The Republic of Khakassia is located in Central Siberia. It borders on the Altai Republic in the southwest, the Kemerovo region in the west, the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the north and east, and the Tuva Republic in the southeast.
Abakan
Abaza
Chernogorsk
Khakassky Nature Reserve
Sunduki
Sayanogorsk
Shira
Sorsk
In Khakassia, the official languages are Russian and Khakass. The Khakass language belongs to the Khakass-Altaic group of Eastern Turkic languages. Writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet was created in 1924; before the Mongol invasion, the ancient Turkic runic script (Orkhon-Yenisei script) was used.
By plane
Daily flights Moscow-Abakan are operated by two airlines:
Sibir (S7) and Aeroflot. Departure from Moscow closer to night, arrival
in Abakan at 6-7 am.
By train
From Moscow from the Yaroslavl
station on the Trans-Siberian Railway, then in Achinsk there is a branch
to Abakan. On the branded train No. 066Y Sayany or No. 068Y
Moscow-Abakan. The travel time is just over three days, the distance is
less than 4,400 kilometers.
By car
Along the M53 “Baikal”
highway from the Kemerovo region, then from Krasnoyarsk along the M54
“Yenisei” highway.
Khakass national cuisine is typical of Siberian semi-nomadic peoples.
Basic food products of animal origin, such as lamb and horse meat
dishes, dairy products (white food), plant foods are represented mainly
by cereals (rye, millet) from which the famous Khakass dish Talgan is
made. Popular drinks include herbal teas using thyme and oregano and the
fermented milk drink ayran.
For a traveler, there will be no
problems with food; in the cities and regions of Khakassia there is a
developed network of cafes and eateries with European and Caucasian
cuisine; Khakassian dishes can only be found in specialized restaurants
or in tourist centers in the warm season, for example, in open-air
museums. For guests of the capital of Khakassia, a list of Abakan
catering establishments has been compiled, which makes it easier to find
a place for dinner
The historical development of the peoples of Khakassia took place in
relatively favorable climatic conditions; in its course, a unique
cultural heritage was created, which represents an invaluable resource
for the development of the region. The basis of the cultural heritage of
Khakassia is natural archaeological landscapes made up of tens of
thousands of archaeological objects.
The settlement of the
territory of Khakassia began in the Paleolithic era. The Mousterian
layers of the multilayer site Dvuglazka (Glyadeny) date back to the
beginning of the Kargin interglacial 40 - 50 thousand years ago. The
earliest settlement of Homo sapiens on the territory of Khakassia is the
Paleolithic site “Malaya Syya” (30 - 35 thousand years ago), where
drilled decorations processed with chisels were found, is located in the
Shirinsky district in the vicinity of the village of Malaya Syya, on the
banks of the Bely Iyus River.
The first state on the territory of Southern Siberia arose in the 4th
- 3rd centuries BC. Ancient Chinese chronicles called its creators the
people of Dingling (Chinese: 丁零), and the state of Dingling-Guo (丁零国).
Around 201 BC the state of Dinglin-Guo was defeated by Xiongnu
troops.
After this event, the Turkic-speaking Kyrgyz tribe moved
to the Khakass-Minusinsk basin.
In the 6th - 7th centuries, the
Kyrgyz and their subordinate taiga peoples formed a peripheral
inheritance of the Central Asian states, headed by a governor, Elteber.
In the 8th century it was a separatist region led by its own beks
and inals, claiming the dignity of khan (see Barsbek Kagan).
In
the 9th century it became a rapidly expanding aggressive steppe empire
with the deified Kagan family.
In 840, this state destroyed the
Uyghur Khaganate and extended its power to Tuva. Pursuing the remnants
of the Uyghurs, the Kyrgyz fought their way to the Irtysh and Amur, and
invaded the oases of Eastern Turkestan.
The Kyrgyz provided the
state with senior military and administrative leaders. They were
considered connected dynastically and through marriage with the ruling
houses of China and other neighboring countries.
In a harsh
struggle with aggressive neighbors (Turkic and Uyghur Khaganates), the
Kyrgyz state defended its independence until the 13th century, which
became a turning point in the independent development of Southern
Siberia.
The Kyrgyz retain two main areas of their settlement: 1)
Upper and Middle Yenisei; 2) Altai and Irtysh. Subsequently, the ethnic
paths of the Yenisei Kyrgyz and the future Kyrgyz of the Tien Shan
diverged.
The territory of Khakassia was captured during the
conquests of the Great Mongol Ulus led by Genghis Khan and his
descendants, but gradually the power of the Mongols weakened and the
complete subordination of the territory of Khakassia to the Yuan Empire
ended in 1399 with the formation of the state of Hongorai.
The
Khongorai state waged constant wars with the Mongolian Khotogoyts under
the control of the Altyn Khans and Russians. The main ally of the state
was the Dzungar Khanate, which later diplomatically achieved the
vassalization of Khongorai.
In the 17th century, the Russians found Khongorai in the form of a
confederation consisting of four uluses: Altyrsky, Altysarsky, Isarsky
(Ezersky) and Tubinsky, inhabited by the ancestors of modern
Khakassians, Shors, Teleuts, Altaians and Tuvinians. Another part of the
Kyrgyz migrated to the Tien Shan in several waves starting from the
middle of the 9th century, from the era of the Kyrgyz Great Power, until
the middle of the 13th century.
The first contacts between the
Kyrgyz and Russians began with the construction of the Tomsk fort in
1604 on the land of the Eushta Tatars, tributaries of the Kyrgyz beks.
For more than a hundred years, the complex and painful process of
Khakassia’s entry into the jurisdiction of the Russian Empire and then
the Russian Empire took place.
The date of official assignment of
Khakassia to the Russian Empire can be considered August 20, 1727, when
a border treaty was concluded between Russia and China. All the lands
located on the northern side of the Sayan Mountains went to Russia, and
on the southern side - to the Chinese Empire.
The actual entry of
the territory of the current republic occurred later. In 1758, Chinese
troops invaded Altai and defeated Dzungaria. There was a threat of
violation of the officially recognized borders of the Russian Empire.
The tsarist government hastily placed Cossack garrisons in this
area. From the moment when the Cossacks began to carry out border
service, Khakassia actually entered the Russian Empire.
The
administration of the territory was carried out first by officials of
the Siberian and Tomsk provinces. In 1822, the Kyrgyz land became part
of the Yenisei province.
Khakass Autonomous Region of the
Krasnoyarsk Territory of the RSFSR and the Republic of Khakassia of the
Russian Federation
Khakasssky district was formed on November 14,
1923. It became a national district, then on October 20, 1930, the
Khakass Autonomous Region appeared on the map. It was part of the West
Siberian Territory, and after its disaggregation in 1934 it became part
of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
On July 3, 1991, the autonomous
region was transformed into a republic and received the name Khakass
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; on January 29, 1992, it became
known as the Republic of Khakassia[16]. On June 6, 1992, the republic
received its own flag, and on December 20, 2006, a coat of arms.
In 2007, the Central Bank of Russia issued a commemorative coin
dedicated to the Republic of Khakassia.
In 2015, the Anthem of
the Republic of Khakassia was approved.