Russisk betegnelse:Khakasy, khakasskiy
Alternativt navn:Historically also known as Tadar, Minusinsk, Turki Yenisey Tatars, Abakan Tatars and Khooray.
Undergrupper:
Main ethnographic groups (tribes): Kacha, Sagai, Kyzyl, Beltir, Koibal. These tribes came about as a result of fusion of many different clans/groups. The Khakass have a strong sense of loyalty in regard to their respective region /tribe. Several Tatar groups have been also included under the Khakass category by Russian ethnologists.

Religion:Orthodox Christians (bapt. in 1876); trad. animist beliefs, islam, buddhism.
Språk:Khakass (three primary dialects: Kacha, Sagay and Kyzyl)
Språkfamilie:Altay: Turkish group, north-eastern.

Spredning Russland:
Western part of the Minusinsk basin by the upper Yenisey.
Indigenous population of the Republic of Khakassiya, i.e. a small minority (11,1% of the population). Further in Tyva, in Krasnoyarsk Kray.

Historikk:
As many other Turkic peoples, the Khakass were called Tatars for 2 centuries under tsarist Russia and were referred to as "Tadars " by other neighbouring Turkic peoples in southern Siberia. The Khakass did not identify themselves with one name either. The term Khakass ("Khyagas", an old Chinese name for the Yenisey Kyrgyz) was introduced during the first years of soviet power to describe indigenous population of the middle Yenisey valley.
A process of ethnogenesis, creating the Khakass people, has been at work since the late 17th c. The Kacha and Kyzyl tribes have developed mainly from different Ket and Uygur peoples in South Siberia. The Beltir tribe is closely related to the Tyva, while the Sagay and Koybal tribes have a more complex ethnic background, including many different Shor groups. The religious beliefs of the Khakass reflect their complex background, with a mixture of Buddhism and traditional animism, with a veneer of Orthodox Christianity on top.
The area that make out present-day Khakassiya, in the middle reaches of the Yenisey river basin, was conquered by the Mongolians in the 13th c., and the territory became part of the Mongolian nomadic empire.
Also in the centuries after the fall of the Golden Horde, Khakassia was plagued with periodic Mongol incursions. Khakass tribal leaders therefore wished to get Russia's protection against Mongol attacks and the Khakass land (Khongoray) was annexed to Russia under Peter I in 1727.
The annexation brought stability to the area, but Russian imperialism became a new problem for the Khakass. Tribute payments, seizure of the best agricultural land, imposition of Christianity, other groups exiled to the area by various tsars and so on, was a challenge for the people of Khakassia. After the Trans-Siberian railway was built through the area in the 1890s, increasing numbers of ethnic Russians settled, making the Khakass a small minority.
Soviet rule brought dramatic changes to the Khakass. In 1923, the Khakass National Okrug was established, and in 1930 it was upgraded to Autonomous oblast within Krasnoyarsk kray. Collectivisation in the 1930s and industrialisation after World War 2, brought major socio-economic changes.
The sense of national identity among the Khakass is quite weak, identification with clan and family systems is much stronger. There are also strong assimilationist forces at work, with over 70% of the Khakass fluent in Russian, and with more than half of them marrying ethnic Russians.
After Glasnost and the fall of the Soviet union, various Khakass cultural groups have become active, working for reforms and to promote Khakass cultural institutions. There have been demands for independence, and measures to ensure that Khakass occupy leading political posts in the province, and there have been attempts at forming special Khakass militias. In response, special military units have been formed by Russians claiming to be Cossacks.