The internet is full of whispers about an empire that has been forgotten. Tartaria was a highly developed civilization that supposedly existed long ago and had a big impact on human history for hundreds of years. However, it was systematically erased from historical records through deliberate cover-ups, catastrophic mud floods, and complete destruction. From old pyramids and grand capitol buildings, people around the world are calling buildings relics of this lost superpower. There is a lot of interest in this "lost" empire, but one important question remains: did Tartaria ever really exist as a single, advanced civilization, or is it just a fascinating modern fantasy made up of bits of history, pseudoscience and harmless folklore?
The Rise of a Conspiracy: From Russian Nationalism to a Global Event
To understand the Tartaria conspiracy, you have to go back to its strange beginnings in Russia in the 1970s, when it started as a nationalist pseudohistory instead of an architectural puzzle. Anatoly Fomenko, a Russian mathematician, first came up with the idea of a "New Chronology." Fomenko's controversial (and widely discredited) thesis said that historical timelines were fundamentally wrong, with events that people thought happened thousands of years ago actually happening much later in the Middle Ages. His revisionist worldview posits that civilizations such as ancient Rome and Egypt were either fabricated or the result of chronological distortion. In this messed-up timeline, Tartaria became Russia's "true" past, a great empire hidden from mainstream history.
Fomenko's fringe academic work found a lot of interest in Nikolai Levashov, a Russian esotericist and self-styled psychic who was very popular in the 1990s. Levashov came up with long, mystical stories that mixed pseudohistory with spiritual esotericism and racist mythology. These stories mixed pseudoscience with spiritual esotericism and Tartaria as an ancient Aryan civilization governed by a spiritually enlightened Russian populace. These ideas struck a chord in post-Soviet Russia, where nationalistic feelings and a longing for different historical stories made room for people's minds for different historical narratives.
The Tartaria theory was mostly only talked about in Russian pseudoscientific circles for years. The Russian Geographical Society quickly dismissed it as pseudoscientific nonsense and ignored it for a long time. In the West, the theory didn't really become popular until the middle of the 2010s, when videos on YouTube and social media started making the same claims to people all over the world.
The Conspiracy Theory Today: Main Claims and "Evidence"
The modern Tartaria conspiracy encompasses several interconnected claims, each supported by a combination of misinterpreted historical evidence, architectural anomalies, and speculative interpretations:
1. The Great Mud Flood
Central to Tartaria theory is the concept of a catastrophic "mud flood" that allegedly buried the ground floors of buildings worldwide, explaining why many older structures have basement windows and partially submerged lower levels. Proponents claim this flood was deliberately concealed from historical records as part of a massive cover-up.
2. Advanced Energy Technology
Theorists claim that Tartarian civilization possessed advanced energy technology, supposedly evidenced by the prevalence of metal spires, ornate architectural features, and domed buildings. These structures are interpreted as components of a wireless energy distribution system similar to Nikola Tesla's theoretical wireless electricity transmission.
3. Architectural Homogeneity as Evidence
The global spread of neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architecture in the 19th century is presented as evidence of a unified Tartarian empire. Buildings from Chicago to Paris, from San Francisco to St. Petersburg, sharing similar design elements, are claimed to be remnants of this lost civilization rather than products of cultural exchange and colonial architectural movements.
4. The Great Reset Theory
Some versions claim that catastrophic events in the 1800sâwhether mud floods, solar flares, or deliberate destructionâwere used to "reset" civilization, erasing knowledge of Tartaria and replacing it with manufactured historical narratives created by victorious powers.
5. Orphan Trains and Repopulation
The historical Orphan Train Movement (1854-1929), which relocated thousands of orphaned and homeless children from eastern cities to rural areas, is reinterpreted as evidence of mass depopulation following Tartaria's destruction, with surviving children redistributed to repopulate a devastated world.
Historical Reality: What "Tartary" Actually Was
The term "Tartary" or "Tartaria" did indeed appear on European maps from the 13th to 19th centuries, but its meaning was fundamentally different from the conspiracy narrative. "Tartary" was a catch-all European designation for the vast, largely unmapped regions of Inner Asia, Siberia, and the Central Asian steppes. The name derived from "Tatar," referring to the Mongol and Turkic peoples who inhabited these territories.
