What are Tuva people?

Answer 1

These are the traditionally nomadic people who live in Tuva, a Republic of Russia, in the far south of Siberia. It is in the Asian part of Russia, bordering Mongolia on the southern side of the Republic. They are close culturally to the Mongolians as well. But genetically it has been determined that they are closest to native peoples of North and South America.

They are most famous in the West for their music and "throat singing". And a Tuvan form of Wrestling called Khuresh.

The population consists of a mixture of Tuvan natives, Russians, Khakas, and a small number of others. The chart below shows the population breakdown of these groups.

Chart information is from WikiPedia:

Census Year------1959--------1970----------1979----------1989----------2002Tuvans #-----------97,996--------135,306--------161,888---------198,448--------235,313

Tuvans%----------(57.0%)-------(58.6%)--------(60.5%)----------(64.3%)--------(77.0%) Russians#----------68,924--------88,385---------96,793-----------98,831----------61,442 Russians%--------(40.1%)-------(38.3%)--------(36.2%)---------(32.0%)---------(20.1%) Khakas#-------------1,726----------2,120----------2,193------------2,258-------------1,219 Khakas%-----------(1.0%)---------(0.9%)---------(0.8%)----------(0.7%)----------- (0.4%) Others#-----------3,282----------5,053-----------6,725-----------9,020-------------7,526 Others%-----------(1.9%)---------(2.2%)----------(2.5%)----------(2.9%)-----------(2.5%)