Tuvan customs and traditions - life in the geographical center of Asia. Religion in Tyva Tuvans religion

Lost among the circle of the Sayan Mountains, the Tuvans have always felt separate and isolated from the world. In ancient times, the Mongols, Turks, Saxons, Scythians participated in the formation of the nationality. The result of the mixing of cultures was the original Tuvan people, in whose life Buddhism, shamanism, unique throat singing and the national wrestling Khuresh were closely intertwined.

Name

The self-name of the people "Tuva" has been known since early times: the first mentions are found in the Chinese chronicles of the 6th-7th centuries, as "stupidly", "dubo", "tubo". The name goes back to the name of the ancient Turkic tribe Tuba, who occupied the territory of modern Tuva at the end of the first millennium AD.
Neighboring peoples erroneously called the Tuvans Soyots and Uriankhians. The second option is common among the Mongols. Soyots, by analogy with the common name of the Sayan tribes, Tuvans were defined by the Khakasses and Altaians, who still use the exonym in relation to the nationality.

Where do they live and number

Experts estimate the size of the nation at 300,000 people. The 2010 Russian census showed that 263,934 Tuvans live in the country. Most of them - about 250,000 people - are located on the territory of the Republic of Tyva, in the historical habitat zone. Tuvans also live in other regions of Russia:

Krasnoyarsk region- 2 939 people
Irkutsk region - 1,674 people
Novosibirsk region- 1 252 people
Tomsk region- 983 people
Khakassia - 936 people
Buryatia - 909 people

In other states, the number of Tuvans is smaller due to the processes of long-term assimilation, however, there are a number of national diasporas where the cultural and linguistic traditions of the people are preserved. Among them:

Aimaki Khuvsgel, Khovd, Bayan-Ulgiy in Mongolia - about 5000 people.
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China - about 3300 people.

Language

The vast majority of the representatives of the nationality, 283,000 people, know their native language, belonging to the Turkic branch, the Sayan group. The formation of the language was significantly influenced by the Uighur and Kyrgyz tribes that invaded the region of the modern location of Tuva and mixed with the Turkic population.
In ancient times, the Tuvans used the Mongolian language for correspondence; their own writing did not exist. The first alphabet was developed in 1926 on the basis of Russian graphics, in 1930 it was replaced by the Latin version. 1943 was marked by the appearance of a new Cyrillic version of the alphabet used today. In the Republic of Tyva, the national language is used everywhere in everyday life, culture, and the media. Russian, Mongolian are widespread.

Story

Similar genotypes of Tuvans and American Indians indicate the presence of common ancestors. According to research, ancient tribes that migrated from Eastern Siberia 15,000 years ago partially settled on the territory of the Sayan Mountains. Part crossed the ice isthmus into North America, marking the beginning of the development of Indian tribes.
The beginning of the formation of the Tuvan people falls at the end of the first millennium of our era. Then, scattered Indo-European, Samoyed, Ket-speaking tribes lived on the territory of modern Tuva. Archaeological finds prove connections with the Scythians, the tribes of Kazakhstan and Mongolia, the Saka tribes.
TO 8th century the region was under the influence of the powerful Turkic Khaganate, which at the end of the century was defeated by the Turkic-speaking tribes of Uighur origin, who invaded the territory of Tuva, which influenced the ethnogenesis and the formation of the national language. A century later, the Tuvans were captured by the Yenisei Kyrgyz, who quickly assimilated with the local population.

The primary formation of national characteristics was completed in the XIII-XIV centuries, when a number of Mongolian tribes settled in the region, which had a significant impact on the appearance of the Tuvans. In the same period, the Tuvan tribes were under the rule of the Mongol khans: there is a version that the mother of Genghis Khan came from this nation. decline Mongol Empire led to the emergence of several khanates: the Tuvan lands were part of the Oirat, and then the Dzungar khanate. In 1755-1766. the region is seized by the troops of the Qing Empire: the Tuvans fall under the rule of Manchuria. During this period, military service was introduced, the feudal organization of society was strengthened, and a division into administrative territories was made.
Since 1860, Russian and Chinese merchants have been allowed free trade on the territory of Tuva. Active land development by Russian settlers begins. This put an end to the isolation of Tuva, led to the emergence of modern household items, dwellings, clothing. Trade with ignorant Tuvans was carried out at inflated prices, which led to a sharp reduction in livestock among the population.
At the beginning of the 20th century, political disputes began between Russia, Mongolia and China regarding the strategically attractive Uryankhai region. As a result, in 1912, the Tuvans preferred Russia, asking the state for protection and patronage: in 1914, the Russian emperor included the region in the country.
1922 - The independent state of the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva, or the Tuva People's Republic, was formed. During the Great Patriotic War, Tuvans volunteered to go to the front, where they became a real thunderstorm for the Wehrmacht. Accustomed to the restrictions in everyday life, they were brave and fought desperately. The people gave to the needs of the war all the horses, which were distinguished by their special endurance. And to complete the allied forces with skis, unique birch trees, found only in the republic, were cut down, perfectly suited for these purposes.

The further history of the people is inextricably linked with Russia:

1944 - Tuva became part of the USSR as an autonomous region;
1961 - acquired the status of the Tuva ASSR;
1991 - Republic of Tuva within Russia;
1993 - renaming to the "Republic of Tyva".

Appearance

Turkic, Indo-European, Mongolian, Ket tribes, Saxons and Scythians participated in the process of forming the appearance of the nationality. The inhabitants of Tuva are referred to the North Asian race, more precisely, to the Mongoloid Central Asian type.
Distinctive features of appearance:

medium height;
athletic or thin figure;
black coarse hair;
dark eyes with epicanthus;
weak vegetation on the face and body;
broad and tall face;
slightly protruding nose.

The nomadic way of life made the Tuvans strong, hardy and agile. The people were distinguished by courage, quick-tempered character, self-esteem. And to this day, the mentality is characterized by a tendency to isolate the people, whose country is lost among the spurs of the Sayans, hidden from other regions and nations.

Cloth

The national costume of Tuvans is diverse, rich in bright colors and decor. Clothes were sewn from purchased fabrics, felt of our own production, dressed skins of domestic and wild animals. Traditional summer clothing is a Mongolian-cut robe, long, wrapped to the right, complemented by a belt. The clothes were monochromatic - purple, green, blue, red, yellow. The top of the dress was decorated with a stand-up collar, assembled from multi-colored strips of fabric.
In the off-season, they wore short sheepskin coats with the fur on the outside, in winter they were replaced with long-brimmed ones, fastened from the right side. Shoes - boots made of rawhide with elongated and bent up socks. Festive couples were decorated with applications with geometric, floral, animalistic ornaments. In winter, felt stockings were additionally worn.
Women appreciated jewelry, having enough of them: Tuvans were considered skilled jewelers. They preferred rings, rings, engraved bracelets, massive earrings. Metal plates decorated with precious stones were woven into two braids. Men shaved the front of their heads, and collected one braid from the remaining hair.

The uncovered head of women was not welcome, they always wore scarves and hats. Six-panel hats, hats with a high peaked top, trimmed with fur along the brim, were popular. Married women decorated them with fur tassels and red ribbons. Patterns and inserts of the same color were attached to the chest over the suit: it was believed that red shades drive away evil spirits.

Family way

Until the 20th century, Tuvans retained remnants of tribal relations. Small families from two generations prevailed, living in separate yurts as part of the aal. The aal community consisted of two or three related generations; usually grown sons set up their dwellings next to the yurt of their parents. With this composition, they wandered, and in the summer they united with other communities according to the neighborhood principle.
The predominant type of family is monogamous, rich Tuvans who own large herds had several wives. The marriageable age of girls came at 15 years old, there are cases of marriage at 11-13 years old. According to tradition, a wedding could only be played in an odd year of life: 15, 17, 19 years. The age of the groom did not play a role, sometimes 10-12-year-old boys were married, widowed old men were also looking for brides.
Weddings were practiced by agreement, concluded after the child was 8-9 years old, there were "cradle" weddings. When the bride reached the age of childbearing, appointed matchmakers arrived with gifts: fabrics, alcohol, sweets, furs. Native girls took kalym, in response, rolling a day-long feast: the result of the feast was the appointment of a wedding date.

The second visit of the matchmakers took place together with the groom, who was left alone with the bride: his “male strength” was tested. This led to premarital pregnancies and childbirth, which Tuvans did not consider shameful. On the day of the wedding, the bride moved to the groom's aal, where they held a feast that lasted a day, regardless of the wealth and social status of the family.
Before the girl left home, the bride's parents prepared a new yurt, clothes, bedding, kitchen utensils, and allocated livestock. The "dowry" did not pass to the groom's family, but remained the property of the bride until the end of her life: the young people moved to a new yurt immediately after the wedding.
Relationships before marriage not with the intended were punished only by the wrath of the father: the children resulting from such unions were left in families, brought up along with legitimate ones. Tuvans aspired to having many children: it was believed that a woman who gave birth to five children automatically gets a place in better world. The people did not have other people's children: relatives and neighbors took care of orphans.

A life

By occupation and territorial distribution, Tuvans were divided into eastern and western.

Eastern Tuvans (Todzhins) are reindeer herders and hunters who roamed in the mountainous area of the Eastern Sayan. They hunted fur-bearing, hoofed animals: the skins of the former were sold, the meat and skins of the latter were used for sewing clothes, home improvement, and food.
Western Tuvans are pastoralists who occupied the plains and foothills of the western regions. The predominant activity is nomadic cattle breeding, grazed yaks, camels, horses, sheep. During the summer stops, they were engaged in farming, sowing barley and millet, breaking through artificial canals to irrigate the fields.

