Buriats

Buryat

ᠪᠣᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ Буряад Buriad/Buriaad
A Buryat wrestling match during the Altargana Festival
Total population
c. 500,000
Regions with significant populations
Russia	461,389
Mongolia	45,087
China	10,000
Uzbekistan	900
Kazakhstan	600
Ukraine	400
Languages
Buryat, Mongolian, Russian, Chinese
Religion
Tibetan Buddhism ("Lamaism"), Orthodox Christianity, Shamanism
Related ethnic groups
Mongols (Barga, Khalkha, Oirats, Khamnigans), Tuvans, Khakas

The Buryats (Buryat: Буряад, Buryaad; Mongolian: Буриад/ᠪᠣᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ/Buriad), numbering approximately 500,000, are the largest indigenous group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.

Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside. They speak a central Mongolic language called Buryat. According to UNESCO's 2010 edition of the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, the Buryat language is classified as severely endangered.

The Buryat people are descended from various Siberian and Mongol peoples that inhabited the Lake Baikal Region including Kurykans, who are also the ancestors of the Siberian Turkic speaking Yakuts. Then in the 13th century the Mongolians came up and subjugated the various Buryat tribes (Bulgachin, Kheremchin) around Lake Baikal. The name "Buriyad" is mentioned as one of the forest people for the first time in The Secret History of the Mongols (possibly 1240). It says Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, marched north to subjugate the Buryats in 1207. The Buryats lived along the Angara River and its tributaries at this time. Meanwhile, their component, Barga, appeared both west of Baikal and in northern Buryatia's Barguzin valley. Linked also to the Bargas were the Khori-Tumed along the Arig River in eastern Khövsgöl Province and the Angara. A Tumad rebellion broke out in 1217, when Genghis Khan allowed his viceroy to seize 30 Tumad maidens. Genghis Khan's commander Dorbei the Fierce of the Dörbeds smashed them in response. The Buryats joined the Oirats challenging the imperial rule of the Eastern Mongols during the Northern Yuan period in the late 14th century.