The Teleuts are representatives of the most ancient indigenous population of Kuzbass, one of the smallest ethnic groups in Russia. They are included in the UNESCO program "Protection of the small peoples of the world." Their number today does not exceed three thousand people. By their origin, the Teleuts belong to the nomadic pastoralists of the Turkic-speaking tribes "Tele", which were part of the Turkic Khaganate of the 6th-8th centuries.

In the southern part of the Kemerovo region, at the junction of Altai and Sayan Mountains, there is a unique mountain-taiga region Gornaya Shoria. Only here are the descendants of the people who lived from ancient times on this beautiful land, the Shors. Today, eleven and a half thousand Shors live in Kuzbass.