More than 125 nationalities live today, of which 26 are indigenous peoples. The largest in terms of population among these small peoples are the Khanty, Nenets, Mansi, Siberian Tatars, Shors, Altaians. The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees every small people the inalienable right of self-identification and self-determination.
The Khanty are called the indigenous few Ugric western Siberian people living along the lower reaches of the Irtysh and Ob. Their total number is 30,943 people, with most of them 61% living in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and 30% in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The Khanty are engaged in fishing, reindeer herding and taiga hunting.
The ancient names of the Khanty "Ostyaks" or "Ugras" are widely used today. The word "Khanty" comes from the ancient local word "Kantakh", which simply means "man", in documents it appeared in Soviet years. The Khanty are ethnographically close to the Mansi people, and are often united with them under the single name of the Ob Ugrians.
The Khanty are heterogeneous in their composition, among them there are separate ethnographic territorial groups that differ in dialects and names, ways of managing the economy and original culture - Kazym, Vasyugan, Salym Khanty. The Khanty language belongs to the Ob-Ugric languages of the Ural group, it is divided into many territorial dialects.
Since 1937, the modern writing of the Khanty has been developing on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet. Today, 38.5% of the Khanty speak Russian fluently. The Khanty adhere to the religion of their ancestors - shamanism, but many of them consider themselves Orthodox Christians.
Externally, the Khanty have a height of 150 to 160 cm with black straight hair, a swarthy face and brown eyes. Their face is flat with widely protruding cheekbones, a wide nose and thick lips, reminiscent of a Mongoloid. But the Khanty, unlike the Mongoloid peoples, have a regular eye slit and a narrower skull.
AT historical chronicles The first mentions of the Khanty appear in the 10th century. Modern studies have shown that the Khanty lived in this area as early as 5-6 thousand years BC. Later they were seriously pushed northward by the nomads.
The Khanty inherited numerous traditions of the Ust-Polui culture of taiga hunters, which developed at the end of the 1st millennium BC. - the beginning of the 1st millennium AD In the II millennium AD. the northern tribes of the Khanty were influenced by the Nenets reindeer herders and assimilated with them. In the south, the Khanty tribes felt the influence of the Turkic peoples, later Russians.
The traditional cults of the Khanty people include the deer cult, it was he who became the basis of the whole life of the people, vehicle, source of food and skins. It is with the deer that the worldview and many norms of the life of the people (inheritance of the herd) are connected.
The Khanty live in the north of the plain along the lower reaches of the Ob in nomadic temporary camps with temporary reindeer herding dwellings. To the south, on the banks of the Northern Sosva, Lozva, Vogulka, Kazym, Nizhnyaya, they have winter settlements and summer camps.
Khanty have long worshiped the elements and spirits of nature: fire, sun, moon, wind, water. Each of the clans has a totem, an animal that cannot be killed and used for food, deities of the family and patron ancestors. Everywhere the Khanty revere the bear, the owner of the taiga, they even hold a traditional holiday in his honor. revered patroness hearth, happiness in the family and women in childbirth is a frog. Taiga always has sacred places, where shamanic rites are held, appeasing their patron.
Mansi
Mansi (the old name of the Voguls, Vogulichi), whose number is 12,269 people, live for the most part in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. This very numerous people has been known to Russians since the discovery of Siberia. Even the sovereign Ivan IV the Terrible ordered to send archers to pacify the numerous and powerful Mansi.
The word "Mansi" comes from the ancient Ugric word "mansz", meaning "man, person." The Mansi have their own language, belonging to the Ob-Ugric isolated group of the Ural language family and a fairly developed national epic. The Mansi are close linguistic relatives of the Khanty. Today, up to 60% are used in Everyday life Russian language.
Mansi successfully combine in their public life cultures of northern hunters and southern nomadic pastoralists. Novgorodians were in contact with the Mansi as early as the 11th century. With the advent of the Russians in the 16th century, part of the Vogul tribes went north, others lived next to the Russians and assimilated with them, adopting the language and the Orthodox faith.
Mansi beliefs are the worship of the elements and spirits of nature - shamanism, they have a cult of elders and ancestors, a totem bear. Mansi have the richest folklore and mythology. The Mansi are divided into two separate ethnographic groups of the descendants of the Por Urals and the descendants of the Mos Ugrians, which differ in origin and customs. In order to enrich the genetic material, marriages have long been concluded only between these groups.
Mansi are engaged in taiga hunting, deer breeding, fishing, farming and cattle breeding. Reindeer husbandry on the banks of the Northern Sosva and Lozva was adopted from the Khanty. To the south, with the arrival of the Russians, agriculture, breeding of horses, cattle and small cattle, pigs and poultry was adopted.
In everyday life and original creativity of the Mansi, ornaments similar in motifs to the drawings of the Selkups and Khanty are of particular importance. Mansi ornaments are clearly dominated by correct geometric patterns. Often with elements of deer antlers, rhombuses and wavy lines, similar to the Greek meander and zigzags, images of eagles and bears.
Nenets
Nenets, in the old way Yuraks or Samoyeds, in total 44,640 people live in the north of the Khanty-Mansiysk and, accordingly, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. The self-name of the Samoyedic people "Nenets" literally means "man, person." Of the northern indigenous peoples, they are the most numerous.
