They used to live along the middle and lower reaches of the Chulym River (tributary of the Ob River). The Russians used to call them the Chulymian Tatars. The Chulyms appeared in the 16th century as a result of mixing of some of the Turkic groups, who had migrated to the East after the fall of the Khanate of Sibir, partially Teleuts, Yenisei Kyrgyz and groups of Tobolsk Tatars.[3]
During the 16th century, the Russian conquered the Chulyms and their newly settled land. In 1720, the Chulyms were forcefully converted to Christianity.[3] In the early 19th century, the Chulyms were mandated by an edict from the Russian authorities to increase their productivity which further disenfranchised them as they were already burdened with heavy taxation. Under Soviet rule, the Chulyms were collectivized and forced to adopt a sedentary lifestyle. The ideologies of the Soviet government were also imposed upon the Chulyms and their culture.[3] Most of the Chulyms' descendants blended with the Khakas and Russians.
The Chulyms were originally hunters and trappers. However, modernization has changed their livelihood and they mainly work in factories, tanneries and sawmills.[4]
James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas and Nicholas Charles Pappas. "An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires". Greenwood Press, 1994. page 162
1 Central Asian (i.e. Turkmeni, Afghani and Iranian) Turkmens, distinct from Levantine (i.e. Iraqi and Syrian) Turkmen/Turkoman minorities, who mostly adhere to an Ottoman-Turkish heritage and identity.
2 In traditional areas of Turkish settlement (i.e. former Ottoman territories).