The Buryats are a Mongol ethnic group indigenous to south‑eastern Siberia and northernmost Mongolia who speak the Buryat language or Buryat-Mongol dialect of Mongolian.Этническая история бурят в свете этнодемографических процессовШ. Чимидоржиев. "Бурят-монголы: история и современность" Улаан-Үд. 2001 ] They form one of the two principal indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of Buryats today live in their titular homeland, the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia that extends along the southern fringe of the country and partially straddles Lake Baikal. Smaller Buryat populations also inhabit Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug (Irkutsk Oblast) and the Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug (Zabaykalsky Krai), which lie to the west and east of Buryatia respectively, as well as north‑eastern Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia in China. Traditionally, they constituted the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition. (1977). Vol. II, p. 396. .
The Buryats share many customs with other Mongolic peoples, among them nomadic herding and the use of gers for shelter. Today the majority of Buryats reside in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryat Republic, though many still follow a more traditional way of life in the countryside. They speak a central Mongolic language called Buryat. UNESCO's 2010 edition of the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger classifies the Buryat language as "severely endangered".
History
The Buryat people were formed from a combination of Mongolic, Turkic, Tungusic and Samoyedic elements. The earliest inhabitants of the Baikal region are thought to have been Tungusic and Samoyedic tribes. The ethnogenesis of the Buryats is believed to have involved tribes such as the Bayirku and the Kurykans, who formed part of the Tiele tribal confederation. Alongside the Turkic hypothesis concerning the Bayyrku and the Kurykans, there are also theories that suggest they represented Mongolic elements within the Tiele union. The hypothesis of the Turkic origin of the Bayirku is shared by a number of scholars, among them N. A. Aristov, É. Chavannes, A. N. Bernshtam and B. R. Zoriktuev. The version proposing an ancient Mongolic origin for the Bayegu/Bayïrku was first advanced in detail by G. N. Rumyantsev, and was subsequently endorsed by scholars including Ts. B. Tsydendambaev, A. Ochir, P. B. Konovalov, S. B. Miyagasheva and G. Tubshinima. The Kurykans were regarded as Turkic‑speaking by P. Meliorsky, A. P. Okladnikov, S. E. Malov, S. A. Tokarev and B. O. Dolgikh. A Mongolic affiliation for the Kurykans has been proposed by V. V. Bartold, P. Pelliot, L. Hambis, Yu. D. Talko‑Gryntsevich, V. L. Kotwicz and A. N. Bernshtam, as well as by G. N. Rumyantsev and B. B. Dashibalov.
The name "Buriyad" is first recorded as that of one of the forest peoples in The Secret History of the Mongols (possibly 1240).Erich Haenisch, Die Geheime Geschichte der Mongolen, Leipzig 1948, p. 112 It relates that Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, marched north in 1207 to subjugate the Buryats.Owen Lattimore-The Mongols of Manchuria, p. 165 At that time, the Buryats inhabited the region along the Angara River and its tributaries. A related group, the Barga, were found both west of Lake Baikal and in the Barguzin valley of northern Buryatia. The , who dwelt along the Arig River in eastern Khövsgöl Province and along the Angara, were also linked to the Bargas.C.P.Atwood, Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p. 61 A rebellion of the Tumad broke out in 1217 after Genghis Khan permitted his viceroy to seize thirty Tumad maidens; in response, Genghis Khan's commander Dorbei the Fierce of the Dörbeds crushed them. During the Northern Yuan period in the late 14th century, the Buryats joined the Oirats in challenging the imperial rule of the Eastern Mongols.D. T︠S︡ėvėėndorzh, Tu̇u̇khiĭn Khu̇rėėlėn (Mongolyn Shinzhlėkh Ukhaany Akademi) – Mongol Ulsyn tu̇u̇kh: XIV zuuny dund u̇eės XVII zuuny ėkhėn u̇e, p. 43
Historically, the territories around Lake Baikal belonged to Mongolia, and the Buryats were subjects of the Tüsheet Khan and the Setsen Khan of Khalkha Mongolia. When the Russians expanded into Transbaikalia (eastern Siberia) in 1609, the Cossacks encountered only a small core of tribal groups speaking a Mongol dialect called Buryat and paying tribute to the Khalkha.University of Pittsburgh. University Center for International Studies, Temple University. Russian History: Histoire Russe, p. 464 Nevertheless, these groups were powerful enough to compel the Ket and Samoyedic peoples on the Kan River, as well as the Evenks on the lower Angara, to pay tribute. According to Bowles, the ancestors of most modern Buryats at that time spoke a variety of Turkic–Tungusic dialects.Bowles, Gordon T. (1977). The People of Asia, pp. 278–279. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. . However, the Russian researcher Nanzatov argues that the Tungusic and Turkic groups then lived on the periphery of the Buryat area; they were small remnants later assimilated by the Buryat population.Нанзатов Б. Р. (2005). "Этногенез западных бурят (VI - XIX вв.)". Иркутск. Pages 116-117. In addition to the core Buryat‑Mongol tribes (Bulagad, Khori, Ekhired, Khongoodor) that merged with the Buryats, the Buryats also assimilated other groups, including some Oirats, the Khalkha, Tungus (Evenks), and others. The Khori-Barga had migrated eastward out of the Barguzin to the lands between the Greater Khingan and the Argun River. Around 1594, most of them fled back to the Aga and Nerchinsk to avoid subjugation by the Daurs.
