History of Tuva

The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses and proposals by scholars including Mongolic and Turkic.

The indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Tuva Republic are a Turkic-speaking people of South Siberia, whose language shows strong Samoyedic and Mongolian influences.

[7] The name "Tuva" probably derives from a Samoyedic tribe, referred to in 7th-century Chinese sources as Dubo or Tupo, who lived in the upper Yenisei region.

In 1691, the Kangxi Emperor accepted the submission of the Khalkhas at Dolon Nor in modern Inner Mongolia, then personally led an army in 1696 defeating the Oirat under the rule of Galdan.

The Khalkha Mongols and their subjects (some Uriankhais) were now under Qing rule, with the Dzungar Empire continuing to control the territory of modern-day Tuva.

In the latter half of the 18th century, one of the khoshun princes was placed in charge of the others as governor (Mongolian:"amban-noyon") in recognition of his military service to the dynasty.

Qing statutes rigorously defined procedures to be followed by the nobles of Outer and Inner Mongolia, Zungaria, and Qinghai for rendering tribute, receiving government stipends, and participating in imperial audiences.

This fact was used by 19th-century Russian polemicists, and later Soviet writers, to state that Tuva had historically been "disputed" territory between Russia and China.

The Qing military governor at Uliastiai, on his triennial inspection tours of the 24 pickets under his direct supervision, never crossed the Tannu-ola mountains to visit Uriankhai.

When problems occurred meriting official attention, the military governor would send a Mongol from his staff rather than attend to the matter himself.

Instead, a few days were set aside for trade at Uliastai when Uriankhai nobles delivered their annual fur tribute to the military governor and received their salaries and other imperial gifts (primarily bolts of satin and cotton cloth) from the emperor.

But crossing the Sayan Mountains was a journey not without hardships, and even peril; thus, by 1880–85, there were perhaps no more than 50 (or fewer) Russian traders operating in Tannu Uriankhai during the summer, when trade was most active.

It started in 1856 with a sect of Old Believers called the "Seekers of White Waters", a place which according to their tradition was isolated from the rest of the world by impassable mountains and forests, where they could obtain refuge from government authorities and where the Nikonian rites of the Russian Orthodox Church were not practiced.

The formal beginning of Russian colonization in Tannu Uriankhai occurred in 1885, when a merchant received permission from the Governor-General of Irkutsk to farm at present-day Turan.

There were rumors of fabulous wealth to be gained from this area, and the Russian provincial authorities at Yeniseisk received many petitions from gold miners to mine.

Over the years this office quietly began to unofficially govern at least the Russians in the region, managing taxation, policing, administration, and justice.

[22] Shortly after the office of Superintendent was created, the Sibirskaya gazeta brought out a special edition, congratulating the government on its creation, and predicting that all Tannu Uriankhai would someday become part of the Russian state.

The Russians built permanent farm houses in Uriankhai, opened land for cultivation, erected fences, and raised livestock.

What gave the Russian presence added durability was its concentration in the northern and central parts of Tannu Uriankhai, areas sparsely populated by the natives themselves.

It was Russian colonization, therefore, rather than purposeful Tsarist aggression, that resulted in Tannu Uriankhai ultimately becoming part of Russia in the following century.

Due to, among other things more aggressive selling, easier credit terms, and cheaper and more popular goods for sale, the Han were soon able to dominate commerce just as they had in Mongolia.

On 10 October 1911, the Wuchang Uprising led to a full-scale revolution to overthrow the Qing, and soon afterwards many Chinese provinces rapidly declared their independence.

But the princes of two other khoshuns preferred to submit to the new Outer Mongolian state under the theocratic rule of the Jebstundamba Khutukhtu of Urga.

He asked for protection, and proposed that Russian troops be sent immediately into the country to prevent China from restoring its rule over the region.

There was no reply because three months earlier the Tsarist Council of Ministers had already decided on a policy of gradual, cautious absorption of Uriankhai by encouraging Russian colonization.

[34] Tuva became nominally independent as the Urjanchai Republic before being brought under Russian protectorate as the Uryankhay Kray on 17 April 1914 in the memorandum of Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov on the question of accepting the population of five khoshuns of the Uryankhai Territory.

This unsettled the Kremlin, which orchestrated a coup carried out in 1929 by five young Tuvan graduates of Moscow's Communist University of the Toilers of the East.

Under the leadership of Party Secretary Salchak Toka, ethnic Russians were granted full citizenship rights and Buddhist and Mongol influences on the Tuvan state and society were systematically reduced.

[39] In World War II the state contributed infantry, armored, and cavalry troops to fight against Nazi Germany.

[citation needed] In February 1990, the Tuvan Democratic Movement was founded by Kaadyr-ool Bicheldei, a philologist at Kyzyl University.