Different versions of "Tartary" appeared on maps: "Great Tartary" (covering Siberia and Mongolia), "Chinese Tartary" (parts of western China), "Independent Tartary" (Central Asian khanates), and "Russian Tartary" (Russian-controlled territories in Siberia). These were geographic designations on maps created by Europeans with limited knowledge of these distant regions, not references to a unified political entity.
The actual political entities in these territories included the Golden Horde (13th-15th centuries), various Central Asian khanates (Khiva, Bukhara, Kokand), the Dzungar Khanate (17th-18th centuries), and numerous smaller tribal confederations and regional powers. None of these constituted a single "Tartarian Empire" with the characteristics described by conspiracy theorists.
As European knowledge of Asia improved through exploration and colonization, the vague designation "Tartary" gradually disappeared from maps, replaced by more accurate geographic and political labels. By the late 19th century, the term had become obsolete in serious cartography.
Debunking the Core Claims
The Mud Flood Myth
The supposed evidence of a global mud floodâbasement windows and partially buried ground floorsâhas straightforward architectural and urban planning explanations. Cities built on naturally sloping terrain frequently have buildings with different ground levels on different sides. Urban street raising, a common practice in growing 19th-century cities, often left original ground floors partially below the new street level. Flooding and subsequent sediment accumulation in river cities like St. Petersburg created multi-level urban landscapes over centuries, not overnight catastrophes.
Moreover, basement windows were a deliberate design choice for natural light and ventilation in pre-electric era buildings, not evidence of burial. The gradual accumulation of soil and debris around old structures is a well-documented archaeological phenomenon occurring over decades and centuries, not the result of sudden catastrophic flooding.
The Architecture Argument
The architectural similarities cited as evidence of Tartaria are actually well-documented results of cultural diffusion, colonial expansion, and professional networks. The 19th-century Beaux-Arts movement, originating in Paris, deliberately spread a standardized classical style worldwide through the Ăcole des Beaux-Arts, where architects from many nations trained.
European colonial powers exported their architectural styles to colonies worldwide, explaining similarities between government buildings from India to Africa to the Americas. International exhibitions (World's Fairs) from 1851 onward showcased and spread architectural trends globally. The Industrial Revolution enabled mass production of architectural elements, making ornate features accessible worldwide.
Architects like Daniel Burnham, Stanford White, and their contemporaries designed buildings across multiple continents, naturally creating stylistic continuity. This represents normal cultural exchange and professional practice, not evidence of a hidden civilization.
Free Energy Technology
The claim that ornate architectural features represented energy distribution technology misunderstands both the buildings' actual purposes and the physical principles of energy transmission. Spires and domes served aesthetic, religious, and acoustic purposes, with metal components often being lightning rodsâa demonstrated electrical protection technology, not energy harvesting devices.
Tesla's wireless energy transmission experiments, while real, remained theoretical for power distribution at scale and are unrelated to 19th-century architecture. The decorative elements interpreted as "technology" (ornamental ironwork, finials, ventilation systems) had well-documented conventional purposes.
The Chronology Problem
Fomenko's "New Chronology" has been comprehensively debunked by historians, astronomers, and archaeologists using multiple independent dating methods. Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) provides continuous records extending back thousands of years, correlating with traditional chronology. Radiocarbon dating, cross-checked through multiple laboratories and methods, consistently confirms conventional historical timelines.
Independent historical records from China, the Islamic world, Europe, and other civilizations corroborate each other's chronologies. Astronomical events recorded in ancient texts (eclipses, comets, planetary positions) can be calculated backward and match traditional dating with precision. Archaeological stratigraphyâthe layering of artifacts and settlementsâconsistently supports conventional chronology.
Why the Tartaria Theory Persists
Despite thorough debunking, Tartaria conspiracy theories continue to attract believers. Several psychological and social factors explain this persistence:
Pattern Recognition and Apophenia: Humans are predisposed to see patterns and connections, even where none exist. The similar architectural styles of the 19th century create a compelling visual pattern that seems to require explanation beyond conventional historical accounts.
