In the 11-12th centuries Mari people lived on the right and left banks of the Volga. Ancient Mari's were occupied with agriculture, cattle-breeding, hunting and some trades. Mari people were excellent hunters. They traded with the neighboring tribes: Slavs, Mordva, Tatars, Bashkirs, etc. and exchanged furs for precious metals, jewelry, dishes.
In the 30-40th of the 13th century the Tatars-Mongols conquered the peoples of Eastern Europe and established a military-feudal state called the Golden Horde on the territory of the Low Volga. The struggle of the Russian people against the Tatars played a great role in the history of the Mari people. In 1437-1552 the Mari land was under the control of the Tatar Khanate. Mari's paid money to Tatar feudals for using land and houses, they also paid the trade duty. They were made to repair town walls, build fortifications, serve in the army. In 1545 an uprising broke out and the Kazan Khan was driven out.
In 1552 Kazan was captured by the Russian army. The territories of the Kazan khanate and the Mari land were joined to Russia. Joining Russia created favorable conditions for the development of the economy and culture. Several fortresses were built to strengthen the south-eastern borders of the Russian state: Kokshaisk, Kozmodemyansk, Tsarevokokshaisk. Since then the history of the Mari people has been closely connected with the history of the Russian state.
In the 17-18th centuries Mari people took an active part in the peasants uprisings led by Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugatchev. The uprisings were cruelly suppressed, many peasants were sent to prison , beaten or executed.
When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 Mari people collected money and joined the army to fight against the enemies. The Mari peasant Vassily Grigoryev who took part in capturing Paris was awarded a silver medal for courage.
Under tsarism the Mari land was a backward region. The Russian government oppressed the national minorities living in Russia. Even after the bourgeois reforms Mari people lived in poverty and ignorance. At that time scholars wrote that the Mari people would die out. Mari people suffered from various diseases. Out of every four people one died while still a baby. Very often droughts destroyed crops over large areas. There were only small primitive factories producing glass, leather, wine. Eighty-four per cent of Mari's could neither read nor write.
After the October Revolution the Mari land changed greatly. Since the formation of the Mari Autonomous Region in 1920 ( in 1936 it was transformed into the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) a lot has been done to build up the national economy and to develop Mari science and culture. There are a lot of modern industrial enterprises in the republic whose products are exported to other countries of the world. The Mari land is proud of its scientists, writers, composers.
V. B. Mosolov, the author of many works on agronomy, was the first Mari to become a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The books by S. Chavain, the founder of Mari literature, Y. Shketan, Sh. Ossip and others have been translated into other language of the peoples of Russia. The Mari Song and Dance Folk Group is very popular all over the country and abroad. Today Mari El is a sovereign republic developing economic, political, scientific and cultural ties with other republics of Russia and foreign countries.