The Nenets are engaged in large-scale nomadic reindeer husbandry in. In Yamal, the Nenets keep up to 500,000 deer. traditional dwelling Nenets is a conical plague. Up to one and a half thousand Nenets living south of the tundra on the Pur and Taz rivers are considered forest Nenets. In addition to reindeer herding, they are actively engaged in tundra and taiga hunting and fishing, collecting gifts from the taiga. The Nenets feed on rye bread, venison, sea animal meat, fish, and gifts from the taiga and tundra.
The language of the Nenets belongs to the Ural Samoyedic languages, it is divided into two dialects - tundra and forest, they, in turn, are divided into dialects. The Nenets people have the richest folklore, legends, fairy tales, epic stories. In 1937, linguists created a script for the Nenets based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Ethnographers describe the Nenets as stocky people with a large head, a flat earthy face, devoid of any vegetation.
Altaians
The territory of residence of the Turkic-speaking indigenous people of the Altaians became. They live in an amount of up to 71 thousand people, which allows us to consider them a large people, in the Altai Republic, partly in the Altai Territory. Among the Altaians, there are separate ethnic groups of Kumandins (2892 people), Telengits or Teleses (3712 people), Tubalars (1965 people), Teleuts (2643 people), Chelkans (1181 people).
Since ancient times, the Altaians have worshiped the spirits and elements of nature; they adhere to traditional shamanism, Burkhanism and Buddhism. They live in clans of seoks, kinship is considered through the male line. The Altaians have a centuries-old rich history and folklore, tales and legends, their own heroic epos.
Shors
The Shors are a small Turkic-speaking people, mainly living in remote mountainous regions of Kuzbass. The total number of Shors today is up to 14 thousand people. The Shors have long worshiped the spirits of nature and the elements; their main religion has become centuries-old shamanism.
The ethnos of the Shors was formed in the 6th-9th centuries by mixing the Ket-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes who came from the south. The Shor language belongs to the Turkic languages, today more than 60% of the Shor people speak Russian. The epic of the Shors is ancient and very original. The traditions of the indigenous Shors are well preserved today in, most of the Shors now live in cities.
Siberian Tatars
In the Middle Ages, it was the Siberian Tatars that were the main population of the Siberian Khanate. Now the sub-ethnos of the Siberian Tatars, as they call themselves "Seber Tatarlar", according to various estimates, from 190 thousand to 210 thousand people live in the south of Western Siberia. According to the anthropological type, the Tatars of Siberia are close to the Kazakhs and Bashkirs. Chulyms, Shors, Khakasses, and Teleuts can call themselves "Tadar" today.
Scientists consider the ancestors of the Siberian Tatars to be the medieval Kypchaks, who contacted long time with Samoyeds, Kets, Ugric peoples. The process of development and mixing of peoples took place in the south of Western Siberia from the 6th-4th millennium BC. before the emergence of the Tyumen kingdom in the 14th century, and later with the emergence of the powerful Siberian Khanate in the 16th century.
For the most part, Siberian Tatars use the literary Tatar language, but in some remote uluses, the Siberian-Tatar language from the Kypchak-Nogai group of Western Hunnic Turkic languages has been preserved. It is divided into Tobol-Irtysh and Baraba dialects and many dialects.
The holidays of the Siberian Tatars contain features of pre-Islamic ancient Turkic beliefs. It is primarily amal when celebrated during the vernal equinox New Year. The arrival of the rooks and the beginning field work Siberian Tatars celebrate Karga Putka. Some Muslim holidays, ceremonies and prayers for sending down rain have also taken root here, Muslim burial places of Sufi sheikhs are revered.
The Khanty are an indigenous Ugric people living in the north of Western Siberia, mainly in the territories of the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs of the Tyumen Region, as well as in the north of the Tomsk Region.
The Khanty (the outdated name "Ostyaks") are also known as Yugras, but the more accurate self-name "Khanty" (from the Khanty "Kantakh" - a person, people) in Soviet time was made official.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Russians called the Khanty Ostyaks (possibly from "as-yah" - "the people of the big river"), even earlier (until the 14th century) - Yugra, Yugrichs. The Komi-Zyryans called the Khanty Egra, the Nenets - Khabi, the Tatars - ushtek (ashtek, expired).
The Khanty are close to the Mansi, with whom the Ob Ugrians unite under the common name.
There are three ethnographic groups among the Khanty: northern, southern and eastern. They differ in dialects, self-name, features in the economy and culture. Also, among the Khanty, territorial groups stand out - Vasyugan, Salym, Kazym Khanty.
The northern neighbors of the Khanty were the Nenets, the southern neighbors were the Siberian Tatars and the Tomsk-Narym Selkups, the eastern neighbors were the Kets, Selkups, and also nomadic Evenks. Huge territory of settlement and, accordingly, different cultures neighboring peoples and contributed to the formation of three quite different ethnographic groups within one people.
Population
According to the 2010 census, the number of Khanty in the Russian Federation is 30,943 people). Of these, 61.6% live in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, 30.7% - in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 2.3% - in the Tyumen region without Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and YNAO, 2.3% - in the Tomsk region.
The main habitat is limited mainly by the lower reaches of the Ob, Irtysh rivers and their tributaries.
Language and writing
The Khanty language, together with Mansi and Hungarian, forms the Ob-Ugric group of the Ural family of languages. The Khanty language is known for its extraordinary dialect fragmentation. The western group stands out - the Obdorsky, Ob and Irtysh dialects and the eastern group - the Surgut and Vakh-Vasyugan dialects, which in turn are divided into 13 dialects.
