The Altai people (), also the Altaians (), are a Turkic ethnic group of indigenous peoples of Siberia mainly living in the Altai Republic, Russia. Several thousand of the Altaians also live in Mongolia (Mongolian Altai Mountains) and China (Altay Prefecture, northern Xinjiang) but are officially unrecognized as a distinct group and listed under the name "Oirats" as a part of the Mongols, as well as in Kazakhstan where they number around 200. For alternative ethnonyms see also Tele, Black Tatar, and Oirats. During the Northern Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia, they were ruled in the administrative area known as Telengid Province. Ethnic groups and subgroups The Altaians are represented by two ethnographic groups: The Southern Altaians, who speak the Southern Altai language with its dialects, include the Altai-Kizhi, Teleuts, and Telengits. The Telesy were previously included but are now assimilated into the Telengits. The Northern Altaians, who speak the Northern Altai language and dialects, include the Chelkans, Kumandins, and Tubalars (Tuba-Kizhi). The Northern and Southern Altaians formed in the Altai area on the basis of tribes of Kimek-Kipchaks. In the Soviet years and until 2000, the authorities considered the northern Altaians and the Teleuts to be part of the Altai people. Currently, according to the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 255 dated March 24, 2000, the Chelkans, Kumandins, Telengits, Teleuts, and Tubalars were recognized as separate ethnic groups as well as the indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. However, in the 2010 Russian Census, the only recognized distinct ethnic groups are the Kumandins and Teleuts. History Recent linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest Turkic peoples descended from agricultural communities in Northeast China who moved westwards into Mongolia in the late 3rd millennium BC, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle. By the early 1st millennium BC, these peoples had become equestrian nomads. In subsequent centuries, the steppe populations of Central Asia appear to have been progressively replaced and Turkified by East Asian nomadic Turks, moving out of Mongolia. There were heterogeneous ethnic settlements during the Bronze and Iron Age in the region where the Altai people live today. From the fifth century BC and onwards Turkic peoples settled in the area and soon began to blend with the prior populations. The region was then conquered or became within the sphere of influence of the Xiongnu, the Rouran Khaganate, the