altay

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

Quoted from Wikipedia

Learn more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altay_people

The Altay people have had skills in metalworking dating back 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 would later be carried on for the Oyrot Autonomous Oblast). Many of the Altay became addicted to the Russians' vodka, which they called "fire water".

The Altay were originally nomadic, with a lifestyle based on hunting / trapping and pastoralism (mainly cattle, sheep, goats), but many of them settled as a result of Russian influence. In regard to religion, some of the Altay remain Shamanists, while others (in a trend beginning in the mid-19th century) have converted to the Orthodox. (The Altai mission took shape under Saint Makarii Glukharev, Apostle to the Altai.) In 1904, a religious movement called Ak Jang or Burkhanism arose, perhaps in response to Russian colonization.

With the rise of the 1917 revolution, the Altay attempted to make their region a separate Burkhanist republic called Oryot, but their support for the Mensheviks during the Civil War led to the venture's collapse after the Bolshevik victory and the rise of Stalin. In the 1940s, the Altay were accused of being pro-Japanese, and the word "oyrot" was declared counterrevolutionary. By 1950, Soviet industrialization had cost the Altay 80% of their population. Ethnic Altaians currently make up about 31% of the Altai Republic's population.

Quoted from Wikipedia

Learn more from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altai_Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altay_people

Neat links:
Beautiful pictures of Altai people not seen in the video.
http://www.teletsky.net/p05_el_oyin_en.html

A Altai Kai video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA3MCWUq7WQ