Specifics of the incorporation of Kalmyks (Kalmaks) within the Bashkirs and ethno-genetic links with Mongolian-speaking peoples

Research Article

Abstract

The process of incorporation within the Bashkirs took place not only through adoption but also through the formation of separate clan volosts by descendants of other ethnic groups, which is illustrated by the existence of the Oirat, Sart, Merkit, Kalmak, and other Bashkir volosts. A number of Bashkir tribal clans (tribes) include subdivisions (ara, naҫel) with the name ҡalmaҡ. Aim and objectives: the formation of the Kalmyk (Kalmak) clan within the Bashkirs and their ethno-genetic ties. In connection with the specified purpose, it is planned to carry out a complex analysis of the existing historiography on the subject of the realised research, to compare its materials with the data of ethno-genetic researches, to consider the questions of transformation of ethno-cultural identity and demographic development of Kalmyks (Kalmaks). Materials and methods: The main methods of the research were comparative-historical and retrospective analyses. The authors analysed a wide range of sources of already published scientific works and information from archives, including from the fund ‘Kalmyk cases of the Embassy Order’ of the Russian State Agency for Data Analysis and Data from regional archives. Results: the Oirats, who formed a separate Uirat (Oirat) volost in the Bashkir Trans-Urals in the XIII-XIV centuries, lost their compactness of residence due to a number of reasons and were completely incorporated into other clan groups of Bashkirs. They were not ancestors of the Bashkirs of the Kalmak clan (Kalmakskaya volost). Based on archival materials, an attempt is made to trace the fates of the families of Kalmyk origin - the founders of the Kalmak volost in the Trans-Ural region. The demographic development of the Kalmak clan group in the Trans-Ural region is analysed and information about other Kalmyk groups within the Bashkirs is noted. The ethnogenetic kinship of Bashkirs of Kalmyk descent with various ethnographic groups of Mongolian-speaking peoples and Kazakhs is analysed by comparing the obtained materials of genetic studies (on the Y-chromosome). Conclusions: Kalmyks settled among the Bashkirs acquired the rights and duties of equal members of the Bashkir communities. In the descendants of the Kalmak family, the genetic line Nlcl-F4205 haplogroup Nlc1-M178 is represented in the Bashkirs with the highest frequency, and the geographically distant populations of Mongol-Tsaatan (more than half of this group are carriers of this genetic line), some part of the Tuvinian-Tozhin, Mongol-Derbet, Mongol-Togout, and Kalmyk-Khoshuut are located on it. The descendants of Kalmyks incorporated into the southern and southeastern Bashkir tribes - Burzyan, Yurmaty, Kypchak, Usyargen, and Tangaur - are also of Kalmyk origin.