Indigenous people of Siberia. Population of Siberia: number, density, composition. Indigenous peoples of Siberia
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Small peoples of Russia (narrated by Alexander Matveev)
Indigenous peoples of the North
Ritual practices of the peoples of the North (narrated by Dmitry Oparin)
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List of small peoples of the North
According to the Government approved Russian Federation in the list of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation, such peoples include (breakdown by language groups by native language, sorted by the number of people in Russia according to the 2010 census):
Tungus-Manchu languages
Total: 76,263 people
Finno-Ugric languages
Total: 50,919 people
Samoyed languages
Total: 49,378 people
Turkic languages
Total: 42,340 people
Paleoasian languages
Total: 37,562 people
Slavic languages
Sino-Tibetan languages
Places of traditional residence and types of traditional economic activities
List of places of traditional residence and traditional economic activity and a list of types of traditional economic activities of small peoples of the North are approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. A culturally developed area with nomadic routes of reindeer herders, seasonal routes of hunters, gatherers, fishermen, sacred, recreational places, etc., which ensures their traditional way of life, is extremely extensive: from the Dolgans and Nganasans on the Taimyr Peninsula to the Udege in the south of Russia, from the Aleuts in the Commander Islands islands to the Sami on the Kola Peninsula.
According to the list of types of traditional economic activities, these include:
- Animal husbandry, including nomadic (reindeer husbandry, horse breeding, yak breeding, sheep breeding).
- Processing of livestock products, including the collection, preparation and dressing of hides, wool, hair, ossified horns, hooves, antlers, bones, endocrine glands, meat, and offal.
- Dog breeding (breeding reindeer, sled and hunting dogs).
- Animal breeding, processing and sale of fur farming products.
- Beekeeping, beekeeping.
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The current state of the small peoples of the North
In general, there is a positive dynamics of demographic processes among the small peoples of the North. The number of Oroks (Ulta) increased almost 2.5 times; the number of Nenets, Selkups, Khanty, Yukaghirs, Negidals, Tofalars, Itelmens, Kets, etc. increased significantly (by 20-70 percent). The number of a number of peoples decreased, which is explained by the general negative demographic dynamics in the Russian Federation, and the identification during the census of distinctive ethnic groups from the small peoples of the North, which began to identify themselves as independent peoples.
At the end of XX - beginning of XXI centuries, there has been a growth in the ethnic self-awareness of the small peoples of the North. Public associations emerged training centers, associations and trade unions (reindeer herders, sea hunters, etc.) of small peoples of the North, whose activities are provided with state support. In many places where indigenous peoples of the North live, communities have been recreated as traditional forms of organization joint activities, product distribution and mutual assistance. In a number of places of traditional residence and traditional economic activity, “ancestral lands” have been created, territories of traditional regional and local significance, assigned to representatives of the small peoples of the North and their communities.
About 65 percent of citizens from among the small peoples of the North live in rural areas. In many national villages and towns, communities of these peoples have become the only economic entities performing a number of social functions. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, communities as non-profit organizations enjoy a number of benefits and use a simplified taxation system.
In the Russian Federation as a whole, a legal framework has been created in the field of protection of rights and traditional image life of small peoples of the North. Russia is a party to international treaties in this area. Measures state support(in the form of benefits, subsidies, quotas for the use biological resources) are also enshrined in law. Benefits for representatives of small peoples of the North living in places of traditional residence and traditional economic activities and engaged in traditional types of economic activities are provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, the Water Code of the Russian Federation and the Land Code of the Russian Federation.
A significant achievement was the formation of financial instruments for state support for the socio-economic development of small peoples of the North. Over the past 15 years, three federal target programs have been implemented in the Russian Federation, as well as numerous regional target programs and subprograms for the socio-economic development of small peoples of the North, designed to create conditions for their sustainable development at the expense of the federal budget, the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and extra-budgetary sources. At the expense of federal budget funds, subsidies were provided to the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to support reindeer husbandry and livestock breeding.
