The indigenous population of Siberia and its way of life. Indigenous population of Siberia

The history of the Siberian peoples goes back thousands of years. Since ancient times, great people lived here, keeping the traditions of their ancestors, respecting nature and its gifts. And just as the lands of Siberia are vast, so are the peoples of the indigenous Siberians.

Altaians

According to the results of the 2010 census, the number of Altaians is about 70,000 people, which makes them the largest ethnic group in Siberia. They live mainly in the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic.

The nationality is divided into 2 ethnic groups - the Southern and Northern Altaians, which differ both in their way of life and in the peculiarities of the language.

Religion: Buddhism, Shamanism, Burkhanism.

Teleuts

Most often, the Teleuts are considered an ethnic group associated with the Altaians. But some distinguish them as a separate nationality.

They live in the Kemerovo region. The population is about 2 thousand people. Language, culture, faith, traditions are inherent in the Altaians.

Sayots

Sayots live on the territory of the Republic of Buryatia. The population is about 4000 people.

Being the descendants of the inhabitants of the Eastern Sayan - the Sayan Samoyeds. Sayots have preserved their culture and traditions since ancient times and to this day remain reindeer herders and hunters.

Dolgans

The main settlements of Dolgans are located on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory - the Dolgano-Nenets municipal district. The number is about 8000 people.

Religion - Orthodoxy. The Dolgans are the northernmost Turkic-speaking people in the world.

Shors

Adherents of shamanism - Shors live mainly on the territory of the Kemerovo region. The people are distinguished by their original ancient culture. The first mention of the Shors goes back to the 6th century AD.

The nationality is usually divided into mountain-taiga and southern Shors. The total number is about 14,000 people.

Evenki

The Evenks speak the Tungus language and have been hunting for centuries.

Nationality, there are about 40,000 people settled in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, China and Mongolia.

Nenets

Small nationality of Siberia, live near the Kola Peninsula. The Nenets are a nomadic people, they are engaged in reindeer herding.

Their number is about 45,000 people.

Khanty

More than 30,000 Khanty live in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. They are engaged in hunting, reindeer herding, and fishing.

Many of the modern Khanty consider themselves Orthodox, but in some families they still profess shamanism.

Mansi

One of the oldest indigenous Siberian peoples is the Mansi.

Even Ivan the Terrible sent whole ratis to battle with Mansi during the development of Siberia.

Today they number about 12,000 people. They live mainly on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

Nanais

Historians call the Nanais the most ancient people of Siberia. The number is about 12,000 people.

They mainly live in the Far East and along the banks of the Amur in China. Nanai is translated as a man of the earth.

Siberia occupies a vast geographical area of Russia. Once it included such neighboring states as Mongolia, Kazakhstan and part of China. Today this territory belongs exclusively to the Russian Federation. Despite the huge area, there are relatively few settlements in Siberia. Most of the region is occupied by tundra and steppe.

Description of Siberia

The whole territory is divided into Eastern and Western regions. In rare cases, theologians also define the Southern region, which is the highlands of Altai. The area of Siberia is about 12.6 million square kilometers. km. This is approximately 73.5% of the total. It is interesting that Siberia is larger in area than Canada.

Of the main natural zones, in addition to the Eastern and Western regions, the Baikal region is distinguished and the largest rivers are the Yenisei, Irtysh, Angara, Ob, Amur and Lena. Taimyr, Baikal and Ubsu-Nur are considered the most significant lake areas.

From an economic point of view, cities such as Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Ulan-Ude, Tomsk, etc. can be called the centers of the region.

Mount Belukha is considered the highest point in Siberia - over 4.5 thousand meters.

Population history

Historians call the Samoyed tribes the first inhabitants of the region. This people lived in the northern part. Due to the harsh climate, reindeer herding was the only occupation. They ate mainly fish from adjacent lakes and rivers. The Mansi people lived in the southern part of Siberia. Their favorite pastime was hunting. The Mansi traded in furs, which were highly valued by Western merchants.

The Turks are another significant population of Siberia. They lived in the upper reaches of the Ob River. They were engaged in blacksmithing and cattle breeding. Many Turkic tribes were nomadic. Buryats lived a little to the west of the mouth of the Ob. They became famous for the extraction and processing of iron.

The most numerous ancient population of Siberia was represented by the Tungus tribes. They settled in the territory from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Yenisei. They made a living by reindeer herding, hunting and fishing. The more prosperous were engaged in handicrafts.

