiasdesimt Totoriu Villages in Vilnius County Vilnius District Municipality