Buryats
The Buryats (Buryat: Буряад, romanized: Buryaad, Buryat script: ᠪᠣᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ; Mongolian: Буриад, romanized: Buriad; Russian: буряты, romanized: buryaty) are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their titular homeland, the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia which sprawls along the southern coast and partially straddles Lake Baikal. Smaller groups of Buryats also inhabit Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug (Irkutsk Oblast) and the Agin-Buryat Okrug (Zabaykalsky Krai) which are to the west and east of Buryatia respectively as well as northeastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China. They traditionally formed the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.
ᠪᠤᠷᠢᠶᠠᠳ Буряад Buryaad | |
|---|---|
Flag of Buryatia | |
A Buryat wrestling match during the Altargana Festival | |
| Total population | |
| 556,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Russia | 460,053 |
| Buryatia | 295,273 |
| Irkutsk Oblast | 74,746 |
| Zabaykalsky Krai | 65,590 |
| Mongolia | 43,661 |
| China | 10,000–70,000 |
| Languages | |
| Buryat (L1); Russian, Mongolian | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism, Orthodox Christianity, Mongolian shamanism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Mongolic peoples | |
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 Buryat Republic, although many still follow a more traditional lifestyle 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".