For 9 years, photographer Alexander Khimushin traveled the world, visiting 84 countries. Inspired by the idea of ​​capturing endangered cultures, he started his own project called The World in Faces. This is how a series of portraits of representatives of ethnic minorities appeared.

It took him 6 months to travel around Siberia and photograph the indigenous people of this frozen land.

At the moment, 40 nationalities living in Siberia are distinguished in Russia. Many of them have almost disappeared from the face of the Earth. Moreover, according to the photographer himself, statistics embellish reality. And in fact, the number of these peoples is much smaller.

Photographer's work below

A resident of the Republic of Sakha in a traditional wedding mask. Sakha belongs to the coldest region of the planet. An absolute world record was registered here: minus 96 degrees Fahrenheit. The first snow here, as a rule, falls already in October and it goes until July.

Nivkhs. Khabarovsk Territory, Sea of ​​Okhotsk, Siberia. The Nivkhin language is not related to any other language in the world. And so far it is not at all known how the Nivkhs appeared in the Far East. Part of this people lives on Sakhalin, the other - where the Amur flows into the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk. In general, there are very few left. Moreover, official statistics do not reflect the true state of affairs.

Evenki. South Yakutia/Amur Region, Siberia. In the photo - a hunter, a local elder, a former reindeer herder. He spent his whole life wandering, living in a tent and caring for his deer. He does not like living in a house in the country, it is too difficult.

And in this photo there is a little Evenk girl. Republic of Sakha, Siberia. She lives in one of the coldest regions of Yakutia. Some locals there speak Russian.

Tofalar. Sayan mountains, Irkutsk region, Siberia. These people can only be reached by helicopter and there are very few of them left.

Representative of the Evens. Do not confuse with Evenks.

Representative of the Chinese Evenks

Girl from Buryatia. Republic of Buryatia, Siberia. Buryats are ethnic Mongols with similar language and traditions. They practice Buddhism.

Dolgan Girl. Republic of Sakha, Siberia. The Dolgans are the northernmost Turkic-speaking ethnic group. Some of them live in Yakutia, some in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Tuvan. Altai region. Most of the Tuvinians live on the territory of the Republic of Tyva, but a small part of them also live in Mongolia. This man is one of the last. His home is a yurt.
It is interesting that the number of 40 different nationalities of Siberia totals only 50 thousand people or less.

Little representative of Wilta. This nationality lives in the north of Sakhalin. They used to call themselves "Oroks". Some modern representatives of this nationality were born when Sakhalin was part of Japan and have Japanese names.

A girl from the Republic of Sakha. He speaks the language of the Turkic group. There are many shamans in this nation.

Rep. Udage. Rare nation. They live in Primorsky Krai, the Far East, Siberia. Their neighbors are Ussuri tigers, sometimes they look into the windows of their dwellings or kill dogs in the backyard. Many still make money by selling ginseng.

Evenki, Republic of Sakha, Siberia.

Semeyskie, Republic of Buryatia.

Tazi. Primorsky Krai, Far East.

Evenki, Buryatia, Siberia.

Nanaika, Nanaisky District, Khabarovsk Territory

At present, the overwhelming majority of the population of Siberia are Russians. According to the 1897 census, there were about 4.7 million Russians in Siberia. (more than 80% of its total population). In 1926, this figure increased to 9 million people, and during the time that has elapsed since the 1926 census, the Russian population in Siberia has increased even more.

The modern Russian population of Siberia has developed from several groups, different in their social origin and in the time of their resettlement in Siberia.

Russians began to populate Siberia from the end of the 16th century, and by the end of the 17th century. the number of Russians in Siberia exceeded the number of its heterogeneous local population.

Initially, the Russian population of Siberia consisted of service people (Cossacks, archers, etc.) and a few townspeople and merchants in the cities; the same Cossacks, industrial people - hunters and arable peasants in rural areas - in villages, zaimkas and settlements. Arable peasants and, to a lesser extent, Cossacks formed the basis of the Russian population of Siberia in the 17th, 18th, and first half of the 19th centuries. The main mass of this old-timer population of Siberia is concentrated in the regions of Tobolsk, Verkhoturye, Tyumen, to a lesser extent Tomsk, Yeniseisk (with the Angara region) and Krasnoyarsk, along the Ilim, in the upper reaches of the Lena in the regions of Nerchinsk and Irkutsk. A later stage of Russian penetration into the steppe regions of southern Siberia dates back to the 18th century. At this time, the Russian population spread in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of southern Siberia: in the Northern Altai, in the Minusinsk steppes, as well as in the steppes of the Baikal and Transbaikalia.

After the reform of 1861, millions of Russian peasants moved to Siberia in a relatively short period of time. At this time, some regions of Altai, Northern Kazakhstan, as well as the newly annexed Amur and Primorye were settled by Russians.

The construction of the railway and the growth of cities in Siberia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. led to a rapid increase in the Russian urban population.

At all stages of the settlement of Siberia by Russians, they carried with them a culture higher than that of the indigenous population. Not only the peoples of the Far North, but also the peoples of southern Siberia are indebted to the laboring masses of Russian settlers for the spread of higher technology in various branches of material production. The Russians spread in Siberia developed forms of agriculture and cattle breeding, more advanced types of dwellings, more cultured everyday skills, etc.

In the Soviet era, the industrialization of Siberia, the development of new regions, the emergence of industrial centers in the north, and rapid road construction caused a new, very large influx of the Russian population into Siberia and its spread even to the most remote regions of the taiga and tundra.

In addition to Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews (Jewish Autonomous Region) and representatives of other nationalities of the Soviet Union who moved to Siberia at different times live in Siberia.

Numerically, a small part of the entire population of Siberia is its non-Russian local population, numbering about 800 thousand people. The non-Russian population of Siberia is represented by a large number of different nationalities. Two autonomous Soviet socialist republics have been formed here - Buryat-Mongolian and Yakutsk, three autonomous regions - Gorno-Altai, Khakass, Tuva and a number of national districts and regions. The number of individual Siberian peoples is different. The largest of them, according to 1926 data, are the Yakuts (237,222 people), Buryats (238,058 people), Altaians (50,848 people), Khakasses (45,870 people), Tuvans (62,000 people). ). Most of the peoples of Siberia are the so-called small peoples of the North. Some of them do not exceed 1,000 in number, while others number several thousand. This fragmentation and small number of the indigenous peoples of northern Siberia reflects the historical and natural geographical conditions in which they were formed and existed before the Soviet regime. The low level of development of productive forces, harsh climatic conditions, vast impenetrable expanses of taiga and tundra, and in the last three centuries, the colonial policy of tsarism prevented the formation of large ethnic groups here, conserved the most archaic forms of economy, social system, and culture in the Far North until the October Revolution itself. and life. The larger peoples of Siberia were also relatively backward, although not to the same extent as the small peoples of the North.

The non-Russian indigenous population of Siberia belongs in their language to various linguistic groups.

Most of them speak Turkic languages. These include Siberian Tatars, Altaians, Shors, Khakasses, Tuvans, Tofalars, Yakuts and Dolgans. The language of the Mongolian group is spoken by the Buryats. In total, Turkic languages ​​are spoken by approximately 58%, and Mongolian by 27% of the non-Russian population of Siberia.

The next largest language group is represented by the Tungus-Manchu languages. They are usually divided into the Tungus, or northern, and Manchu, or southern, languages. The Tungus group proper in Siberia includes the languages ​​of the Evenks, Evens, and Negidals; to Manchu - the languages ​​​​of the Nanai, Ulchi, Oroks, Orochs, Udeges. In total, only about 6% of the non-Russian population of Siberia speaks Tungus-Manchu languages, but territorially these languages ​​are quite widespread, since the population speaking them lives scattered from the Yenisei to the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Bering Strait.

Turkic, Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu languages ​​are usually combined into the so-called Altaic family of languages. These languages ​​have not only similarities in their morphological structure (they are all of an agglutinative type), but also great lexical correspondences and common phonetic patterns. Turkic languages ​​are close to Mongolian, and Mongolian, in turn, is close to Tungus-Manchu.

The peoples of northwestern Siberia speak Samoyedic and Ugric languages. The Ugric languages ​​are the languages ​​of the Khanty and Mansi (about 3.1% of the total non-Russian population of Siberia), and the Samoyedic languages ​​are the languages ​​of the Nenets, Nganasans, Enets and Selkups (about 2.6% of the non-Russian population of Siberia in total). The Ugric languages, which, in addition to the languages ​​of the Khanty and Mansi, also include the language of the Hungarians in Central Europe, are included in the Finno-Ugric group of languages. Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic languages, which show a certain closeness to each other, are united by linguists into the Uralic group of languages. In the old classifications, the Altaic and Uralic languages ​​were usually combined into one Ural-Altaic community. Although the Uralic and Altaic languages ​​are morphologically similar to each other (agglutinative system), such an association is controversial and is not shared by most modern linguists.

The languages ​​of a number of peoples of northeastern Siberia and the Far East cannot be included in the large linguistic communities indicated above, since they have a sharply different structure, peculiar features in phonetics, and many other features. Such are the languages ​​of the Chukchi, Koryaks, Itelmens, Yukagirs, Nivkhs. If the first three reveal significant closeness to each other, then the Yukagir and, especially, Nivkh languages ​​have nothing in common with them and have nothing to do with each other.

All these languages ​​are incorporating, but incorporation (the fusion of a number of root words into a sentence) in these languages ​​is expressed to varying degrees. It is most typical for the Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen languages, to a lesser extent - for the Nivkh and Yukaghir. In the latter, incorporation is preserved only to a weak degree, and the language is mainly characterized by an agglutinative structure. The phonetics of the listed languages ​​is characterized by sounds that are absent in the Russian language. These languages ​​(Chukotian, Koryak, Itelmen, Nivkh and Yukagir) are known as "Paleoasian". In this term, which was introduced into the literature for the first time by Academician JI. Schrenk, correctly emphasizes the antiquity of these languages, their surviving character on the territory of Siberia. We can assume a wider distribution of these ancient languages ​​in the past in this territory. Currently, about 3% of the non-Russian population of Siberia speaks Paleo-Asiatic languages.