In places of traditional residence and traditional economic activity of small peoples of the North, for training children of reindeer herders, fishermen and hunters, including native language, there are daytime comprehensive schools and boarding schools. In places where reindeer herders roam, the creation of nomadic schools has been initiated, in which children receive elementary education taking into account the traditional way of life of the small peoples of the North.
State-ordered publishing houses publish educational and methodological literature for studying the languages of indigenous peoples of the North. The Institute of the Peoples of the North of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A. I. Herzen has been operating for several decades.
The Russian Federation took an active part in the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1994, and also became the first UN member state to create a National Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People in the Russian Federation.
Behind last years within the framework of the development of public-private partnerships, the practice of concluding large industrial companies, including the fuel and energy complex, agreements with authorities state power subjects of the Russian Federation, local governments, communities of small peoples of the North, district and village associations of small peoples, individual national households - owners of “ancestral lands”, which made it possible to create extra-budgetary funds for credit support of enterprises of small peoples of the North.
Constraints to sustainable development
The situation of the small peoples of the North in recent decades has been complicated by the inability of their traditional way of life to modern ones. economic conditions. Low competitiveness traditional types economic activity is due to low production volumes, high transport costs, lack of modern enterprises and technologies for complex processing of raw materials and biological resources.
The crisis state of traditional types of economic activity has led to an aggravation of social problems. The standard of living of a significant part of citizens from among the small peoples of the North, living in rural areas or leading a nomadic lifestyle, is below the Russian average. The unemployment rate in the regions of the North, where small peoples of the North live, is 1.5-2 times higher than the average for the Russian Federation.
Intensive industrial development natural resources northern territories of the Russian Federation has also significantly reduced the possibilities of conducting traditional types of economic activities of the small peoples of the North. Significant areas of reindeer pastures and hunting grounds have been removed from traditional economic use. Some of the rivers and reservoirs previously used for traditional fishing due to environmental problems have lost their fishery importance.
The disruption of the traditional way of life in the 1990s led to the development of a number of diseases and pathologies among representatives of the small peoples of the North. Significantly higher than the average Russian indicators among these peoples are indicators of infant (1.8 times) and child mortality, morbidity infectious diseases and alcoholism.
See also (in Russia as a whole) SFU, 2015. - 183 p.
Links
- Order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04.02.2009 N 132-r “On the concept of sustainable development of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation” on the Consultant Plus website
this is another one Siberian people with its own republic. The capital of Buryatia is the city of Ulan-Ude, located east of Lake Baikal. The number of Buryats is 461,389 people. Buryat cuisine is widely known in Siberia and is rightfully considered one of the best among ethnic cuisines. The history of this people, its legends and traditions is quite interesting. By the way, the Republic of Buryatia is one of the main centers of Buddhism in Russia.
National home
The traditional dwelling of the Buryats, like all nomadic pastoralists, is the yurt, called ger (literally dwelling, house) among the Mongolian peoples.
Yurts were installed both portable felt and stationary in the form of a frame made of timber or logs. Wooden yurts of 6 or 8 corners, without windows. There is a large hole in the roof for smoke and lighting to escape. The roof was installed on four pillars - tengi. Sometimes there was a ceiling. The door to the yurt is oriented to the south. The room was divided into the right, male, and left, female half. There was a fireplace in the center of the dwelling. There were benches along the walls. WITH right side from the entrance to the yurt there are shelves with household utensils. On the left side there are chests and a table for guests. Opposite the entrance is a shelf with burkhans or ongons.
In front of the yurt there was a hitching post (serge) in the form of a pillar with an ornament.
