Banking and Tatar entrepreneurship in the late 19th and early 20th century (based on the Volga-Ural region)

The research aims to identify the specific features of entrepreneurial activity among Tatar merchants in the Volga-Ural region in the late 19th and early 20th century, amidst the development of banking in Russia and the traditions of Muslim culture. The article presents the findings regarding the banking sector’s influence on the life of the Tatar (Muslim) population in the Volga-Ural region of the Russian Empire. The work establishes the main stages of Tatar entrepreneurship’s involvement in banking operations and identifies examples of entrepreneurs’ interactions with various financial institutions (e.g., participation in accounting and loan committees for commercial and industrial credits, their history of borrowing and depositing in banks, and instances of bankruptcy). The study also analyzes the spiritual wills of Tatar merchants and public discussions concerning banking instruments, ultimately generalizing their everyday historical experiences amidst the conflict between traditional Muslim values and the economic realities of the modernization era. The scientific novelty of the study lies in its being the first to thoroughly investigate the impact of the banking sector on Tatar entrepreneurial activity and to present specific historical examples of entrepreneurs’ interaction with financial institutions in the Volga-Ural region. The findings reveal that at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Tatar Muslims changed their attitude towards banking instruments, and Tatar entrepreneurship actively utilized bank lending in both gubernia (provincial) and uyezd (district) towns of the specified territory.