Dialectal fragmentation made it difficult to create a written language. In 1879, N. Grigorovsky published a primer in one of the dialects of the Khanty language. Subsequently, the priest I. Egorov created a primer of the Khanty language in the Obdorsky dialect, which was then translated into the Vakh-Vasyugan dialect.
In the 1930s, the Kazym dialect served as the basis of the Khanty alphabet, and since 1940, the Sredneob dialect was taken as the basis of the literary language. At this time, writing was originally created on the basis of the Latin alphabet, and since 1937 it has been based on the Killillic alphabet. Currently, writing exists on the basis of five dialects of the Khanty language: Kazym, Surgut, Vakh, Surgut, Sredneobok.
In modern Russia, 38.5% of the Khanty consider Russian as their native language. Some of the northern Khanty also speak Nenets and Komi languages.
Anthropological type
The anthropological features of the Khanty make it possible to attribute them to the Ural contact race, which is internally heterogeneous in the territorial correlation of Mongoloid and Caucasoid features. The Khanty, along with the Selkups and Nenets, are part of the West Siberian group of populations, which is characterized by an increase in the proportion of Mongoloidity, compared with other representatives of the Ural race. Moreover, women in more Mongolian than men.
According to their disposition, the Khanty are of average or even below average height (156-160 cm). They usually have straight black or brown hair, which, as a rule, is long and worn either loose or braided, the complexion is swarthy, the eyes are dark.
Thanks to a flattened face with somewhat protruding cheekbones, thick (but not full) lips, and a short nose that is depressed at the root and wide, turned up at the end, the Khanty type outwardly resembles the Mongolian. But, unlike typical Mongoloids, they have correctly cut eyes, more often a narrow and long skull (dolicho- or subdolichocephalic). All this gives the Khanty a special imprint, which is why some researchers tend to see in them the remnants of a special ancient race that once inhabited part of Europe.
ethnic history
In historical chronicles, the first written references to the Khanty people are found in Russian and Arabic sources of the 10th century, but it is known for certain that the ancestors of the Khanty lived in the Urals and Western Siberia already 6-5 thousand years BC, subsequently they were displaced by nomads in lands of Northern Siberia.
Archaeologists associate the ethnogenesis of the Northern Khanty based on the mixing of aboriginal and newcomer Ugric tribes with the Ust-Polui culture (end of the 1st millennium BC - beginning of the 1st millennium AD), localized in the Ob River basin from the mouth of the Irtysh to the Gulf of Ob. Many traditions of this northern, taiga fishing culture are inherited by modern northern Khanty. From the middle of the II millennium AD. the Northern Khanty were strongly influenced by the Nenets reindeer herding culture. In the zone of direct territorial contacts, the Khanty were partially assimilated by the Tundra Nenets (the so-called "seven Nenets clans of Khanty origin").
The southern Khanty settled up from the mouth of the Irtysh. This is the territory of the southern taiga, forest-steppe and steppe, and culturally it gravitates more towards the south. In their formation and subsequent ethno-cultural development, a significant role was played by the southern forest-steppe population, layered on the general Khanty basis. The Turks, and later the Russians, had a significant influence on the southern Khanty.
The Eastern Khanty are settled in the Middle Ob region and along the tributaries of the Salym, Pim, Trom'egan, Agan, Vakh, Yugan, Vasyugan. This group, to a greater extent than others, retains the North Siberian features of culture dating back to the Ural traditions - draft dog breeding, dugout boats, the predominance of swing clothes, birch bark utensils, and a fishing economy. Another significant component of the culture of the Eastern Khanty is the Sayan-Altai component, which dates back to the time of the formation of the southwestern Siberian fishing tradition. The influence of the Sayan-Altai Turks on the culture of the Eastern Khanty can also be traced at a later time. Within the limits of the modern habitat, the Eastern Khanty quite actively interacted with the Kets and Selkups, which was facilitated by belonging to the same economic and cultural type.
Thus, if there is common features cultures characteristic of the Khanty ethnos, which is associated with the early stages of their ethnogenesis and the formation of the Ural community, which, along with the mornings, included the ancestors of the Kets and Samoyedic peoples. The subsequent cultural "divergence", the formation of ethnographic groups, was largely determined by the processes of ethnocultural interaction with neighboring peoples.
Thus, the culture of the people, their language and the spiritual world are not homogeneous. This is explained by the fact that the Khanty settled quite widely, and different cultures were formed in different climatic conditions.
Life and economy
The main occupations of the northern Khanty were reindeer herding and hunting, less often fishing. The deer cult can be traced in all spheres of life of the Northern Khanty. The deer, without exaggeration, was the basis of life: it was also a transport, the skins were used in the construction of dwellings and tailoring. It is no coincidence that many norms of social life (ownership of deer and their inheritance), worldviews (in the funeral rite) are also associated with the deer.
The southern Khanty were mainly engaged in fishing, but they were also known for agriculture and cattle breeding.
Based on the fact that the economy affects the nature of the settlement, and the type of settlement affects the design of the dwelling, the Khanty have five types of settlement with the corresponding features of the settlements:
The Khanty, who were engaged in hunting and fishing, had 3-4 dwellings in different seasonal settlements, which changed depending on the season. Such dwellings were made of logs and placed directly on the ground, sometimes dugouts and semi-dugouts were built with a wooden pole frame, which was covered with poles, branches, turf and earth from above.
