Tatar PEOPLEWRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaSee Article HistoryAlternative Title: TartarTatar, also spelled Tartar, any member of several Turkic-speaking peoples that collectively numbered more than 5 million in the late 20th century and lived mainly in west-central Russia along the central course of the Volga River and its tributary, the Kama, and thence ea..