An independent place among the languages ​​of Siberia is occupied by the Eskimo and Aleut languages. They are close to each other, are characterized by the predominance of agglutination, and differ from the language of the northeastern Paleoasians territorially close to them.

And, finally, the language of the Kets, a small people living along the middle reaches of the Yenisei in the Turukhansky and Yartsevsky regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, stands completely isolated among the languages ​​of northern Asia, and the question of its place in the linguistic classification remains unresolved to this day. It is distinguished by the presence, along with agglutination, of inflections, the distinction between categories of animate and inanimate objects, the distinction between feminine and masculine gender for animate objects, which is not found in all other languages ​​of Siberia.

These isolated languages ​​(Ket and Eskimo with Aleut) are spoken by 0.3% of the non-Russian population of Siberia.

The purpose of this work is not to consider the complex and insufficiently clarified details of the specific history of individual language groups, to clarify the time of formation and ways of their distribution. But one should point out, for example, the wider distribution in the past in southern Siberia of languages ​​close to modern Ket (the languages ​​of the Arins, Kotts, Asans), as well as the widespread distribution in the 17th century. languages ​​close to Yukaghir in the Lena, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma and Anadyr basins. In the Sayan Highlands in the XVII-XIX centuries. a number of ethnic groups spoke Samoyedic languages. There is reason to believe that from this mountainous region the Samoyed languages ​​spread to the north, where these languages ​​were preceded by the Paleo-Asiatic languages ​​of the ancient natives of northwestern Siberia. One can trace the gradual settlement of Eastern Siberia by Tungus-speaking tribes and their absorption of small Paleo-Asiatic groups. It should also be noted the gradual spread of the Turkic languages ​​among the Samoyedic and Ket-speaking groups in southern Siberia and the Yakut language in northern Siberia.

Since the inclusion of Siberia into the Russian state, the Russian language has become more and more widespread. New concepts associated with the penetration of Russian culture to the peoples of Siberia were acquired by them in Russian, and Russian words firmly entered the vocabulary of all the peoples of Siberia. At present, the influence of the Russian language, which is the lingua franca of all the peoples of the Soviet Union, is becoming more and more powerful.

In historical and cultural terms, the vast territory of Siberia could in the recent past be divided into two large areas: the southern one - the area of ​​ancient cattle breeding and agriculture, and the northern one - the area of ​​commercial hunting and fishing and reindeer breeding. The boundaries of these areas did not coincide with the geographical boundaries of the landscape zones.

The data of archeology draw us the different historical destinies of these two regions already from ancient times. The territory of southern Siberia was inhabited by humans already in the era of the Upper Paleolithic. In the future, this territory was an area of ​​ancient, relatively high culture, was part of various state-political temporary associations of the Turks and Mongols.

The development of the peoples of the northern regions proceeded differently. Severe climatic conditions, difficult-to-pass taiga and tundra, unsuitable for the development of cattle breeding and agriculture here, remoteness from the cultural regions of the southern regions - all this delayed the development of productive forces, contributed to the disunity of individual peoples of the North and the conservation of their archaic forms of culture and life. While the southern region of Siberia includes relatively large peoples (Buryats, Khakasses, Altaians, West Siberian Tatars), whose language and culture are closely related to the Mongolian and Turkic peoples of other regions, the northern region is inhabited by a number of small peoples whose language and culture occupy a largely isolated position.

However, it would be wrong to consider the population of the North in complete isolation from the southern cultural centers. Archaeological materials, starting from the most ancient, testify to the constant economic and cultural ties of the population of the northern territories with the population of the southern regions of Siberia, and through them - with the ancient civilizations of the East and West. The precious furs of the North are beginning to enter the markets not only in China, but also in India and Central Asia very early. The latter, in turn, influence the development of Siberia. The peoples of the North do not stand aside from the influence of world religions. Particular attention should be paid to the cultural ties that, apparently starting from the Neolithic, are established between the populations of western Siberia and eastern Europe.

Ethnic groups of the indigenous population of Siberia in the XVII

I-parody of the Turkic language group; II - the peoples of the Ugric language group; TII - the peoples of the Mongolian language group; IV - northeastern Paleoasians; V - Yukagirs; VI - the peoples of the Samoyed language group; VII - the peoples of the Tungus-Manchu language group; VIII - peoples of the Ket language group; IX - Gilyaks; X - Eskimos; XI - Ainu

Historical events in the southern regions of Siberia - the movement of the Huns, the formation of the Turkic Khaganate, the campaigns of Genghis Khan, etc. could not but be reflected in the ethnographic map of the Far North, and many, as yet insufficiently studied, ethnic movements of the peoples of the North in different eras are often reflected waves of those historical storms that played out far to the south.

All these complex relationships must be constantly kept in mind when considering the ethnic problems of North Asia.

By the time the Russians arrived here, the indigenous population of southern Siberia was dominated by a nomadic pastoral economy. Many ethnic groups also had agriculture of very ancient origin there, but it was carried out at that time on a very small scale and had the value of only an auxiliary branch of the economy. Only later, mainly during the 19th century, did the nomadic pastoral economy among the peoples of southern Siberia, under the influence of a higher Russian culture, begin to be replaced by a settled agricultural and pastoral economy. However, in a number of regions (among the Buryats of the Aginsky Department, the Telengits of Gorny Altai, and others), nomadic pastoralism persisted until the period of socialist reconstruction.

By the time the Russians arrived in Siberia, the Yakuts in northern Siberia were cattle breeders. The economy of the Yakuts, despite their relative northern settlement, was transferred to the north, to the relict forest-steppe of the Amginsko-Lena region, an economic type of the steppe south of Siberia.

The population of northern Siberia, the Amur and Sakhalin, as well as some backward regions of southern Siberia (Tofalars, Tuvans-Todzhans, Shors, some groups of Altaians) were at a lower level of development until the October Socialist Revolution. The culture of the population of northern Siberia developed on the basis of hunting, fishing and reindeer breeding.

Hunting, fishing and reindeer herding - this "northern triad" - until recently determined the entire economic appearance of the so-called small peoples of the North in the vast expanses of taiga and tundra, supplemented on the sea coasts by hunting.

The northern trade economy, being basically complex, combining, as a rule, hunting, fishing and reindeer herding, nevertheless makes it possible to distinguish several types in it, according to the predominance of one or another industry.

Various ways of earning a livelihood, differences in the degree of development of the productive forces of individual Siberian peoples were due to their entire previous history. The various natural-geographical conditions in which certain tribes were formed or in which they found themselves as a result of migrations also had an effect. Here it is necessary, in particular, to take into account that some ethnic elements that became part of the modern Siberian peoples fell into the harsh natural and geographical conditions of northern Siberia very early, while still at a low level of development of productive forces, and had little opportunity for their further progress. Other peoples and tribes came to northern Siberia later, already at a higher level of development of productive forces, and therefore, even in the conditions of the northern forests and tundra, were able to create and develop more advanced methods of obtaining a livelihood and at the same time develop higher forms social organization, material and spiritual culture.

Among the peoples of Siberia, according to their predominant occupation in the past, the following groups can be distinguished: 1) foot (that is, who did not have either transport deer or draft dogs) hunters-fishers of the taiga and forest-tundra; 2) sedentary fishermen in the basins of large rivers and lakes; 3) sedentary hunters for sea animals on the coasts 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.

The first of these types of economy, characteristic of foot hunters-fishermen, can be traced in various parts of the vast forest and forest-tundra zone, even in the oldest ethnographic materials, only in the form of relics and always with a noticeable influence of more developed types. The features of the type of economy under consideration were most fully represented among the so-called foot Evenks of various regions of Siberia, among the Orochs, Udeges, certain groups of Yukagirs and Kets and Selkups, partly among the Khanty and Mansi, and also among the Shors. In the economy of these taiga hunters and fishermen, hunting for meat animals (elk, deer) was very important, combined with fishing in taiga rivers and lakes, which came to the fore in the summer and autumn months, and existed in the winter in the form of ice fishing. This type appears before us as less specialized in a particular branch of the economy in comparison with other economic types of the North. A characteristic element of the culture of these deerless hunters-fishermen was a hand sled - light sledges were dragged by the people themselves, skiing, and sometimes harnessing a hunting dog to help them.

Sedentary fishermen lived in the pools pp. Cupid and Ob. Fishing was the main source of subsistence throughout the year, hunting was only of secondary importance here. We rode dogs that were fed fish. Since ancient times, a sedentary lifestyle has been associated with the development of fishing. This economic type was characteristic of the Nivkhs, Nanais, Ulchis, Itelmens, Khanty, part of the Selkups, and the Ob Mansi.

Among the Arctic hunters (settled Chukchi, Eskimos, partly settled Koryaks), the economy was based on the extraction of sea animals (walrus, seal, etc.). They also had draft dog breeding. Hunting for sea animals led to a sedentary lifestyle, but, unlike fishermen, Arctic hunters settled not on the banks of rivers, but on the coasts of the northern seas.

The most widespread type of economy in the taiga zone of Siberia is represented by taiga reindeer herders, hunters and fishermen. Unlike sedentary fishermen and Arctic hunters, they led a nomadic lifestyle, which left an imprint on their entire way of life. Reindeer were used mainly for transport (under the saddle and under the pack). The deer herds were small. This economic type was common among Evenks, Evens, Dolgans, Tofalars, mainly in the forests and forest-tundras of Eastern Siberia, from the Yenisei to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, but also partly to the west of the Yenisei (Forest Nenets, Northern Selkups, Reindeer Kets).

Nomadic reindeer herders in the tundra and forest-tundra developed a special type of economy in which reindeer herding served as the main source of subsistence. Hunting and fishing, as well as marine fur hunting, were only of secondary importance to them, and sometimes they were completely absent. Deer served as a transport animal, and their meat was the main food. The reindeer herders of the tundra led a nomadic life, moving on reindeer harnessed to sleds. Typical tundra reindeer herders were the Nenets, reindeer Chukchi and Koryaks.