Thanks to the design of the yurt, it can be quickly assembled and disassembled and is lightweight - all this is important when migrating to other pastures. In winter, the fire in the hearth provides warmth; in summer, with an additional configuration, it is even used instead of a refrigerator. The right side of the yurt is the men's side. On the wall hung a bow, arrows, a saber, a gun, a saddle and harness. The left one is for women, here there was a household and kitchenware. In the northern part there was an altar. The door of the yurt was always on the south side. The lattice frame of the yurt was covered with felt, soaked in a mixture of sour milk, tobacco and salt for disinfection. They sat on quilted felt - sherdeg - around the hearth. Among the Buryats living on the western side of Lake Baikal, wooden yurts with eight walls were used. The walls were erected mainly from larch logs, while inner part had walls flat surface. The roof has four large slopes (in the form of a hexagon) and four small slopes (in the form of a triangle). Inside the yurt there are four pillars on which the inner part of the roof - the ceiling - rests. Large pieces of bark are laid on the ceiling coniferous species (inside down). Final coating is carried out in even pieces turf.
In the 19th century, wealthy Buryats began to build huts borrowed from Russian settlers, preserving elements of the national home in the interior decoration.
Traditional cuisine
Since ancient times, products of animal and combined animal-plant origin have occupied a large place in the food of the Buryats: (b helyor, sh len, buuza, khushuur, hileeme, sharbin, shuhan, hiime, oreomog, hoshkhonog, z hey-salamat, x sh en - milk foam, rme, arbin, s mge, z heitei zedgene, goghan, as well as drinks hen, zutaraan sai, aarsa, x renge, tarag, horzo, togonoy arkhi (tarasun) - alcoholic drink, obtained by distilling kurunga). Sour milk of a special leaven (kurunga) and dried compressed curd mass - khuruud - were prepared for future use.
Like the Mongols, the Buryats drank green tea, into which milk was poured, salt, butter or lard was added.
Unlike Mongolian cuisine, a significant place in Buryat cuisine is occupied by fish, berries (bird cherry, strawberries), herbs and spices. Baikal omul, smoked according to the Buryat recipe, is popular.
The symbol of Buryat cuisine is buuza (traditional name buuza), a steamed dish. Corresponds to Chinese baozi.(dumplings)
National clothes
Outerwear
Each Buryat clan (obsolete - tribe) has its own national clothing, which is extremely diverse (mainly for women). The national clothing of the Transbaikal Buryats consists of degel - a kind of caftan made of dressed sheepskin, which has a triangular cutout on the top of the chest, trimmed, as well as the sleeves, tightly clasping the hand, with fur, sometimes very valuable. In summer, the degel could be replaced by a cloth caftan of a similar cut. In Transbaikalia, robes were often used in the summer, the poor had paper ones, and the rich had silk ones. In inclement times, in addition to the degel in Transbaikalia, a saba, a type of overcoat with a long kragen, was worn. In the cold season, especially on the road - dakha, a type of wide robe made from tanned skins, with the wool facing out.
Degel (degil) is tied at the waist with a belt sash, on which a knife and smoking accessories were hung: flint, hansa (small copper tube with a short chibouk) and a tobacco pouch. Distinctive feature From the Mongolian cut is the chest part of the degel - enger, where three multi-colored stripes are sewn into the upper part. At the bottom there is a yellow-red color - hua ungee, in the middle there is a black color - hara ungee, at the top there are various; white - sagan ungee, green - nogon ungee or blue - huhe ungee. The original version was yellow-red, black, white. The history of introducing these colors as insignia goes back to ancient times towards the end of the 4th century AD. e., when the Proto-Buryats - Xiongnu (Huns) before Sea of Azov divided into two directions; the northern ones accepted the black color and became the black Huns (hara hunud), and the southern ones accepted White color and steel - the White Huns (Sagan Hunud). Part of the Western (northern) Xiongnu remained under the rule of the Xianbei (proto-Mongols) and adopted hua ungee - yellow-red color. This division by color later formed the basis for the formation of clans (omog) - Huasei, Khargana, Sagangud.
For 9 years, photographer Alexander Khimushin traveled around the world, visiting 84 countries. Inspired by the idea of capturing disappearing cultures, he started his 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 inhabitants of this frozen land.
On this moment In Russia there are 40 nationalities living in Siberia. 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.
Below are the photographer's works
A resident of the Sakha Republic wearing a traditional wedding mask. Sakha belongs to the coldest region of the planet. An absolute world record was recorded here: minus 96 degrees Fahrenheit. The first snow here, as a rule, falls in October and lasts until July.