Gathering of roots, nuts, herbs played an important role: the stocks of sarana reached several hundred kilograms in the aal. Traditional folk craft- creation of felt products: clothes, shoes, carpets, mats, shelters for yurts. Men were engaged in blacksmithing, carpentry, women dressed leather, created birch bark products.

dwelling

The traditional Tuvan dwelling is a yurt, built of lattice walls-bases, fastened inside with a hoop that formed a window for smoke to escape. The base was covered with felt fastened with ropes. Western Tuvans installed conical tents, covered with birch bark in summer and animal skins in winter.
In the center of the Tuvan dwelling there was a hearth: a symbol of well-being, endowed with a sacred meaning. Every year, shamans held rituals of greeting and feeding the spirit-fire in every house. V Everyday life it was up to a woman to watch over the hearth, since the fire had a feminine nature in the view of the Tuvans and was called Ot-ine: the real incarnation of a female guardian hearth.
The right half of the yurt is female: utensils, clothes, household items were kept here. On the left, there were men and objects of the male area of responsibility: felt, weapons, carpentry tools, hunting tools, cattle drives. Opposite the entrance, a free zone was equipped for receiving guests. Metal chests with exquisite forging were placed on the sides of the yurt, leather bags with stocks of grain, oil, and tea were hung on the walls.

culture

The property of the Tuvan people is the unique throat singing khoomei. The skill of the performers makes it possible to achieve sounds of different tones not by movements of the vocal cords, but by contractions of the diaphragm: due to constant pressure on internal organs professional singers get sick more often than others and have a shorter life expectancy.
Throat singing originated due to the environment: the yurts located in the desert fields were permeated with the sounds of wind and rain, the cries of birds and animals. The human ear is not able to fully distinguish the range of sounds of throat singing, but its effect on the subconscious, animals has been proven. The most famous khoomeizhi is called the Mongol warrior, known as the Nightingale the Robber, who killed with a loud whistle.

Religion

The traditional beliefs of the Tuvans are associated with endowing the surrounding world with spirits: guardians, helpers, defenders, punishers. Religion is closely connected with shamanism: shamans were family and professional, men and women. In the XIII-XIV centuries, Buddhism from Tibet penetrated the region, it harmoniously intertwined with national beliefs.
Even today shamans and lamas play an important role in the life of society. People go to shamans for advice, to find out the future, to ask for healing or good weather on a certain date. From the moment they arrived in the region, lamas have been quite tolerant of manifestations of traditional beliefs, including a number of spirits in the pantheon, and part of the holidays in the religious calendar.
On the Tuva New Year of Shagaa in Buddhist temples, divine services are held all night long with the participation of the spiritual leader of the people, the Kaba Lama. In the morning, shamans, together with lamas, perform the San-saryly ritual dedicated to the sun and fire. Lamas read sacred scriptures, and shamans "feed" the fire with offerings of sweets and meat.

Tuvans revere and deify the sun, and during an eclipse they stand up for its defense, because they think that the luminary fights against dark, evil spirits. In the past, people ran out into the street, began to shout loudly, shoot at the sky with guns, beat on iron dishes. Today, with the help of a national spoon with nine holes, tos-karak “sprinkle the sky”, sprinkling up the national salted tea or milk.

Traditions

Funeral traditions are also closely connected with the cults of the sun and fire: in the past, the dead were burned, and the houses of the dead were fumigated with larch branches. Later, they began to carry the dead far into the taiga: they left them on the ground, building a tombstone around them.
On their last journey, Tuvans were seen off with applause: it was believed that loud sounds drive away evil spirits. Clapping was so associated with funerals that children were forbidden from clapping during games, and if they did, protective crosses were drawn on their palms.
Every year at the end of summer, the national Tuvan holiday Naadym is celebrated, previously held to unite tribal ties, honor the spirits of ancestors. Today, the national traditions of the people are being revived at the holiday. Among the obligatory elements of the festivities:

Throat singing;
Khuresh national wrestling. Wrestling is similar to sumo, so Tuvans have repeatedly shown themselves to be excellent sumo wrestlers. The most famous of them are Batkar Baasan and Ayas Mongush;
Horse races, where children from 3-5 years old act as riders;
Archery at a target;
Exhibition of felt products;
Food tasting national cuisine;
A colorful performance based on the history of the nation.

Food

The daily diet of Tuvans consisted of boiled sheep meat and dairy products. After slaughter, only the skin was left from the ram, “horns and legs.” Meat, internal organs and even blood were used for food. Salted khan tea was considered the main drink that quenches thirst well. For cooking, milk was poured into a large cauldron, a couple of pinches of black or green tea were thrown, they were allowed to boil, salted, and melted butter was added.

The national Tuvan dish is black pudding. Expressed blood was poured into thoroughly washed mutton entrails, salt and onions were used from spices. The top was tied in a knot and pierced with a stick, then the workpiece was lowered into boiling water for several hours. When ready, the lower part of the sausage was fed to the spirit of fire, the upper part, with a stick, was taken to the head of the clan. By tradition, a piece of sausage or part of a carcass (for cooking one dinner) was necessarily distributed to each member of the aal.

Notable Tuvans

The most famous Tuvinian is Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Interestingly, his real name is Shoigu, and his surname is the generic name Kuzhuget. That is, at birth, the future minister was Shoigu Kuzhuget: he became Sergei only in adulthood when receiving documents.

Video

Annotation: The paper provides a historiographical review of scientific literature on the origin and ethnic history of Tuvans. The published works of researchers of pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet times are considered.

Keywords: ethnogenesis, ethnic history, Tuva, Tuvans, Uriankhians, Soyots, tribe, Turkic group.

Tuvan'sgenesis. historical background

Anayban Z. V., Mannay-ool M. H.

Abstract: Article presents a historicogeographical review of the scientific literature regarding the genesis and ethnic history of the Tuvan people. Published works of Pre-Soviet, Soviet and Post-Soviet periods have been involved in the review.

keywords: ethnogenesis, ethnics history, Tuva, Tuvans, Uriankhs, Soyots, tribe, Turkic group.

Questions of the ethnogenesis of modern Tuvans have long attracted the attention of the scientific community. This problem was reflected in the works of both pre-revolutionary domestic and foreign travel scientists and modern researchers. The complexity of this problem lies in the fact that its study is based on the complex involvement of a wide variety of sources from many scientific disciplines: history, archeology, ethnography, anthropology, folklore, and linguistics.

Tuvans are the titular ethnic group of the Republic of Tyva (Tuva), located in the geophysical center of the Asian continent - in the upper basin of the great Siberian river Yenisei and having total area about 175.5 thousand km. According to the results of the All-Russian census of 2002, the population of Tuva was 305,510 people, including the share of Tuvans in the total number was more than two-thirds (77%), Russians, the second largest ethnic group of the republic - 20.1%, representatives of other nationalities - 2.9%. According to the Federal State Statistics Service for the Republic of Tyva, at the beginning of 2010, the number of Tuvans in the republic increased markedly and already reached 82%, while the share of Russians and other ethnic groups decreased slightly - 16.3% and 1.7%, respectively (Socially - economic situation of the Republic of Tyva…, 2012: 62). In addition, at present a small part of ethnic Tuvans lives in other regions. Russian Federation, in particular in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Verkhneusinsk village) and in several of its major cities(for example, Moscow, St. Petersburg), as well as in Mongolia, China (Xin-Jian - Uighur Autonomous Region).

Tuvans are one of the oldest Turkic-speaking peoples inhabiting Central Asia and the Sayano-Altai Highlands. The modern name of the Tuvan people "tuva", "tyva kizhi" is mentioned in the annals of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties of China in the form of dubo, tubo and stupidly in relation to some tribes that lived in the upper reaches of the Yenisei and the area of lake Khubsugola (History of Tuva, 1964: 7). There is information about the closest historical ancestors of the modern Tuvans "Chiks and Azs" in the runic monuments of the ancient Turkic runic writing (VII-XII centuries). In the Mongolian, Arab-Persian sources of the XIII-XIV centuries. there is also information about Tuva and its inhabitants.

According to the anthropological type, the Tuvans belong to the Mongoloid Central Asian type of the North Asian race. Eastern Tuvans - Todzhans - represent a special type with an admixture of the Central Asian component. Experts believe that as an independent language it was formed by the beginning of the 10th century. At the same time, even today it notes the specificity of individual linguistic groups. In particular, there are four dialects: western, northeastern, central, and southeastern (Bichelday, 2001).

The location of the territory of Tuva in the geographical center of the Asian continent left its mark on its relations with the inhabitants of neighboring and nearby regions. In particular, it was the periphery of the powerful state of the warlike Xiongnu (II century BC - I AD), was part of the early medieval super-ethno-political states: the Ancient Turkic (VI-VIII centuries), the Uighur (VIII-IX centuries .), Ancient Kyrgyz (IX-XII centuries) Khaganates and the Mongolian Empire of Chingizids (XIII-XIV centuries) of Central Asia.

These powerful early feudal states played an outstanding role in the history of nomadic civilization and the ethnopolitical situation in Central Asia and the Sayano-Altai region. No less important was the Great Migration of Peoples: Xiongnu, Turks, Mongols from the deep steppes of Central Asia to Europe. Under the influence of these historical events deep socio-economic, ethno-cultural processes took place in the Sayano-Altai region, including on the territory of modern Tuva. They had a certain impact on the consolidation of the Tuvan tribes and, ultimately, on their formation into a single ethnic group. It should be especially noted that the researchers associate the predominance of Mongoloid features in the anthropological type of local residents precisely with the period of the invasion of Tuva in the 3rd century BC. BC e. warlike Central Asian tribes related to the Huns (Xiongnu), which gradually mixed with the local population, influenced not only the language, but also the appearance of the latter.

According to Tuvinian scientists, at the end of the XIII-XIV centuries. The ethnic composition of the population of Tuva already included mainly those groups that took part in the formation of the Tuvan people - the descendants of the Tugu Turks, Uighurs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, as well as Samoyedic and Ket-speaking tribes (Turkic peoples of Eastern Siberia, 2008: 23).