The basis of the economy of the pastoralists of the steppes and forest-steppes was the breeding of cattle and horses (among the Yakuts), or cattle, horses and sheep (among the Altaians, Khakasses, Tuvans, Buryats, Siberian Tatars). Agriculture has long existed among all these peoples, with the exception of the Yakuts, as an auxiliary industry. Among the Yakuts, agriculture appeared only under Russian influence. All these peoples were partly engaged in hunting and fishing. Their way of life in the more distant past was nomadic and semi-nomadic, but already before the revolution, under the influence of the Russians, some of them (Siberian Tatars, Western Buryats, etc.) switched to settled life.

Along with the indicated basic types of economy, a number of the peoples of Siberia had transitional ones. Thus, the Shors and Northern Altaians represented hunters with the beginnings of settled cattle breeding; The Yukaghirs, Nganasans, and Enets in the past combined (wandering in the tundra) reindeer herding with hunting as their main occupation. The economy of a significant part of the Mansi and Khanty was of a mixed nature.

The economic types noted above, with all the differences between them, reflected on the whole the low level of development of the productive forces that prevailed before the socialist reconstruction of the economy among the peoples of Siberia. This was consistent with the archaic forms of social organization that existed here until recently. Being part of the Russian state for almost three centuries, the tribes and nationalities of Siberia did not, of course, remain outside the influence of feudal and capitalist relations. But on the whole, these relations were poorly developed here, and it was here that, in comparison with other peoples of tsarist Russia, the remnants of pre-capitalist ways were preserved to the fullest extent; in particular, among a number of peoples of the North, the remnants of the primitive communal tribal system were very distinct. Among the majority of the peoples of the North, as well as among some tribes of the northern Altai (Kumandins, Chelkans) and among the Shors, forms of the patriarchal-clan system of various degrees of maturity dominated and peculiar forms of the territorial community were observed. At the stage of early class patriarchal-feudal relations were pastoral peoples: Yakuts, Buryats, Tuvans, Yenisei Kirghiz, Southern Altaians, including Teleuts, as well as Transbaikal Evenk horse breeders. Feudal relations of a more developed type were among the Siberian Tatars.

Elements of social differentiation already existed everywhere, but to varying degrees. Patriarchal slavery, for example, was quite widespread. Social differentiation was especially clearly expressed among reindeer herders, where reindeer herds created the basis for the accumulation of wealth in individual farms and thereby caused ever-increasing inequality. To a lesser extent, such differentiation took place among hunters and fishermen. In a developed fishing economy and in the economy of marine hunters, property inequality arose on the basis of ownership of fishing gear - boats, gear - and was also accompanied by various forms of patriarchal slavery.

The disintegration of the tribal community as an economic unit undermined the communal principles in production and consumption. Neighboring communities, territorial associations of farms connected with joint hunting for land and sea animals, joint fishing, joint reindeer grazing, and joint nomadism appeared to replace tribal collectives. These territorial communities retained many features of collectivism in distribution as well. A vivid example of these survivals was the custom of nimash among the Evenks, according to which the meat of a killed animal was distributed among all the farms of the camp. Despite the far-reaching process of the decomposition of the primitive communal system, the hunters, fishermen and cattle breeders of Siberia retained remnants of very early maternal-tribal relations.

The question of whether in the past the peoples of the North had a clan based on maternal law is of great methodological significance. As you know, the so-called cultural-historical school in ethnography, contrary to evidence, came up with a theory according to which matriarchy and patriarchy are not successive stages in the history of society, but local variants associated with certain “cultural circles” and characteristic only of certain areas. This concept is completely refuted by concrete facts from the history of the peoples of Siberia.

We find here, to varying degrees, traces of the maternal clan, reflecting a certain stage in the social development of these peoples. These survivals are found in the traces of matrilocal marriage (the husband's migration to the wife's family), in the avunculate (the special role of the uncle on the maternal side), in many different customs and rites, indicating the presence of matriarchy in the past.

The problem of the maternal clan is connected with the question of the dual organization as one of the most ancient forms of the tribal system. This question in relation to the northern peoples was first raised and basically resolved by Soviet ethnography. Soviet ethnographers have collected considerable material testifying to the survivals of a dual organization among various peoples of northern Siberia. Such, for example, are data on phratries among the Khanty and Mansi, among the Kets and Selkups, among the Nenets, Evenki, Ulchi, and others.

By the beginning of the XX century. the most developed peoples of southern Siberia (Southern Altaians, Khakasses, Buryats, Siberian Tatars) and the Yakuts also developed capitalist relations, while others, especially the small peoples of the North, retained patriarchal relations and their characteristic primitive forms of exploitation. The Altaians, Buryats, Yakuts already had feudal relations, intricately intertwined with patriarchal tribal relations, on the one hand, and the embryos of capitalism, on the other.

The study of these differences is not only of theoretical interest to the historian and ethnographer, but is of great practical importance in connection with the tasks of the socialist reconstruction of the economy, culture and way of life of the peoples of Siberia. The fulfillment of these tasks required specific consideration of all the peculiarities of the national way of life and the social structure of individual peoples.

Creation in 1931-1932. nomadic and rural councils, regional and national districts, built on a territorial basis, completely undermined the importance in the social life of the peoples of the North of their former tribal organization and those social elements that led it.

At present, the village council has become the main local unit of Soviet authorities among the peoples of the North, and the collective farm has become the main economic unit everywhere. Sometimes nomadic and rural councils include several collective farms, sometimes the entire population of a village or nomadic council is united into one collective farm.

Collective farms are organized in most cases on the basis of the charter of the agricultural artel, but in some areas also on the basis of the charter of the fishing artels.

As a rule, in national terms, collective farms usually include people of the same nationality, however, in areas with a mixed population, collective farms of mixed national composition are found and even predominate: Komi-Nenets, Enets-Nenets, Yukaghir-Even, Yakut-Evenki, etc. The same position in village councils. Along with the councils, the entire population of which belongs to one nationality, there are councils that include two and three nationalities. This leads to a complete break with the former tribal traditions.

It should also be noted that everywhere in Siberia, even in the northern national districts, there is a large Russian population; Russians are included in the same districts, village councils and collective farms, in which the indigenous population is also united. This rapprochement and joint life with the Russians are important factors in the cultural and economic upsurge of the peoples of Siberia.

Socialist construction among the peoples of Siberia was initially hampered by general cultural backwardness. It took a huge mass political and educational work in order to overcome, for example, a backward religious ideology.

Almost all the peoples of Siberia, with the exception of the Eastern Buryats, among whom Lamaism was widespread, the Chukchi, parts of the Koryaks, Nganasans and Eastern Nenets, who remained outside the sphere of influence of the Orthodox Church, were formally considered Orthodox. But all of them, until recently, retained their ancient religious ideas and cults.

The pre-Christian religions of the peoples of Siberia are usually generally defined by the concept of shamanism. In Siberia, shamanism was very widespread, appeared in particularly striking forms and was associated with certain external attributes (shaman tambourines and costumes). Shamanism in Siberia was far from being a homogeneous complex of beliefs and cults. It is possible to single out several types of it, reflecting different stages of development: from more ancient family and tribal forms to developed professional shamanism.

The external attributes of shamanism were also not the same. According to the shape of the tambourine, the cut of the costume and the headdress of the shaman, several types are distinguished, to a certain extent characteristic of certain regions. This side of shamanism is of great scientific interest not only for understanding the social role and origin of shamanism itself, but also for studying the historical and cultural relationships between individual peoples. The study of these relationships, as shown by the work of Soviet scientists, sheds light on some questions of the origin and ethnic ties of the peoples of North Asia.

Shamanism has played an extremely negative role in the history of the peoples of Siberia.

Almost all the peoples of Siberia had shamans by the beginning of the 20th century. into real professionals who performed their rituals, as a rule, by order and for a fee. According to their position, nature of activity and interests, shamans were completely connected with the exploitative elite of the indigenous population. They brought economic harm to the population, requiring constant bloody sacrifices, the killing of dogs, deer and other livestock necessary for the hunter.

Various animistic ideas were widespread among the peoples of Siberia, there was a cult associated with spirits - "masters" of individual natural phenomena, there were various forms of tribal cult. Not all peoples these cults were within the scope of the shaman.

Contrary to the opinion expressed in the literature about the absence of traces of totemism in Siberia, its remnants are found in almost all Siberian peoples. The reader will find examples of this in the chapters on individual peoples. The cult of the bear, which had an almost universal distribution in Siberia, also goes back to totemism.

The cult of the bear took two forms: firstly, in the form of rituals associated with a bear killed on a hunt, and secondly, in the form of a special cult of bear cubs brought up in captivity and then ritually killed at a certain time. The second form was limited to a certain area - Sakhalin and Amur (Ainu, Nivkh, Ulchi, Orochi). The custom of keeping a revered animal in captivity and then ritually killing it takes us far south, where some other elements in Ainu culture also lead.

The all-Siberian form of veneration of the bear goes back, apparently, to the totemism of the ancient taiga hunters and fishermen of Siberia, to that economic and cultural complex, which appeared even in the Neolithic of the taiga zone.

The spiritual culture of the peoples of Siberia was not limited, of course, only to the images and concepts of religious consciousness, although the low level of development of the productive forces led to the backwardness of spiritual culture. Various types of folk practical knowledge and folk art speak convincingly about this.

Almost every ethnic group has original folklore works, the diversity of which finds its explanation in the difference in historical destinies, in the different origins of these peoples.

The folklore of the peoples of the North was greatly influenced by the oral art of the Russian people. Russian fairy tales, sometimes somewhat modified due to local conditions, and sometimes almost without any changes, make up a significant part of the folklore wealth of most peoples of the North, and often the most popular.

