Kotrag was according to Nikephoros I of Constantinople a son of Kubrat of the

Dulo The Dulo clan was a ruling dynasty of the Bulgars. The origins of the Bulgars and Dulo clan are not known precisely, and there are many theories about their origin. It is generally considered that they – or at least the elite caste – were in ...

clan of

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

. Following the death of his father, he began to extend the influence of his Bulgars to the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

. He is remembered as the founder of

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...

Honour

Kotrag Nunatak Kotrag Nunatak (Nunatak Kotrag \'nu-na-tak ko-'trag\) is a conspicuous rocky peak of elevation 290 m projecting from Murgash Glacier, Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It was named after Khan Kotrag, founder of the Kin ...

Greenwich Island Greenwich Island (variant historical names ''Sartorius Island'', ''Berezina Island'') is an island long and from (average ) wide, lying between Robert Island and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Surface area . The name Greenwic ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Kotrag. * In the Republic of Chuvashia in the village of

Shemursha Shemursha (russian: Шемурша) is the name of two rural localities in Russia: *Shemursha, Chuvash Republic, a '' selo'' in the Chuvash Republic * Shemursha, Ulyanovsk Oblast, a ''selo'' in Ulyanovsk Oblast Ulyanovsk Oblast (russian: Улья ...

on June 12, 2022, a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

was erected to the founder of the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

Bulgaria - Kotrag

Name

The possible origin of the name of

khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

Kotrag from the Chuvash name ''Kătrak'' and ''Kătrashka'', which in translation means ''Curly'', a common pre-Christian name among the Chuvash. In the

Kipchak languages The Kipchak languages (also known as the Kypchak, Qypchaq, Qypshaq or the Northwestern Turkic languages) are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family spoken by approximately 28 million people in much of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, spannin ...

, the word ''Curly'' is translated as tat. Bodrә (''Бөдрә)'' on kaz.Buyra (''Бұйра)''. Perhaps the name Kotrag was given in honor of the great-grandfather

Kobrat Kobrat is a Finnish professional basketball team from Lapua. The team plays in Korisliiga, the highest tier of Finnish basketball. History The club was founded in 1989 as 'Lapuan Koripojat', shortly 'LaKoPo', but was renamed 'Korikobrat' in 2000. ...

, who also bore the name Kotrag in honor of whom the whole tribe of Kutrigurs was named. Procopius also recorded a genealogical legend according to which:

...in the old days many Huns, called then Cimmerians, inhabited the lands I mentioned already. They all had a single king. Once one of their kings had two sons: one called ''Uti oghur'' and another called ''Kutri oghur''. After their father's death they shared the power and gave their names to the subjected peoples, so that even nowadays some of them are called Utigurs and the others -
Kutrigurs Kutrigurs were Turkic Eurasian nomads, nomadic equestrians who flourished on the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the 6th century AD. To their east were the similar Utigurs and both possibly were closely related to the Bulgars. They warred with the Byza ...
.

Many researchers of Chuvash history note a common name before

christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

chuvash as ''Kutri'' ''( chu.Kăтри)'' - which means ''Curly'', perhaps this name is also reflected in Procopius.

Gallery

File:Monument to Kotrag 3.jpg, Opening of the monument to Khan Kotrag in the Chuvash Republic, the village of Shemursha, in memory of the founder of the Volga Bulgaria. July, 12. 2022 File:Monument to Kotrag 2.jpg, Monument to the founder of the Volga Bulgaria Khan Kotrag in the Chuvash Republic

References

Dulo clan {{Russia-hist-stub