146 images Created 1 Jul 2019
Mongolian Tsaatan Reindeer People
Originally from across the border in what is now the Tuva Republic of Russia, the Dukha or Tsaatan are one of the last groups of nomadic reindeer herders in the world. When the Soviet Union closed the border to Mongolia in 1944 , the Tsaatan fled from Tuva to settle in Mongolia. They had good trade relationships with Mongolian herders in the Mongolian steppes and they were afraid of losing their animals due to Soviet collectivization.
The Tsaatan live very differently from the rest of the world. Their entire sense of community is structured around the reindeer. The reindeer and the Tsaatan are dependent on one another. They say that if the reindeer disappear, so will their people. Their communities on the taiga (boreal / snow forest) are a group of tents from two to seven households that move camp to find optimum grazing for the reindeer. The men live in the open air with the herds in the winter months protecting them from wolves - their ultimate predator and enemy of the Tsaatan/Dukhas.
The Tsaatan live very differently from the rest of the world. Their entire sense of community is structured around the reindeer. The reindeer and the Tsaatan are dependent on one another. They say that if the reindeer disappear, so will their people. Their communities on the taiga (boreal / snow forest) are a group of tents from two to seven households that move camp to find optimum grazing for the reindeer. The men live in the open air with the herds in the winter months protecting them from wolves - their ultimate predator and enemy of the Tsaatan/Dukhas.