During the years of Soviet construction, the peoples of Siberia have new works of folk poetry on the topics of collective farm life, the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Lenin and the Communist Party.

The fine arts of the peoples of Siberia are rich and varied. Here it is necessary to note decorations by sewing and appliqué on clothes, in particular, embroidery with reindeer hair from the neck (one of the archaic methods of ornamentation), appliqués from pieces of leather, hides and fabrics, silk embroidery and beading.

The peoples of Siberia have achieved great success in creating ornamental motifs, selecting colors, inlaying and carving metal.

A special area of ​​applied fine arts is carving on mammoth ivory and walrus tusk and metal, metal inlay on household items - bone parts of reindeer harness, pipes, flint and so on. in forest areas (mainly in the Ob basin). It should also be noted woodcarving - decoration with carvings of wooden utensils and utensils, which has received the greatest development in the Amur region.

The study of all types of art of the peoples of Siberia is not only of historical interest and significance. Studying it under Soviet conditions should help raise this art to an even higher level, help make it an integral part of the socialist culture of the peoples of Siberia.

The Great October Socialist Revolution found in Siberia a rather variegated picture of the socio-economic development of the non-Russian population, starting from various stages of the decomposition of the primitive communal system and ending with the embryos of capitalist relations. The local population was multilingual, small in number, scattered over vast expanses, more often in small tribal and tribal groups (especially in the northern part of Siberia). These small tribes and peoples (Khanty, Mansi, Enets, Nganasans, Selkups, Evenks, Orochs, Oroks and many others) were mainly engaged in hunting and fishing, partly reindeer herding. As a rule, they lived a closed primitive life, spoke their own local languages ​​and dialects and did not have their own written language and literature. Under the conditions of the national policy of tsarism, the process of their historical development proceeded extremely slowly, for the tsarist policy slowed it down, conserved tribal fragmentation and disunity.

Along with small tribal groups in Siberia, there were well-established nationalities with a well-defined class composition of the population, with a more developed economy and culture, for example, the Yakuts, Buryats, Tuvans, Khakasses, Southern Altaians, etc.

It should be noted that the tribal groups and peoples of Siberia under the conditions of tsarism did not remain unchanged. Many of them, as it were, were in a transitional state, that is, they were partially assimilated, partially developed. Such peoples as the Yakuts, Buryats, Khakasses developed not only due to their own natural population growth, but also due to the assimilation of various minor, for example, Tungus-speaking, Samoyed-speaking tribal groups in their environment. There was a process of merging of some small groups with Russians, for example, Kotts, Kamasins in the former Cape, Kumandins and Teleuts in the Biysk districts, etc. Thus, on the one hand, there was a process of consolidation of tribal groups in the nationality, on the other hand, their fragmentation and assimilation. This process proceeded before the revolution at a very slow pace.

The Soviet state system opened a new era in the history of the tribes and nationalities of Siberia. The Communist Party set the task of drawing the tribes and nationalities of former Tsarist Russia, belated in their development, into the general channel of the higher culture of the Soviet people. The party has widely involved the forces of the Russian working class in the work of eliminating the centuries-old political, economic and cultural backwardness among the Siberian tribes and nationalities. As a result of practical measures, socialist construction began among the backward tribes and nationalities of Siberia.

Under the conditions of the Soviet state system, the national policy of the Communist Party, the vast majority of the non-Russian population of Siberia received a special form of state structure in the form of administrative (for autonomous regions, national districts and districts) or political (for autonomous republics) autonomy. This contributed to the development and strengthening of its economic life, the growth of culture, as well as national consolidation. In Siberia, to this day, along with such relatively large nationalities as the Yakuts and Buryats, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, there are small nationalities numbering only a few thousand and even several hundred people.

Thanks to the special attention and care of the Soviet government and the Communist Party, they are gradually liquidating their economic and cultural backwardness and joining the socialist culture. However, they still have a lot to do on the path of economic and cultural development. Profound economic and cultural backwardness, small numbers and disunity, inherited from the pre-revolutionary period of their history, create many different difficulties for further development under the conditions of the socialist system. The economic and cultural construction of such peoples requires a very careful consideration of their historical past, the specifics of culture and way of life, and the specifics of the geographical conditions in which they live. These small nationalities, having centuries-old experience of living in the harsh conditions of the north, are unsurpassed hunters and reindeer herders, connoisseurs of local natural conditions. No one, except for them, will be able to use the natural resources of the vast taiga and tundra spaces so well and rationally through the development of hunting and reindeer herding. It is quite natural, therefore, that the economic and cultural construction of these peoples bears peculiar features. A careful study of this peculiarity will help to more quickly complete the process of the final initiation of the peoples of Siberia into the treasures of the socialist culture of the Soviet people and, in turn, to transfer the enormous wealth of the distant Siberian outskirts to the cause of the socialist construction of the entire state.

FUR TRADE IN SIBERIA

In the history of the country, furs (it was called skora, "soft junk") have always played an important role. In ancient Russia, they paid tribute with it, gave salaries, gave gifts to foreign sovereigns, their own and foreign subjects. Suffice it to say that in 1635 the Shah of Persia received live sables in gilded cages from Moscow as a return gift. In the XI-XII centuries, furs served as money. Furs were a currency commodity. In exchange for it, various goods were received from abroad, including silver for minting domestic coins (our own raw materials were discovered in the country only at the beginning of the 18th century). Furs also played a significant role in the revenue side of the state budget. In the 1640-50s, its share there was 20 percent, and in 1680 it was at least 10 percent. Its role was also significant in Russia's exports.

Great demand for furs, especially for sable, greatly increased with the discovery in the middle of the XVI century. Russia's trade with Western Europe through the White Sea, led to its rapid "industry" in European and then in Asiatic Russia. If the maximum average annual production of Siberian sable fell on the 40s of the XVII century. and was equal to 145 thousand pieces, then in the 90s of the same century it fell to 42.3 thousand pieces. In just 70 years (1621-1690) 7,248,000 sables were mined in Siberia.

On the importance of fur trade in the development of Siberia in the 17th century. the very symbolism of her coat of arms from the charter of 1690 testifies: two sables pierced by two crossed arrows and holding in their teeth the "crown of the Siberian kingdom".
From the fur trade in the 17th century. began the development of capitalist relations in Siberia.

The first Russian settlers of Western Siberia, regardless of their former economic specialties, were forced to engage in fur trade to one degree or another. It was only in exchange for trade products that it was possible to obtain from Russian and Central Asian merchants who came to Siberia the items necessary for life and employment in agriculture and industry. Gradually, Russian peasants and townspeople withdrew from active participation in hunting. It became predominantly the lot of professionals from the Russian and indigenous population of Western Siberia.

For fur trade, the hunter needed equipment, which was called supper. It consisted of a "reserve" (food) and an "industrial plant". The minimum set of dinners for the hunting season consisted of about 20 pounds of rye flour, a pound of salt, 2 axes, 2 knives, 10 fathoms of seine nets, arable land for two, a three-pound copper cauldron, zipuns, a caftan or fur coat, 10 arshins of homespun cloth, 15 arshins of canvas, 2 shirts, trousers, a hat, 3 pairs of mittens, 2 pairs of special shoes (Ouledi), leather for Ouledi, a blanket for two, 10 kamys (skin from the legs of a deer or other animals for lining skis), less often a dog, a net for catching sable and squeaker. In the Mangazeya district, dinner cost in the 1920s and 1940s from 25 to 35 rubles. In Tobolsk it was cheaper.

Those who obtained furs at their own supper were called their own suppers, and at someone else's, they were called swindlers. The prankster was a hired person, i.e. hired to work for an entrepreneur. Relations between them were regulated by an oral or (more often) written agreement, which provided for the swindler to fish at the master's dinner with the return to the owner of 2/3 of the production, the personal dependence of the swindler on the owner for the entire period of the contract (usually for one, two years), the same for both parties. penalty for breach of contract. Pokrut in the fur trade of Western Siberia at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. was medieval in form capitalist hiring. Most often, the employers were capitalist merchants, who, along with organizing their own fur extraction, were also engaged in buying up furs from the hunters-owners.

In the private extraction of West Siberian furs, small-scale commodity trade dominated, and the main earner was the homeowner.
Furs were hunted by those and other artels, from 2-3 to 30-40 people, more often of a mixed composition. Rarely hunted individually. Large parties were subdivided into parts that fished independently in the place allotted by the leader. They preferred to hunt year after year in the same area of ​​the original fishery. All fishing parties, regardless of their composition, size and presence of subdivisions, were organized on an equalizing basis. Everyone contributed the same share in food and equipment (the hosts contributed for the swag) and received an equal share with everyone (the swag, as we have already noted, gave two-thirds of the share to the owner). Such an organization, developed spontaneously, without removing social conflicts, eliminated intra-artel competition and contributed to a more even "industrial" of land. The division of labor strictly carried out within the artels increased the yield of hunting.

They hunted in two ways: they tracked the beast, more often with a dog, and shot it from a bow (gun) or caught it in nets; they hunted the beast with unauthorized tools - kulems (stationary pressure traps), crossbows, traps, etc. Aboriginal population of Western Siberia in the 17th century. self-propelled guns were not used at all.

Sable hunting brought the greatest benefit. This animal lived in large numbers in the forests of Western Siberia, and its fur had excellent qualities and unlimited market demand. The more valuable and expensive species of fur-bearing animals (otters, beavers and foxes) did not differ in mass and ubiquity. Other low-valued, although numerous, furs (squirrel, ermine) were also unprofitable for the Russian professional trade.

Aboriginal hunters dominated the production of West Siberian sables. They accounted for more than 85 percent of the total number of sable skins (the share of Russian hunters was slightly more than 13 and 16 percent). This was determined by the fact that the permanent Russian population of Western Siberia, occupied mainly by arable farming, crafts, and trade, did not hunt much; hunters who came from beyond the Urals, mainly from the Northern and Central Pomorye, preferred to hunt the more valuable East Siberian sable.

