The Kalmyk Homeland

        The homeland of the Kalmyk people is located in the Republic of Kalmykia.  The Republic of Kalmykia is positioned in the southeastern part of the Russian Federation (Republic).  It is also located south of the Volga River and west of the Caspian Sea (Minahan 357).  The republic stretches about 76.1 thousand square kilometers (Republic).  Kalmykia can be divided up into three zones: the Western, Central, and Eastern zones (Republic).  The region generally has a continental climate.  The area of the republic is made up of plains and steppe (area of flat grasslands or prairies) making most the Kalmyk homeland unsuitable for cultivation.  However, the best soil can be found in Kalmykia's Western zone.  There are also some areas in the south that are comprised of arid semi-deserts (Republic).

Reference: http://shelf3d.com/i/Kalmyk%20people

        Although the Kalmyk people consist of mostly a rural population, more and more are packing their bags and moving to more urban areas within the republic.  There are three major cities in the republic called Elista, Lagan, and Gorodovikovsk (Russia Trek 1).  Elista is the capital of Kalmykia, formerly named Stepnoi (Minahan 357).  It's located in the southern region of Kalmykia in a wide valley (Republic).  The capital serves as the center for Kalmykia's growth and development. 
        Elista, located in the southwest of Kalmykia, is the largest city in the republic and holds about 31.2% of its population (Republic).  "Elista carries capital city functions
and is a political and administrative, cultural and organizational center" (Republic).  The Golden Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Eastern Europe, is located in the capital (Regnum 1).  Among the Kalmyks, Elista is also considered to be the area's science center as it is home to Kalmyk State University (Republic).  It also houses approximately eighty other schools for primary and secondary education (Republic).

Reference: http://www.kalmykia.eu/tag/buddhist-monks/

        A significant amount of economic activity is also centered in Elista.  This is mainly due to the growing entrepreneurship and industry that is taking place.  According to the government of Kalmykia's website, there are twenty-three industrial enterprises located within the capital.  The enterprises operate to produce oil extraction, power production, machinery building, wood processing, construction materials, light, food, and printing (Republic).  There are 2,713 small businesses in the capital.  From 1996 to 2002, the number of small businesses in Elista grew 2.5% (Republic).   


Works Cited:
"Kalmykia Republic, Russia (Kalmikia)." Kalmykia Republic, Russia Features, History, Landscapes. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://russiatrek.org/kalmykia-republic>.

Minahan, James. "Kalmyks." One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. 357-62. Print.

Regnum. "Europe's Biggest Buddhist Temple Opens in Kalmykia." Europe. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php/index.php?id=3,2114,0,0,1,0>.

"Republic of Kalmykia | History." Republic of Kalmykia | History. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://www.kalm.ru/en/hist.html>.

The History of the Kalmyk Culture

        According to James Minahan's One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups, the people of the Kalmyk culture originated from a branch of people called the Oirot Mongols who migrated to Europe around 1636 from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. Their migration lasted about thirty-two years.  In Europe, they settled in the Volga River basin which was a part of the Russian Empire.  Eventually, the Kalmyks formed their own independent khanate, and in 1646 the Kalmyks signed a treaty of allegiance to the Russian tsar, Peter I (Minahan 358).                                       
        In the early nineteenth century, the Kalmyk people made an oath to Russia for self-government in exchange for military services and loyalty to the Russian tsar.  A "Guardian of the Kalmyk People" was appointed by the Russian monarchy to oversee the Kalmyks during this time.  However, in 1917 the oath was destroyed when the tsar was overthrown.  The Kalmyk people formed their own national army with their returning soldiers. On June 12, 1918, Kalmykia declared itself independent from Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.  However, in 1920, the Red Army (the Soviet army) recreated   Kalmykia as the Kalmyk Autonomous District.  The Soviets took control of their land by nationalizing their herds ultimately destroying the Kalmyk's nomadic way of life.  They protested against the Soviets for this, and as a result, many Kalmyks were killed.  In order to squash communist resistance completely, the Soviets destroyed much of the Kalmyk's temples, schools, and other public buildings (Minahan 359).

Reference: http://newlotus.buddhistdoor.com/en/news/d/37698

             

        In the early 1930s, the Kalmyk Autonomous District was forbidden to have contact with other Mongol cultures by the Soviet Empire, and in 1933, the Soviets changed the district to a republic.  The republic was invaded in 1942 by the German army.  Most of Kalmykia became German allies and fought against the Kalmyks who sided with the Soviet Empire. However, the Soviet army won back the republic and convicted all the Kalmyk people of treason.  Joseph Stalin exiled the Kalmyk people to Central Asia, Siberia, and to other locations in the empire. During the transportation process, many Kalmyks died due to starvation and disease (Minahan 360).
        Three years after Stalin's death, the Kalmyk re-inhabited their homeland.  In 1958, Kalmykia was reinstated as a republic under strict surveillance of the Russian Federation (Minahan 360).  Unfortunately, after destroying the Kalmyk's schools, temples, and nationalizing their herds, the Soviets had also destroyed their soil.  Due to overgrazing, the soil of the Kalmyk lands had lost a large amount of its fertility.  The effects of Soviet domination of the Kalmyk people were severe, but the Kalmyks continued to work to rebuild their lives and their land (Minahan 361).
        In effort to rebuild their people and their land, several events occurred.  Kalmyk scholars at the Kalmyk State University in Elista worked together to protest the genocide that had occurred during Stalin's rule and the falsification of Kalmyk history that was being conducted at the time.  The revival of Buddhism among the Kalmyks gave way to the spread of Kalmyk nationalism throughout Kalmykia.  This nationalism was strengthened with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.  The collapse of the Soviet Union has allowed the Kalmyk people to continue grow in their identity as both a world culture and nation (Minahan 361).

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmyk_people

  
Works Cited:
Minahan, James. One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. Print.

The Russia and Cental Asia Connection

When villages in Asia became important trading posts on the Silk Road about 2,500 years ago, they made a huge connection with another continent--Europe.  As the Silk Road was

being used to transfer goods between Asia and Europe, Central Asia became ruled by an empire that extended from northern India to Syria.  Like all empires, this one declined and fell apart.  As that happened, nomads restructured the old empire into small kingdoms called khanates that were ruled by khans.  Beginning in the 19th century, these khanate kingdoms also fell apart due to an invasion by Russian troops in Asia.

Reference: http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2009/03/buddhist-russia-kalmykia.html

This invasion by Russia greatly expanded Russian territory.  For example, Muscovy, a principality that existed where Moscow exists today, grew from 2,235 square miles in the 15th century to more than 22 million square miles in the 20th century.  Russian expansion continued to the 19th century as Muslim khanates fell.  However, in 1904 their expansion ended with a Japanese victory in Manchuria.

Reference: http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/silkroad.html

 Works Cited: 
Marston, Sallie A., Paul L. Knox, Diana M. Liverman, Vincent J. Del Casino, Jr., and PaulF.                Robbins. "The Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus." World Regions in Global Context. Fifth ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. 86-127. Print.