The Burtas are known from the 10th-century Arabic geographers as a people on the Volga between the Khazars and the Bulgars.
By 1200 their name has almost dropped from the sources: part of them may have merged with the Moksha (one theory derives the name Mordva from Burtas) and part with the Bulgars. They are drawn here on the forest-steppe Volga upland between the upper Sura and the Volga, from Penza to Syzran and Khvalynsk, as a Bulgar tributary land.
Who holds it
- Name
- none named
- Title
- Burtas communities
- Confidence
- high
A people of uncertain speech (Uralic, Turkic or Alanic are all proposed) placed by modern scholars in today's Penza, Ulyanovsk and Saratov regions (en.wikipedia Burtas). Nothing is known of their leaders in 1200.
Overlord
Once subject to the Khazars; later in the Bulgar sphere (not pinned for 1200).
How things stand that morning
Not pinned; drawn as a Bulgar tributary land. Across its borders: the Moksha and the Erzya to the north-west, Volga Bulgaria to the north-east, the Cumans on the steppe to the south and across the Volga.
Wealth
Furs, honey, cattle (the Arabic writers stress honey and furs).
Military
Not recorded.
Places of note
- Penza country: upper Sura
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Very thin for 1200; the people's identity itself is disputed.
On the map: A guess at where a fading people lived; treat the outline as indicative only.
Primary sources for Volga Bulgaria
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Laurentian Chronicle (the Suzdal continuation kept in the late 12th and 13th centuries; manuscript 1377). The court record of Vsevolod III of Vladimir. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.