When harvesting more than 30 percent of the autumn number of sables, the fishery exceeded the natural increase and became predatory. This happened in Western Siberia from the end of the 20s to the middle of the 30s, and in Eastern Siberia from the end of the 60s of the 17th century. As a result, the sable almost completely disappeared.
In order to ensure yasak collection, the government banned Russian sable hunting in the Ket district in 1650, and in 1656 the Angara tributaries, Rybnaya, Chadobets, Kata and Kova, were declared protected areas. In 1678, Russian industrialists in Yakutia were forbidden to harvest sable in the yasak lands along the Lena, Vitim, Peleduy, Olekma, May, Aldan, Uchur, Tontora, "and along other rivers." In 1684, the government banned sable hunting in the counties that were part of the Yenisei category and in Yakutia.

This decree was carried out most consistently only in the Mangazeya and Yenisei districts, where the history of Russian sable hunting and private entrepreneurship ended there. In the Yakutsk and Ilimsk districts, Russian industrialists continued to hunt despite the prohibitions against her "under the death penalty."

The Siberian order drew attention to the elimination of this violation, including instructions on this matter in letters and orders to governors. So, in the "Instruction on the position of the Yakut governors", dated 1694, we read: "... make an order for a strong one: along the rivers, along the Lena, along the Olekma, along the Aldan, along Vitim, along Uchar, along Tontota, along Maya, along Yadoma and other side rivers where yasak foreigners live and trade in yasak, and do not order trading and industrial people to go along those rivers, but industrial people go to crafts in those places so that yasak people from fishing their tightness and yasak collection of shortages It was". In 1700, some relief was made: in the royal charter, the Yakut voivode was instructed to release industrialists to sable fishing, "applying to the state there," if this did not interfere with the yasak fishing.

The government regulation of the fur trade continued in the future. In 1706, sable hunting was allowed, but to a limited number of industrialists, with the obligatory sale of all obtained skins to the treasury. In 1727, the decree of 1684 was canceled, but in 1731 sable hunting in areas where yasak people hunted was again prohibited. In the 19th century The number of sables in the Yenisei Territory recovered so much that commercial hunting for them was again allowed.

in Siberia until the 20th century. there was no complete ban on sable hunting. The rehunting of animals again led to the fact that the export of sable skins from Siberia in the first decade of the 20th century. did not exceed 20 thousand, by 1917 - 8 thousand pieces per year. By the 80s of the XX century. thanks to the planned regulation of production, artificial resettlement, top dressing, etc. the area (427 out of 448 million hectares) and the number (500-600 thousand) of the Siberian sable were almost restored. Its average annual production in 1959-1969. amounted to more than 173 thousand pieces. per year, and in 1980, 133 thousand sable skins were harvested. The maximum number of sable skins (200,000 pieces) was given in the 1961/62 season, which was at the level of the highest sable production in Siberia in the 17th century.

The fur trade in the USSR annually produced over 150 million skins of fur animals, which in 1972 amounted to 7-8 percent of the fur production in the country (including products from cage production, sheep breeding and sea fishing). The range of mined furs included over a hundred species. In terms of quantity and quality of furs, the USSR had no equal in the world. Western Siberia accounted for 12-13 percent of all-Union purchases of commercial furs. In 1971, commercial furs accounted for 7.6 percent (30 million rubles) of the total value (385 million rubles) of all furs purchased throughout the country. Only at one international fur auction in Leningrad in January 1974 were sold furs worth 25 million dollars. On the international fur market, the USSR firmly held the leading position: the volume of our exports was approaching 60 million rubles. in year. In the foreign trade of the USSR, furs occupied one of the first three places in the 1920s and 1940s, second only to the export of wheat and, in some years, oil products.

reindeer breeding

Reindeer breeding is the only branch of agriculture in the circumpolar Arctic region, in which only the indigenous peoples of the North are practically employed. The uniqueness of reindeer breeding is that it remains not only a branch of the economy, but also a way of life for families of reindeer herders. In Russia, it is called an "ethno-preserving industry", the role of which in the preservation of the traditional cultures of the indigenous peoples of the North can hardly be overestimated.
The economic importance of reindeer breeding as a supplier of marketable meat products in modern conditions is insignificant. However, reindeer meat has specific nutritional properties that have not yet been fully studied, in addition, valuable raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry can be obtained by slaughtering reindeer. Reindeer milk also has a rich set of useful properties. Therefore, in the future, the importance of reindeer breeding as a source of valuable types of biological raw materials will grow. In the budget of family farms in the tundra, forest-tundra, and many areas of the taiga, reindeer herding still retains a leading role.

The peculiarity of reindeer husbandry in Russia in comparison with other countries is the variety of its forms and methods. Deer in our country graze on the territory of more than three million square kilometers in the tundra, forest-tundra, taiga and mountainous areas. Unlike other countries, representatives of many peoples are engaged in reindeer herding in Russia. 16 of them are included in the official list of indigenous peoples of the North. In addition, certain groups of Komi and Yakuts are engaged in reindeer breeding, but they are not included in this list, since their number exceeds 50 thousand people. Russians (except for some very few groups) are not directly involved in reindeer herding, but they often work in reindeer herding enterprises in administrative positions or as specialists. The diversity of forms of reindeer husbandry, the preservation in Russia of the rich and diverse experience and traditions of various indigenous peoples is a valuable component of the world cultural heritage.

The Nenets, the most numerous indigenous people involved in reindeer breeding in the tundra, have developed very close ties with these animals. The presence of their own herd is the main condition for their survival, and its size is an indicator of social status. Increasing your herd is the main concern of the Nenets reindeer breeder. The reforms of recent years, which stimulate the development of private business, turned out to be generally favorable for the development of the Nenets reindeer husbandry.
Among other tundra peoples, ties with deer are not as strong as among the Nenets. For example, another largest reindeer herding people of the tundra - the Chukchi - is divided into reindeer herders and sea hunters. In various historical periods, depending on changes in natural and economic conditions, a significant part of the Chukchi switched from reindeer herding to sea hunting and vice versa. The possibility of a transition from reindeer herding to hunting and fishing is also characteristic of many other reindeer herding peoples. This transition is still taking place in areas where the number of domestic reindeer continues to decline.

Taiga reindeer husbandry differs significantly from tundra. Herds are small: usually several hundred animals. There are no long migrations. “Free” or “free-camp” grazing methods are used, when animals graze themselves, without a person, periodically approaching the house or camp of reindeer herders. In a number of places, keeping deer in fences is practiced.

Taiga reindeer husbandry has historically developed as a transport industry. In the past, reindeer in the taiga zone were widely used to transport mail and cargo, and reindeer herding farms received large incomes from the rental of reindeer. With the spread of mechanical transport, this source of income has ceased, and now deer are used as transport only by indigenous hunters. They also provide hunter-herder families with meat and skins. The main income of reindeer hunters is not from the sale of meat, but from hunting products (mainly furs - sable), obtained with the help of deer.

Artistic crafts of Siberia

Since ancient times, the peoples of Siberia have developed traditional art crafts. The decorative art of indigenous peoples bears the imprint of their historical and economic fate and is rooted in ancient times.

In the past, folk art did not have independent works of art - it served decorative purposes. Almost all indigenous peoples of Siberia had wood carving. Dishes, wooden household items among the Yakuts and Buryats were decorated with carvings. The nomadic and hunting lifestyle in the past determined the desire for artistic design of hunting clothes and hunting equipment. The ancient art of Siberians is the carving of mammoth bones.

Women of almost all nations were engaged in decorating clothes - artistic abilities were highly valued earlier when choosing a bride. Both men's and women's costumes were decorated with embroidery, applique on clothes and shoes. Felt carpets were also decorated with applique. Now these folk crafts have no industrial significance, but have been preserved mainly in the manufacture of souvenirs.



In the vast expanses of the Siberian tundra and taiga, forest-steppe and black earth expanses, a population settled, hardly exceeding 200 thousand people by the time the Russians arrived. In the regions of the Amur and Primorye by the middle of the XVI century. about 30 thousand people lived. The ethnic and linguistic composition of the population of Siberia was very diverse. Very difficult living conditions in the tundra and taiga and the exceptional disunity of the population led to the extremely slow development of the productive forces among the peoples of Siberia. By the time the Russians arrived, most of them were still at various stages of the patriarchal-tribal system. Only the Siberian Tatars were at the stage of formation of feudal relations.
In the economy of the northern peoples of Siberia, the leading place belonged to hunting and fishing. A supporting role was played by the collection of wild edible plants. Mansi and Khanty, like the Buryats and Kuznetsk Tatars, mined iron. The more backward peoples still used stone tools. A large family (yurts) consisted of 2 - 3 men or more. Sometimes several large families lived in numerous yurts. In the conditions of the North, such yurts were independent settlements - rural communities.
Since. Obi lived Ostyaks (Khanty). Their main occupation was fishing. Fish were eaten, clothes were made from fish skin. On the wooded slopes of the Urals lived the Voguls, who were mainly engaged in hunting. The Ostyaks and Voguls had principalities headed by tribal nobility. The princes owned fishing grounds, hunting grounds, and besides that, their fellow tribesmen also brought them “gifts”. Wars often broke out between the principalities. Captured prisoners were turned into slaves. In the northern tundra lived the Nenets, who were engaged in reindeer herding. With herds of deer, they constantly moved from pasture to pasture. The reindeer provided the Nenets with food, clothing, and shelter, which was made from reindeer skins. Fishing and hunting foxes and wild deer were common occupations. The Nenets lived in clans headed by princes. Further, to the east of the Yenisei, the Evenki (Tungus) lived. Their main occupation was fur hunting and fishing. In search of prey, the Evenks moved from place to place. They also dominated the tribal system. In the south of Siberia, in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, lived Khakass cattle breeders. Buryats lived in Uangara and Baikal. Their main occupation was cattle breeding. The Buryats were already on the way to becoming a class society. In the Amur region lived the tribes of Daurs and Duchers, more economically developed.
The Yakuts occupied the territory formed by Lena, Aldan and Amgoyu. Separate groups were placed on the river. Yana, the mouth of Vilyui and the Zhigansk region. In total, according to Russian documents, the Yakuts at that time numbered about 25 - 26 thousand people. By the time the Russians appeared, the Yakuts were a single people with a single language, a common territory and a common culture. The Yakuts were at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system. The main large social groups were tribes and clans. In the economy of the Yakuts, the processing of iron was widely developed, from which weapons, blacksmith accessories and other tools were made. The blacksmith enjoyed great honor among the Yakuts (more than a shaman). The main wealth of the Yakuts was cattle. The Yakuts led a semi-sedentary life. In the summer they went to winter roads, they also had summer, spring and autumn pastures. In the economy of the Yakuts, much attention was paid to hunting and fishing. The Yakuts lived in yurts-balagans, insulated with turf and earth in winter, and in summer - in birch bark dwellings (ursa) and in light huts. Great power belonged to the ancestor-toyon. He had from 300 to 900 heads of cattle. The Toyons were surrounded by servants - chakhardars - from slaves and domestic servants. But the Yakuts had few slaves, and they did not determine the mode of production. The poor rodovici were not yet the object of the birth of feudal exploitation. There was also no private ownership of fishing and hunting lands, but hay lands were distributed among individual families.

