Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2025 number 2

The article considers the ethnocontact zones (ECZ) of Buryatia, by which the authors understand a type of ethnocultural regions and chorological objects consisting of intersecting, overlapping or adjacent ethnic areas and ethnic boundaries. Buryatia is presented as a key region - a republic with a mosaic, diverse and tolerant population, which is a multicultural complexly organized ethnocultural region, a system of ethnocontact zones of different hierarchical levels. At the same time, Buryatia is a part of a larger ethnocontact zone. Statistical, cartographic, expeditionary, sociological and other methods were used. The municipalities of Buryatia were grouped by ethnic composition and ethnic mosaic index, and calculations were carried out for nine key ECZ of rural settlements. An attempt was made to identify the specifics of the territorial structure of the ethnocontact zone, its place in the classification, historical and geographical features and factors of formation and transformation of the ECZ at different historical and geographical stages. The main factors identified are positional (including the border position), landscape, political and administrative factors, the nature of interethnic and intercivilizational interaction, models of territory development and forms of interethnic interaction. Schematic maps characterizing the ECZ of municipalities were made. The study of ethnocontact zones also has practical significance in addition to scientific one. It can be used by governing bodies to implement regional policies at different levels. The materials can also be used in the educational process and activities and in planning tourism development.