The Tofalar (Тофалары, тофа (tofa) in Russian; formerly known as карагасы or Karagas) or Tofa people, are a Turkic people in the Irkutsk Oblast in Russia. Their ethnonym contains the Turkic plural suffix -lar, thus it means "Tofas". Their origins, Tofa language and culture are close to those of the eastern Tuvans-Todzhins. Before the 1917 October Revolution, the Tofalar used to be engaged in nomadic, living in the taiga; they engaged in reindeer husbandry and hunting. The Tofalar were resettled by the Soviet government by 1932. Young Tofas learned Russian at new Soviet-built schools, while cultural traditions such as hunting and shamanism were discouraged or prohibited. According to the 2010 census, there were 762 Tofas in Russia (2,828 in 1926, 476 in 1959, 570 in 1970, 576 in 1979, 722 i