Localization of the tribal groups of Kyrgyz
Within the Kyrgyz SSR, several groups known as chala-kazaks lived, but they considered themselves Kyrgyz. One of them resides in the western part of Frunze, in the territory of the former village of Kyzyl-Asker, while two others are located in the Talas Valley. These groups include both descendants of certain Kyrgyz tribes (solto, moңoldor, etc.) and representatives of other nationalities: Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Uyghurs.
Many of our informants associate the ethnographic group of dolons (or dolan) living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China with the Kyrgyz, and they now differ little in language and lifestyle from the Uyghurs. According to them, the dolons themselves acknowledge that they are of Kyrgyz origin. They note that the dolons are physically closer to the Kyrgyz and retain some customs of the neighboring Kyrgyz: goat riding, horse racing, and others. Although V. P. Yudin suggests that the dolons may have originated from the Mongols and is inclined to accept E. R. Tenishev's identification of the ethnonym "dolan" with the Mongolian numeral "seven" — dolon, this does not contradict the possible ethnogenetic connections between the Kyrgyz and the dolons.
The main tribal groups of the Kyrgyz in the USSR and China are localized as follows: almost all tribes of the tagai branch are found within Central and partly Western Tien Shan, the Chui Valley, and the basin of Lake Issyk-Kul, in the basin of the Tekes River, along the southern slopes of the Kokshaala Range; tribes of the adigine and muc branches are located on the slopes of the Fergana and Alai ranges, in the eastern part of the Fergana Valley and in the Ulugchat County of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region (China); tribes of the left wing are found in the valleys of the Talas and Chatkal rivers and the foothills of the eponymous ranges, partly in the foothills of the Fergana Range, as well as along the southern slopes of the Kokshaala Range; tribes classified as the içkilik group are located in the foothills of parts of the Alai and Turkestan ranges and the adjacent areas of the Fergana Valley, in the western part of the Alai Valley, in the eastern part of Karategin, and in eastern Pamir, as well as in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China; in the counties of Ak-Tuu, Ulugchat, Tashkurghan, west of the cities of Kashgar, Yangigisar, and Yarkand, and in the Guma County — in the foothills of Kunlun.
Among the Kyrgyz, two distinct groupings emerged, differing not only in the composition of the tribes included but also in several features of their material and spiritual culture, as well as certain customs. The first includes the Kyrgyz population of the northern parts of Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, which identifies itself with the tribal group of otuz uul; the second includes the Kyrgyz population of the southern regions of the Kyrgyz SSR and the adjacent areas of the Tajik SSR and the southern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, which identifies itself with the tribes of the içkilik group, and partly with the right wing of the otuz uul group (the adigine and mungush branches). However, the lifestyle associated with nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism, as well as the most important features of culture and everyday life, were historically common to both groupings, as were ethnic self-awareness and language, despite the presence of northern Kyrgyz and southern Kyrgyz dialects. The uniqueness inherent in these major groupings of Kyrgyz is likely due to some differences in their ethnic history. The process of forming the ethnic elements that made up each of these groupings occurred somewhat separately, which did not prevent their consolidation at a certain time into a common ethnic collective — the Kyrgyz people.