There were thousands of Eskimos on the coast of the Chukchi Sea. These tribes had the slowest cultural and social development for a long time. Their only tools are a stone ax and a spear. They were mainly engaged in hunting and gathering.

In the 17th century, there was a sharp jump in the development of the Yakuts and Buryats, as well as the northern Tatars.

Native people

The population of Siberia today is made up of dozens of peoples. Each of them, according to the Constitution of Russia, has its own right to national identification. Many peoples of the Northern region even received autonomy within the Russian Federation with all the ensuing branches of self-government. This contributed not only to the lightning-fast development of the culture and economy of the region, but also to the preservation of local traditions and customs.

The indigenous population of Siberia mostly consists of Yakuts. Their number varies within 480 thousand people. Most of the population is concentrated in the city of Yakutsk - the capital of Yakutia.

The next largest people are the Buryats. There are more than 460 thousand of them. is the city of Ulan-Ude. The main property of the republic is Lake Baikal. Interestingly, this region is recognized as one of the main Buddhist centers in Russia.

Tuvans are the population of Siberia, which, according to the latest census, numbers about 264 thousand people. In the Republic of Tuva, shamans are still revered.

The population of such peoples as the Altaians and the Khakasses is almost equally divided: 72 thousand people each. The indigenous inhabitants of the districts are adherents of Buddhism.

The Nenets population is only 45 thousand people. They live on Throughout their history, the Nenets were famous nomads. Today, their priority income is reindeer herding.

Also on the territory of Siberia live such peoples as Evenki, Chukchi, Khanty, Shors, Mansi, Koryaks, Selkups, Nanais, Tatars, Chuvans, Teleuts, Kets, Aleuts and many others. Each of them has its own centuries-old traditions and legends.

Population

The dynamics of the demographic component of the region fluctuates significantly every few years. This is due to the mass relocation of young people to the southern cities of Russia and sharp jumps in birth and death rates. There are relatively few immigrants in Siberia. The reason for this is the harsh climate and specific conditions for life in the villages.

According to the latest data, the population of Siberia is about 40 million people. This is more than 27% of the total number of people living in Russia. The population is evenly distributed across the regions. In the northern part of Siberia, there are no large settlements due to poor living conditions. On average, there is 0.5 sq. km of land.

The most populous cities are Novosibirsk and Omsk - 1.57 and 1.05 million inhabitants respectively. Further along this criterion are Krasnoyarsk, Tyumen and Barnaul.

Peoples of Western Siberia

Cities account for about 71% of the total population of the region. Most of the population is concentrated in the Kemerovo and Khanty-Mansiysk districts. Nevertheless, the Republic of Altai is considered to be the agricultural center of the Western Region. It is noteworthy that the Kemerovo District ranks first in terms of population density - 32 people/sq. km.

The population of Western Siberia is 50% of able-bodied residents. Most of the employment is in industry and agriculture.

The region has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with the exception of Tomsk Oblast and Khanty-Mansiysk.

Today the population of Western Siberia is Russians, Khanty, Nenets, Turks. By religion, there are Orthodox, Muslims, and Buddhists.

Population of Eastern Siberia

The share of urban residents varies within 72%. The most economically developed are the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region. From the point of view of agriculture, the Buryat district is considered the most important point in the region.

Every year the population of Eastern Siberia becomes less and less. Recently, there has been a sharp negative trend in migration and birth rates. It is also the lowest in the country. In some areas, it is 33 square meters. km per person. The unemployment rate is high.

The ethnic composition includes such peoples as Mongols, Turks, Russians, Buryats, Evenks, Dolgans, Kets, etc. Most of the population is Orthodox and Buddhists.

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)

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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 according to their 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 .
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 of organizing joint activities, distributing products and mutual assistance. In a number of places of traditional residence and traditional economic activity, "ancestral lands" have been created, territories of traditional nature management of regional and local significance, 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, daytime general education schools and boarding schools operate to teach children of reindeer herders, fishermen and hunters, including in their native language. 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 that large industrial companies, including the fuel and energy complex, conclude agreements with state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, communities of indigenous peoples of the North, district and settlement associations of indigenous peoples, individual national households - owners of "ancestral lands", which made it possible to create extra-budgetary funds for credit support of enterprises of the 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 production volumes, high transport costs, and the 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 used previously for traditional fisheries have lost their fishery significance due to environmental problems.
Violation of the traditional way of 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, the incidence of 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

The territory of Siberia can be called truly multinational. Today its population mostly Russians. Since 1897, and to this day, the population is only growing. The basis of the Russian population of Siberia was merchants, Cossacks and peasants. The indigenous population is mainly located on the territory of Tobolsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Russian population began to settle in the southern part of Siberia - Transbaikalia, Altai and the Minusinsk steppes. At the end of the eighteenth century, a huge number of peasants moved to Siberia. They are located mainly on the territory of Primorye, Kazakhstan and Altai. And after the start of the construction of the railway and the formation of cities, the population began to grow even faster.