In the XVI-XVII centuries. Tuva tribes entered the Central Asian state of Altynkhans. From the middle of the XVIII century. The Manchurian (Qing) dynasty of China also subjugated the population of Tuva, which was divided into several main administrative units - khoshuns (districts). They were ruled by Tuvan hereditary "princes" - noyons. Tuvans were also part of a number of other small khoshuns ruled by Mongol princes, both in Tuva itself and in Mongolia, including the Mongolian Altai. Each khoshun was divided into smaller administrative units - sumons, and those, in turn, into arbans (ten-yards) (History of Tuva, 2001: 218). By the beginning of the 20th century. There were nine khoshuns on the territory of Tuva.

The unified administration of Tuva to a large extent contributed to the consolidation of the Tuvans into a single nation, the formation of a common ethnic identity and self-name. It was during the era when the tribes of Tuva were part of Manchu China at the end of the 18th–19th centuries. completed the formation of the Tuvan ethnos. One of the important factors in this process was the establishment of an administrative division, based mainly not on the clan, but on the territorial principle, which contributed to the erasure of tribal differences. The sub-ethnic group of the Tuvans was made up of the inhabitants of the Sayans - the eastern Tuvans-Todzhans (Weinshtein, 1961). in the process of consolidation into a single ethnic group.

In 1911–1913 In China, the Xinhai Revolution took place, as a result of which the Manchu Qin dynasty was overthrown. After that, mass demonstrations began in Tuva against the Chinese administration and foreign entrepreneurs. At the same time, Tuva became an object of colonization and economic development for tsarist Russia. The Russian government, relying on those who moved in the second half of the XIX century. Russian peasants and industrialists, seeks to subordinate it to Russian interests. As a result, on April 18, 1914, a government decree was signed on the acceptance of the Uryankhai region (the former name of Tuva) under the protectorate of Russia (History of Tuva, 2007: 11–12).

Since, as is known, the degree of knowledge of a particular problem largely depends on the availability and condition of sources, it is necessary to speak separately about the source base used at different times by specialists to study the problems of Tuvan ethnogenesis. In this series, first of all, it is necessary to mention the materials of archaeological excavations. And, as the well-known Russian ethnologist S. A. Arutyunov notes in his recently published work, “for epochs distant from us in time, for which we cannot have any direct linguistic evidence, archaeological material, along with paleoanthropological, remains the only source for reconstruction ethnic history of the population of a certain region in antiquity” (Arutyunov, 2012: 53–54). In relation to the named region, these sources are especially valuable, since, as is known, Tuvans, until recently, not only did not have a written history, historiography, but their own written language. Although their ancestors used the ancient Turkic runic script (VII-XII centuries), and then the old Mongolian script. On the territory of Tuva, the study of these monuments began in the 1920s. 20th century

The early written sources used include Chinese dynastic chronicles. These sources are of great interest in the light of the study of ethnogenetic problems in the period of the early Middle Ages, i.e., during the period of domination in Central Asia and Southern Siberia of the warlike Xiongnu, Tyugyi Turks, Uighurs and Kyrgyz.

Monuments of ancient Turkic runic writing are of exceptionally important source study significance for solving the problems of ethnogenesis. In them, in particular, there are ethnonyms and geographical names, which are a very valuable source for studying the ethnic composition, habitats and settlement of local tribes that were part of the Ancient Turkic, Uighur and Ancient Kyrgyz Khaganates. Tuva occupies one of the first places in the world in terms of the number of discovered stone steles with Yenisei runic inscriptions. More than 100 monuments of this writing have been found here.

Important information about the Tuvan tribes and ethnic groups during the reign of Genghis Khan and his successors is contained in the historical chronicle "The Secret Legend of the Mongols", "The Collection of Chronicles" by the outstanding Persian historian Rashid ad-Din and other Arab-Persian and Western European authors.

The next group of written sources are the testimonies of travelers (reports, letters, travel notes), as well as various kinds of eyewitness reports that affect certain aspects of the ethnogenesis and ethnic history of Tuvans.

In the XVIII century. the first works of domestic scientists appeared, in which the questions of the origin of the Tuvans were specially or incidentally considered. They laid the foundation for the so-called "migration theory", according to which the Tuvans were considered only as a simple offshoot of the Samoyedic tribes. Among them, it should be noted, first of all, the works of Academician P. S. Pallas, according to whom, the Tuvans are “the remnants of the Samoyeds, driven out of their old habitats” (Pallas, 1788: 523–524).

The Russian ethnographer and naturalist I. G. Georgi also reports on “the Sayat tribe, otherwise called also Suyots or Soyots”, and classifies them as Samoyeds, which allegedly “is proved by their appearance, language and everyday customs” (Georgi, 1779: 15). It should be noted that this concept, expressed by the most authoritative scientists - about the ethnic kinship of Tuvans with Samoyeds and the Samoyed ethnic component as the main component in the ethnogenesis of the Tuvan people - in the scientific environment of the late XVIII century. received wide support and for a long time did not cause much discussion.

In 1847, A. M. Kastren, a Finnish linguist of world renown, managed to visit Tuva, who made a great contribution to Finno-Ugric studies, to the study of Samoyedic, Mongolian, Turkic and Paleo-Asiatic languages. He did not draw facts and materials for his research from books, but on difficult and long journeys, which he made on the instructions and at the expense of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (see: Muravyov, 1961: 56). A. M. Kastren collected rich material on the languages of the peoples of Western Siberia and believed that all of them are somehow connected with the Samoyed environment. In his studies, he wrote that the Soyots really spoke the same dialect as the Minusinsk Tatars-Khakas, but traces remained in their language, indicating that part of the Soyot tribes were undoubtedly of “Samoyed origin” (Kastren, 1860: 402 ).

Researchers of the 19th - early 20th centuries, especially those who visited Tuva, came closer to solving certain issues of the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans. Thus, the researcher of Siberian antiquities G. I. Spassky was the first to correctly identify the belonging of the Tuvans to the Turkic-speaking peoples on the basis of the testimonies of the Tuvans in the Sayans recorded by him (Spassky, 1820: 146).

The outstanding Turkologist Academician V. V. Radlov, after visiting Western Tuva in 1861, came to the conclusion that the Tuvans “speak Turkish (i.e., Turkic. - Z. A., M. M.) language", and by origin they "represent a mixed nationality of the Kirghiz, Samoyeds and Yenisei Ostyaks" (Radlov, 1907: 14) By the way, about the hard work of a research scientist of that time, about the difficulties and hardships that they had to overcome in the field material, eloquently testifies to the text published by V.V. Radlov in the preface of his monumental work devoted to the study of the dialects of the Turkic tribes. In particular, he writes: “These texts, despite their imperfection, are linguistically important, since, as far as I know, such samples have never been published in the Sayan languages. The collection of these few samples already cost me quite a lot of work, since for this I had to make long trips on horseback through the empty, roadless taiga ”(Radlov, 1866: 14).

Important observations and information about the tribal composition of the Tuvans can be found in the works of the famous geographer and traveler G. I. Potanin, who visited Tuva in 1876–1879. and who suggested that the Tuvans are “descendants of the ancient Uighurs” (Potanin, 1883: 13). He also believed that some Mongol groups were omongolized Turks. So, in his monograph “Essays on Northwestern Mongolia,” he notes: “In the middle part of the Mongolian Altai, there is the Khalkhas khoshun Tazhi-Uriankhai, now they are real Mongols, but the name of the khoshun completely coincides with the name of the Uriankhai generation Tazhi-Uriankhai. Was it not that Turkic generation, which later mongolized, but kept its name? (ibid: 654). Potanin also believed that "the Darhats, apparently, are nothing more than the mongolized Uriankhians, the population of five khoshuns of Western Mongolia can be accepted as the same mongolized Turks" (ibid.: 653). In addition, in the same work, in the section “Uriankhians”, he described not only social, family and religious life, but also gave new data on the administrative-tribal division of the Uriankhians, revealed the names of individual clans (ibid.: 10–13).

The work of the Orientalist-Turkologist I. L. Aristov (Aristov, 1896) has not lost its source study significance in elucidating the ethnic composition of the Turkic-speaking peoples (including Tuvans). In the course of the study, he comes to the conclusion that the Turks-Tukyu, represented by Teles and Kyrgyz, took part in the formation of the ethnic composition of the Tuvans. And further he notes that “taking into account many impurities, the Uriankhians, for their part, had to participate in the composition of other peoples. Undoubtedly, their participation in the formation of the Western Mongols, in which they played a role among other forest tribes (ibid.: 348). He also concludes that “the Uriankhai are so called by the Mongols, they themselves call themselves tuba or tuva, as the Turkified Samoyeds of the northern slopes of Altai and the Sayan Range; they are also called Soyots, Soits, Soyons (ibid.: 347). The disadvantage of this work should be considered the underestimation of complex sources and the study of the ethnic composition of certain tribes, nationalities mainly on the basis of ethnonymic data.

The French geographer J. J. E. Reclus, a member of the Paris Commune, in the multi-volume pile “Earth and People. General geography" divides the Tuvans into Soyots, Uriankhs (Uriankhians. - Z. A., M. M.) and soyons. In his opinion, the Soyots “speak in a dialect close to the dialect of the Samoyeds” and “represent a cross between the Finnish race and the Turkic”, the Uriankhs “are considered to belong to the Turkic race, and they have a Turkic type of face, and most of them speak the Tatar dialect”, and the Soyons - “another Turkic people, different from the Uriankhs and Darhats, but more or less mixed with the Kirghiz” (Reclus, 1898: 676). This scientist, who did not visit Tuva, probably using compiled sources, erroneously divided Tuvans into Soyons, Soyots, Uriankhs. It is known that the Mongols, and after them the Chinese and Russians, erroneously called the Tuvans Soyots and Uriankhians. Neither the Finnish nor the Turkic race exists. Reclus, speaking of these races, probably had in mind the Turkic and Finnish ethnic groups.

