Altaians

Altai people

Altay ethnic flag, adopted by Russia as the official flag of the Altai Republic.
Regions with significant populations
Russia  Altai Republic	74,238
Languages
Altay
Religion
Shamanism, Burkhanism, Russian Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
other Turkic peoples, especially Kyrgyz and Kazakhs

The Altay or Altai are a Turkic people living in the Siberian Altai Republic and Altai Krai. For alternative ethnonyms see also Teleut, Tele, Telengit, Mountain Kalmuck, White Kalmuck, Black Tatar, Oirot.

The Altaians are represented as a totality of small Turkic peoples like the Altai-Kizhi, the Teleut, the Kumandin, the Chelkans, the Shors, etc.

The Altaians are presented by two ethnographic groups:

The Northern and Southern Altayans formed in the Altay area on the basis of tribes of Kimek-Kipchaks. Turkic people

The Altaians were annexed by the Four Oirat of Western Mongols in the 16th century. The Mongols called them "Telengid" or "Telengid aimag" in period of the Northern Yuan dynasty. After the fall of the Zunghar Khanate in the 18th century, the Altaians were subjugated by the Qing Dynasty. That court referred to them as Altan Nuur Uriyangkhai. But Altaians are not genetically related to the Uriyangkhai, which is a distinct neighbouring Oirat-Mongol ethnic group in Mongolia.

Their skills in metalworking have been seen in artifacts dating to the 2nd millennium BC. The Altay came into contact with Russians in the 18th century. In the tsarist period, the Altay were known as oirot or oyrot (this name means oirat and would later be carried on for the Oyrot Autonomous Oblast). The Altay report that many of them became addicted to the Russians' vodka, which they called "fire water".