Altay people

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Altay people

Oirat -- Messenger of the White Burkhan (Nicholas Roerich, 1925)
Total population
200,000
Regions with significant populations
Altai Republic 64,000 Kuznetsk Alatau 59,000
Languages
Altay Turkic
Religions
Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism), Russian Orthodox, Shamanism, Burkhanism
Related ethnic groups
Tatars, Chelkans, Tuvans

The Altay or Altai are a Turkic people living in the North Russian Altai Republic and Altai Krai and surrounding areas of Tuva and Mongolia.

The Altay people have had skills in metalworking dating back to the 2nd millennium BC.^[1] The Altay came into contact with Russians in the 18th century. In the tsarist period, the Altay were known as oirot or oyrot (this name would later be carried on for the Oyrot Autonomous Oblast). Many of the Altay became addicted to the Russians' vodka, which they called "fire water".^[2]

The Altay were originally nomadic, but many of them settled with Russian influence. Also, in regards to religion, most of the Altay remained Tibetan Buddhist as a movement against the Russians' colonization (but some conversion to Orthodox was made in the second half of the 19th century, which remains the dominant religion in the post-Soviet era).

With the rise of the 1917 revolution, the Altay saw an opportunity to make their tribe a separate nation called Oryot, going to the ends of supporting the Mensheviks during the Civil War, but they were under Bolshevik control by 1920. In the 1940s, the Altay were accused of being pro-Japanese, and the word "oyrot" was declared counterrevolutionary. By 1950, Soviet industrialization had cost the Altay 80% of their population.^[3] Ethnic Altaians currently make up about 31% of the Altai Republic's population^[4].