Nivkhi. Khabarovsk Territory, Sea of Okhotsk, Siberia. The Nivkha language is not related to any other language in the world. And it is not yet known at all how the Nivkhs appeared in the Far East. Some of these people live on Sakhalin, others live where the Amur flows into the Sea of Okhotsk. Overall there are very few of them left. Moreover, official statistics do not reflect the true state of affairs.
Evenks. South Yakutia/Amur region, Siberia. In the photo is a hunter, local elder, former reindeer herder. He spent his entire life wandering, living in a tent and caring for his reindeer. He doesn’t like living in a house in the village, it’s too difficult.
And in this photo there is a little girl of the Evenki people. 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 Evenki.
Representative of the Chinese Evenks
Girl from Buryatia. Republic of Buryatia, Siberia. Buryats are ethnic Mongols with a 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.
Tuvinian. Altai region. Most Tuvinians live in the territory of the Republic of Tyva, but a small part of them also lives in Mongolia. This person is one of the last. His home is a yurt.
It is interesting that the 40 different nationalities of Siberia number only 50 thousand people or less.
Wilta's little representative. This people lives in the north of Sakhalin. They used to call themselves "Oroks". Some modern representatives of this nation were born back when Sakhalin was part of Japan and have Japanese names.
A girl from the Sakha Republic. Speaks the language Turkic group. There are many shamans in this nation.
Representative Udej. A rare people. They live in the Primorsky Territory, Far East, Siberia. Their neighbors are Ussuri tigers, sometimes they look into the windows of their homes or kill dogs in backyard. Many people still make money by selling ginseng.
Evenki, Sakha Republic, Siberia.
Semeyskie, Republic of Buryatia.
Tazi. Primorsky Krai, Far East.
Evenki, Buryatia, Siberia.
Nanayka, Nanaysky district, Khabarovsk region
More than 125 nationalities live today, of which 26 are indigenous peoples. The largest in population among these small peoples are the Khanty, Nenets, Mansi, Siberian Tatars, Shors, Altaians. The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees to every small nation the inalienable right of self-identification and self-determination.
The Khanty are a small indigenous Ugric West Siberian people living along the lower reaches of the Irtysh and Ob. Their total number is 30,943 people, with most of them 61% living in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and 30% in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The Khanty are engaged in fishing, herd reindeer husbandry and taiga hunting.
The ancient names of the Khanty, “Ostyaks” or “Ugras,” are still widely used today. The word "Khanty" comes from the ancient local word "kantakh", which simply means "man", in documents it appeared in Soviet years. The Khanty are ethnographically close to the Mansi people, and are often united with them under the single name Ob Ugrians.
The Khanty are heterogeneous in their composition, among them there are separate ethnographic territorial groups that differ in dialects and names, methods of farming and original culture - Kazym, Vasyugan, Salym Khanty. The Khanty language belongs to the Ob-Ugric languages of the Ural group; it is divided into many territorial dialects.
Since 1937, modern Khanty writing has been developing on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet. Today, 38.5% of the Khanty speak Russian fluently. The Khanty adhere to the religion of their ancestors - shamanism, but many of them consider themselves Orthodox Christians.
Externally, the Khanty are between 150 and 160 cm tall with black straight hair, a dark complexion and brown eyes. Their face is flat with widely prominent cheekbones, a wide nose and thick lips, reminiscent of a Mongoloid. But the Khanty, unlike the Mongoloid peoples, have regular eyes and a narrower skull.
In historical chronicles, the first mentions of the Khanty appear in the 10th century. Modern research showed that the Khanty lived in this territory already in 5-6 thousand years BC. Later they were seriously pushed north by nomads.
The Khanty inherited numerous traditions of the Ust-Polui culture of taiga hunters, which developed at the end of the 1st millennium BC. – beginning of the 1st millennium AD In the 2nd millennium AD. The northern Khanty tribes came under the influence of the Nenets reindeer herders and assimilated with them. In the south, the Khanty tribes felt the influence of the Turkic peoples, and later the Russians.
