The Nganasans (; Nganasan: ''ŋənəhsa(nəh)'', ''ńæh'') are a
Uralic people of the
Samoyedic branch native to the
Taymyr Peninsula in north
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
. In the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, they are recognized as one of the
indigenous peoples of the Russian North. They reside primarily in the settlements of
Ust-Avam,
Volochanka
Volochanka (russian: Волочанка) is a rural locality (a settlement) under the administrative jurisdiction of the district town of Dudinka in Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located on the Kheta River ...
, and
Novaya in the
Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of
Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Si ...
, with smaller populations residing in the towns of
Dudinka and
Norilsk as well.
The Nganasans are thought to be the direct descendants of proto-Uralic peoples. However there is some evidence that they absorbed local
Paleo-Siberian population. The Nganasans were traditionally a semi-nomadic people whose main form of subsistence was wild reindeer
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
, in contrast to the
Nenets, who
herded reindeer. Beginning in the early 17th century, the Nganasans were subjected to the
yasak system of
Czarist Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
. They lived relatively independently, until the 1970s, when they were settled in the villages they live in today, which are at the southern edges of the Nganasans' historical nomadic routes.
There is no certainty as to the exact number of Nganasans living in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
today. The
2002 Russian census counted 862 Nganasans living in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
, 766 of whom lived in the former
Taymyr Autonomous Okrug. However, those who study the Nganasan estimate their population to comprise approximately 1000 people. Historically, the
Nganasan language and a
Taymyr Pidgin Russian were the only languages spoken among the Nganasan, but with increased
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
and village settlement,
Russian has become the first language of many Nganasans. Some Nganasans live in villages with a
Dolgan majority, such as
Ust'-Avam. The Nganasan language is considered
seriously endangered and it is estimated that at most 500 Nganasan can speak the
Nganasan language, with very limited proficiency among those eighteen and younger.
Etymology
The Nganasans first referred to themselves in
Russian as
Samoyeds, but they would also often use this term when referring to the Enets people and instead refer to themselves as “Avam people.” For the Nganasans, the term signified ''ngano-nganasana'', which means “real people” in the
Nganasan language, and referred to both themselves and the neighboring Madu
Enets
The Enets (russian: энцы, ; singular: , ; also known as Yenetses, Entsy, Entsi, Yenisei or Yenisey Samoyeds) are a Samoyedic ethnic group who live on the east bank, near the mouth, of the Yenisei River. Historically nomadic people, they now ...
. However, in their own language, the Avam Nganasans refer to themselves as ''nya-tansa'', which translates as “comrade tribe,” whereas the Vadeyev Nganasans to the East prefer to refer to themselves as ''a'sa'' which means “brother,” but also
Evenk or
Dolgan. The Nganasans were also formerly called Tavgi Samoyeds or Tavgis initially by the Russians, which derives from the word ''tavgy'' in the
Nenets language. Following the
Russian Revolution, the Nganasans adopted their current appellation.
Geography
The Nganasans are the northernmost ethnic group of the
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...
n continent and the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, historically inhabiting the
tundra of the
Taymyr Peninsula. The areas they inhabited stretched over an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers, from the
Golchikha River in the west to the
Khatanga Bay in the east, and from
Lake Taymyr in the north to the
Dudypta River in the south. The hunting areas of the Nganasan often coincided with those of the
Dolgans and
Enets
The Enets (russian: энцы, ; singular: , ; also known as Yenetses, Entsy, Entsi, Yenisei or Yenisey Samoyeds) are a Samoyedic ethnic group who live on the east bank, near the mouth, of the Yenisei River. Historically nomadic people, they now ...
to their east and west respectively. In the winter, they resided in the south of the
peninsula at the edge of the
Arctic tree line, and during the summer they followed wild
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
up to 400 miles to the north, sometimes even reaching as far as the
Byrranga Mountains.
History
Origins
The homeland of the Proto-Uralic peoples, including the Samoyeds, is suggested to be somewhere near the
Ob and
Yenisey
The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
river drainage areas of
Central Siberia or near
Lake Baikal.
The Nganasan are considered by most ethnographers who study them to have arisen as an ethnic group when
Samoyedic peoples
The Samoyedic people (also Samodeic people)''Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic people' instead 'Samoyedic', see are a group of closely related peoples who speak Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguis ...
migrated to the
Taymyr Peninsula from the south, encountering
Paleo-Siberian peoples living there who they then assimilated into their culture. One group of
Samoyedic people
The Samoyedic people (also Samodeic people)''Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic people' instead 'Samoyedic', see are a group of closely related peoples who speak Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguis ...
intermarried with
Paleo-Siberian peoples living between the
Taz and
Yenisei rivers, forming a group that the
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, ...