Numerous peoples of Siberia

Current state

The Cossacks and local Yakuts who came to the Siberian lands became very friendly, they were imbued with trust in each other. After some time, they no longer divided themselves into locals and natives. International marriages were made, which led to the mixing of blood. The main peoples inhabiting Siberia are:

Chuvans

Chuvans are located on the territory of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The national language is Chukchi, over time it was completely replaced by Russian. The first census at the end of the eighteenth century officially confirmed 275 representatives of the Chuvans who settled in Siberia and 177 who moved from place to place. Now the total number of representatives of this people is about 1300.

Chuvans were engaged in hunting and fishing, they got sled dogs. And the main occupation of the people was reindeer herding.

Orochi

- located on the territory of the Khabarovsk Territory. This people had another name - nani, which was also widely used. The language of the people is Oroch, it was spoken only by the oldest representatives of the people, moreover, it was unwritten. According to the official first census, the Orochi population was 915 people. The Orochi were mainly engaged in hunting. They caught not only forest dwellers, but also game. Now there are about 1000 representatives of this people. Enets

Enets

were quite small people. Their number in the first census was only 378 people. They roamed in the regions of the Yenisei and the Lower Tunguska. The language of the Enets was similar to the Nenets, the difference was in the sound composition. Now there are about 300 representatives left.

Itelmens

settled on the territory of Kamchatka, earlier they were called Kamchadals. The native language of the people is Itelmen, which is quite complex and includes four dialects. The number of Itelmens, judging by the first census, was 825 people. Most of the Itelmens were engaged in catching salmon species of fish; gathering of berries, mushrooms and spices was also widespread. Now (according to the 2010 census) there are a little more than 3,000 representatives of this nationality. Kety

Kets

- became the indigenous inhabitants of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Their number at the end of the eighteenth century was 1017 people. The Ket language was isolated from other Asian languages. The Kets practiced agriculture, hunting and fishing. In addition, they became the founders of trade. Furs were the main commodity. According to the 2010 census - 1219 people

Koryaks

- located on the territory of the Kamchatka region and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Koryak language is closest to Chukchi. The main activity of the people is reindeer herding. Even the name of the people is translated into Russian as "rich in deer." The population at the end of the eighteenth century was 7335 people. Now ~9000.

Mansi

Of course, there are still many very small peoples who live on the territory of Siberia and it will take more than one page to describe them, but the tendency to assimilate over time leads to the complete disappearance of small peoples.

The formation of culture in Siberia

The culture of Siberia is as multilayered as the number of nationalities living on its territory is huge. From each settlement, the local people took something new for themselves. First of all, this affected tools and household items. Newcomer Cossacks began to use reindeer skins, local fishing tools, and malitsa from the everyday life of the Yakuts in everyday life. And those, in turn, looked after the cattle of the natives when they were absent from their homes.

Various types of wood were used as a material for construction, of which there are plenty of them in Siberia to this day. As a rule, it was spruce or pine.

The climate in Siberia is sharply continental, which manifests itself in severe winters and hot summers. In such conditions, local residents perfectly grew sugar beets, potatoes, carrots and other vegetables. In the forest zone, it was possible to collect various mushrooms - milk mushrooms, butterflies, aspen mushrooms, and berries - blueberries, honeysuckle or bird cherry. Fruit was also grown in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The extracted meat and caught fish, as a rule, were cooked on a fire, using taiga herbs as additives. At the moment, the cuisine of Siberia is distinguished by the active use of home preservation.

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.
national dwelling
The traditional dwelling of the Buryats, like all pastoral nomads, is the yurt, called ger among the Mongolian peoples (literally, dwelling, house).

