The Tartarian Empire
Inventing a modern lost civilization
Hidden continents and lost civilizations formed a staple of science fiction and fantasy stories in the late 19th and early 20th century. One famous example The Lost World, a novel penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912 that details an expedition to a basin in the Amazon rainforest where prehistoric animals survive and thrive. These sorts of tales had common threads. Lands existed that were untouched by the modern world These places often had races of people using previously unknown advanced technologies and animals belonging to species once thought to be extinct. Such tales are appealing because of the thrill of solving a mystery or rewriting history.
Such tales of lost continents and lost civilizations seemingly vanished as the 20th century progressed. Advances in technology allowed us to make more accurate maps that torpedoed the idea an advanced race of people could exist in an untouched land hidden from the outside world. Those tales simply adapted and have reemerged in new forms in the digital age.
A prime example of modern lost or hidden advanced civilization folklore thriving in the digital age is the story of Tartaria or the Tartarian Empire.
A Lost Empire
The Tartarian Empire was an alleged technologically advanced nation claimed to have existed in Central Asia until the early 20th century. This Tartatia was allegedly responsible for influencing Western architecture up through World War I. Proponents of Tartaria's existence point to ornate buildings as evidence. Buildings ranging from the original New York Penn Station to the White House were allegedly constructed by Tartarians using Tartarian designs.
Conspiracy theorists allege that the Tartarian Empire was destroyed by a mud flood and that evidence of its existence was wiped out through bombing campaigns carried out in World War I and World War II. Then history books were altered around the world, erasing knowledge of Tartarians and their advanced technology out of jealousy of their accomplishments that exceeded those of rival nations.
Proponents of these theories point to similarities in popular 19th century architectural designs found throughout the world. They also cite photographs from the early 20th century which allegedly show deserted city streets in many capital cities across the world as evidence of the global mud flood that destroyed Tartaria.
Tartaria Lives
The true origin of Tartaria comes from 20th century Russian nationalist propaganda. Great Tartaria was, according to these nationalist screeds, Russia’s true name that had been ignored and suppressed outside of Russia by the West. The Russian Geographical Society debunked claims that Russia was ever called Tartaria or Great Tartaria in its history.
That hasn't stopped folklore of Tartaria from persisting well into the 21st century. Videos on YouTube and Tik Tok have popularized the notion Tartaria once existed, despite a pointed lack of historical evidence ever supporting the claims that any such advanced civilization existed in Central Asia in recorded history. In a way, the Tartarian Empire is a repackaging of and modern successor to the myth of the lost city of Atlantis from Greek history.
Our fascination with uncovering lost or hidden civilizations means that Tartaria will continue to live on in some form for future generations.
Check out the Strange New Worlds archives for previous Folklore Friday features. If you have a specific urban legend, myth, or piece of folklore you want me to write about in the future, feel free to let me know in the comments.
"The Russian Geographical Society debunked claims that Russia was ever called Tartaria or Great Tartaria in its history."
There's a CIA doc on this erasure. The State continually erases cultures and other States when it wins. Tartaria is of course overblown, but to pretend it never existed, when its all over in maps and the historical evidence, is just as incorrect.
Look at the Moors as yet another example of a people being entirely erased, along with their culture, especially in the USA and India. The problem imo is that historical groups are sandboxed into being a controlled psyop that we only look at through our lens of global domination, when it was likely more pluralistic.