Distrust of Institutions: Growing skepticism toward academic, governmental, and media institutions makes alternative historical narratives attractive to those who believe "official" history is deliberately falsified.
The Appeal of Hidden Knowledge: Believing in Tartaria offers the psychologically satisfying position of possessing secret knowledge unavailable to the deceived massesâa common feature of conspiracy thinking.
Nostalgia and Lost Greatness: Tartaria narratives often romanticize a supposedly superior past civilization, appealing to those dissatisfied with modern society and yearning for an imagined golden age.
Internet Echo Chambers: Social media algorithms create self-reinforcing communities where Tartaria believers primarily interact with like-minded individuals, strengthening convictions through confirmation bias.
Misunderstood Complexity: Historical architecture, urban development, and chronology are genuinely complex. Simplified conspiracy narratives offer seemingly coherent explanations for phenomena that actual historical processes explain through interconnected factors requiring more effort to understand.
The Real History Worth Exploring
Ironically, while pursuing fictional Tartaria, believers overlook genuinely fascinating historical realities about the regions and periods in question. The Mongol Empire, spanning Eurasia at its height, created unprecedented cultural and technological exchange between East and West, including the Silk Road's golden age and transmission of technologies like gunpowder and printing.
The various Central Asian khanates developed sophisticated administrative systems, architectural traditions, and cultural achievements. The Timurid Renaissance in 14th-15th century Central Asia produced remarkable advances in astronomy, mathematics, and architectureâreal accomplishments requiring no conspiracy theories.
The Dzungar Khanate's struggle against Qing expansion in the 17th-18th centuries was a genuine historical drama with lasting consequences for Central Asian peoples. Russia's expansion into Siberia involved complex interactions with indigenous peoples, creating a rich multicultural history.
The actual history of 19th-century architectureâincluding the social, economic, and technological factors enabling its developmentâis more interesting than fictional energy-harvesting buildings. The Industrial Revolution's transformation of construction, the rise of professional architecture, and global cultural exchange created the architectural landscape Tartaria theorists misinterpret.
Conclusion: The Danger and Appeal of Pseudohistory
The Tartaria conspiracy, like similar pseudohistorical narratives, represents a modern phenomenon where internet culture, distrust of institutions, and selective interpretation of evidence create elaborate alternative historical frameworks detached from verifiable reality. While the architectural photographs and old maps cited as evidence are real, their interpretation requires ignoring established dating methods, documentary evidence, and the straightforward historical explanations for the phenomena observed.
The theory's evolution from Russian nationalist mythology to global internet phenomenon demonstrates how ideas can mutate and spread across cultural boundaries, finding new audiences with different motivations for belief. For some, it offers a romantic vision of lost advanced civilization; for others, it validates suspicion of historical narratives; for still others, it provides an engaging mystery to investigate.
However, the embrace of such theories comes with costs. It diverts attention from genuine historical complexities and achievements, reduces critical thinking by accepting extraordinary claims without extraordinary evidence, and can serve as a gateway to more harmful conspiracy theories about contemporary events and institutions.
The real pastâwith its documented empires, genuine architectural marvels, actual technological innovations, and complex cultural exchangesâoffers profound insights into human civilization without requiring fabrication. The Mongols genuinely built the largest contiguous empire in history; Central Asian scholars genuinely made groundbreaking contributions to mathematics and astronomy; 19th-century architects genuinely created lasting beauty worldwide. These achievements need no conspiracy to be remarkable.
Understanding why Tartaria theories appeal to people is more productive than simply dismissing believers as foolish. The theories address real concerns about institutional trustworthiness, satisfy real curiosity about the past, and offer real community to those who feel alienated from mainstream discourse. Addressing these underlying needsâthrough more accessible historical education, more transparent institutions, and more inclusive historical narrativesâmay prove more effective than debunking alone.
Ultimately, the Tartaria story serves as a case study in how historical literacy, critical thinking, and healthy skepticism remain essential in an information age where compelling narratives can spread faster than factual corrections. The past is mysterious enough without fabrication, complex enough to demand careful study, and remarkable enough to inspire wonder based on what actually happened rather than what we might wish had happened.