Tubalar

The Tubalaren ( proper name: Tuba, plural: Tubalar, russ tubalary / тубалары ) are an indigenous ethnic group, which is attributed to the northern Altaians. They speak a dialect of the Altaic language and settle in the north of the Altai Republic in the Rajons Turotschak and Tschoja on the left bank of the river Biya and the Republic capital of Gorno- Altaisk. In the census of 2002 1565, members of this ethnic group have been identified.

It is believed that the tubalarische Ethnos is the result of a mixture altturkischer, ketischer, samojedischer and possibly Ugric tribes. Politically, they are attributed to the indigenous peoples of the Russian North.

Their original religion was, according to the Russian Ethnographic Museum of shamanism, today they are followers of Buddhism.