The "Siberian commercial, industrial and reference calendar for 1899" also touched upon the question of the origin of the Tuvans. In it, they were noted as “the remnants of a once numerous tribe, more than once mentioned by Chinese historians under the name of tuba, namely: Soyons or Soyots. Everyone speaks the Turkic language” (Siberian commercial and industrial…, 1899: 362).

In the Encyclopedic Dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron, the question of the origin of “the population of the upper basin of the Yenisei (Tuvans. - Z. A., M. M.) within Siberia and China”, which allegedly “consists of Mongols, Finns and Turks, representing a diverse mixture of tribes...” (Encyclopedic Dictionary…, 1900: 718).

In 1889, the Turkologist N. F. Katanov visited Tuva for research purposes. Specially engaged in the study, he did not agree with the linguistic conclusions of M. L. Castren. “Comparing the Uriankhai words of his collection,” he wrote, “with the Samoyedic words collected by M. L. Kastren... I did not find any similarities between the Uriankhai language and the Samoyedic language in lexical terms. Most of the Uriankhai words coinciding with the Samoyedic ones, in particular, with the words of the Kamarin dialect of the Samoyedic language, turned out to be of Turkic origin or Mongolian, but not Samoyedic” (Katanov, 1903: 17). N.F. Katanov, for the first time, based on linguistic data, scientifically proved that “Tuvans basically speak the same language with the weakest deviations, completely in Turkic, and not in Samoyedic and not in Ostyak” (ibid.: 17). Based on the experience of his research, he concludes that phonetics and morphology are entirely Turkic (ibid.: 18). Concerning the question of the origin of the Tuvans, N.F. Katanov states that “they were composed of elements of the Turkic, Mongolian and Samoyedic and were known under the name dubo in ancient times” (ibid.: 3). At the same time, he emphasizes the important role of the Uighurs, which they played in the origin of the Tuvans. The different points of view that existed during this period on this account, the researcher explains by the fact that “on the basis of the fact that in the 17th century. Russians in the southern part of the Yenisei province encountered Finnish tribes most of all, some scientists confidently say that the current Soyots are Ostyaks or Samoyeds by origin ”(ibid.: 3).

In 1897, I. P. Slinich and K. I. Goroshenko became interested in the anthropological type of Tuvans for the first time. If the first one had only 11 Tuvan skulls at its disposal, then the second one examined 92, of which 20 were female. However, their conclusions, built on the basis of far from sufficient data, turned out to be hasty (Slinich, 1901: 70; Goroshenko, 1901: 72). In 1907, the anthropological types of Tuvans were studied by A. A. Ivanovsky, who, based on the materials of K. I. Goroshenko for the first time correctly attributed them to the Mongoloid race.

In 1897, the ethnographer P. E. Ostrovskikh visited Eastern Tuva, who collected extensive ethnographic and anthropological materials that shed light on the ethnogenesis of Tuvans-Todzhans (Ostrovskikh, 1897, 1898, 1899). Unfortunately, most of his materials were not published, only brief reports on the expedition and articles were published. In an article that appeared in 1899 in the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society, devoted to the justification of Russian colonization and the development of trade in the Uryankhai region, the author provides, among other things, valuable information about the population of the Todzhinsky khoshun, including the number of adults and children (Ostrovskikh, 1899: 340 ).

Ethnographic data on the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Yenisei valley are contained in the summary work of the Russian revolutionary E.K. Yakovlev. It should be clarified that E. K. Yakovlev himself did not manage to visit Tuva, since, being a political prisoner, he did not have the opportunity to leave Russia. At the same time, this circumstance in no way detracts from the value and significance of his works: he collected important materials on the material culture of the Tuvans and their social life (Yakovlev, 1900).

In 1901, the Eastern Department of the Russian Geographical Society turned to F. Kohn, also a political exile, to carry out an ethnographic expedition to Soyotia (Tuva). The main objective of this expedition was to study the history, culture and life of the local population. In the book of F. Kohn, published in 1934, various aspects of the material and spiritual culture of the inhabitants of Tuva were comprehensively covered: occupations (cattle breeding, hunting and fishing, agriculture, crafts), housing, clothing, food, marriage and family, beliefs, folk festivals etc. In the work, a special section is also devoted to the study of the Tuvan family (clan). So, in the course of the study, he summarizes that “the entire Uryankhai land is administratively divided into nine khoshuns. Hoshun is subdivided into four clans (clans) - "sumo". In turn, "sumo" is divided into "bones" - "syuyuk" (Kon, 1934: 143–144). Undoubtedly, F. Kohn is one of the prominent pre-revolutionary researchers of ethnography and ethnogenesis of Tuvans.

The researcher of Siberian antiquities, I. T. Savenkov, on the basis of a comparative ethnographic study of the evolution of the chess game, tried to find out the questions of the origin and direction of the movements of peoples, their kinship, cultural and ethnic relations. Such a one-sided approach to ethnogenetic issues led to the fact that the Tuvans, in his opinion, were equally formed due to the mixing of various tribes (Savenkov, 1905).

History of ethnographic study of Tuvans at the beginning of the 20th century. marked, among other things, by the manifestation of interest in this topic by European scientists. In particular, the English traveler D. Carruthers, who visited Tuva in 1910, touched upon the issue of the origin of the Tuvans. He pessimistically predicted the future of the Tuvans as “fading tribes of the upper Yenisei basin” and, with his characteristic ambition, stated that they were “... from themselves the descendants of the nation , formed by mixing the natives of the territories adjacent to the Yenisei River with the ancient Turkic and Ugric tribes, which, in turn, were strongly influenced by the Mongols ”(Carruthers, 1919: 198).

Further, it should be said about the fundamental work of the famous traveler and researcher of Central Asia G. E. Grumm-Grzhimailo "Western Mongolia and the Uryankhai Territory", the publication of which was completed in 1930. Despite some general methodological shortcomings, the work of G. N. Grumm-Grzhimailo, Written on the basis of the study of a colossal number of diverse sources (written, archaeological, anthropological, ethnographic), is of great interest. In fact, this was the first generalizing work on the history and ethnography of the Tuvan people. Considering the problem of the origin of the Tuvans, G. N. Grumm-Grzhimailo notes the complex ethnic composition of this people, which includes Turkic, Samoyedic, Mongolian, Ket ethnic components. In anthropological terms, he brings the Tuvans closer to the Mongols. In the preface of this book, speaking about the importance of such scientific research and the greatest reliability of the materials obtained, the author emphasizes that “ethnographic research from the researcher, in addition to knowing the language of the people he is studying and appropriate training, require stationary work among it and the length of stay” (Grumm- Grzhimailo, 1926: 1).

Thus, pre-revolutionary researchers adhered to the most diverse points of view on the problem of the origin of Tuvans, however, in general, their works contain valuable information on various issues of ethnogenesis and the ethnic composition of Tuvans. These scientists, of course, had only fragmentary information and were not armed with the fundamental scientific methods of research. Many of them were representatives of various sciences and for this reason often touched upon the problem of the origin and ethnic history of a particular Siberian people only in passing. At the same time, the importance and significance of the works of pre-revolutionary researchers, who made not only a significant contribution to the study of the problems of the ethnogenesis of Tuvans, but also the entire ethnic history of Tuva, is beyond doubt.

The modern study of the history and ethnogenesis of Tuvans began during the existence of the Tuvan People's Republic (1921–1944) and continued after Tuva joined the USSR with the further development of historical science and the accumulation of new materials.

Among the first Soviet expeditions that conducted research in the Tuva People's Republic was the Comprehensive Ethnographic and Anthropological Expedition led by the famous Soviet anthropologist, Professor V.V. Bunak (1926). The anthropological team of this expedition, consisting of anthropologists A. I. Yarkho and V. I. Belkina, worked in the Dzun-Khemchik and Barun-Khemchik regions and examined 124 people. A group consisting of a graduate student of the Institute of Anthropology M. G. Levin and artist O. F. Amosova was engaged in ethnographic research in Todzha. The participants of this expedition collected valuable ethnographic and archaeological data directly related to the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans.

Anthropological studies have established that Western Tuvans in their most pronounced form are representatives of the Central Asian type (Yarkho, 1929: 130). However, craniological studies of the prominent Soviet anthropologist G. F. Debets showed that the Western Tuvans differ from the central ones, among whom South Siberian types predominate (Debets, 1929: 36).

Of great importance for determining the size and ethnic composition of the population of Tuva and the state of its economy were the materials of the agricultural and demographic census of 1931, conducted with the direct participation of scientists.

An in-depth and systematic development of the problems of ethnogenesis and the history of the Tuvan people began after the entry of Tuva into the USSR (1944). Scientists from leading scientific central institutions - the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (currently the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR (currently the Russian Ethnographic Museum), and local ones - the Tuva Scientific Research Institute of Language , literature and history (currently the Tuva Institute for Humanitarian Research), the National Museum. Aldan Maadyr of the Republic of Tyva. To date, thanks to the scientific research of several generations of domestic researchers, a rich and diverse material has been accumulated on these issues.

In the article “On the Anthropology of Southern Siberia”, M. L. Levin, on the basis of new materials, “contrary to the assumption of G. F. Debets about the difference between the Central Tuvans and the Western ones and the predominance of the South Siberian type among them” (Levin, 1952: 26), comes to the conclusion that the Tuvans of the central and western regions constitute one Central Asian type. According to his point of view, “Central Tuvans do not show a shift towards the South Siberian type and anthropologically they do not differ from Western Tuvans” (ibid.). As for the Eastern Tuvans, the Todzha reindeer herders are close to representatives of the Baikal anthropological type (Evenks, Evens), and the Todzha cattle breeders (Kol-Sumon) occupy an intermediate position in anthropological type between the Todzha reindeer herders and the Tuvans of the western and central regions (ibid.: 25). In 1956, G. F. Debets, revising his earlier conclusions about the anthropological difference between the western and central Tuvans, attributed Tuvans-Todzhans to the Sayan type (i.e., Baikal, according to M. G. Levin), and the Tuvans of other regions of Tuva - to the Central Asian (Debets, 1960).