Yurts were installed both portable felt and stationary in the form of a frame made of timber or logs. Wooden yurts, 6 or 8 coal, without windows. The roof has a large opening for smoke and lighting to escape. The roof was installed on four pillars - tengi. Sometimes the ceiling was arranged. The door to the yurt is oriented to the south. The room was divided into the right, male, and left, female, half. There was a hearth in the center of the dwelling. Shops lined the walls. On the right side of the entrance to the yurt there are shelves with household utensils. On the left side - chests, a table for guests. Opposite the entrance is a shelf with burkhans or ongons.

In front of the yurt, a hitching post (serge) was arranged in the form of a pillar with an ornament.

Thanks to the design of the yurta, it can be quickly assembled and disassembled, it is light in weight - all this is important when moving to other pastures. In winter, the fire in the hearth gives warmth, in summer, with an additional configuration, it is even used instead of a refrigerator. The right side of the yurt is the male side. A bow, arrows, a saber, a gun, a saddle and harness hung on the wall. The left one is female, there were household and kitchen utensils. The altar was located in the northern part. The door of the yurt has always been on the south side. The lattice frame of the yurt was covered with felt, soaked in a mixture of sour milk, tobacco and salt for disinfection. They sat on quilted felt - sherdag - around the hearth. Among the Buryats living on the western side of Lake Baikal, wooden yurts with eight walls were used. The walls were built mainly from larch logs, while the inner part of the walls had a flat surface. The roof has four large slopes (in the form of a hexagon) and four small slopes (in the form of a triangle). Inside the yurt there are four pillars on which the inner part of the roof rests - the ceiling. Large pieces of coniferous bark are laid on the ceiling (with the inside down). The final coating is carried out with even pieces of turf.

In the 19th century, wealthy Buryats began to build huts, borrowed from Russian settlers, while retaining elements of the national dwelling in the interior decoration.
Traditional cuisine
From time immemorial, foods of animal and combined animal and vegetable origin have occupied a large place in the food of the Buryats: milk foam, rme, arbin, s mge, z heitei zedgene, goghan, as well as drinks hen, zutaraan sai, aarsa, x renge, tarag, horzo, togoonoy arhi (tarasun) - an alcoholic drink obtained by distilling kurunga). For future use, sour milk of a special sourdough (kurunga), dried compressed curd mass - khuruud was prepared.

Like the Mongols, the Buryats drank green tea, into which they poured milk, put salt, butter or lard.

Unlike Mongolian cuisine, a significant place in the Buryat cuisine is occupied by fish, berries (bird cherry, strawberries), herbs and spices. The Baikal omul, smoked according to the Buryat recipe, is popular.

The symbol of Buryat cuisine is buuzy (the traditional name is buuza), a steamed dish. Corresponds to Chinese baozi. (dumplings)
National clothes
Outerwear
Each Buryat clan (obsolete - tribe) has its own national dress, which is extremely diverse (mainly for women). The national dress of the Trans-Baikal Buryats consists of degel - a kind of caftan made of dressed sheepskins, which has a triangular notch on the top of the chest, pubescent, as well as sleeves tightly wrapped around the hand brush, with fur, sometimes very valuable. In summer, the degel could be replaced by a cloth caftan of the same cut. In Transbaikalia, dressing gowns were often used in the summer, for the poor - paper, and for the rich - silk. In rainy times, a saba, a kind of overcoat with a long kragen, was worn over the degel in Transbaikalia. In the cold season, especially on the road - daha, a kind of wide dressing gown, sewn from dressed skins, with wool outward.

Degel (degil) is pulled together at the waist with a belt sash, on which a knife and smoking accessories were hung: a fire starter, a ganza (a small copper pipe with a short shank) and a tobacco pouch. A distinctive feature from the Mongolian cut is the chest part of the degel - enger, where three multi-colored stripes are sewn into the upper part. At the bottom of the yellow-red color - hua ungee, in the middle of the black color - hara ungee, various on the top; white - sagan ungee, green - nogon ungee or blue - huhe ungee. The original version was - yellow-red, black, white. The history of entering these colors as insignia goes back to ancient times by the end of the 4th century AD. e., when the proto-Buryats - the Xiongnu (Huns) in front of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov split into two directions; the northern ones adopted the black color and became the black Huns (hara hunud), while the southern ones adopted the white color and became the white huns (sagan khunud). Part of the Western (Northern) Xiongnu remained under the rule of the Xianbei (proto-Mongols) and adopted hua ungee - yellow-red color. This division by colors later formed the basis for the formation of clans (omog) - Huasei, Khargana, Sagangud.