Tatar is a general name for a large population of Turkic ethnic groups. These groups are mainly residing in Russia, European countries, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and China. Russia is the homeland of Tatars. The original homeland of Tatars was north-eastern Gobi where they migrated southward in the 9th century. Their ancestors are Volga Tatars. In the 13th-century, Tatars were subjugated by the Mongol Empire and many of them were drove to the plains of Russia. Islam arrived in Russia in the 10th century and some Tatars adopted Islam.  Among them there were ancestors of those who in the 19th century migrated to China. In 1820s and 1830s, due to suppression and persecution of Russia, some Muslim Tatars migrated to Xinjiang province of China and became Chinese citizens. Today they live mainly in the cities of Aletai, Changji, Yili, Urumchi, Tacheng, and other places in Xinjiang. Their estimated population is above 5000 people according to the census of 2000.