Khanty-reindeer herders lived in portable dwellings, in tents, consisting of poles placed in a circle, fastened in the center, covered on top with birch bark (in summer) or skins (in winter).
Religion and beliefs
Since ancient times, the Khanty have revered the elements of nature: the sun, the moon, fire, water, and wind. The Khanty also had totemic patrons, family deities and ancestral patrons. Each clan had its own totem animal, it was revered, considering it one of the distant relatives. This animal could not be killed and eaten.
The bear was revered everywhere, he was considered a protector, he helped hunters, protected from diseases, and resolved disputes. At the same time, the bear, unlike other totem animals, could be hunted. In order to reconcile the spirit of the bear and the hunter who killed him, the Khanty held a bear festival. The frog was revered as the guardian of family happiness and an assistant to women in childbirth. There were also sacred places, the place where the patron lives. Hunting and fishing were forbidden in such places, since the patron himself protects the animals.
To this day, traditional rituals and holidays have come down in a modified form, they have been adapted to modern views and timed to certain events. So, for example, a bear festival is held before the issuance of licenses for shooting a bear.
After the Russians came to Siberia, the Khanty were converted to Christianity. However, this process was uneven and affected, first of all, those groups of Khanty who experienced the versatile influence of Russian settlers, these are, first of all, the southern Khanty. Among other groups, the presence of religious syncretism is noted, expressed in the adaptation of a number of Christian dogmas, with the predominance of the cultural function of the traditional worldview system.
1. Features of the peoples of Siberia
2.general characteristics peoples of Siberia
3. The peoples of Siberia on the eve of Russian colonization
1. Features of the peoples of Siberia
In addition to anthropological and linguistic features, the peoples of Siberia have a number of specific, traditionally stable cultural and economic features that characterize the historical and ethnographic diversity of Siberia. In cultural and economic terms, the territory of Siberia can be divided into two large historically developed regions: 1) the southern one - the region of ancient cattle breeding and agriculture; and 2) northern - area of commercial hunting and fishing economy. The boundaries of these areas do not coincide with the boundaries of landscape zones. Stable economic and cultural types of Siberia developed in antiquity as a result of historical and cultural processes of different time and nature, which took place in a homogeneous natural and economic environment and under the influence of external foreign cultural traditions.
By the 17th century among the indigenous population of Siberia according to the predominant type economic activity the following economic and cultural types have developed: 1) foot hunters and fishermen of the taiga zone and forest-tundra; 2) sedentary fishermen in the basins of large and small rivers and lakes; 3) sedentary hunters for sea animals on the coast of the Arctic seas; 4) nomadic taiga reindeer herders-hunters and fishermen; 5) nomadic reindeer herders of the tundra and forest-tundra; 6) pastoralists of the steppes and forest-steppes.
In the past, some groups of foot Evenks, Orochs, Udeges, separate groups of Yukagirs, Kets, Selkups, partly Khanty and Mansi, and Shors belonged to the foot hunters and fishermen of the taiga in the past. For these peoples great importance had hunting for meat animals (moose, deer), fishing. A characteristic element of their culture was a hand sled.
The settled-fishing type of economy was widespread in the past among the peoples living in the basins of the river. Amur and Ob: Nivkhs, Nanais, Ulchis, Itelmens, Khanty, part of the Selkups and the Ob Mansi. For these peoples, fishing was the main source of livelihood throughout the year. The hunt had an auxiliary character.
The type of sedentary hunters for sea animals is represented among the settled Chukchi, Eskimos, and partly settled Koryaks. The economy of these peoples is based on the extraction of sea animals (walrus, seal, whale). Arctic hunters settled on the coasts of the Arctic seas. The products of the marine fur trade, in addition to meeting personal needs for meat, fat and skins, also served as a subject of exchange with neighboring related groups.
Nomadic taiga reindeer breeders, hunters and fishermen were the most common type of economy among the peoples of Siberia in the past. He was represented among the Evenks, Evens, Dolgans, Tofalars, Forest Nenets, Northern Selkups, and Reindeer Kets. Geographically, it covered mainly the forests and forest-tundra of Eastern Siberia, from the Yenisei to the Sea of Okhotsk, and also extended west of the Yenisei. The basis of the economy was hunting and keeping deer, as well as fishing.
The nomadic reindeer herders of the tundra and forest-tundra include the Nenets, reindeer Chukchi and reindeer Koryaks. These peoples have developed a special type of economy, the basis of which is reindeer husbandry. Hunting and fishing, as well as sea fishing, are of secondary importance or are completely absent. The main food product for this group of peoples is deer meat. The deer also serves as a reliable vehicle.
Cattle breeding in the steppes and forest-steppes in the past was widely represented among the Yakuts, the world's northernmost pastoral people, among the Altaians, Khakasses, Tuvans, Buryats, and Siberian Tatars. Cattle breeding was of a commercial nature, the products almost completely satisfied the needs of the population in meat, milk and dairy products. Agriculture among pastoral peoples (except for the Yakuts) existed as an auxiliary branch of the economy. Some of these peoples were engaged in hunting and fishing.
Along with the indicated types of economy, a number of peoples also had transitional types. For example, the Shors and Northern Altaians combined sedentary cattle breeding with hunting; The Yukaghirs, Nganasans, Enets combined reindeer herding with hunting as their main occupation.