ethnographer B.O. Dolgikh refers to as the Samoyed-Ravens. Another group intermarried with the
Paleo-Siberian inhabitants of the
Pyasina River
The Pyasina (russian: Пясина) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The river is long, and its basin covers . The Pyasina River originates in Lake Pyasino and flows into the Pyasino Gulf of the Kara Sea. There are more than 60,000&nbs ...
and formed another group which he called the Samoyed-Eagles. Subsequently, a group of
Tungusic people migrated to the region near
Lake Pyasino
Lake Pyasino (russian: Пясино) is a large freshwater lake in Krasnoyarsk Krai, north-central part of Russia. It is located at and has an area of 735 km². Many rivers empty into the lake, including the Ambarnaya. Water from the lake em ...
and the
Avam River, where they were absorbed into
Samoyed culture, forming a new group called the Tidiris. There was another group of
Tungusic peoples
Tungusic peoples are an ethno-linguistic group formed by the speakers of Tungusic languages (or Manchu–Tungus languages). They are native to Siberia and Northeast Asia.
The Tungusic phylum is divided into two main branches, northern (Evenic ...
called the Tavgs who lived along the basins of the
Khatanga and
Anabar rivers and came into contact with the aforementioned
Samoyedic peoples
The Samoyedic people (also Samodeic people)''Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic people' instead 'Samoyedic', see are a group of closely related peoples who speak Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguis ...
, absorbing their language and creating their own Tavg
Savoyedic dialect. It is known that the ancestors of the Nganasan previously inhabited territory further south from a book in the city
Mangazeya that lists
yasak (fur tribute) payments by the Nganasan which were made in
sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
, an animal that does not inhabit the
tundra where the Nganasan now live.
By the middle of the 17th century,
Tungusic peoples
Tungusic peoples are an ethno-linguistic group formed by the speakers of Tungusic languages (or Manchu–Tungus languages). They are native to Siberia and Northeast Asia.
The Tungusic phylum is divided into two main branches, northern (Evenic ...
began to push the Samoyedic peoples northward towards the tundra
Taymyr Peninsula, where they merged into one tribe called "Avam Nganasans". As the Tavgs were the largest Samoyedic group at the time of this merger, their dialect formed the basis of the present-day Nganasan language. In the late 19th century, a Tungusic group called the Vanyadyrs also moved to the Eastern Taymyr peninsula, where they were absorbed by the Avam Nganasans, resulting in the tribe that is now called Vadeyev Nganasans. In the 19th century, a member of the
Dolgans, a
Turkic people who lived east of the Nganasans, was also absorbed by the Nganasans, and his descendants formed an
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous clan, which today, though linguistically fully
Samoyedic, is still acknowledged as being Dolgan in origin.
Contact with Russians
The Nganasans first came into contact with
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
sometime in the early 17th century,
and after some resistance, began to pay tribute to the
Czar in the form of
sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
fur under the
yasak system in 1618. Tribute collectors established themselves at the “Avam Winter Quarters,” at the confluence of the
Avam River and
Dudypta River rivers, which is the site of the modern-day settlement
Ust'-Avam. The Nganasans often tried to avoid paying
yasak by changing the names that they provided to the Russians. Relations between the
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
and Nganasans were not always peaceful. In 1666, the Nganasans ambushed and killed
yasak collectors, soldiers, tradesmen, and their interpreters on three occasions, stealing the
sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
furs and property belonging to them. Over the course of the year, 35 men were killed in total.
The Nganasan had little direct contact with merchants and, unlike most
indigenous Siberians, they were never
baptized
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...
or contacted by missionaries. Some Nganasans traded directly with the
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
, while others did so via the
Dolgans.
They usually exchanged sable furs for
alcohol,
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
,
tea, and various tools, products which quickly integrated themselves into Nganasan culture. In the 1830s, and again from 1907 to 1908, Russian contact caused major
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
outbreaks among the Ngansans.
Soviet Union
The Nganasans first came into contact with the Soviets around in the 1930s, when the government instituted a program of
collectivization. The
Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in ...
had established that 11% of families owned 60 percent of the deer, while the lower 66% owned only 17 percent, and remedied this by collectivizing reindeer property into
kolkhoz around which the Nganasan then settled.
This represented a great change in lifestyle, as the Nganasan, who had primarily been
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
hunters, were forced to expand their small stock of
domesticated reindeer that had previously only been primarily for transport or eaten during periods of famine. Additionally, the
Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in ...
took a greater interest in the Nganasans as a people, and starting in the 1930s,
ethnographers began to study their customs.
Despite
collectivization and the institution of the ''
kolkhoz'', the Nganasans were able to maintain a semi-nomadic lifestyle following domesticated
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
herds up until the early 1970s, when the state settled the Nganasans along with the
Dolgans and
Enets
The Enets (russian: энцы, ; singular: , ; also known as Yenetses, Entsy, Entsi, Yenisei or Yenisey Samoyeds) are a Samoyedic ethnic group who live on the east bank, near the mouth, of the Yenisei River. Historically nomadic people, they now ...
in three different villages it constructed:
Ust'-Avam,
Volochanka
Volochanka (russian: Волочанка) is a rural locality (a settlement) under the administrative jurisdiction of the district town of Dudinka in Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located on the Kheta River ...