Siberian Khanate

At the beginning of the XV century. in the process of the disintegration of the Golden Horde, the Siberian Khanate was formed, the center of which was originally Chimga-Tura (Tyumen). The Khanate united many Turkic-speaking peoples, who rallied within its framework into the people of the Siberian Tatars. At the end of the XV century. after lengthy civil strife, power was seized by Mamed, who united the Tatar uluses along the Tobol and the middle Irtysh and placed his headquarters in an ancient fortification on the banks of the Irtysh - "Siberia", or "Kashlyk".
The Siberian Khanate consisted of small uluses, headed by beks and murzas, who constituted the ruling class. They distributed pastures and fishing grounds and turned the best pastures and water sources into private property. Islam spread among the nobility and became the official religion of the Siberian Khanate. The main working population consisted of "black" ulus people. They paid the murza, or bek, annual "gifts" from the products of their household and tribute-yasak to the khan, and carried out military service in the detachments of the ulus bek. The khanate exploited the labor of slaves - "yasyrs" and poor, dependent community members. The Siberian khanate was ruled by the khan with the help of advisers and karachi (vizier), as well as yasauls sent by the khan to the uluses. Ulus beks and murzas were vassals of the khan, who did not interfere in the internal routine of the life of the ulus. The political history of the Siberian Khanate was full of internal strife. The Siberian khans, pursuing an aggressive policy, seized the lands of part of the Bashkir tribes and the possessions of the Ugrians and Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the Irtysh region and the basin of the river. Omi.
Siberian Khanate by the middle of the 16th century. located on a vast expanse of the forest-steppe of Western Siberia from the basin of the river. Tours in the west and to Baraba in the east. In 1503, the grandson of Ibak Kuchum seized power in the Siberian Khanate with the help of Uzbek and Nogai feudal lords. The Siberian Khanate under Kuchum, which consisted of separate, economically almost unrelated uluses, was politically very fragile, and with any military defeat inflicted on Kuchum, this state of Siberian Tatars was condemned to cease to exist.

Accession of Siberia to Russia

The natural wealth of Siberia - furs - has long attracted attention. Already at the end of the XV century. enterprising people penetrated the "stone belt" (Urals). With the formation of the Russian state, its rulers and merchants saw in Siberia an opportunity for great enrichment, especially since those undertaken since the end of the 15th century. the search for ores of precious metals has not yet been successful.
To a certain extent, the penetration of Russia into Siberia can be put on a par with the penetration of certain European powers into overseas countries at that time in order to pump out jewels from them. However, there were also significant differences.
The initiative in developing relations came not only from the Russian state, but also from the Siberian Khanate, which in 1555, after the liquidation of the Kazan Khanate, became a neighbor of the Russian state and asked for patronage in the fight against the Central Asian rulers. Siberia entered into vassal dependence on Moscow and paid tribute to it in furs. But in the 70s, due to the weakening of the Russian state, the Siberian khans began attacks on Russian possessions. The fortifications of the merchants Stroganovs stood in their way, who were already beginning to send their expeditions to Western Siberia to buy furs, and in 1574. received a royal charter with the right to build fortresses on the Irtysh and own lands along the Tobol to ensure the trade route to Bukhara. Although this plan was not carried out, the Stroganovs managed to organize a campaign of the Cossack squad of Yermak Timofeevich, who went to the Irtysh and by the end of 1582, after a fierce battle, took the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Kashlyk, and expelled Khan Kuchum. Many vassals of Kuchum from among the Siberian peoples subject to the khan went over to the side of Yermak. After several years of struggle, which continued with varying success (Yermak died in 1584), the Siberian Khanate was finally destroyed.
In 1586, the Tyumen fortress was established, and in 1587, Tobolsk, which became the Russian center of Siberia.
A stream of trade and service people rushed to Siberia. But besides them, peasants, Cossacks, townspeople, who fled from feudal oppression, moved there.

On the ethnic map of Russia, Siberia occupies a special position, determined by the level of socio-economic development of the indigenous population, the policy of the state authorities in relation to it, the demographic situation and geography of the region.

From a geographical point of view, Siberia is a subregion of North Asia, within which it occupies an area of ​​13 million square kilometers. km, which is about 75% of the territory of Russia. The western border of Siberia corresponds to the geographical border between Europe and Asia (the Ural Mountains), the eastern border corresponds to the coast of the seas of the Pacific Ocean basin.

In natural terms, Western Siberia (West Siberian Plain), Eastern Siberia (Middle Siberian Plateau and mountain systems of the North-East of Siberia), Southern Siberia, Primorye and Amur Region form a separate region - the Far East. The climate is sharply continental, severe, with a negative balance of average annual temperatures. Up to b million sq. km of the surface of Siberia is occupied by permafrost.

Siberia is well watered. Most of the great rivers of Siberia belong to the basin of the seas of the Arctic (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Yana, etc.) and Pacific (Amur, Kamchatka, Anadyr) oceans. Here, especially in the zone of forest-tundra and tundra, there are a large number of lakes, the largest of which are Baikal, Taimyr, Teletskoye.

The territory of Siberia is distinguished by a rather diverse latitudinal zonality. With the dominance of the taiga zone - the main territory of the commercial economy, in high latitudes, the forest-tundra strip passes to the north into the tundra zone, in the south to the forest-steppe and further to the steppe and mountain-steppe areas. Zones south of the taiga are often defined as mostly plowed.

Features of the natural environment largely determined the nature of the settlement and the characteristics of the culture of the population who had mastered this region.

At the end of the XX century. The population of Siberia exceeded 32 million people, of which about 2 million were indigenous people of the region. These are 30 peoples, of which 25 with a total number of about 210 thousand, form a community of "indigenous peoples of the North and Siberia." The latter are united by such features as a small number (up to 50 thousand people), the preservation of special types of economic management of nature (hunting, fishing, reindeer herding, etc.), nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyles, and the maintenance of traditional social norms and institutions in public life. .

The All-Russian population census of 2010 gives an idea of ​​the size of the indigenous population of Siberia. Of the relatively large peoples, these are the Yakuts (478 thousand), Buryats (461 thousand), Tuvans (265 thousand), Khakasses (73 thousand), Altaians (81 thousand), Siberian Tatars (6.8 thousand). In fact, the small peoples are the Nenets, including European groups (44.6 thousand), Evenks (37.8 thousand), Khanty (30.9 thousand), Evens (22.4 thousand), Chukchi (15.9 thousand), Shors (12.9 thousand), Mansi (12.2 thousand), Nanais (12 thousand), Koryaks (7.9 thousand), Dolgans (7.8 thousand), Nivkhs (4 6 thousand), Selkups (3.6 thousand), Itelmens and Ulchis (about 3 thousand each), Kets, Yukagirs, Eskimos and Udeges (less than 2 thousand each), Nganasans, Tofalars, Enets, Aleuts, Orochi , Negidals and Uilta/Oroks (less than 1,000 each).

The peoples of Siberia differ from each other linguistically, anthropologically, as well as culturally. These differences are based on the relative independence of ethnogenetic and ethnocultural lines of development, demography, and the nature of settlement.

With a fairly certain dynamics of modern linguistic processes in Siberia, which for small peoples demonstrate almost complete mastery of their native language in older age groups and the transition to Russian in younger ones, linguistic communities have historically formed here, most of which are of local origin.

Within the territory of Western Siberia, peoples who speak the languages ​​of the Ural-Yukagir language family are settled. These are the Samoyeds - the Nenets (a zone of forest-tundra and tundra from the Polar Urals in the west to the Yenisei Bay in the east), the Enets (the right bank of the Yenisei Bay), in Taimyr - the Nganasans. In the West Siberian taiga on the Middle Ob and in the river basin. Taz - Selkups.

The Ugric group is represented by the Khanty languages, which are widely settled in the Ob basin and its tributaries from the forest-tundra to the forest-steppe. The ethnic territory of the Mansi extends from the Urals to the left bank of the Ob. Relatively recently, the Yukaghir language was included in the Uralic language family. Back in the 19th century linguists noted the uraloid substratum in the language of this people, that, despite the territorial remoteness, the Yukagirs live in Eastern Siberia in the basin of the river. Kolyma - allows, as a reflection of the ancient migrations of the Ural-speaking peoples, to single out the Yukaghir language group among the Urals.

The largest in terms of the number of native speakers in Siberia is the Altaic language family. It consists of three groups. The Turkic group includes the languages ​​of the peoples of the Sayano-Altai. Altaians settled from the west to the east of Southern Siberia. They include a number of ethno-territorial groups, which, according to the 2002 census, were for the first time recorded as independent ethnic groups (Teleuts, Tubalars, Telengits, Kumandins, etc.). Further to the east - Shors, Khakasses, Tuvans, Tofalars.