The diversity of cultural and economic types of Siberia determines the specifics of development by indigenous peoples natural environment, on the one hand, and the level of their socio-economic development, on the other. Prior to the arrival of the Russians, economic and cultural specialization did not go beyond the framework of the appropriating economy and primitive (hoe) agriculture and cattle breeding. Diversity natural conditions contributed to the formation of various local variants of economic types, the oldest of which were hunting and fishing.
At the same time, it should be taken into account that "culture" is an extrabiological adaptation, which entails the need for activity. This explains such a multitude of economic and cultural types. Their peculiarity is a sparing attitude to natural resources. And in this all economic and cultural types are similar to each other. However, culture is, at the same time, a system of signs, a semiotic model of a particular society (ethnos). Therefore, a single cultural and economic type is not yet a community of culture. The common thing is that the existence of many traditional cultures is based on a certain way of managing the economy (fishing, hunting, sea hunting, cattle breeding). However, cultures can be different in terms of customs, rituals, traditions, and beliefs.
2. General characteristics of the peoples of Siberia
The number of the indigenous population of Siberia before the beginning of Russian colonization was about 200 thousand people. The northern (tundra) part of Siberia was inhabited by tribes of Samoyeds, in Russian sources called Samoyeds: Nenets, Enets and Nganasans.
The main economic occupation of these tribes was reindeer herding and hunting, and in the lower reaches of the Ob, Taz and Yenisei - fishing. The main objects of fishing were arctic fox, sable, ermine. Furs served as the main commodity in the payment of yasak and in trade. Furs were also paid as bride price for the girls who were chosen as their wives. The number of Siberian Samoyeds, including the tribes of the southern Samoyeds, reached about 8 thousand people.
To the south of the Nenets lived the Ugrian-speaking tribes of the Khanty (Ostyaks) and Mansi (Voguls). The Khanty were engaged in fishing and hunting; in the region of the Gulf of Ob they had reindeer herds. The main occupation of the Mansi was hunting. Before the arrival of the Russian Mansi on the river. Toure and Tavde were engaged in primitive agriculture, cattle breeding, and beekeeping. The area of settlement of the Khanty and Mansi included the regions of the Middle and Lower Ob with tributaries, pp. Irtysh, Demyanka and Konda, as well as the western and eastern slopes of the Middle Urals. The total number of the Ugric-speaking tribes of Siberia in the 17th century. reached 15-18 thousand people.
To the east of the settlement area of the Khanty and Mansi lay the lands of the southern Samoyeds, the southern or Narym Selkups. For a long time, the Russians called the Narym Selkups Ostyaks because of the similarity of their material culture with the Khanty. The Selkups lived along the middle reaches of the river. Ob and its tributaries. The main economic activity was seasonal fishing and hunting. They hunted fur-bearing animals, elk, wild deer, upland and waterfowl. Before the arrival of the Russians, the southern Samoyeds were united in a military alliance, which was called the Pegoy Horde in Russian sources, led by Prince Voni.
To the east of the Narym Selkups lived tribes of the Ket-speaking population of Siberia: the Kets (Yenisei Ostyaks), Arins, Kotts, Yastyns (4-6 thousand people), who settled along the Middle and Upper Yenisei. Their main occupations were hunting and fishing. Some groups of the population extracted iron from ore, products from which were sold to neighbors or used on the farm.
The upper reaches of the Ob and its tributaries, the upper reaches of the Yenisei, the Altai were inhabited by numerous Turkic tribes that differed greatly in their economic structure - the ancestors of the modern Shors, Altaians, Khakasses: Tomsk, Chulym and "Kuznetsk" Tatars (about 5-6 thousand people), Teleuts ( white Kalmyks) (about 7-8 thousand people), the Yenisei Kirghiz with their subordinate tribes (8-9 thousand people). The main occupation of most of these peoples was nomadic cattle breeding. In some places of this vast territory, hoe farming and hunting were developed. The "Kuznetsk" Tatars had developed blacksmithing.
The Sayan Highlands were occupied by the Samoyed and Turkic tribes of Mators, Karagas, Kamasin, Kachin, Kaysot, and others, with a total number of about 2 thousand people. They were engaged in cattle breeding, breeding horses, hunting, they knew the skills of agriculture.
To the south of the habitats of the Mansi, Selkups and Kets, Turkic-speaking ethno-territorial groups were widespread - the ethnic predecessors of the Siberian Tatars: the Baraba, Terenin, Irtysh, Tobol, Ishim and Tyumen Tatars. By the middle of the XVI century. a significant part of the Turks of Western Siberia (from Tura in the west to Baraba in the east) was under the rule of the Siberian Khanate. The main occupation of the Siberian Tatars was hunting, fishing, cattle breeding was developed in the Baraba steppe. Before the arrival of the Russians, the Tatars were already engaged in agriculture. There was a home production of leather, felt, edged weapons, fur dressing. Tatars acted as intermediaries in transit trade between Moscow and Central Asia.
To the west and east of Baikal there were Mongolian-speaking Buryats (about 25 thousand people), known in Russian sources under the name of “brothers” or “brotherly people”. The basis of their economy was nomadic cattle breeding. Farming and gathering were ancillary occupations. The iron-making craft has received a rather high development.
