Kalmykia – Once a rich and growing community, Kalmykia is now considered one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in Europe. Many are still unfamiliar with the society that is located south of the Volga River on the northwestern shores of the Caspian Sea. This is the place where the Great Silk Way was located and where the ancient Scythians, Sarmatian, Khazars, and Huns roamed the steppes.
The Kalmyks are not as well-known as their neighbors who are mostly ethnic Russians. However, researchers and historians continue to look back at the different pieces of Kalmyk history to record and preserve the ethnic group’s culture, tradition, and lifestyle.
Origin of the Community
The Kalmyks are said to have come from the nomadic Mongol herdsmen — the Oirats. However, their name is derived from the Turkish term that means “remnant.” They are the people who remained and lived in the region throughout the centuries.
After their group made an oath of allegiance to the tsar at the time, they were given a khanate in exchange for their services. They guarded Russia’s eastern frontier in the 16th and 17th centuries. Afterward, from being one of the republics of the former USSR and having their own khan, they remain under the Russian Federation to this day. Although they continue to live under the Russian regime, they are the only predominantly Mongol and Buddhist land in Europe.
There is very little research about the ethnic group’s culture, folklore, and other practices. Many only represent the community’s tradition that is closely related to the typical routines of surveying nature and animals around them. These activities brought about the remaining information of the Kalmyks’ songs, proverbs, sayings, and legends that show the people’s keen observation and wisdom.
Political Conflicts
Even at the start of the 17th century, the people sought to have their own sovereign rule over their native lands. However, the Russians were able to build their relations with the Kalmyks such that the latter legally formalized the rule where both sides act as sovereign agents but did not rule out the lord–vassal principles. The Kalmyks also joined the Russian state voluntarily, and the Kalmyk Khanate was recognized as an ethno-political entity.
Throughout the first century as a sovereign land, the system gradually disintegrated. Kalmykia’s autonomy was fully invalidated through Russia’s state power centralization. This action moved the khanate into the common system of territorial administration. Due to this change, a large number of Kalmyks left their land in the 18th century, which left the region in trouble of surviving as an ethnic group because of the low population. However, with Russia’s flexible policy and its rule over multi-ethnic people, the Kalmyks remained as an ethnic group.
In 1943, during the war against the Nazis, the Kalmyks were accused of collaborating with the enemy. This led to the death of numerous residents as they got deported to Siberia. Throughout the years, they remained in exile from their own land and were only allowed to come home in 1957 when Khrushchev came to power in the Kremlin after the rule of Stalin.
Modern Living
With the power of the Soviet, the lands were plowed and intensive grazing was done. The steppe has become deserts throughout the region. In spite of these difficulties, the people manage to survive, with livestock raising as their main economic source together with some fishing and arable farming.
The communities continue to practice their colorful festivities and remain as strong foundations of learning. The different historical events that happened in the past, however, have kept numerous Kalmyks in America, the capital of Russia, and other neighboring countries. They moved to these places in hopes of finding better opportunities as well as getting away from the economically undeveloped cities within Kalmykia.
The growing population of modern Kalmyks is in search of development and a global perspective, simply like the other countries in the world. Still, even in a new place, the people try their best to carry their language, cuisine, and religion with them to keep the spirit and values of their ethnic origins. They are surviving and gradually returning as a great ethnic community.
Image from Republic of Kamykia, http://www.kalmykia.eu/