In the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia, West Siberian Tatars are settled, which include groups of Baraba, Chulym, Tara and other Tatars.

A significant part of the territory of Eastern Siberia (the basins of the Lena, Anabara, Olenek, Yana, Indigirka) is inhabited by Yakuts. The northernmost Turkic-speaking people of the world, the Dolgans, live in the south of Taimyr. The Mongolian-speaking peoples of Siberia are Buryats and Soyots.

The Tungus-Manchurian languages ​​are widely spoken in the taiga zone of Eastern Siberia from the Yenisei to Kamchatka and Sakhalin. These are the languages ​​of the northern Tungus - Evenks and Evens. South, in the river basin. Amur, live peoples who speak languages ​​belonging to the southern, Amur or Manchurian branch of the Tungus-Manchurian group. These are Nanai, Ulchi, Uilta (Oroks) of Sakhalin Island. Along the banks of the left tributary of the Amur, the river. The Amguns are settled by the Negidals. In the Primorsky Territory, in the Sikhote-Alin mountains and on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan, live the Udege and Orochi.

The northeast of Siberia, Chukotka and Kamchatka, is inhabited by Paleo-Asiatic peoples - the Chukchi, Koryaks and Itelmens. The concept of "Paleo-Asiatic" is quite consistent with the idea of ​​antiquity and the autochthonous nature of the origin of their cultures. The fact of their genetic linguistic unity is not obvious. Until recently, without using the concept of "family", linguists united their languages ​​into a "group of Paleoasiatic languages". Then, taking into account a number of signs of similarity, they were separated into the Chukchi-Kamchatka language family. Within its framework, a greater relationship is observed between the languages ​​of the Chukchi and Koryaks. The Itelmen language, in relation to them, demonstrates not so much a genetic as an areal correspondence.

Native speakers of languages ​​belonging to the Eskimo-Aleut family (Escaleut) are mainly settled outside of Russia (USA, Canada). In the North-East of Siberia live small groups of Asian Eskimos (the coast of the Gulf of Anadyr, the Chukchi Sea, Wrangel Islands) and Aleuts (Komandorsky Islands).

The languages ​​of two Siberian peoples, the Nivkhs (the Amur Estuary and the north of Sakhalin Island) and the Kets (the Yenisei River basin), are classified as isolated. The Nivkh language, due to the fuzzy expression of the genealogical beginning in the Paleo-Asiatic languages, was previously assigned to this group. The Ket language represents a legacy that linguists trace back to the Yenisei language family. Speakers of the Yenisei languages ​​(Asans, Arins, Yarintsy, etc.) in the past settled in the upper reaches of the Yenisei and its tributaries and during the 18th–19th centuries. were assimilated by neighboring peoples.

The historical connection of linguistic communities with certain territories is confirmed by the facts of racial polytypy, which is established at the level of anthropological classification. The peoples of Siberia belong to the local population of northern Mongoloids, which is part of the great Mongoloid race. The taxonomic assessment of the variations of the Mongoloid complex makes it possible to single out several small races in the population of the region.

Carriers of complexes of the Ural and South Siberian races settle in Western Siberia and in the north-west of the Sayano-Altai. In the general classification, such taxa are defined by the concept of "contact". They are characterized by a combination of at least two complexes of signs of racial types adjoining geographically. Representatives of the Ural (Ugrians, Samoyeds, Shors) and South Siberian (Northern Altaians, Khakasses) races are characterized by a weakening of Monhaloid features in the structure of the face and eye area. Unlike the Urals, for whom lightening (depigmentation) of the skin, hair, eyes is typical, the South Siberian groups are more strongly pigmented.

The population of Eastern Siberia, including the areas of Primorye and the Amur region, demonstrates almost the maximum degree of expression of Mongoloid features, even at the level of the Mongoloid race as a whole. This concerns the degree of flattening of the face and nose, a significant proportion of the epicanthus ("Mongolian fold" that covers the lacrimal tubercle and is a continuation of the upper eyelid), the structure of the hairline, etc. These signs are characteristic of representatives of the North Asian race. It includes Baikal (Evenks, Evens, Dolgans, Nanais, and other peoples of the Amur region) and Central Asian (Southern Altaians, Tuvans, Buryats, Yakuts) anthropological types. The differences between them are manifested primarily in the increased pigmentation characteristic of the Central Asian Mongoloids.

In the north-east of Siberia, the Arctic race is widespread, whose representatives, relative to the anthropological features of the Baikal type, on the one hand, demonstrate a weakening of the Mongoloid complex in the structure of the face (more protruding nose, less flat face), on the other hand, increased pigmentation, protrusion of the lips. The last signs are associated with the participation in the formation of the Arctic race of the southern groups of the Pacific Mongoloids. The internal taxonomy of the Arctic race suggests the possibility of distinguishing continental (Chukchi, Eskimos, partly Koryaks and Itelmens) and insular (Aleuts) groups of populations.

The originality of the two Siberian peoples is fixed in special anthropological types. These are the Amur-Sakhalin (Nivkhs), most likely, mestizo, which arose on the basis of the interaction of the Baikal and Kuril (Ainu) populations, and the Yenisei (Kets), dating back to the anthropological features of the Paleo-Siberian population.

In many respects, the similar level of socio-economic development and geographical zoning of Siberia, as well as the historical and cultural interaction of northerners with neighboring peoples, determined the formation of a cultural landscape specific to the region, which is represented by the classification of the peoples of Siberia according to the KhKT.

In historical sequence, it is customary to distinguish the following complexes: hunters of the wild deer of the Arctic and Subarctic; foot taiga hunters and fishermen (in a later period this type was modified due to the introduction of transport reindeer herding into its composition); sedentary fishermen of the Siberian river basins (partly the Ob, Amur, Kamchatka); hunters of the sea animal of the Pacific coast; South Siberian commercial and cattle-breeding forest complex; pastoralists of Siberia; nomadic reindeer herders in the tundra of Siberia.

Classification estimates demonstrate the regional correspondence of language features, anthropology, and economic and cultural characteristics, which makes it possible to single out territories within which the commonality of historical destinies gives rise to the stereotyping of a number of cultural phenomena of peoples with different ethno-genetic origins in the past. This state of ethnic cultures is described within the boundaries of the IEO. For Siberia, these are the West Siberian, Yamalo-Taimyr, Sayan-Altai, East Siberian, Amur-Sakhalin and North-Eastern IEOs.

Man began to explore Siberia quite early. On its territory there are archaeological monuments dating back to different periods of the Stone Age in the range from 30 to 5 thousand years ago. This was the time of the formation of Paleo-Siberian cultures, in the final of which there is a territorial isolation of local cultural traditions, corresponding to the placement of the HCT noted above. On the one hand, it demonstrates the tendencies of "cultural radiation", the development of optimal, from the point of view of the ecological characteristics of the regions, adaptive strategies. In the history of the indigenous population of Siberia, it was rather a cultural and genetic period. On the other hand, there is a correspondence of local cultural dynamics to the location in Siberia of future large ethnolinguistic communities - Ural, Altai, including Tungus, Paleo-Asiatic.

The ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the peoples of Siberia is most often comprehended in the process of developing the so-called ethnogenetic problems.

For Western Siberia it is "Samoyed problem ", which was formulated at the beginning of the 18th century. Scientists of that time tried to establish the ancestral home of the Samoyeds. Some of them settled in the north (modern Nenets, Enets, Nganasans and Selkups), while others (Kamasins, Mators, etc.) in the foothills of Altai and the Sayan. In the 18th-19th centuries, the South Siberian groups of the Samoyeds were either Turkified or Russified. Thus, mutually exclusive hypotheses were formulated about the Arctic (F.I. Stralenberg) and the Sayan (I.E. Fisher) ancestral home of the Samoyeds. The last hypothesis, in in the form of the formula "The Samoyeds came from Altai", owned by the Finnish researcher M.A. Kastren, has become dominant since the middle of the 19th century.

Domestic Siberian researchers during the 20th century. concretized the picture of the ethnogenesis of the North Samoyedic peoples. It is believed that this was not a simple migration, followed by the adaptation of the southern (pastoral) culture of the newcomers to the natural environment of high latitudes. Archaeological monuments in the north of Western Siberia indicate the existence of a pre-Samoyed (folklore "Siirtya") population here, which also took part in the formation of modern Samoyed peoples. Migration to the north covered a significant period of time, possibly the entire 1st millennium AD. and was determined by the ethnic processes of the formation and settlement of the Central Asian peoples - the Huns, Turks, Mongols.

There is currently a resurgence of interest in the concept of the northern ancestral home of the Samoyeds. The genesis of the archaeological cultures of the Pechora and Ob region, presumably proto-Samodian, starting from the Mesolithic, demonstrates their gradual movement to the south, to the Middle Ob (Kulai archaeological community, the middle of the 1st millennium BC - the middle of the 1st millennium AD) and further to the Sayano-Altai regions. In this case, the Kulays are considered as the ethno-cultural basis for the formation of both northern and southern Samoyeds.

"Ugric problem "is formulated in connection with the existence of two linguistic communities - the Danube (Hungarians) and Ob (Khanty and Mansi) - Ugrians, as well as the presence in the culture of the latter of the steppe pastoral layer. The general scheme of the ethnogenesis of the Ob Ugrians was developed by V. N. Chernetsov. He believed that natives of the West Siberian taiga - hunters-fishermen and newcomers from the more southern, steppe regions - nomadic cattle breeders - Ugrians-Savirs, took part in their formation. .e to the first half of the 2nd millennium AD in the taiga zone of Western Siberia.On the one hand, it developed along the lines of the dominance of the taiga commercial economy and material culture, on the other hand, the preservation of certain phenomena dating back to the steppe in different spheres of the culture of the Ugrians. cattle-breeding tradition (bread oven, horse handling skills, ornamental plots, individual characters of the pantheon, etc.).