The traditional cults of the Khanty people include the cult of the deer, which became the basis of the entire life of the people, vehicle, a source of food and skins. The worldview and many norms of life of the people (inheritance of the herd) are associated with the deer.
The Khanty live in the north of the plain along the lower reaches of the Ob in nomadic temporary camps with temporary reindeer herding dwellings. To the south, on the banks of Northern Sosva, Lozva, Vogulka, Kazym, Nizhnyaya they have winter settlements and summer nomads.
The Khanty have long worshiped the elements and spirits of nature: fire, sun, moon, wind, water. Each clan has a totem, an animal that cannot be killed or used for food, family deities and patron ancestors. Everywhere the Khanty revere the bear, the owner of the taiga, and even hold a traditional holiday in his honor. Revered patroness hearth and home, happiness in the family and women in labor is a frog. In the taiga there are always sacred places where shamanic rituals are performed, appeasing their patron.
Muncie
Mansi (the ancient name is Voguls, Vogulichs), whose number is 12,269 people, live for the most part in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. This very numerous people has been known to Russians since the discovery of Siberia. Even Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible ordered that archers be sent to pacify the numerous and powerful Mansi.
The word "Mansi" comes from the Proto-Finnish-Ugric old word"mansz", meaning "man, person". The Mansi have their own language, which belongs to the Ob-Ugric separate group of the Uralic language family and a fairly developed national epic. The Mansi are linguistically close relatives of the Khanty. Today up to 60% are used in Everyday life Russian language.
Mansi successfully combines in its public life cultures of northern hunters and southern nomadic pastoralists. Novgorodians had contact with Mansi back in the 11th century. With the advent of the Russians in the 16th century, some of the Vogul tribes went north, others lived next door to the Russians and assimilated with them, adopting the language and the Orthodox faith.
The beliefs of the Mansi are the worship of the elements and spirits of nature - shamanism, they are characterized by the cult of elders and ancestors, the totem bear. Mansi have a rich folklore and mythology. The Mansi are divided into two separate ethnographic groups of the descendants of the Uralians Por and the descendants of the Ugrians Mos, differing in origin and customs. In order to enrich the genetic material, marriages have long been concluded only between these groups.
The Mansi are engaged in taiga hunting, reindeer breeding, fishing, agriculture and cattle breeding. Reindeer husbandry on the banks of Northern Sosva and Lozva was adopted from the Khanty. To the south, with the arrival of the Russians, agriculture, breeding of horses, cattle and small cattle, pigs and poultry were adopted.
In everyday life and the original creativity of the Mansi, ornaments similar in motifs to the drawings of the Selkups and Khanty are of particular importance. Regular geometric patterns clearly predominate in Mansi ornaments. Often with elements of deer antlers, diamonds and wavy lines, similar to the Greek meander and zigzags, images of eagles and bears.
Nenets
The Nenets, in ancient times Yuracs or Samoyeds, a total of 44,640 people live in the north of the Khanty-Mansiysk and, accordingly, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The self-name of the Samoyed people “Nenets” literally means “man, person.” They are the most numerous of the northern indigenous peoples.
The Nenets are engaged in large herd nomadic reindeer herding in. In Yamal, the Nenets keep up to 500 thousand reindeer. Traditional housing The Nenets is a conical tent. Up to one and a half thousand Nenets living south of the tundra on the Pur and Taz rivers are considered forest Nenets. In addition to reindeer husbandry, they are actively involved in tundra and taiga hunting and fishing, and collecting taiga gifts. The Nenets eat rye bread, venison, meat of sea animals, fish, and gifts from the taiga and tundra.
The Nenets language belongs to the Ural Samoyed languages; it is divided into two dialects, tundra and forest, which in turn are divided into dialects. The Nenets people have a rich folklore, legends, fairy tales, and epic stories. In 1937, learned linguists created a writing system for the Nenets based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Ethnographers describe the Nenets as stocky people with a large head, a flat, sallow face, devoid of any vegetation.