Valuable information about the Tuvan tribes, their settlement and ethnonyms is contained in the fundamental work of V. I. Dulov. A special place in the work is given to the remnants of the tribal system and social relations among Tuvans in the 19th - early 20th centuries. (Dulov, 1956).

The increased interest of the scientific community in the 1950s in this problem is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that the question of the origin of the Tuvans was first put "on the agenda" and became the main topic of the work of the section of ethnic history and ethnic geography of the All-Union Ethnographic meetings in Leningrad (1956).

The well-known ethnographer-Turkologist L.P. Potapov dealt with the problems of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Tuvans. In the section “Tuvans” of the book “Peoples of Siberia”, he points to the mixed origin of the Tuvans, who included Turkic, partly Mongolian, Samoyedic and Ket components in their composition. And he concludes that "the ethnic composition of the Tuvans is quite complex" (Peoples of Siberia, 1956: 420). The ethnic composition of the Tuvan tribes and a number of problems associated with the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans were also reflected in the subsequent works of this author. So, for example, in 1969 his monograph was published, dedicated to the folk life of the Tuvans, in which, along with the main topic of the study, some aspects of the ethnic history of Tuva were also covered (Potapov, 1969). In general, in the works of this researcher, the issues of the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans are considered only in passing, as a rule, in connection with the problems of the origin of the Khakasses and Altaians.

The works of S. I. Vainshtein occupy an important place in the development of questions of the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans. In 1957–1958 he published a number of articles. Among them, "Essay on the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans" - in essence, this is the first special study that examines the ethnogenesis of the Tuvan people. Over the course of several decades, he organized ethnographic expeditions to almost all regions of Tuva and scrupulously studied various groups of Tuvans, including Todzha Tuvans (Vainshtein, 1972; 1980; 1991). The materials collected by the author in the process of field research and their thorough analysis allow the author to state that “the traditional concept of the Samoyedic basis in the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans is not confirmed (Vainshtein, 1957: 214).

The researcher comes to the conclusion that “the basis of the ethnogenesis of the steppe peoples, who make up the vast majority of the Tuvan people, are the ancient Turkic-speaking tribes of Central Asia ... and Turkicized or Mongol-speaking groups”, and “in the ethnogenesis of the Todzhans, along with the Turkic-speaking groups, the Samoyedic groups played a large role” (Weinstein, 1961: 20). Thus, S.I. Vainshtein clearly distinguished the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans of the steppe regions, who make up the majority of the Tuvan people, from the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans of the taiga. Further research is summarized in the first part of his doctoral dissertation "The Origin and Historical Ethnography of the Tuvans" (1970). In this work, the conclusion made earlier regarding the Tuvans of the steppe regions remains unchanged, and in the origin of the Eastern Tuvans, as he writes, “along with the Turkic-speaking tribes, an important role was played by Samoyedic, to a lesser extent Ket and Mongolian, and at an early stage, probably, Tungus components” (Weinstein, 1970: 21). Exploring the ethnic history of the Tuvans, he comes to the conclusion that "the long process of the formation of the Tuvan people ended at the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century." (Weinstein, 1957: 214).

The problem of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Tuvan people was reflected in a number of publications of the Tuvan historian-archaeologist M. Kh. In this series, his monograph “Tuvians. Origin and Formation of the Ethnos”, published in 2004 (Mannai-ool, 2004). It represents the first experience of a holistic monographic study of the history of the formation and formation of the Tuvan ethnos, starting from its origins - from the so-called Scythian time (VIII-III centuries BC) - the most important historical and cultural period in the history of the peoples of Eurasia, which laid the beginning of the consolidation of the ancestors of modern Tuvans up to their formation into a single ethnic group. The work is based on a comparative historical analysis of various sources - written, archaeological, ethnographic, anthropological. It is important to note that the materials of his own field work were an essential basis for his research. M. Kh. Mannai-ool for a long time (from 1960 to 1985) was the head of the archaeological expedition of the Tuva Institute of Language, Literature and History (TNIIYALI).

In this work, the author, in particular, substantiates the conclusion that the original ethnic core of the Tuvans was made up of Turkic-speaking tribes who lived in Tuva and penetrated into its territory from the 2nd century BC. BC e. by the 12th century n. e. Examining written sources, the author concludes that the ethnonym "dubo", recorded in the Chinese chronicles of the 6th-8th centuries. as a common name for the emerging Tuvan ethnos, became widespread from the second half of the 17th century. (ibid: 142).

When talking about Soviet researchers whose works reflected certain aspects of the ethnic history of Tuva, one should especially mention the Leningrad ethnographer E. D. Prokofieva. As modern colleagues write about it, the forgotten explorer of Tuva (Kisel, 2012: electronic resource). We would like to add to these words - "undeservedly forgotten" ... Her monograph "The Process of National Consolidation of Tuvans" was written in 1957 and published only in 2011 in the series "Kunstkamera - Archive" (Prokofieva, 2011). Presenting this work, E. A. Rezvan rightly notes that this is “... in many respects a pioneering work for its time” (ibid.: 7). The basis of this work was the richest empirical materials collected by E. D. Prokofieva during the Sayano-Altai expedition, the Tuvan detachment of which she led during three field seasons - 1952, 1953, 1955. In the course of studying various aspects of the ethnic consolidation of Tuvans, the author concludes that “characteristic of this process was the presence of several centers where the ethnic community of the tribes that made up the modern Tuvan people was formed. Such centers were the western regions of Tuva, where the tribal unions that were created had close ties with the tribes of Altai and the western corner of Northwestern Mongolia; the northeastern territories of Tuva, where the tribes that inhabited Tuva were closely connected with the population of the northern slopes of the Sayan Mountains, the Kosogogol region, and the Minusinsk basin; southern center there was the territory of the ridge and spurs of Tannu-Ola, where the tribes of Tuva mainly entered into relations with the tribes of the steppe Mongolia (Eastern) ”(ibid.: 424). It is also important to note that in this work, along with the main topic of the study, a wide range of problems related to the material and spiritual culture of the Tuvans is considered, many of which were poorly studied at that time.

A significant contribution to the paleoanthropological study of Tuva was made by famous Soviet anthropologists G. F. Debets, V. P. Alekseev, I. I. Gokhman and others. .e - I century AD) in Tuva lived mainly the population of the ancient Caucasoid type. The admixture of Mongoloid traits among the population of Tuva increases towards the end of the 1st millennium AD. A further increase in the share of the Mongoloid component among local tribes occurs in the ancient Turkic period (VI-VIII centuries) and subsequent epochs up to the end of the first half of the 2nd millennium AD. According to paleoanthropologist I. I. Gokhman, the materials they obtained during the expedition from the territory of the Altai-Sayan Highlands, Buryatia and Western Mongolia proved the presence of an ancient Caucasoid component in the composition of not only the South Siberian, but also the Central Asian type (Gokhman, 1980).

As for the anthropological type of modern Tuvans, the anthropologist V. I. Bogdanova, as a result of her research conducted in Tuva in 1972–1976, comes to the conclusion that Tuvans are heterogeneous in their anthropological composition and various components took part in their formation (Bogdanova, 1979: 23). The heterogeneity of the anthropological composition of the Tuvans is determined by the selection of types with both pronounced Mongoloid features, and with a weakening of the severity of Mongoloid features for a number of anthropological features and dermatology (Khit, 1979: 18). In addition to the classical description of the physical appearance of men and women, V. I. Bogdanova collected materials on dermatoglyphics, odontology, and blood types; in a comparative analysis, she shifted the focus to intra-ethnic differentiation of Tuvans and broad intergroup comparisons. As a result, she found that the originality of the complex anthropological characteristics of Tuvans in interethnic comparison. They combine similarities with the Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Altaians, on the one hand, and with the Mongols and Yakuts, on the other. Caucasoid features in the racial type of the Tuvans of Southwestern Tuva were preserved among the older local population (Turkic peoples of Eastern Siberia, 2008: 12).

Of great importance in the study of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of Tuvans are studies on toponymy and ethnonymy of Tuvans. They are reflected in the works of the above-named authors - G. E. Grumm-Grzhimailo, V. I. Dulov, S. I. Vainshtein, L. P. Potapov, E. D. Prokofieva, M. Kh. Mannai-ool.

Speaking about the works of modern historiography of Tuva, where one way or another the issues of ethnogenesis were covered, first of all, we will name the revised and substantially supplemented edition of the first volume of the "History of Tuva" edited by S. I. Vainshtein and M. Kh. Mannai-ool, covering the centuries-old history of the region from the Stone Age to the beginning of the 20th century (History of Tuva, 2001). It should also be noted the collective monograph "Turkic peoples of Eastern Siberia", in which a significant place, along with coverage of the main stages of the ethnic history of Tuva, is given directly to the history of the ethnographic study of Tuvans, including the problem of their ethnogenesis (Turkic peoples of Eastern Siberia, 2008: 21–42).

Thus, the given data testify that rather extensive literature is devoted to the study of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of Tuvans. And, as we can see, both pre-revolutionary researchers and scientists of the Soviet and post-Soviet period made a significant contribution to the development of this problem (see also: Lamazhaa, 2010: electr. resource). At the same time, it should be emphasized that, in contrast to the history of the ethnogenesis of many other peoples, experts almost unanimously recognized the important role and significant predominance of the Turkic component in the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans. At the same time, based on the literature reviewed by us, it can be stated that the process of formation of the ethnic core of the Tuvans was not only quite long and complex, but also a variety of ethnic groups took part in its formation at certain stages.