The Russians reached Lake Baikal in 1643, but the Buryats offered resistance to them and their forces. Although the Buryats were defeated, they attempted to revolt on several further occasions. These revolts were suppressed. The territory and its people were formally annexed to the Russian state by treaties in 1689 and 1727, when the lands on both sides of Lake Baikal were separated from Mongolia.
The consolidation of modern Buryat tribes and groups took place within the Russian state. From the mid‑17th century to the early 20th century, the Buryat population increased from 77,000 Традиционная материальная культура бурятского этноса Предбайкалья. Этногенез и расселение. Средовая культура бурят (Russian) (estimates range from 27,700 to 60,000П.Б. Абзаев. Буряты на рубеже XX-XXI вв. Численность, состав, занятия (Russian)) to 300,000. Another estimate of the rapid growth in people identifying as Buryat is based on clan lists of those paying tribute in the form of a sable‑skin tax. These lists suggest a population of approximately 77,000 in 1640, rising to 157,000 in 1823, and exceeding one million by 1950.Bowles, Gordon T. (1977). The People of Asia, p. 279. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. .
The historical roots of Buryat culture lie with the Mongolic peoples. After Buryatia was incorporated into Russia, it was exposed to two traditions – Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity. The Buryats west of Lake Baikal and Olkhon (the Irkut Buryats) are more Russified; they soon abandoned nomadism for agriculture, whereas the eastern (Transbaikal) Buryats are closer to the Khalkha, may live in yurts, and are mostly Buddhists. In 1741, the Tibetan branch of Buddhism was recognised as one of the official religions of Russia, and the first Buryat datsan (Buddhist monastery) was built.
The second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was a period of growth for the Buryat Buddhist religion (48 datsans in Buryatia by 1914). Buddhism became an important factor in the cultural development of the region. Owing to their skills in horsemanship and mounted combat, many Buryats were enlisted into the Amur Cossacks host. During the Russian Civil War, most Buryats sided with the White forces of Baron Ungern-Sternberg and Ataman Semenov. They formed a sizable portion of Ungern's forces and often received favourable treatment compared with other ethnic groups in the Baron's army. After the Revolution, most of the lamas remained loyal to Soviet power. In 1925, a campaign against religion and the clergy in Buryatia began. Datsans were gradually closed, and the activity of the clergy was curtailed. Consequently, by the late 1930s the Buddhist clergy had ceased to exist, and thousands of cultural treasures were destroyed. Attempts to revive Buddhism began during World War II, and it was officially re‑established in 1946. A revival of Buddhism has taken place since the late 1980s, becoming an important factor in national consolidation.
In the 1930s, Buryat‑Mongolia was one of the sites of Soviet studies aimed at disproving Nazi race theories. Among other things, Soviet physicians studied the "endurance and fatigue levels" of Russian, Buryat‑Mongol, and Russian‑Buryat‑Mongol workers to demonstrate that all three groups were equally capable.
In 1923, the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed and included the Baikal province (Pribaykalskaya guberniya), which had a Russian population. The Buryats rebelled against communist rule and the collectivisation of their herds in 1929. The rebellion was quickly crushed by the Red Army, with the loss of 35,000 Buryats.James Minahan. Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations, Vol. 2: S–Z, p. 345 Buryat refugees fled to Mongolia and resettled there; however, only a few of them joined the Shambala rebellion in that country. In 1937, in an effort to disperse the Buryats, Stalin's government separated several counties (raions) from the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and formed the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug and the Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug; at the same time, some raions with Buryat populations were excluded. Fearing Buryat nationalism, Joseph Stalin had more than 10,000 Buryats killed.James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles Pappas. An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, p. 125 Moreover, the Stalinist purge of Buryats extended into Mongolia, an episode known as the incident of L'humbee.
In 1958, the name "Mongol" was removed from the name of the republic (becoming the Buryat ASSR). Also around 1958, the Mongolian script was banned and replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet. The BASSR declared its sovereignty in 1990 and adopted the name Republic of Buryatia in 1992. The constitution of the republic was adopted by the People's Khural in 1994, and a bilateral treaty with the Russian Federation was signed in 1995.
In the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022, the Buryats have been reported as one of Russia's ethnic minority groups suffering from a disproportionally large casualty rate among Russian forces, reinforcing the processes of assimilation and Russification. Ethnic Buryats often enlist in the army because of financial reasons.
Culture and traditions
Relationship with nature Buryat national tradition is ecological in origin, as the religious and mythological ideas of the Buryat people are grounded in a theology of nature. The environment has traditionally been deeply respected by the Buryats owing to their nomadic way of life and religious culture. The harsh climatic conditions of the region have in turn created a fragile balance among humans, society and the environment itself. This has led to a delicate approach to nature, oriented not towards its conquest but rather towards harmonious interaction and equal partnership. A synthesis of Buddhism and traditional beliefs that formed a system of ecological traditions has thus become a major attribute of Buryat eco‑culture.Esuna Dugarova. Buryatia – a symbol of Eurasia in the heartland of Baikal. UN Special (magazine)
Kinship and marriage