At present, it is believed that such a culture could be formed along the line of integration of traditions of different ethnic origin within the boundaries of the entire territory of the settlement of the Khanty and Mansi and flowing synchronously. The path of local adaptation and formation of the proper Ugric culture is possible in a relatively limited area of ​​the forest Trans-Urals, Tobol, Irtysh in the south of the forest zone of Western Siberia. In this area, the continuity of archaeological cultures can be traced from the Late Bronze Age to the first centuries of the 2nd millennium AD. in the formation of an integrated commercial and livestock economy. The Ob Ugrians advanced to the north from the end of the 1st millennium AD. under the pressure of the Turkic-speaking population. In the new territories, the ancestors of the Khanty and Mansi adapted to the new conditions in the direction of strengthening the taiga fishing complex and the loss of the skills of the cattle breeding component, which led to a change in their cultural appearance. Already in the conditions of high latitudes and in interaction with the Samoyedic-speaking neighbors, the process of formation of ethnographic and territorial groups of the Ob Ugrians took place.

"Ket problem". It is formulated in connection with the presence in the culture of the Kets of the so-called South Siberian elements, which allows us to consider modern Kets as descendants of one of the Yenisei peoples, or even a single Yenisei people who lived in South Siberia in the past. These are arins, asanas, yarintsy, baikogovtsy and kotty, which during the XVIII-XIX centuries. were assimilated by the peoples around them. Thus, the Yenisei components took part in the formation of separate groups of Khakasses (Kachins), Tuvans, Shors, and Buryats. Migration processes, which in Southern Siberia were associated with the ethnopolitical history of the Turks, also affected the Yenisei peoples. The beginning of the migration of the ancestors of the Kets is associated with the 9th-13th centuries, which led to the settlement of a few groups of the Ket-speaking population along the banks of the Yenisei and its tributaries. It was here, in contact with the Khanty, Selkups and Evenks, that the original Kst culture was formed.

The East Siberian and Amur regions are inhabited by peoples who speak the Tungus-Manchu languages. The vast territory, developed by relatively small peoples, the similarity of many elements of culture, including language and anthropological proximity, in the presence of ethnic and cultural local specifics, gave rise to Siberian studies "Tunguska problem".

It boils down to the search for the ancestral home of the Tungus-Manchurian peoples, within whose borders a marked unity was formed. It was localized by various researchers within "those countries that they occupy to this day" - the autochthonous hypothesis of G. F. Miller (XVIII century). Supporters of the migration hypothesis established the ancestral home locally - the left bank of the lower and middle reaches of the Amur and the adjacent regions of Manchuria, the forest-steppe regions of the Southern Baikal region, Transbaikalia and Northern Mongolia, and even in the interfluve of the Yellow River and Yangtze.

By the middle of the XX century. domestic researchers based on data from anthropology, archeology, linguistics, ethnography, etc. created a general scheme of the ethnogenesis of the Tungus-Manchurian peoples of Siberia. Their ancestral home, on the basis of archeological data, is associated with the genesis of the hunting Neolithic Baikal culture of the southern regions of Lake Baikal, and the process of formation of individual peoples of the Tungus-Manchu community, with the consistent differentiation of the Altai language community from the 3rd millennium BC. until the turn of our era.

The content of this process consisted in the primary separation in its composition of the ancestors of the Tungus (north) and the southern steppe population, on the basis of which the Turks and Mongols subsequently formed, and the subsequent isolation already within the boundaries of the Tungus-Manchu community of the speakers of the Manchu languages, who by the turn of our era had mastered the Amur basin and its tributaries. Around the same time, in connection with the advancement of the steppe, pastoral population to Baikal, the northern Tungus were divided into western and eastern, relative to the river. Lenas, communities. The Evens stand out in the eastern part, having mastered the eastern regions of Yakutia and the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and in the 19th century. a small group of Evens moved to Kamchatka. An important moment in the history of the northern Tungus is their development, presumably in the 6th-7th centuries. AD, transport reindeer breeding. There is an opinion that it was the deer that "inspired the Tungus" and allowed them to master the vast expanses of Eastern Siberia. The breadth of settlement and constant contacts with neighboring peoples led to the formation of local features of the culture of the Tungus-speaking population of Siberia. This is clearly evidenced by the early Russian written sources, which mention "foot, deer, horse, cattle, seated Tunguses."

"The Paleoasian Problem" stems from the territorial isolation of the Paleo-Asiatic peoples, the specific position of their languages ​​(the group of Paleo-Asiatic languages), and many cultural features. These peoples are considered to be the natives of the region. In Kamchatka and Chukotka, archaeological sites of the Upper Paleolithic era have been discovered, indicating the formation in the region of the foundations of a culture of hunters of wild deer, which, in fairly stable natural and climatic conditions, existed here until the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. There are several lines of ethnocultural development of Paleoasians.

So, the Chukchi and Koryaks are divided into ethnographic groups of coastal (sea St. John's wort) and deer, and therefore, there are numerous parallels in the culture of these peoples. Starting from the middle of the 1st millennium AD, the basis for the formation of the culture of the coastal Chukchi was determined by their contacts with the Eskimos. It was the interaction of two hunting traditions, continental and coastal. In the initial period, due to differences in almost all spheres of culture, it took place in the form of an exchange. Subsequently, part of the Chukchi, continental deer hunters, switched to a settled way of life and engaged in marine hunting.

The history of the coastal Koryaks is associated with the autochthonous basis for the formation of their culture. In the basin of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, archaeologists have discovered sites of the so-called Okhotsk culture (1st millennium AD), which is defined as "the ancient Koryak culture of the Okhotsk coast." This is the culture of marine hunters, fishermen, and wild deer hunters, in which, in relative chronological continuity up to the ancient Koryak settlements of the 16th–17th centuries, features of the Koryak cultural tradition can be traced.

The history of the formation of the deer groups of the Chukchi and Koryaks is not so obvious, since this problem is connected with the history of Siberian reindeer herding as a whole. According to one point of view, reindeer husbandry in Chukotka arises convergently with respect to other Siberian centers of reindeer domestication on the basis of the local culture of wild deer hunters. According to another position, it is assumed that Paleo-Asians borrowed reindeer husbandry from the Tungus, with its subsequent evolution from transport (Tungus) to large-herd (Paleo-Asians) already among the Chukchi and Koryaks.

A separate position among the Paleo-Asiatic peoples of the North-East of Siberia is occupied by the indigenous inhabitants of Kamchatka, the Itelmens, which is manifested in the language, anthropological and cultural features. The most ancient archaeological sites of the region were found in Central Kamchatka, testifying to the ties of its population with the American continent (a tool complex), here (Ushki I site) perhaps the oldest on Earth was found - about 14 thousand years ago - the burial of a domestic dog . These were cultures typologically similar to Chukotka and Kolyma, which probably influenced the correspondence between the culture of the Itelmens and their northern neighbors.

It includes a number of common elements characteristic of most of the Paleo-Asiatic peoples of the North-East of Siberia (the main types of economic activity, some types of residential and outbuildings, partly transport and winter clothing). Along with this, the direction and intensity of cultural contacts led to the interaction of neighboring peoples, or the adaptation by one of them of the cultural elements of another. Such connections of the Itelmen culture are established with the Ainu, Aleuts. The strongest links were between the Itelmens and their northern neighbors, the Koryaks. This is fixed anthropologically - the Koryaks and Itelmens oppose the Chukchi and Eskimos within the mainland group of populations of the Arctic race, the same is noted in the sphere of language. Interaction with the Russians, which began at the end of the 18th century. led to a radical transformation of their culture in the direction of syncretization. With fairly intense marital contacts, a perceived ethnic group of Kamchadals was formed, which in ethnocultural terms differs from the Itelmens proper and gravitates towards the Russians.

"Escaleut problem". The history of the Eskimos and Aleuts, who mainly live outside the territory of Russia, is connected with the problem of the formation of the coastal cultures of Chukotka and Alaska. The relationship between the Eskimos and the Aleuts is recorded in the form of a proto-Esco-Aleutian community, which in ancient times was localized in the zone of the Bering Strait. Its division, according to various estimates, took place from 2.5 thousand to 6 thousand years ago at the stage of continental culture, since the vocabulary of the Eskimos and Aleuts associated with marine hunting is different. This was due to the process of development by the ancestors of the Eskimos and Aleuts of various territories of Beringia and the American North.

The initial stage of the formation of the Eskimos is associated with a change at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. ecological situation in the regions of Beringia - increased coastal migrations of sea animals. Their further development can be traced in the evolution of local and chronological variants of ancient Eskimo cultures. The Okvik stage (1st millennium BC) reflects the process of interaction between the continental culture of wild deer hunters and the culture of marine hunters. The strengthening of the role of the latter is recorded in the monuments of the ancient Bering Sea culture (the first half of the 1st millennium AD). In the southeast of Chukotka, the Old Bering Sea culture passes into the Punuk culture (VI–VIII centuries). It was the heyday of whaling and, in general, the culture of marine hunters in Chukotka.

The subsequent ethno-cultural history of the Eskimos is closely connected with the formation of the community of the coastal Chukchi, who came into contact with them at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. This process had a pronounced integration character, which found expression in the interpenetration of many elements of the traditional everyday culture of the coastal Chukchi and Eskimos.

At present, the point of view about the formation of the Aleuts in the Aleutian Islands is more preferable. The most ancient archaeological evidence found here (Anangula site, about 8 thousand years ago) indicates the genetic connection of the local population with Asian cultures. It was on this basis that the Aleuts themselves subsequently formed. The insular nature of their formation is also confirmed by the anthropological specificity (an insular group of populations within the Arctic race), which develops as a result of insular isolation and adaptation to local conditions.

The history of the Russian Aleuts inhabiting the Commander Islands (Bering and Medny Islands) begins no earlier than 1825, when 17 Aleut families were resettled to Bering Island. This resettlement was associated with the development of the commercial territories of Beringia by the Russian-American Company.