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Anaiban Z.V., Mannai-ool M.Kh. Origin of the Tuvans. Background [Electronic resource] // New studies of Tuva. electr. magazine. 2013, No. 3. URL: https://www..html (accessed: dd.mm.yy).

Tuvans- self-name tuva, obsolete name soyots, Soyons, Uriankhians; Tainu-Tuvans(an outdated name for the Tuvans who inhabited Tuva, in contrast to the Tuvans who lived outside of it)- people in Russia, the main population of Tuva. They also live in the Russian Federation, Mongolia, China. Believing Tuvans - mainly Buddhist Lamaists, pre-Buddhist cults also persist,.

Ethnographic groups

Tuvans are divided into Western and Eastern, or Tuvans-Todzhans, who make up about 5% of all Tuvans.

Language

They speak the Tuvan language of the Turkic group of the Altai family. Dialects: central, western, southeastern, northeastern (Todzha). Russian is also widespread, in the southern regions - Mongolian. Writing based on Russian graphics.

Historical information

Yenisei Kyrgyz, who inhabited the Minusinsk Basin, in the 19th century. subjugated the Uighurs. Later, the Kyrgyz tribes that penetrated Tuva completely assimilated among the local population. In the XIII-XIV centuries. Several Mongol tribes moved to Tuva, gradually assimilated by the local population. At the end of the 1st millennium AD, in the mountainous taiga eastern part of Tuva - in the Sayan Mountains (today's Todzha region), previously inhabited by Samoyedic, Ket-speaking and, possibly, Tungusic tribes, Turkic-speaking tribes of the tuba (dubo in Chinese sources), related to the Uighurs, penetrated. By the 19th century all non-Turkic inhabitants of Eastern Tuva were completely Turkicized, and the ethnonym Tuba (Tyva) became the common self-name of all Tuvans.

At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 19th centuries, when Tuva was under the rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the formation of the Tuvan ethnos was completed. In 1914, Tuva (Russian name - Uryankhai region) was taken under the protectorate of Russia. In 1921, the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva was proclaimed, since 1926 it became known as the Tuva People's Republic. In 1944, the republic was incorporated into the Russian Federation as Autonomous region, in 1961 it was transformed into the Tuva ASSR, since 1991 - the Republic of Tuva, since 1993 - the Republic of Tyva.

economy

The traditional occupations of Western and Eastern Tuvans differed significantly. The basis of the economy of Western Tuvans until the middle of the 20th century. was nomadic pastoralism. They bred small and large cattle, including yaks (in the highlands in the west and southeast of the republic), as well as horses and camels. Plowed agriculture (millet, barley) was of secondary importance. It was almost exclusively irrigated. Agricultural plots were usually cultivated for three to four years, then they were abandoned and moved to another, once abandoned. Agriculture required artificial irrigation, and therefore the arats made small canals when preparing the site. The land was plowed with a wooden plow - "andazin", which was attached to the horse's saddle. The harrows were harrowed, the ears were cut with a knife or pulled out by hand. At the beginning of the twentieth century. began to use the Russian sickle. The grain was not ground, but pounded in a wooden mortar.

Part of the male population was also engaged in hunting. Until the end of the XIX century. bow and arrows were the main hunting weapons of the Tuvans. In the future, they began to hunt with a gun. They gave the bullet the name "ok", i.e. an arrow, and a hunting belt with a powder flask and a cartridge belt - "saadak" (quiver). Hunting was mainly of a commercial nature: they beat the squirrel, sable, and ermine. When hunting or in heavy snow, skis were used for movement, usually made of spruce and lined with skins.

Fishing was an important support, mainly in the economy of forest areas. Fish were caught using nets, fishing rods with wooden hooks, and speared. For pike fishing, a hair loop was used, constipation was set on small rivers, winter ice fishing was practiced.

The inhabitants of the taiga attached great importance to the collection of roots and tubers of wild plants, especially kandyk and saran. For their digging, there was a special tool - a digger with an iron tip - "ozuk".

The most ancient and important type of economic activity of hunter-reindeer herders of Toji was gathering (bulbs of sarana, the stocks of which reached a hundred or more kg in a family, pine nuts, etc.). In home production, the main ones were the processing of hides and the production of leather, the dressing of birch bark. Crafts (blacksmithing, carpentry, saddlery, etc.) were developed. Tuvan blacksmiths served the needs of the nomadic economy in small iron products. They practically did not stand out from pastoral communities and led the same nomadic lifestyle as other pastoralists. Their entire toolkit (anvil, a set of hammers and tongs, goatskin furs) was adapted for constant movement and rapid deployment in any conditions. By the beginning of the XX century. in Tuva, there were over 500 blacksmiths-jewelers, who worked mainly to order. In almost every family, the covering of the yurt, rugs and mattresses were made from felt.

dwelling

The main dwelling of the Western Tuvans was the yurt: round in plan, it had a collapsible, easily folded lattice frame made of wooden planks fastened with leather straps. In the upper part of the yurt, a wooden hoop was fixed on sticks, above which there was a smoke hole, which also served as a window (light-smoke hole). The yurt was covered with felt layers and, like the skeleton, fastened with woolen belts. The door was made either of wood or a piece of felt, usually decorated with stitching. A hearth was placed in the center of the yurt. In the yurt there were paired wooden chests, the front walls of which were usually decorated with painted ornaments. The right side of the yurt (in relation to the entrance) was considered female, the left - male. The floor was covered with patterned quilted felt rugs. The walls of the yurt are used for hanging things, mainly felt and cloth bags with salt, tea and utensils, dried stomachs and intestines filled with oil. A Tuvan yurt cannot be considered complete in terms of furnishing if it does not have shirtek felt carpets. White quilted trapezoid-shaped shirts are grown on the earthen floor. There are from 2 to 3 of them: in the front of the yurt, on the left side, by the bed. Nowadays, some use a wooden floor. Various shamanic cult objects in the yurt had a certain place, for example, the keeper of the yurt, Kara Moos, was always above the door and his head was turned towards the shelves on the male side, other guardian spirits were between the aptar and the bed. Buddhist-Lamaist cult objects were placed above the lockers or on the aptar.

In addition to the yurt, Western Tuvans also used the tent as a dwelling, which was covered with felt cavities.

The traditional dwelling of the Eastern Tuvan reindeer herders (Todzhans) was the tent, which had a frame of inclined poles. It was covered in summer-autumn with birch-bark sections, and in winter - with sections sewn from elk skins. During the period of transition to settled life in the newly created collective farm settlements, many Todzhans built permanent tents, which were covered with pieces of larch bark, and light four-, five- and hexagonal frame buildings became widespread before the start of building with standard houses. The outbuildings of the Western Tuvans were mainly in the form of quadrangular pens (made of poles) for livestock. At the beginning of the XX century. under the influence of Russian peasant settlers in Western and Central Tuva, they began to build log barns for storing grain near winter roads.

Cloth

Traditional clothes, including shoes, were made from the skins and skins of mainly domestic and wild animals, from various fabrics and felt. Shoulder clothing was tunic-shaped swing. characteristic features outerwear - a dressing gown - had a stepped cutout in the upper part of the left floor and long sleeves with cuffs that fell below the hands. Favorite fabric colors are purple, blue, yellow, red, green. In winter they wore long fur coats with a fastener on the right side and a standing collar. In spring and autumn, they wore sheepskin coats with short-cropped wool. Festive winter clothing was a fur coat made of skins of grown lambs, covered with colored fabric, often silk, summer - a dressing gown made of colored fabric (usually blue or cherry). Floors, collars, cuffs were sheathed with several rows of strips of colored fabric of various colors, and the collar was stitched so that the seams formed rhombic cells, meander, zigzag or wavy lines.

One of the most common headwear for men and women is a sheepskin hat with a wide domed top with earmuffs tied at the back of the head and a nape covering the neck. They wore spacious felt hoods with an elongated ledge that fell to the back of the head, as well as hats made of sheepskin, lynx or lamb skin, which had a high crown trimmed with colored fabric. A knob in the form of a braided knot was sewn to the top of the cap, and several red ribbons fell down from it. Fur hoods were also worn.

Shoes are basically of two types. Leather boots kadyg idik with a characteristic curved and pointed toe, multi-layered felt-leather sole. The tops were cut out of rawhide of cattle. Festive boots were decorated with colored appliqués. Soft boots chymchak idik had a soft sole made of cow leather without a cape bend and a boot top made of treated leather of a domestic goat. In winter, felt stockings (uk) with sewn-in soles were worn in boots. The upper part of the stockings was decorated with ornamental embroideries.

The clothing of the Eastern Tuvan reindeer herders had a number of significant features. In summer, khashton, which was cut out of worn deer skins or autumn roe deer rovduga, served as a favorite shoulder garment. It had a straight cut, widened at the hem, straight sleeves with deep rectangular armholes. There was another cut - the camp was cut out from one whole skin, thrown over the head and, as it were, wrapped around the body. Capor-shaped headdresses were sewn from the skins from the heads of wild animals. Sometimes they used headdresses made of duck skin and feathers. In late autumn and winter, they used kamus fur boots with the fur outside (byshkak idik). Reindeer herders, being on the hunt, girded their clothes with a narrow belt made of roe deer skin with hooves at its ends.

The underwear of both western and eastern Tuvans consisted of a shirt and short pants-natazniks. Summer pants were sewn from cloth or rovduga, and winter pants were made from the skins of domestic and wild animals, less often from cloth.

Decorations

Rings, rings, earrings, as well as silver bracelets ornamented with chasing served as women's jewelry. Braided silver ornaments in the form of a plate decorated with engraving, chasing, and precious stones were highly valued. 3–5 low beads and black bundles of threads were hung from them. Both women and men wore braids. Men shaved the front of the head, and the remaining hair was braided into one braid.