, and
Novaya.
Nganasan ''
kolkhoz'' were combined to create the villages, and after settling in them, the Nganasans shifted from employment in ''
kolkhozes'' to working for ''
gospromkhoz Taymirsky'', the government hunting enterprise, which supplied meat to the burgeoning industrial center
Norilsk to the southwest. By 1978, all domestic
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
herding had ceased, and with new
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, ...
equipment, the yield of wild reindeer reached 50,000 in the 1980s. Most Nganasan men were employed as hunters, and the women worked as teachers or as
seamstresses
A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician.
Nota ...
decorating
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
boots.
Nganasan children began schooling in
Russian, and even pursuing secondary education. The
Soviet planned economy benefited the Nganasan by providing their settlements with adequate wages,
machinery,
consumer goods
A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, b ...
, and
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
, allowing the Nganasan to achieve a relatively high
standard of living
Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...
by the end of the 1980s.
Religion
The traditional religion of the Nganasans is
animistic
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, h ...
and
shamanistic. Their religion is a particularly well preserved example of
Siberian Shamanism, which remained relatively free of foreign influence due to the Nganasans' geographic isolation until recent history. Because of their isolation, shamanism was a living phenomenon in the lives of the Nganasans, even into the beginning of the 20th century.
The last notable Nganasan shaman's
seances were recorded on film by anthropologists in the 1970s.
Language
The
Nganasan language (formerly called тавгийский, tavgiysky, or тавгийско-самоедский, tavgiysko-samoyedsky in Russian; from the ethnonym тавги, tavgi) is a moribund Samoyedic language spoken by the Nganasan people. It is now considered highly endangered, as most Nganasan people now speak Russian, rather than their native language. In 2010 it was estimated that only 125 Nganasan people can speak it in the southwestern and central parts of the Taymyr Peninsula.
Genetics
The characteristic
genetic marker of the Nganasans and some other Eastern Siberians is
haplogroup N1c-Tat (Y-DNA). Other Samoyedic peoples mainly have more N1b-P43, rather than N1c, suggesting a bottleneck event. Haplogroup N originated in the northern part of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
in 20,000–25,000 years BP and spread to north
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...
, through
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
to
Northern Europe through drift and bottleneck events. Subgroup N1c1 is frequently seen in non-Samoyedic peoples, N1c2 in
Samoyedic peoples
The Samoyedic people (also Samodeic people)''Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic people' instead 'Samoyedic', see are a group of closely related peoples who speak Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguis ...
. In addition,
haplogroup Z (mtDNA)
In human mitochondrial genetics, Haplogroup Z is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup.
Origin
Haplogroup Z is believed to have arisen in Central Asia, and is a descendant of haplogroup CZ.
Distribution
The greatest clade diversity of ha ...
, found with low frequency in
Saami,
Finns
Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland.
Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...
, and
Siberians, is related to the migration of people speaking Uralic languages.
In 2019, a study based on genetics, archaeology and linguistics suggests that Uralic speakers arrived in the Baltic region from Western Siberia, at the beginning of the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
some 2,500 years ago. Prior to that, the early Uralic speakers were hunter-gatherers which underwent geneflow from eastern Siberians (samplified by Evens and Evenks), which is maximized today among Nganasans. The remainder ancestry is derived from
Ancient North Eurasians, a deeply European-related population of Paleolithic Siberia.
In another genetic study in 2019, published in the European Journal for Human Genetics
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
, it was found that the Nganasans also display significant Ancient North Eurasians ancestry, next to their predominant Eastern Siberian ancestry (shared with Northeast Asians), linking them to other Uralic-speaking populations.
See also
*
Soviet Treatment of Siberian Minorities The formation of the Soviet Union corresponded to a drastic re-structuring of the lives of many of the indigenous peoples of Siberia. The Soviet vision was often not compatible with tribal life, and many changes were enacted upon the native framewo ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
* Helimski, Eugene (1997)
"Factors of Russianization in Siberia and Linguo-Ecological Strategies"in Senri Ethnological Studies no. 44: ''Northern minority languages: Problems of survival'', National Museum of Ethnology.
* Kolga, Margus ''et al.'' (1993)
"Nganasans"in
The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire.'
*
*
*
* Trailer for the Russian fil
"People of Taimyr" (ЛЮДИ ТАЙМЫРА)* Russian documentar
"Taboo: The Last Shaman" (Табу Последний Шаман)
{{Authority control
Ethnic groups in Russia
Ancient peoples
Ethnic groups in Siberia
Indigenous peoples of North Asia
Samoyedic peoples
Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East
Modern nomads