Dmitry A. Funk

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,

Russian Academy of Sciences

The Teleuts. Surrounding Society and the Main Economic Activity of the Region of Residence  

The Kemerovo region and the Kuznetsk Basin are located in the southeast of Western Siberia. The area stretches for nearly 500 kilometers north-south, and for 300 kilometers east-west. It has an area of 95.700 square kilometers, which accounts for 0.6% of the entire land area of the Russian Federation.

Geographically, the region has a unique combination of biomes that exhibit different degrees of economic development and varying socioeconomic statuses. 

Its northern area has typical West Siberian plain landscapes that are favorable for agriculture which is the main specialization of the region’s north. 

Most of the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range in the region’s east and northeast is occupied by the eponymous state nature reserve. The east of the Kuznetsk Basin is dominated by the forestry sector, logging and wood processing industries, but they do not make up a significant share of the GRP. 

The Salair Ridge is located in the southwest of the Kemerovo region, while the ranges of Mountain Shoria are in its south. Historically, these very districts and part of the Kuznetsk Depression were the centers of the primary industrialization that started in the second half of the 18 th century following the discovery of iron, silver, and later zinc, tin, and polymetallic ores, as well as stone coal deposits. Currently, the south and southwest of the Kuznetsk Basin are actively developing tourism and recreational services, thanks to its unique mountainous landscapes that offer opportunities for high-quality winter vacations in the Sheregesh mountain resort and summer tours in the picturesque areas of Mountain Shoria and Salair. 

However, developing tourist clusters in the Kuznetsk Basin as a promising avenue for the region’s socioeconomic development is rather a matter for the far-off future. Currently, the region, especially its southern, southwestern, and central parts that have traditionally been home to Teleuts, have fully preserved their old industrial way of life based on mining (power-generating and coke coal) that accounts for over 20% of the GRP, and accompanying processing enterprises (about 19% of the GRP). Ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy that is well-developed in the south of the Kuznetsk Basin and chemical industry also play an important role in the region’s economy. Regional economic sectors with significant GRP shares that do not, however, constitute backbone industries, include industrial engineering and metal processing, timber and wood processing, food industry, and consumer goods manufacturing. 

The economic model of the Kuznetsk Basin, its old industrial way of life, its raw materials and export oriented basic sectors determine the social profile of both the region and its population: its composition and distribution across the territory and economic sectors, current social trends, and small-numbered indigenous peoples’ involvement therein, including local Teleut groups.

The Kuznetsk Basin is the most highly urbanized region in the Siberian Federal District. As of January 01, 2021, it had a population of 2.604.272, or 14.3% of the overall population of the Siberian Federal District and over 2% of the entire population of the Russian Federation. 

Ethnically, the Kemerovo region is a Russian-dominated area (>93.5%). Other relatively numerous ethnic groups include Tatars (>1.5%), Ukrainians (0.8%), and Germans (0.9%). Groups of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Russian Far East whose areas of traditional settlement and traditional economic activities are located within the Kemerovo region, Kuznetsk, i.e., Shors and Teleuts, do not exceed 0.75% of the region’s population. A significant chunk of their traditional settlement area lies either directly within, or close by, areas subsided by coal industry enterprises and that makes it more difficult to continue the practices of traditional land use that indigenous small-numbered peoples are legally entitled to per the federal legislation. At the current stage of the socioeconomic development of the Kuznetsk Basin, instances of such settlements being dismantled and their population moving to areas free of mining, are more frequent as coal and mining companies move along their lease lands. The thorniest (in regard to social tensions) cases include dismantling the Shor village of Kazas in the Myski municipality. The Kuznetsk Basin as one of Russia’s key resources regions shows important and unique manifestations of social implications of extractive industries. research into this matter both attempts to explain the social effect these industries have on the vulnerable population groups (including indigenous small-numbered peoples) and aims to develop acceptable assessment scales of this effect that could be applied for the purposes of analytics supporting social / ethnonational policies both federally and regionally.