Altaians
The territory of residence of the Turkic-speaking indigenous people of the Altaians became. They live in numbers of up to 71 thousand people, which allows them to be considered a large people, in the Altai Republic, partly in the Altai Territory. Among the Altaians, there are separate ethnic groups of Kumandins (2892 people), Telengits or Teles (3712 people), Tubalars (1965 people), Teleuts (2643 people), Chelkans (1181 people).
Altaians have long worshiped the spirits and elements of nature; they adhere to traditional shamanism, Burkhanism and Buddhism. They live in clan seoks, kinship is considered through the male line. Altaians have a centuries-old rich history and folklore, tales and legends, their own heroic epic.
Shors
The Shors are a small Turkic-speaking people, mainly living in remote mountainous areas of Kuzbass. The total number of Shors today is up to 14 thousand people. The Shors have long worshiped the spirits of nature and the elements; their main religion was shamanism, which had developed over centuries.
The Shors ethnic group was formed in the 6th-9th centuries by mixing Keto-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes that came from the south. The Shor language belongs to the Turkic languages; today more than 60% of Shors speak Russian. The epic of the Shors is ancient and very original. The traditions of the indigenous Shors are well preserved today; most Shors now live in cities.
Siberian Tatars
In the Middle Ages, it was the Siberian Tatars who were the main population of the Siberian Khanate. Nowadays the sub-ethnic group of Siberian Tatars, as they call themselves “Seber Tatarlar”, consisting, according to various estimates, from 190 thousand to 210 thousand people lives in the south Western Siberia. By anthropological type, the Tatars of Siberia are close to the Kazakhs and Bashkirs. Today, Chulyms, Shors, Khakassians, and Teleuts can call themselves “Tadar”.
Scientists consider the ancestors of the Siberian Tatars to be the medieval Kipchaks, who contacted long time with the Samoyeds, Kets, and Ugric peoples. The process of development and mixing of peoples took place in the south of Western Siberia from the 6th-4th millennium BC. before the emergence of the Tyumen kingdom in the 14th century, and later with the emergence of the powerful Siberian Khanate in the 16th century.
Most Siberian Tatars use literary Tatar language, but in some remote uluses the Siberian-Tatar language from the Kipchak-Nogai group of Western Hunnic Turkic languages has been preserved. It is divided into Tobol-Irtysh and Baraba dialects and many dialects.
The holidays of the Siberian Tatars contain features of pre-Islamic ancient Turkic beliefs. This is, first of all, Amal, when it is celebrated during the spring equinox New Year. The arrival of the rooks and the beginning of field work, the Siberian Tatars celebrate the hag putka. Some Muslim holidays, rituals and prayers for the sending of rain have also taken root here; the Muslim burial places of Sufi sheikhs are revered.
Siberia occupies a vast geographical area of Russia. It once included such neighboring states as Mongolia, Kazakhstan and part of China. Today this territory belongs exclusively to the Russian Federation. Despite the huge area, there are relatively few settlements in Siberia. Most of the region is occupied by tundra and steppe.
Description of Siberia
The entire territory is divided into Eastern and Western regions. In rare cases, theologians define and South Region, which represents the mountainous area of Altai. The area of Siberia is about 12.6 million square meters. km. This is approximately 73.5% of the total. It is interesting that Siberia is larger in area than Canada.
Of the main natural areas, in addition to Eastern and Western regions, highlight the Baikal region and the largest rivers are the Yenisei, Irtysh, Angara, Ob, Amur and Lena. The most significant lake waters are Taimyr, Baikal and Uvs-Nur.
From an economic point of view, the centers of the region can be called cities such as Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Ulan-Ude, Tomsk, etc.
Mount Belukha is considered the highest point in Siberia - over 4.5 thousand meters.
Population history
Historians call the Samoyed tribes the first inhabitants of the region. These people lived in the northern part. Due to the harsh climate, the only occupation was reindeer herding. They ate mainly fish from adjacent lakes and rivers. The Mansi people lived in the southern part of Siberia. Their favorite pastime was hunting. The Mansi traded furs, which were highly valued by Western merchants.
