Balyktyg

Balyktyg lies in the mountainous country of Tuva in southern Siberia, within the basin of the Maly Yenisei. Forested ridges, high pasture and narrow river valleys break the land into separate routes. Deep winter snow and frozen rivers turn movement toward lower valleys, while the short summer opens higher grazing. Fur-bearing animals, fish and livestock supplied a mixed livelihood.

From the seventh to thirteenth centuries the Yenisei Kyrgyz dominated much of this region. Mongol and Yuan rule followed, then the Northern Yuan and competing Oirat khanates. Tuva’s high valleys remained a frontier of pastoral movement, tribute and caravan travel rather than a land of large towns.

The Khotgoid and Dzungar khanates contended for the region until the Qing incorporated Tuva as Tannu Uriankhai in 1758. Local herders continued to move between seasonal pastures and maintained Buddhist and shamanic practices. Balyktyg’s early history belongs to this highland world of forest, river crossings and shifting pastoral authority.