Tartarian Empire#Conspiracy theory

The theory of Great Tartaria as a suppressed lost land or civilization originated in Russia, with aspects first appearing in Anatoly Fomenko's new chronology in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, and was then popularized by the racial occult history of Nikolai Levashov. In Russian pseudoscience, known for its nationalism, Tartaria is presented as the "real" name for Russia, which was maliciously "ignored" in the West.{{sfn|Gorshenina|2014|pp=462—463}}{{sfn|Gorshenina|2019|p=94}} The Russian Geographical Society has debunked the conspiracy theory as an extremist fantasy, and far from denying the existence of the term, has used the opportunity to share numerous maps of "Tartary" in its collection.{{Cite web |date=5 October 2020 |script-title=ru:Вся правда о Тартарии |title=Vsya pravda o Tartarii |trans-title=The whole truth about Tartary |url=https://www.rgo.ru/ru/article/vsya-pravda-o-tartarii |access-date=14 May 2022 |website=Русское географическое общество |language=ru}} Since about 2016, conspiracy theories about the supposed lost empire of "Tartaria" have gained popularity on the internet, divorced from its original Russian nationalist frame.{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Josie |date=14 January 2022 |title=Inside the wild architecture conspiracy theory gaining traction online |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/irl/14-01-2022/inside-the-wild-architecture-conspiracy-theory-gaining-traction-online |access-date=22 January 2022 |website=The Spinoff}}

File:Palace horticulture 01.jpg in 1915]]

The globalized version of the conspiracy theory is based on an alternative view of architectural history. Adherents propose that demolished buildings such as the Singer Building, the original New York Penn Station, and the temporary grounds of the 1915 World's Fair in San Francisco were actually the buildings of a vast empire based in Tartary that has been suppressed from history. Sumptuously styled Gilded Age buildings are often held out as really having been built by the supposed Tartaria. Other buildings, such as the Great Pyramids and the White House, are further held out as Tartarian constructions. The conspiracy theory only vaguely describes how such a supposedly advanced civilization, which had reputedly achieved world peace, could have fallen and been hidden. Proponents of the theory also frequently claim that Tartarians have developed unlimited wireless energy.

File:Derrumbe del cerro Chitaria en Costa Rica.png

In the conspiracy theory, the idea that a "mud flood" wiped out much of the world via depopulation and thus old buildings is common, supported by the fact that many buildings across the world have architectural elements like doors, windows, and archways submerged many feet below "ground level". Both World War I and II are cited as a way in which Tartaria was destroyed and hidden, reflecting the reality that the extensive bombing campaigns of World War II did destroy many historic buildings. The general evidence for the theory is that there are similar styles of building around the world, such as capitol buildings with domes, or star forts. Also, many photographs from the turn of the 20th century appear to show deserted city streets in many capital cities across the world. When people do start to appear in the photographs, there is a striking contrast between horse-and-cart users in the muddy streets and the elaborate, highly ornate stone mega-structures that tower above the inhabitants of the cities, which is seen even in modern cities where extreme poverty is contrasted with skyscrapers.

Zach Mortice, writing for Bloomberg, believes that the theory reflects a cultural discontent with modernism and a supposition that traditional styles are inherently good and modern styles are bad. He describes the theory as "the QAnon of architecture".{{Cite news|last=Mortice |first=Zach |date=April 2021 |title=Inside the 'Tartarian Empire,' the QAnon of Architecture |language=en |work=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-27/inside-architecture-s-wildest-conspiracy-theory |access-date=20 September 2021}} Moritz Maurer, a religious scholar, links Tartarian imagery to the "giant trees" theory, in which colossal, flat buttes are envisioned as the stumps of primordial "mother trees" cut down at some point in the past by unknown nefarious agents. Maurer attributes the lack of a clear narrative for both conspiracies to the image-based social media on which they are presented, describing it as "meme culture" and also comparing it to QAnon.{{cite journal |last1=Maurer |first1=Moritz |title=Conspirituality and meme culture: transgressive dynamics in right-wing esoteric social media discourse |journal=Religion |date=27 February 2024 |volume=55 |pages=43–66 |doi=10.1080/0048721X.2024.2317865 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0048721X.2024.2317865 |issn=0048-721X|url-access=subscription }}

• Ancient astronauts
• Anti-Normanism
• Chinese Tartary, an archaic geographical term
• Hyperborea, in Greek mythology, a mythical people in the far north of the world

{{Reflist|20em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Gorshenina |first=Svetlana |title=L'invention de l'Asie centrale : histoire du concept de la Tartarie à l'Eurasie |publisher=Droz |date=2014 |isbn=978-2600017886 |issn=2235-1353}}
• {{cite book |last=Gorshenina |first=Svetlana |script-title=ru:Изобретение концепта Средней / Центральной Азии: между наукой и геополитикой |title=Izobreteniye kontsepta Sredney / Tsentral'noy Azii: mezhdu naukoy i geopolitikoy |language=ru |trans-title=The invention of the concept of Middle / Central Asia: between science and geopolitics |url=https://centralasiaprogram.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/svetlana-gorshenina.pdf |publisher=George Washington University |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-9996214-4-8}}

{{refend}}

Category:Conspiracy theories

Category:Fictional empires

Category:Free energy conspiracy theories

Category:History of Central Asia

Category:History of Siberia

Category:Pseudohistory