Food

Traditional food was dominated by dairy products (especially in summer), including fermented milk drink khoytpak and koumiss (Eastern Tuvans use reindeer milk), various types of cheese: sour, smoked (kurut), unleavened (pyshtak); they ate boiled meat of domestic and wild animals (especially lamb and horse meat). Not only meat was used for food, but also offal, as well as the blood of domestic animals. They used vegetable food: cereals from cereals, oatmeal, stems and roots of wild plants. Tea (salted and with milk) played an important role.

Family relationships

Exogamous childbirth (soyok) persisted until the beginning of the 20th century. only among the Eastern Tuvans, although traces of tribal division also existed among the Western Tuvans. In social life, the so-called aal communities were of significant importance - family-related groups, which usually included from three to five to six families (the family of the father and the families of his separated married sons with children), who roamed together, forming stable groups of aals, and in the summer time they united in larger neighboring communities. A small monogamous family prevailed, although until the 1920s. among wealthy cattle owners there were also cases of polygamy.

Traditions

The institution of kalym was preserved. The wedding cycle consisted of several stages: conspiracy (usually in childhood), matchmaking, a special ceremony of securing matchmaking, marriage and a wedding feast. There were special wedding capes on the head of the bride, a number of prohibitions associated with the customs of avoidance. Tuvans had rich traditions - customs, rituals, norms of behavior, which are an integral part of spiritual culture.

Art

Oral poetic creativity of various genres is developed: heroic epic, legends, myths, legends, songs, proverbs and sayings. To this day, storytellers have survived, performing orally the huge works of the epic of the Tuvans. Musical folk art is represented by numerous songs, ditties. A special place in the Tuvan musical culture is occupied by the so-called throat singing, in which four varieties are usually distinguished and four melodic styles corresponding to them.

Of the musical instruments, the most common were the mouth harp (khomus) - iron and wooden. Bowed instruments (ancient prototypes of the violin) - igil and byzanchy were common.

Religion

In the beliefs of the Tuvans, the remnants of the ancient family and clan cult are preserved, which manifests itself mainly in the veneration of the hearth. The Tuvans preserved shamanism. Shamanistic ideas are characterized by a tripartite division of the world. Until recently, certain features of the fishing cult were preserved, in particular, the holding of a "bear holiday" among the Eastern Tuvans. The official religion of the Tuvans is Lamaism. last years is experiencing a revival. Lamaist monasteries are again being created with monks receiving education in the religious centers of Buddhism. Religious holidays are being held more and more often. The cult of the mountains has also retained its significance.

(3 thousand people, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region).

Tuvans are divided into Western and Eastern, or Tuvans-Todzhans, who make up about 5% of all Tuvans. They speak the Tuvan language of the Turkic group of the Altai family. Dialects: central, western, southeastern, northeastern (Todzha). Russian is also widespread, in the southern regions - Mongolian. Writing based on Russian graphics. Believing Tuvans are mostly Buddhist Lamaists, pre-Buddhist cults and shamanism are also preserved.

The most ancient ancestors of the Tuvans are the Turkic-speaking tribes of Central Asia, who penetrated the territory of modern Tuva no later than the middle of the 1st millennium and mixed here with the Ket-speaking, Samoyedic-speaking and, possibly, Indo-European tribes. Since the 6th century, the tribes of Tuva were part of the Turkic Khaganate. In the middle of the 8th century, the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, who created a powerful tribal union in Central Asia - the Uighur Khaganate, crushed the Turkic Khaganate, conquering its territories, including Tuva. Part of the Uighur tribes, gradually mixing with the local tribes, had a decisive influence on the formation of their language. The descendants of the Uighur conquerors live in Western Tuva. The Yenisei Kyrgyz, who inhabited the Minusinsk Basin, subjugated the Uighurs in the 9th century. Later, the Kyrgyz tribes that penetrated Tuva completely assimilated among the local population.

In the XIII-XIV centuries, several Mongol tribes moved to Tuva, gradually assimilated by the local population. At the end of the 1st millennium AD, in the mountainous taiga eastern part of Tuva - in the Sayans (today's Todzha region), previously inhabited by Samoyed, Ket-speaking and, possibly, Tungus tribes, Turkic-speaking tribes of the tuba (dubo in Chinese sources), related to the Uighurs, penetrated. By the 19th century, all non-Turkic inhabitants of Eastern Tuva were completely Turkicized, and the ethnonym Tuba (Tyva) became the common self-name of all Tuvans. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, when Tuva was under the rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the formation of the Tuvan ethnos was completed. In 1914, Tuva (Russian name - Uryankhai region) was taken under the protectorate of Russia. In 1921 the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva was proclaimed; from 1926 it became known as the Tuva People's Republic. In 1944, the republic was included in the Russian Federation as an autonomous region, in 1961 it was transformed into the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, since 1991 - the Republic of Tuva, since 1993 - the Republic of Tyva.

The traditional occupations of Western and Eastern Tuvans differed significantly. Until the middle of the 20th century, nomadic cattle breeding was the basis of the economy of Western Tuvans. They bred small and large cattle, including yaks (in the highlands in the west and southeast of the republic), as well as horses and camels. Plowed agriculture (millet, barley) was of secondary importance. It was almost exclusively irrigated with gravity irrigation.

Part of the male population was also engaged in hunting. Gathering of bulbs and roots of wild plants played a significant role. Crafts (blacksmithing, carpentry, saddlery, etc.) were developed. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were over 500 blacksmiths-jewelers in Tuva, who worked mainly to order. In almost every family, the covering of the yurt, rugs and mattresses were made from felt.

Traditional occupations of the Eastern Tuvans-Todzhans, who roamed in the mountain taiga of the Eastern Sayan: hunting and reindeer herding. Hunting for wild ungulates was supposed to provide the family with meat and skins throughout the year, and fur trade was predominantly commercial in nature and was carried out in late autumn and winter (the main objects of hunting were deer, roe deer, elk, wild deer, sable, squirrel).

The most ancient and important type of economic activity of the hunter-reindeer herders of Todja was gathering (bulbs of sarana, the stocks of which reached a hundred or more kilograms in the family, pine nuts, etc.). In home production, the main ones were the processing of hides and the production of leather, the dressing of birch bark. Blacksmithing was known, which was combined with carpentry.

In addition to the yurt, Western Tuvans also used the tent as a dwelling, which was covered with felt cavities.

The traditional dwelling of the Eastern Tuvan reindeer herders (Todzhans) was a tent, which had a frame of inclined poles. It was covered in summer-autumn with birch bark sections, and in winter - with sections sewn from elk skins. During the period of transition to settled life in the newly created collective farm settlements, many Todzhans built permanent tents, which were covered with pieces of larch bark, and light four-, five- and hexagonal frame buildings became widespread before the construction of standard houses began. The outbuildings of the Western Tuvans were mainly in the form of quadrangular pens (made of poles) for livestock. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of Russian peasant settlers in Western and Central Tuva, they began to build log barns for storing grain near winter roads.

Traditional clothes, including shoes, were made from the skins and skins of mainly domestic and wild animals, from various fabrics and felt. Shoulder clothing was tunic-shaped swing. The characteristic features of the outerwear - a dressing gown - were a stepped neckline in the upper part of the left floor and long sleeves with cuffs that fell below the hands. Favorite fabric colors are purple, blue, yellow, red, green. In winter they wore long fur coats with a fastener on the right side and a standing collar. In spring and autumn, they wore sheepskin coats with short-cropped wool. Festive winter clothing was a fur coat made of the skins of grown lambs, covered with colored fabric, often silk, summer - a dressing gown made of colored fabric (usually blue or cherry). Floors, collars, cuffs were sheathed with several rows of strips of colored fabric of various colors, and the collar was stitched so that the seams formed rhombic cells, meander, zigzag or wavy lines.

The underwear of both Western and Eastern Tuvans consisted of a shirt and short pants. Summer pants were sewn from cloth or rovduga, and winter pants were made from the skins of domestic and wild animals, less often from cloth.

Rings, rings, earrings, as well as silver bracelets ornamented with chasing served as women's jewelry. Braided silver ornaments in the form of a plate decorated with engraving, chasing, and precious stones were highly valued. 3-5 beads and black bundles of threads were hung from them. Both women and men wore braids. Men shaved the front of the head, and the remaining hair was braided into one braid.

Traditional food was dominated by dairy products (especially in summer), including the sour-milk drink khoytpak and koumiss (for Eastern Tuvans - reindeer milk), various types of cheese: sour, smoked (kurut), unleavened (pyshtak); they ate boiled meat of domestic and wild animals (especially lamb and horse meat). Not only meat was used for food, but also offal, as well as the blood of domestic animals. They used vegetable food: cereals from cereals, oatmeal, stems and roots of wild plants. Tea (salted and with milk) played an important role.

Exogamous clans (söyok) survived until the beginning of the 20th century only among Eastern Tuvans, although traces of tribal division existed among Western Tuvans as well. In social life, the so-called aal communities were of significant importance - family-related groups, which usually included from three to five or six families (the family of the father and the families of his separated married sons with children), who roamed together, forming stable groups of aals, and in the summer time they united in larger neighboring communities. The small monogamous family predominated, although before the 1920s there were cases of polygamy among wealthy cattle owners. The institution of kalym was preserved. The wedding cycle consisted of several stages: conspiracy (usually in childhood), matchmaking, a special ceremony of securing matchmaking, marriage and a wedding feast. There were special wedding capes on the head of the bride, a number of prohibitions associated with the customs of avoidance. Tuvans had rich traditions - customs, rituals, norms of behavior, which are an integral part of spiritual culture.