A significant territory from the Yenisei to the Sea of Okhotsk, from the northern tundra to the Amur region was inhabited by the Tungus tribes of the Evenks and Evens (about 30 thousand people). They were divided into "deer" (bred deer), which were the majority, and "foot". The "foot" Evenks and Evens were sedentary fishermen and hunted sea animals on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. One of the main occupations of both groups was hunting. The main game animals were moose, wild deer, and bears. Domestic deer were used by the Evenks as pack and riding animals.
Encyclopedic YouTube
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Indigenous peoples of Russia (narrated by Alexander Matveev)
Indigenous peoples of the North
Ritual practices of the peoples of the North (narrated by Dmitry Oparin)
Subtitles
List of Indigenous Peoples of the North
According to the list of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, such peoples include (breakdown by language groups by native language, sorted by the number of people in Russia according to the 2010 census):
Tungus-Manchurian languages
Total: 76,263 people
Finno-Ugric languages
Total: 50,919 people
Samoyedic languages
Total: 49,378 people
Turkic languages
Total: 42,340 people
Paleoasian languages
Total: 37,562 people
Slavic languages
Sino-Tibetan languages
Places of traditional residence and types of traditional economic activities
The list of places of traditional residence and traditional economic activity and the list of types of traditional economic activity of the small peoples of the North are approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. A culturally developed area with roaming routes of reindeer herders, seasonal routes of hunters, gatherers, fishermen, sacred, recreational places, etc., which ensures their traditional way of life, is extremely extensive: from the Dolgans and Nganasans on the Taimyr Peninsula to the Udeges in southern Russia, from the Aleuts on the Commander islands to the Saami on the Kola Peninsula.
According to the list of traditional economic activities, these include:
- Animal husbandry, including nomadic (reindeer breeding, horse breeding, yak breeding, sheep breeding).
- Processing of livestock products, including the collection, preparation and dressing of skins, wool, hair, ossified horns, hooves, antlers, bones, endocrine glands, meat, offal.
- Dog breeding (breeding of reindeer, sled and hunting dogs).
- Breeding of animals, processing and sale of fur products.
- Beekeeping , beekeeping .
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The current state of the small peoples of the North
In general, there is a positive dynamics of demographic processes among the small peoples of the North. The number of Oroks (Ulta) increased almost 2.5 times, the number of Nenets, Selkups, Khanty, Yukagirs, Negidals, Tofalars, Itelmens, Kets, and others increased significantly (by 20-70 percent). The number of a number of peoples decreased, which is explained as a general negative demographic dynamics in the Russian Federation, as well as the allocation during the census of the small peoples of the North of the original ethnic groups that began to identify themselves as independent peoples.
At the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st centuries, there was an increase in the ethnic self-consciousness of the small peoples of the North. Public associations, training centers, associations and trade unions (reindeer herders, sea hunters, etc.) of the small peoples of the North have arisen, the activities of which are supported by the state. In many places of residence of the small peoples of the North, communities have been recreated as traditional forms organization of joint activities, distribution of products and mutual assistance. In a number of places of traditional residence and traditional economic activity, “ancestral lands” have been created, territories traditional of regional and local importance assigned to representatives of the small peoples of the North and their communities.
About 65 percent of citizens from among the small peoples of the North live in rural areas. In many national villages and settlements, the communities of these peoples have become the only economic entities that perform a number of social functions. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, communities as non-profit organizations enjoy a number of benefits and use a simplified taxation system.
In the Russian Federation, as a whole, a legal framework has been created in the field of protecting the rights and traditional way of life of the small peoples of the North. Russia is a party to international treaties in this area. Measures of state support (in the form of benefits, subsidies, quotas for the use of biological resources) are also legislated. Benefits for representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North living in places of traditional residence and traditional economic activities and engaged in traditional economic activities are provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, the Water Code of the Russian Federation and the Land Code of the Russian Federation.
A significant achievement was the formation of financial instruments of state support for the socio-economic development of the small peoples of the North. Over the past 15 years, the Russian Federation has implemented three federal target programs, as well as numerous regional target programs and subprograms for the socio-economic development of the indigenous peoples of the North, designed to create conditions for their sustainable development at the expense of the federal budget, the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and non-budgetary sources. At the expense of the federal budget, subsidies were provided to the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to support reindeer husbandry and livestock breeding.
In places of traditional residence and traditional economic activities of the small peoples of the North, for the education of children of reindeer herders, fishermen and hunters, including mother tongue, there are day general education schools, boarding schools. In the places of nomadic reindeer herders, the creation of nomadic schools was initiated, in which children receive primary education, taking into account the traditional way of life of the small peoples of the North.
Educational and methodical literature for studying the languages of the small peoples of the North is published in publishing houses by state order. The Institute of the Peoples of the North of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after AI Herzen has been operating for several decades.
The Russian Federation took an active part in the implementation of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1994, and also became the first UN member state to create a National Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding in the Russian Federation of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
In recent years, as part of the development of public-private partnerships, the practice has been formed of concluding agreements with large industrial companies, including the fuel and energy complex, with authorities state power subjects of the Russian Federation, authorities local government, communities of small peoples of the North, district and settlement associations of small peoples, individual national households - owners of "ancestral lands", which made it possible to create off-budget funds credit support for enterprises of small peoples of the North.
Constraints to sustainable development
The situation of the small peoples of the North in recent decades has been complicated by the inability of their traditional way of life to modern economic conditions. The low competitiveness of traditional types of economic activity is due to small volumes of production, high transport costs, lack of modern enterprises and technologies for the complex processing of raw materials and biological resources.
