Chelkans. Demographics

The last 2020-21 Census recorded 1,314 Chelkans, 344 of them live in cities and 970 live in rural areas. The Altai Republic has the highest number of Chelkans, 1,194 persons (512 men and 682 women). Such a spike in Chelkan population, from 855 in 2002 to 1,314 in 2020-21, is linked to greater numbers of persons who identify as Chelkans and list themselves as Chelkans and not as Altaians.

Not all statistical data contains information on the total population of the volost (a rural community comprised of a few villages.) Furthermore, virtually every source in the first half of the 19 th century only provides information on the number of males. The most frequent figures show that there were about 130 men. However, this number likely included only those men who paid yasak , or a natural tax in 1816, and also between 1830 and 1834. Statistics for 1889 (the most complete data for the 19 th century) demonstrate that most settlements were along the shores of the Lebed and its tributaries, primarily the Baygol. The uluses were typically small except the Klyk ulus with the population of 94 people, and a cluster of uluses around today’s village of Kurmach-Baygol: four Baygol uluses and the Karacham ulus that had a population of 247 people. The Kondoma Chelkan “diaspora” was rather large which reflected Chelkans’ economic and marital connections in their principal settlement area. Three families assigned to the volost lived entirely outside the boundaries of Chelkans’ ethnic settlement area: the Ekeshevs, the Shulgakovs, and the Shulepovs. They lived primarily in the uluses in the lower reaches of the Kondoma. In addition to these families, there were also two families of the Pustygasheves who mostly lived along the Baygol and its tributaries. The overwhelming majority of Chelkan uluses were populated by families belonging to a single one of the two Chelkan seoks , either the shalgannu or the shakshylu , and those were, as a rule, members of the same family (of course, we are talking about men; wives always came from the other seok ). The latter circumstance indirectly shows that 19 th -century Chelkans mostly settled in communities of individual patronymies, which allowed them to settle over the entire ethnic territory of the river Lebed and its tributaries.

The data from the last two statistical surveys of the 19 th century held in 1889 and 1897 show that Chelkans were classified as “nomadic non-Slavs” solely because land farming occupied relatively insignificant part in their economic life.

Statistical data of the late 19 th -early 20 th century demonstrate a steady growth in the numbers in the indigenous population of the Shelkalsk volost . In 1926, there were around 1.897 Chelkans. Compared to 1893, their numbers grew by more than twice (from 772 to 1.897 persons). Unfortunately, there is no information on Chelkans’ numbers after 1926. Consequently, determining their total numbers accurately is impossible . However, there is information on relative Chelkan numbers in the catchment area of the Lebed.

Rural household registers of the Kurmach-Baygol and Maysky village administrations contain materials on Chelkan numbers. They record indigenous population as Altaians. Only rural household registers of the villages of Itkuch and Kurmach-Baygol record both ethnicity and clan identity of their residents. Information on the number of Chelkans in the catchment area of the Lebed:

Chelkans’ Population and Settlement in 1999

Settlements	Number of residents	Number of Chelkans	Share of Chelkans (%)
Itkuch	4	1	25
Kurmach-Baygol	188	156	83
Maysky	294	101	34.4
Suranash	52	42	80.8

Chelkans constitute the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population in the villages listed in the table. Members of other indigenous groups of the Altai Mountains in the catchment area of the Lebed are very few. The villages of Kurmach-Baygol and Suranash also have Kuzens, members of the Tuba clan. Chelkans see them as a separate “people.” However, some Kuzens identify as Chelkans. Consequently, some members of the Kuzen clan are recorded as Chelkans who ultimately number 300 persons.

The 2002 census puts the number of people identifying as Chelkans at 855 persons. Around 135 of them live in cities and 720 live in rural areas. The overwhelming majority of Chelkans, 830 persons, were recorded in the Republic of Altai, of whom 364 were males and 466 were females.

The 2020-2021 census recorded 1.314 Chelkans, 344 of whom live in cities and 970 live in rural areas. The Altai Republic has the highest number of Chelkans, 1.194 persons (512 men and 682 women). Such a spike in Chelkan population, from 855 in 2002 to 1314 in 2020-2021, is linked to greater numbers of persons who identify as Chelkans and identify themselves as Chelkans and not as Altaians.