Traditional holidays: New Year - Shagaa, community holidays associated with the annual economic cycle, family and household holidays - the wedding cycle, the birth of a child, hair cutting, religious lamaism, etc. Not a single significant event in the life of a community or a large administrative unit took place without sports competitions - national wrestling (khuresh), horse racing, archery, various games. Oral poetic creativity of various genres is developed: heroic epos, legends, myths, legends, songs, proverbs and sayings. To this day, storytellers have survived, performing orally the huge works of the epic of the Tuvans.

Musical folk art is represented by numerous songs, ditties. A special place in the Tuvan musical culture is occupied by the so-called throat singing, in which four varieties are usually distinguished and four melodic styles corresponding to them.

Of the musical instruments, the most common were the mouth harp (khomus) - iron and wooden. Bowed instruments (ancient prototypes of the violin) - igil and byzanchy were common.

In recent years, Buddhism in the lamaist form has been rapidly reviving in Tuva, lamaist monasteries with monks receiving education in religious centers of Buddhism are being re-established. Shamanism has also been preserved, as well as a fishing cult, in particular, until recently, the so-called bear festival was held among Eastern Tuvans. The cult of the mountains and the veneration of the hearth have also retained their significance.

Mongolia:
31,823 (2010 census), including Tuvans 5,169, Uriankhais 26,654)
PRC:
4,000 (2000 est.)

Language Racial type Related peoples

Tuvinians(self-name - tuva, pl. number - tyvalar; obsolete titles: soyots, soyons, Uriankhians, tannu-tuvans , tannutuvans) - the people, the main population of Tuva (Tyva).

population

The total number of Tuvans is about 300 thousand people.

Ethnic groups and related peoples

Tuvans are divided into western (mountain-steppe regions of western, central and southern Tuva), speaking the central and western dialects of the Tuvan language, and eastern, known as Tuvans-Todzhans (mountain-taiga part of northeastern and southeastern Tuva), speaking in the northeastern and southeastern dialects (Tojin language). Todzhans make up about 5% of Tuvans.

Also Tuvans are the Uriankhians (the old name of the Tuvinians) living in Mongolia, divided into several ethnic groups - the Uryankhai-Monchaks, the Altai and Khubsugul Uriankhais, as well as the Tsaatans.

Living in the territory of Tofalaria - Nizhneudinsky district Irkutsk region tofalars, are a fragment of the Tuvan people who remained part of the Russian Empire after the main part of Tyva became part of the Manchurian Empire in 1757. They experienced significant administrative and cultural (verbal and at the level of everyday life) influence from the Russian conquerors, due to their small number and isolation from the bulk of the Tuvans.

Soyots living in the Okinsky district of Buryatia are close to the Tuvans. Now the Soyots are Mongolized, but measures are being taken to revive the Soyot language, which is close to Tuvan.

Story

The oldest ancestors of the Tuvans are the Turkic-speaking tribes of Central Asia, who penetrated the territory of modern Tuva no later than the middle of the 1st millennium and mixed here with the Ket-speaking, Samoyedic-speaking and, possibly, Indo-European tribes. The great similarity of the genetic characteristics of modern Tuvans and American Indians indicates the quite probable participation of the ancient ancestors of Tuvans in the initial stage of the settlement of America. Many features of the traditional culture of Tuvans date back to the era of early nomads, when Saka tribes lived on the territory of modern Tuva and adjacent regions of the Sayano-Altai (VIII -III century BC). At that time, people of a mixed Caucasoid-Mongoloid type with a predominance of Caucasoid features lived on the territory of Tuva. They differed from modern Caucasians by a much wider face. The tribes living at that time in Tuva had a noticeable similarity in weapons, horse equipment and art samples with the Scythians of the Black Sea region and the tribes of Kazakhstan, Sayano-Altai and Mongolia. Their influence can be traced in material culture (in the forms of utensils, clothing, and especially in arts and crafts). They switched to nomadic pastoralism, which has since become the main type economic activity population of Tuva and remained so until the transition to a settled way of life in - years. In the context of the expansion of the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. the steppe regions of Tuva were invaded by new pastoral nomadic tribes, mostly different from the local population of the Scythian time, but close to the Xiongnu of Central Asia. Archaeological data convincingly show that since that time not only the appearance of the material culture of local tribes has changed, but also their anthropological type, which is closely approaching the Central Asian type of the great Mongoloid race. The full correlation of them with this type by well-known domestic anthropologists is very doubtful due to a noticeable Caucasoid admixture.

Russian merchants who began their activities in Tuva from the city until the end of the 19th century. they completely took over the local market, where they conducted non-equivalent natural, often debt trade with increasing interest depending on the delay in paying debts for goods issued on credit. Buyers openly robbed Tuvans, who were very naive in trade matters, often resorting to the services of Tuvan officials in debt collection, who were in their debt, soldered and bestowed by them. According to V. I. Dulov’s calculations, Tuvans annually sold 10-15% of their livestock.

The flow of Russian peasant migrants, which followed the merchants, had a positive effect on the economic development of the region, significantly influenced the development social relations. Settlers in Piy-Khem, Ulug-Khem, Kaa-Khem, Khemchik and along the northern Tannu-Ola built more than 20 settlements, villages and farmsteads, developed thousands of acres of irrigated, rain-fed and other lands, where food and marketable grain was grown, and profitable cattle breeding was carried out. and deer farming. Russians settlements were located where there were rich irrigated and rain-fed lands adjacent to the taiga. These lands were sometimes acquired through seizure, sometimes through a deal between a wealthy migrant and a Tuvan official.

Encouraged by the tsarist authorities, the policy of creating a resettlement fund by ousting Tuvans from their lands subsequently caused sharp contradictions between the settlers and the local population, who responded to cases of dispossession of their land by the Russian authorities with massive loss of grain and hayfields of the settlers, theft and cattle rustling. Attempts by the authorities to understand the causes of these phenomena and put an end to them further fueled the enmity, since when considering complaints, a clear overestimation was allowed in the assessment of losses from damage and theft and equally large shortfalls in recovering the cost of damages in favor of the victims.

Chinese merchants who appeared in the region overshadowed the notoriety of Russian merchants and even pushed them into the background. With government patronage and support foreign capital(English, American), Chinese merchants quickly took over the Tuvan market, pushing Russian trade. In a short time, through unheard of swindle, usury and foreign economic coercion, they appropriated a huge amount of livestock and many products of the arat economy, contributed to the mass ruin of the arats, the degradation of the economy of Tuva, which accelerated the fall of the Qing regime in the region.

During the reign of the Qings, scattered, economically and politically weakly interconnected kindred-lingual tribes, who previously roamed in the spaces from Altai to the Khubsugul, the Minusinsk Basin to the Big Lakes and the basin of the river. Homdu (Kobdo) of Northwestern Mongolia, concentrated on the modern territory of Tuva, with the exception of the regions of the Big Lakes and Khubsugul, forming the Tuvan people, which has a developing original culture based on a single Tuvan language.

The relations of the three states (Russia, Mongolia and China) in connection with the Uryankhai issue intertwined into a new knot of contradictions that determined for the Tuvan people a winding path to freedom and national independence, which later required many sacrifices and perseverance.

In general, I would like to note that the main influence on the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans was exerted by the Turkic tribes that settled in the Tuvan steppes. In the middle of the 8th century, the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, who created a powerful tribal union in Central Asia - the Uighur Khaganate, crushed the Turkic Khaganate, having conquered its territories, including Tuva. Part of the Uighur tribes, gradually mixing with the local tribes, had a decisive influence on the formation of their language. The descendants of the conquering Uighurs lived in western Tuva until the 20th century (possibly, they include some tribal groups that now inhabit southeastern and northwestern Tuva). The Yenisei Kyrgyz, who inhabited the Minusinsk Basin, subjugated the Uighurs in the 9th century. Later, the Kyrgyz tribes that penetrated Tuva completely assimilated among the local population. In the XIII-XIV centuries, several Mongol tribes moved to Tuva, gradually assimilated by the local population. Under the influence of the Mongolian tribes, the Central Asian Mongoloid racial type, which is also characteristic of modern Tuvans, developed. At the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. in the mountainous taiga eastern part of Tuva - in the Sayans (the current Todzhinsky kozhuun), previously inhabited by Samoyed, Ket-speaking and, possibly, Tungus tribes, the Turkic-speaking tribes of the tuba (dubo in Chinese sources), related to the Uighurs, penetrated. By the 19th century, all non-Turkic inhabitants of Eastern Tuva were completely Turkicized, and the ethnonym tuba (Tuva) became the common self-name of all Tuvans. From the end of the 16th century, Tuva was part of the Mongolian state of the Altynkhans, which existed until the 2nd half of the 17th century. In the middle of the 18th century, Tuva was subordinated to the Manchurian dynasty of China, which ruled Tuva until . During this period, the formation of the Tuvan people was completed. The Tuva (Russian name - Uryankhai region) was taken under the protectorate of Russia. On August 14, 1921, the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva was proclaimed. Since it began to be called Tuva People's Republic. On October 13, 1944, the republic was annexed to the USSR and incorporated into the Russian Federation as an autonomous region;

material culture

Traditional cuisine

From traditional cuisine one can single out a dish called “Izig Khan” by the Tuvans. Literally translated as "Hot Blood". Sheep is slaughtered for cooking.

Famous personalities

Shoigu Sergey Kuzhugetovich - Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (since November 6, 2012), former governor of the Moscow Region, former head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
Khomushku Churgui-ool Namgayevich - Hero of the Soviet Union
Maxim Monguzhukovich Munzuk is a Soviet Tuvan actor, one of the founders of the Tuvan National Music and Drama Theatre.
Toka Salchak Kalbakhorekovich - Tuvan Soviet statesman and writer. Hero of Socialist Labor (). Laureate of the Stalin Prize of the third degree ().
Oorzhak Sherig-ool Dizizhikovich - head