General information

The Soyot live in the Oka (the villages of Sorok and Orlik) and the Tunka (the village of Mondy) districts of the Republic of Buryatia, but they live mostly in the Oka District, and consequently, scholars frequently term them the Oka Soyot. They hunt in the taiga and engage in reindeer herding. In their origins, language, and culture, they are very similar to the Tofalar of the Irkutsk region, Tuvans of the Todzji kozhuun of the Republic Tuva, and the Dukha (Tsaatan) of the Khövsgöl aimag in Mongolia.

The 2002 Census recorded 2.769 Soyot, the 2010 census recorded 3.608 Soyot, and the 2020 Census recorded 4.368 Soyot.

Scholars believe that their endonym the Soyot goes back to a clan name widespread among many peoples of the Altai-Sayan region, Soyan among Tuvans, Soyong among Altaians, Soyan among the Khakas, Soyeng among Khalkha Mongols, and that name, in turn, goes back to the name of the Sayan mountain range.

The Soyot played a special role in the genesis of the Soyot people, and their ethnonym was transferred to today’s Soyot of Buryatia. In the 18th century, Russian-language administrative records identified the Soyot as living along the eastern shore of Lake Khövsgöl from the river Egiin-Gol in the south to the Tunka Belki (snow-covered mountains) in the north. The Soyot living around Lake Khövsgöl were livestock breeders, and those living in the Tunka Belki were hunters and reindeer herders. The clans Kara-Soyan and Saryg-Soyan, part of the Soyan arban (an administrative clan unit) of the Kol sum, lived in the upper reaches of the Kyzyl-Khem and along the rivers of Ilegtyg, Kara-Kem, Khyiay, and Khamdysh. The entire population of this sum (a clan administrative unit of the Republic of Tuva) were hunters and reindeer herders. Nomads from the Soyan sum were part of Mongolia’s Amban Banner (a territorial administrative unit in Mongolia) that roamed the northern slopes of the Tannu-Ola mountains.

A subethnic Soyan group of the Uriankhai that included two clans, Sary-Soyon and Karatosh , roamed the upper reaches of the rivers Khovd and Ak-Gol in Mongolia. The Soyot of Mongolia were livestock breeders. The Soyeng clan name is recorded even among Khalkha Mongols. The Khakas have this name in the form Sain , the Altaians in the form Soyong , and the Kyrgyz in the form Sayak . The clan name Soyed ( Soyet ) is used among the Buryats of Cisbaikalia (Ekhired, Khongoodor) and Buryats living along the Selenga.

Scholars connect the origins of the clan names Soyan/Soyon/Soyot with Samoyedic peoples, which is confirmed, among other things, by the rather powerful Soyta among the Tundra Enets. Scholars also believe that the very name of the Sayan Mountains comes from the Samoyedic cultural stratum.

One version proposed by linguists suggests that the name “Soyot” means a mountain range, ridges, or mountain peaks that look like wolf fangs ( hoyoo in Buryat-Mongolian). Incidentally, mountain worship holds an important role in the traditional Soyot culture. The Soyot are related to other peoples of the Trans-Sayan region, such as Tuva-Todzhins, the Tofalar, and the Tsaatan. There are three tribal clans within the Soyot themselves: Onkhots, Irkits, and the Khaas. The original language of the Soyot was the Altaic language of ancient Sayanids. However, over the many centuries of their history, they changed their language several times. The tribal clans of the Soyot (the Sayan in Tuvan) who recently spoke Tuvan are Uighur-Uriakhai, i.e., Uighur-speaking Sayanids. This is reflected in the saying of the Soyot’s ethnic, cultural, and linguistic identity: “ Uighur kheletee, ursa gertee ” (“those speaking Uighur and living in chums or “like those of the Todzhins”); neighboring peoples also call them “ ursa gerten ,” “living in chums.”

Per the 1917 Irkutsk Province census, the population of the Oka district was 1.891 persons, of them 258 were Soyot; per the 1926 Census, the Oka district had 1.906 persons (161 Soyot); the 1932 expedition to the Oka banner recorded 2.082 persons (272 Soyot). Officially, the Soyot were recognized as an indigenous small-numbered people in 2000. The 2002 Census recorded 2.769 Soyot, the 2010 census recorded 3.608 Soyot, and the 2020 Census recorded 4.368 Soyot. It should be noted that today’s Soyot argue that “there are no pure Soyot anymore,” meaning that mostly the existing Soyots are descendants of the second, third, or fourth generations. At the same time, the Soyot have multiple identities. While often referring to themselves as Soyot, most also consider themselves to be ethnically Buryat.