The crisis state of traditional types of economic activity has led to an aggravation of social problems. The standard of living of a significant part of citizens from among the small peoples of the North, living in rural areas or leading a nomadic lifestyle, is lower than the Russian average. The unemployment rate in the regions of the North, where the small peoples of the North live, is 1.5-2 times higher than the average for the Russian Federation.
The intensive industrial development of the natural resources of the northern territories of the Russian Federation has also significantly reduced the possibilities for conducting traditional types of economic activity of the small peoples of the North. Significant areas of reindeer pastures and hunting grounds have been withdrawn from the traditional economic turnover. Some of the rivers and reservoirs previously used for traditional fisheries due to environmental issues lost their fishery importance.
Violation traditional way life in the 1990s led to the development of a number of diseases and pathologies among representatives of the small peoples of the North. Significantly higher than the average Russian indicators among these peoples are the indicators of infant (1.8 times) and child mortality, morbidity infectious diseases and alcoholism.
See also (in Russia as a whole) SibFU, 2015. - 183 p.
Links
- Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation 04.02.2009 N 132-r “On the Concept sustainable development indigenous small peoples North, Siberia and Far East Russian Federation Consultant Plus website
For many centuries the peoples of Siberia lived in small settlements. Each individual village had its own clan. The inhabitants of Siberia were friends with each other, ran a joint household, were often relatives to each other and led an active lifestyle. But due to the vast territory of the Siberian region, these villages were far from each other. So, for example, the inhabitants of one village were already leading their own way of life and spoke an incomprehensible language for their neighbors. Over time, some settlements disappeared, and some became larger and actively developed.
History of population in Siberia.
The Samoyed tribes are considered to be the first indigenous inhabitants of Siberia. They inhabited the northern part. Their main occupation is reindeer herding and fishing. To the south lived the Mansi tribes, who lived by hunting. Their main trade was the extraction of furs, with which they paid for their future wives and bought goods necessary for life.
The upper reaches of the Ob were inhabited by Turkic tribes. Their main occupation was nomadic cattle breeding and blacksmithing. To the west of Lake Baikal lived the Buryats, who became famous for their ironworking craft.
The largest territory from the Yenisei to the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk was inhabited by Tungus tribes. Among them were many hunters, fishermen, reindeer herders, some were engaged in crafts.
Along the coast of the Chukchi Sea, the Eskimos (about 4 thousand people) settled down. Compared to other peoples of that time, the Eskimos had the slowest social development. The tool was made of stone or wood. The main economic activities include gathering and hunting.
The main way of survival of the first settlers of the Siberian region was hunting, reindeer herding and fur extraction, which was the currency of that time.
To late XVII centuries, the most developed peoples of Siberia were the Buryats and Yakuts. The Tatars were the only people who, before the arrival of the Russians, managed to organize state power.
The following peoples can be attributed to the largest peoples before Russian colonization: Itelmens (indigenous inhabitants of Kamchatka), Yukaghirs (inhabited the main territory of the tundra), Nivkhs (residents of Sakhalin), Tuvans ( indigenous people Republic of Tuva), Siberian Tatars (located on the territory of Southern Siberia from the Urals to the Yenisei) and Selkups (inhabitants of Western Siberia).
Indigenous peoples of Siberia in the modern world.
According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, every people of Russia received the right to national self-determination and identification. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has officially become a multinational state and the preservation of the culture of small and disappearing nationalities has become one of the state priorities. The Siberian indigenous peoples were also not ignored here: some of them received the right to self-government in autonomous regions, while others formed their own republics as part of the new Russia. Very small and disappearing nationalities enjoy the full support of the state, and the efforts of many people are aimed at preserving their culture and traditions.
In this review, we will brief description to every Siberian people whose population is greater than or close to 7,000 people. Smaller peoples are difficult to characterize, so we will limit ourselves to their name and number. So, let's begin.
- Yakuts- the most numerous of the Siberian peoples. According to the latest data, the number of Yakuts is 478,100 people. In modern Russia, the Yakuts are one of the few nationalities that have their own republic, and its area is comparable to the area of an average European state. The Republic of Yakutia (Sakha) is territorially located in the Far Eastern Federal District, but the ethnic group "Yakuts" has always been considered an indigenous Siberian people. The Yakuts have an interesting culture and traditions. This is one of the few peoples of Siberia that has its own epic.
- Buryats- this is another Siberian people with its own republic. The capital of Buryatia is the city of Ulan-Ude, located to the east of Lake Baikal. The number of Buryats is 461,389 people. In Siberia, Buryat cuisine is widely known, rightfully considered one of the best among ethnic ones. The history of this people, its legends and traditions is quite interesting. By the way, the Republic of Buryatia is one of the main centers of Buddhism in Russia.
- Tuvans. According to the latest census, 263,934 identified themselves as representatives of the Tuvan people. The Tyva Republic is one of the four ethnic republics of the Siberian Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kyzyl with a population of 110 thousand people. The total population of the republic is approaching 300 thousand. Buddhism also flourishes here, and the traditions of the Tuvans also speak of shamanism.
- Khakasses- one of the indigenous peoples of Siberia, numbering 72,959 people. Today they have their own republic as part of the Siberian Federal District and with the capital in the city of Abakan. This ancient people has long lived on the lands to the west of the Great Lake (Baikal). It has never been numerous, which did not prevent it from carrying its identity, culture and traditions through the centuries.
