[4][5] Prior to Soviet rule, the Tofalar led a nomadic lifestyle in the taiga, engaging in reindeer husbandry and hunting.

[8] P. S. Pallas and J. G. Georgi initially regarded the Tofalar as a Samoyedic people, and that they had only adopted their Turkic language from the Tuvans in the 19th century.

[6] However, the Russian linguist Valentin Rassadin instead argued that the Tofolar were a Ket (Yeniseian)-speaking tribe who adopted a Turkic language in the 6th-8th centuries and adapted for their own phonological system; they would go on to take on other influences, including the Samoyeds, among others.

[6] The Tofalar culture is generally believed to be a combination of Ket (Yeniseian), Samoyedic, Turkic, and Mongol influences.

[9] The Tofalar eventually moved from their homeland on the slopes of the Sayan Mountains up north to their current location during the 17th century.

[6] The Soviets next enacted a campaign to force the Tofalar into adopting sedentarism and resettled them onto the sites of Alygdzher, Utkum, Nerkha and Gutara.

[5] This decision was widely unpopular among the Tofalar, as they believed the small-numbered indigenous peoples should have the right to move freely on their territory.

[13] They lived in traditional conical tents (chum), which were made of animal hide in the winter and birch bark (polotnishch) in the summer.

[9][11] Historically, products such as flour, groats, salt, sugar, tea, tobacco, and alcohol were purchased from traders in exchange for furs.

[9] The Tofalar today are sedentary and primarily live in modern timber houses but still use traditional tents as storage.

[9] The Tofalar believed that the dead would go live in the Kingdom of Erlik following their death; the deceased were buried with their personal belongings under the belief that they would need them in the next life.

[6] Each clan consisted of a group of closely related families descended from one ancestor (aal), led by an elder called the ulug-bash, and had its own territory (aimak) and migration routes.

[9] Tofalar territory used to be divided into three parts- Marriage was exogamous, and was concluded after a preliminary courtship, an agreement between the parents, and the payment of bride-price to the father of the bride.