White Kalmucks

the name by which the modern Teleuts and the ancestors of most of the modern Altais—the Altai-Kizhi and the Telengits—were known to Russians in the 17th century. The White Kalmucks in the 17th century and later were nomadic cattle and horse breeders. They roamed the steppes along the Ob’ River from the region of the confluence of the Biia and Katun’ rivers to the region of present-day Novosibirsk. The territory of the White Kalmucks included the Kulunda steppe in the west and extended to the Tom’ River in the east. The White Kalmuck population was approximately 5,000 in the early 17th century.