The Mansi (
Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум,
''Māńsi / Māńsi māhum'', ) are a
Ugric indigenous people living in
Khanty–Mansia, an
autonomous okrug
Autonomous okrugs ( rus, автономный округ, ''avtonomnyy okrug''; more correctly referred to as "autonomous districts" or "autonomous areas") are a type of federal subject of the Russian Federation and simultaneously an administra ...
within
Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the
Khanty and
Mansi languages have co-official status with Russian. The
Mansi language is one of the postulated
Ugric languages
The Ugric or Ugrian languages ( or ) are a proposed branch of the Uralic language family. The name Ugric is derived from Ugrians, an archaic exonym for the Magyars (Hungarians) and Yugra, a region in northwest Russia.
Ugric includes three ...
of the
Uralic
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian lan ...
family. The Mansi people were formerly known as the Voguls.
Together with the
Khanty people
The Khanty ( Khanty: ханти, ''hanti''), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (russian: остяки) are a Ugric indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as " Yugra" in Russia, togeth ...
, the Mansi are politically represented by the
Association to Save Yugra The Association to Save Yugra (or Save Yugra, russian: Спасение Югры, Spaseniye Yugry) is an indigenous-rights organisation of the Khanty, Mansi and Nenets people, Ugrian and Samoyedic nomadic cultures of Russian Siberia. The organisa ...
, an organisation founded during
Perestroika of the late 1980s. This organisation was among the first regional indigenous associations in Russia.
Demographics
According to the 2010 census, there were 12,269 Mansi in Russia.
History
The ancestors of Mansi people populated the areas west of the Urals.
Mansi findings have been unearthed in the vicinity of
Perm.
In the first millennium BC, they migrated to
Western Siberia
Western Siberia or West Siberia (russian: Западная Сибирь, Zapadnaya Sibir'; kk, Батыс Сібір) is a part of the larger region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russian Federation. It lies between the Ural region ...
where they assimilated with the native inhabitants.
According to others they are originated from the south
Ural steppe and moved into their current location about 500 AD.
The Mansi have been in contact with the Russian state at least since the 16th century when most of
western Siberia
Western Siberia or West Siberia (russian: Западная Сибирь, Zapadnaya Sibir'; kk, Батыс Сібір) is a part of the larger region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russian Federation. It lies between the Ural region ...
was
brought under Russian control by
Yermak Timofeyevich. Due to their higher exposure to Russian and
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
control, they are generally more assimilated than their northern neighbours, the
Khanty.
Culture
The Mansi were semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen. Some Mansi also raised reindeer. A few Mansi engaged in agriculture (cultivating barley) and raised cattle and horses.
During the winter, the Mansi lived in stationary huts made out of earth and branches at permanent villages. During the spring, the Mansi moved towards hunting and fishing grounds, where they constructed temporary rectangular-shaped shelters out of birch-bark and poles.
Weapons utilized by the Mansi were advanced for the period and included longbows, arrows, spears, and the use of iron helmets and chain mail.
Notable Mansi
*
Matrena Vakhrusheva (1918–2000), linguist, philologist, writer; co-wrote the first Mansi-Russian dictionary
*
Yuvan Shestalov (1937–2011), writer
*
Ruslan Provodnikov (b. 1984), boxer (Mansi mother)
*
Sergey Ustiugov (b. 1992), cross-country skier (Mansi father)
References
External links
The Mansis
{{Authority control
Mansi
Ethnic groups in Russia
Indigenous peoples of North Asia
Nomadic groups in Eurasia
Ugric peoples
Modern nomads
Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East
History of Ural