The Turks are another significant population of Siberia. They lived in the upper reaches of the Ob River. They were engaged in blacksmithing and cattle breeding. Many Turkic tribes were nomadic. A little to the west of the mouth of the Ob River lived the Buryats. They became famous for the mining and processing of iron.
Most numerous ancient population Siberia was represented by Tungus tribes. They settled in the territory from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Yenisei. They made a living by reindeer herding, hunting and fishing. The more prosperous were engaged in crafts.
There were thousands of Eskimos on the coast of the Chukchi Sea. These tribes for a long time was the slowest cultural and social development. Their only tools are a stone ax and a spear. They were primarily engaged in hunting and gathering.
In the 17th century there was a sharp leap in the development of the Yakuts and Buryats, as well as the northern Tatars.
Native people
The population of Siberia today consists of dozens of nations. Each of them, according to the Russian Constitution, has its own right to national identification. Many peoples of the Northern region even received autonomy within the Russian Federation with all the attendant branches of self-government. This contributed not only to the rapid development of the culture and economy of the region, but also to the preservation of local traditions and customs.
Indigenous people Siberia mostly consists of Yakuts. Their number varies between 480 thousand people. Most of the population is concentrated in the city of Yakutsk - the capital of Yakutia.
The next largest people are the Buryats. There are more than 460 thousand of them. is the city of Ulan-Ude. Lake Baikal is considered the main asset of the republic. It is interesting that this particular region is recognized as one of the main Buddhist centers in Russia.
Tuvinians are the population of Siberia, which, according to the latest census, numbers about 264 thousand people. In the Republic of Tyva, shamans are still revered.
The population of such peoples as the Altaians and Khakassians is almost equal: 72 thousand people each. The indigenous people of the districts are adherents of Buddhism.
The Nenets population is only 45 thousand people. They live throughout their entire history, the Nenets were famous nomads. Today their priority income is reindeer herding.
Also in Siberia live such peoples as Evenks, Chukchi, Khanty, Shors, Mansi, Koryaks, Selkups, Nanais, Tatars, Chuvans, Teleuts, Kets, Aleuts and many others. Each of them has their own centuries-old traditions and legends.
Population
The dynamics of the region's demographic component fluctuates significantly every few years. This is due to the massive movement of young people to the southern cities of Russia and sharp jumps in the birth and death rates. There are relatively few immigrants in Siberia. The reason for this is the harsh climate and specific living conditions in villages.
According to the latest data, the population of Siberia is about 40 million people. This is more than 27% of the total number of people living in Russia. The population is evenly distributed across regions. In the northern part of Siberia there are no large settlements due to poor living conditions. On average, there is 0.5 square meters per person here. km of land.
The most populous cities are Novosibirsk and Omsk - 1.57 and 1.05 million inhabitants, respectively. Next according to this criterion are Krasnoyarsk, Tyumen and Barnaul.
Peoples of Western Siberia
Cities account for about 71% of the region's total population. Most of the population is concentrated in the Kemerovo and Khanty-Mansiysk districts. However, the agricultural center Western region is considered the Altai Republic. It is noteworthy that the Kemerovo District ranks first in population density - 32 people/sq. km.
The population of Western Siberia is 50% able-bodied. Most of the employment comes from industry and agriculture.
The region has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with the exception of the Tomsk region and Khanty-Mansiysk.
Today the population of Western Siberia is Russians, Khanty, Nenets, and Turks. By religion, there are Orthodox, Muslims, and Buddhists.
Population of Eastern Siberia
The share of urban residents varies between 72%. The most economically developed are Krasnoyarsk region and Irkutsk region. From point of view Agriculture The most important point in the region is the Buryat Okrug.
Every year the population of Eastern Siberia is becoming smaller. IN Lately There is a sharp negative dynamics of migration and birth rate. It is also the lowest in the country. In some areas it is 33 square meters. km per person. Unemployment is high.
The ethnic composition includes such peoples as Mongols, Turks, Russians, Buryats, Evenks, Dolgans, Kets, etc. Most of the population are Orthodox and Buddhists.