- Altaians. Their place of residence is quite compact - this is the Altai mountain system. Today Altaians live in two constituent entities of the Russian Federation - the Republic of Altai and the Altai Territory. The number of the ethnos "Altaians" is about 71 thousand people, which allows us to talk about them as a fairly large people. Religion - Shamanism and Buddhism. The Altaians have their own epic and a pronounced national identity, which does not allow them to be confused with other Siberian peoples. This mountain people has a long history and interesting legends.
- Nenets- one of the small Siberian peoples living compactly in the area of the Kola Peninsula. Its number of 44,640 people makes it possible to attribute it to small nations, whose traditions and culture are protected by the state. The Nenets are nomadic reindeer herders. They belong to the so-called Samoyedic folk group. Over the years of the 20th century, the number of Nenets has approximately doubled, which indicates the effectiveness of state policy in the field of preserving the small peoples of the North. The Nenets have their own language and oral epic.
- Evenki- the people predominantly living on the territory of the Republic of Sakha. The number of this people in Russia is 38,396 people, some of whom live in areas adjacent to Yakutia. It is worth saying that this is about half of the total ethnic group - about the same number of Evenks live in China and Mongolia. The Evenks are the people of the Manchu group, who do not have their own language and epic. Tungus is considered the native language of the Evenks. Evenks are born hunters and trackers.
- Khanty- the indigenous people of Siberia, belonging to the Ugric group. Most of the Khanty live in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, which is part of the Ural Federal District of Russia. The total number of Khanty is 30,943 people. About 35% of the Khanty live on the territory of the Siberian Federal District, and their lion's share falls on the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The traditional occupations of the Khanty are fishing, hunting and reindeer herding. The religion of the ancestors is shamanism, but in recent times more and more Khanty identify themselves as Orthodox Christians.
- Evens- a people related to the Evenks. According to one version, they represent an Evenk group, which was cut off from the main halo of residence by the Yakuts moving south. For a long time away from the main ethnic group, the Evens made a separate people. Today their number is 21,830 people. The language is Tungus. Places of residence - Kamchatka, Magadan region, Republic of Sakha.
- Chukchi- a nomadic Siberian people who are mainly engaged in reindeer herding and live on the territory of the Chukchi Peninsula. Their number is about 16 thousand people. The Chukchi belong to the Mongoloid race and, according to many anthropologists, are the indigenous aborigines of the Far North. The main religion is animism. Indigenous crafts are hunting and reindeer herding.
- Shors- Turkic-speaking people living in the southeastern part of Western Siberia, mainly in the south of the Kemerovo region (in Tashtagol, Novokuznetsk, Mezhdurechensk, Myskovsky, Osinnikovsky and other areas). Their number is about 13 thousand people. The main religion is shamanism. The Shor epic is of scientific interest primarily for its originality and antiquity. The history of the people dates back to the VI century. Today, the traditions of the Shors have been preserved only in Sheregesh, since most of the ethnic group moved to the cities and largely assimilated.
- Mansi. This people has been known to Russians since the foundation of Siberia. Even Ivan the Terrible sent an army against the Mansi, which suggests that they were quite numerous and strong. The self-name of this people is the Voguls. They have their own language, a fairly developed epic. Today, their place of residence is the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. According to the latest census, 12,269 people identified themselves as belonging to the Mansi ethnic group.
- Nanais- a small people living along the banks of the Amur River in the Far East of Russia. Relating to the Baikal ethnotype, the Nanais are rightfully considered one of the most ancient indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far East. To date, the number of Nanais in Russia is 12,160 people. The Nanais have their own language, rooted in Tungus. Writing exists only among the Russian Nanais and is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.
- Koryaks- the indigenous people of the Kamchatka Territory. There are coastal and tundra Koryaks. The Koryaks are mainly reindeer herders and fishermen. The religion of this ethnic group is shamanism. Number - 8 743 people.
- Dolgany- nationality living in the Dolgan-Nenets municipal district Krasnoyarsk Territory. Number - 7 885 people.
- Siberian Tatars- perhaps the most famous, but today a few Siberian people. According to the latest population census, 6,779 people identified themselves as Siberian Tatars. However, scientists say that in fact their number is much larger - according to some estimates, up to 100,000 people.
- soyots- the indigenous people of Siberia, which is a descendant of the Sayan Samoyeds. Compactly lives on the territory of modern Buryatia. The number of Soyots is 5,579 people.
- Nivkhs- the indigenous people of Sakhalin Island. Now they also live on the continental part at the mouth of the Amur River. In 2010, the number of Nivkhs is 5,162 people.
- Selkups live in the northern parts of the Tyumen, Tomsk regions and in the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The number of this ethnic group is about 4 thousand people.
- Itelmens- This is another indigenous people of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Today, almost all representatives of the ethnic group live in the west of Kamchatka and in the Magadan Region. The number of Itelmens is 3,180 people.
- Teleuts- Turkic-speaking small Siberian people living in the south of the Kemerovo Region. The ethnos is very closely connected with the Altaians. Its number is approaching 2 and a half thousand.
- Among other small peoples of Siberia, such ethnic groups as the Kets, Chuvans, Nganasans, Tofalgars, Orochs, Negidals, Aleuts, Chulyms, Oroks, Tazy, "Enets", "Alyutors" and "Kereks". It is worth saying that the number of each of them is less than 1 thousand people, so their culture and traditions have practically not been preserved.
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