Siberian branch
Tuvans
A Turk people of the upper Yenisei, famed for khoomei throat singing and a pastoral way of life.
Tyvalar / Tuvalar
The Tuvans live mainly in the Republic of Tuva, whose capital is Kyzyl, in a basin of mountains, steppe and taiga at the headwaters of the Yenisei. Many have traditionally been herders of sheep, goats, horses, cattle and yaks, while reindeer herding is practised in the north-eastern taiga.
The upper Yenisei basin has yielded many Old Turk runic inscriptions, mostly memorial stones of the 8th–10th centuries. Tuvan religious life combines Tibetan Buddhism with older shamanic traditions, including veneration of the spirits of places at ovaa cairns.
Tuva was under Qing rule from the mid-18th century until 1911, and from 1921 to 1944 it was the nominally independent Tuvan People’s Republic before becoming part of the Soviet Union.
- Language
- Tuvan, a Siberian Turk language and an official language of the Republic of Tuva
- Branch
- Siberian
- Homeland
- The Republic of Tuva (Tyva) at the headwaters of the Yenisei in southern Siberia (Russia)
- Also living in
- Western Mongolia and the Altai region of East Turkestan (China)
Key dates
8th–10th centuries
Old Turk runic memorial inscriptions are raised in the upper Yenisei basin.
1757–1911
Tuva is under the rule of the Qing dynasty.
1921
The Tuvan People’s Republic is proclaimed.
1944
Tuva becomes part of the Soviet Union as an autonomous oblast of the Russian Soviet republic.
1961
Tuva becomes an autonomous republic.
Heritage
- Khoomei throat singing, including the sygyt and kargyraa styles
- Buddhist and shamanic traditions, including ovaa cairns
- Pastoral herding culture of the steppe and taiga
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Tyva”
- T. Levin with V. Süzükei, Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond (Indiana University Press, 2006)
- Smithsonian Folkways, Tuva: Voices from the Center of Asia (SFW40017, 1990)