The
Altay or
Altai are an ethnic group of Turkic people living in the Siberian
Altai RepublicAltai Republic is a federal subject of Russia . The direct romanization of the republic's Russian name is Respublika Altay, and the romanization of the Altay name is Altay Respublika...
and
Altai KraiAltai Krai is a federal subject of Russia in the Siberian Federal District. It borders with, clockwise from the south, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and the Altai Republic...
and surrounding areas of
TuvaTyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:...
and
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
. For alternative ethnonyms see also Teleut,
TeleTele may mean:* Tele- is a Greek prefix meaning "distant". It can be short for television in British English.* The Fender Telecaster guitar is nicknamed the "Tele"....
,
TelengitThis article is about the Siberian ethnic group. For the Alaskan Native people, see Tlingit.Telengits or Telengut are a Turkic people people primarily found in Altai Republic, Russia. Telengits mainly live in a territory of Kosh-Agach District of the Altai Republic. They are part of a larger...
, Mountain Kalmuck, White Kalmuck, Black Tatar, Oirat/Oirot.
The
UriankhaiThere is no clear ethnic delineation for the application of the name "Uriankhai" , also known as Urianhai or Uryangkhai...
people were annexed by the Oirat Zunghars in the 16th century. After the fall of the Zunghar Empire, the Uriankhai were subjugated by the
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
; and their one part, Altayans, was called by the
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
Altan Nuur Uriyangkhai.
The
Altay or
Altai are an ethnic group of Turkic people living in the Siberian
Altai RepublicAltai Republic is a federal subject of Russia . The direct romanization of the republic's Russian name is Respublika Altay, and the romanization of the Altay name is Altay Respublika...
and
Altai KraiAltai Krai is a federal subject of Russia in the Siberian Federal District. It borders with, clockwise from the south, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and the Altai Republic...
and surrounding areas of
TuvaTyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:...
and
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
. For alternative ethnonyms see also Teleut,
TeleTele may mean:* Tele- is a Greek prefix meaning "distant". It can be short for television in British English.* The Fender Telecaster guitar is nicknamed the "Tele"....
,
TelengitThis article is about the Siberian ethnic group. For the Alaskan Native people, see Tlingit.Telengits or Telengut are a Turkic people people primarily found in Altai Republic, Russia. Telengits mainly live in a territory of Kosh-Agach District of the Altai Republic. They are part of a larger...
, Mountain Kalmuck, White Kalmuck, Black Tatar, Oirat/Oirot.
The
UriankhaiThere is no clear ethnic delineation for the application of the name "Uriankhai" , also known as Urianhai or Uryangkhai...
people were annexed by the Oirat Zunghars in the 16th century. After the fall of the Zunghar Empire, the Uriankhai were subjugated by the
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
; and their one part, Altayans, was called by the
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
Altan Nuur Uriyangkhai. They have had skills in
metalworkingMetalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large scale structures. The term covers a wide range of work from large ships and bridges to precise engine parts and delicate jewellery. It therefore includes a correspondingly wide range of skills,...
dating back to the
2nd millennium BCThe 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.Its first half is dominated by the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Babylonia. The alphabet develops. Indo-Iranian migration onto the Iranian plateau and onto the Indian subcontinent propagates the use of the chariot...
. The Altay came into contact with
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
in the 18th century. In the
tsarist periodThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, the Altay were known as
oirot or
oyrot (this name means oirat and would later be carried on for the
Oyrot Autonomous OblastThe Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast The Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast The Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast ( was formed as the Oyrot Autonomous Oblast in 1922 and renamed in 1948.It was upgraded into an ASSR in 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It corresponds to the current...
). The Altay report that many of them became addicted to the Russians'
vodkaVodka is a clear distilled liquor composed of water and ethyl alcohol, made from a fermented substance of either grain, rye, wheat, potatoes, or sugar beet molasses; it also might contain trace amounts of other substances, either a flavour or unintended impurities...
, which they called "fire water".
The Altay were originally
nomadNomadic people are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but traditional nomadic behavior is increasingly rare in...
ic, with a lifestyle based on hunting / trapping and pastoralism (mainly cattle, sheep, goats), but many of them settled as a result of Russian influence. In regard to religion, some of the Altay remain
ShamanistsShamanism comprises a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. It is a prominent term in anthropological research. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun...
, while others (in a trend beginning in the mid-19th century) have converted to the
OrthodoxThe Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known...
. (The Altai mission took shape under Saint Makarii Glukharev, Apostle to the Altai.) In 1904, a religious movement called Ak Jang or
BurkhanismBurkhanism or Ak Jang is a new religious movement that flourished among the indigenous people of Russia's Gorno Altai region between 1904 and the 1930s. Czarist Russia was suspicious of the movement's potential to stir up native unrest and perhaps involve outside powers...
arose, perhaps in response to Russian colonization.
Prior to 1917 the Altai were actually considered to be many different ethnic groups.
With the rise of the
1917 revolutionThe Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
, the Altay attempted to make their region a separate Burkhanist republic called Oryot, but their support for the
MenshevikThe Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1903 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...
s during the
Civil WarThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed and the Soviets under the domination of the Bolshevik party assumed power, first in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a multi-party war that...
led to the venture's collapse after the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
victory and the rise of Stalin. In the 1940s, the Altay were accused of being pro-
JapaneseThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
, and the word "oyrot" was declared
counterrevolutionaryA counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part...
. By 1950, Soviet industrialization policies brought Russian immigrants reducing the proportion of Altay from 50% to 20% of the population. Ethnic Altaians currently make up about 31% of the Altai Republic's population.
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