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[NOST 202]
Aboriginal Peoples of the Russian North
Links to On-Line Resources

Peoples' names in red indicate those located in the northerly areas of north-west Russia, northern Siberia and the northern parts of the Russian Far East.

Google search is an excellent starting point.

  1. Aleut - Bering Sea/North Pacific area; Commander Islands, Aleutian Islands
  2. Alutor - Northeast Kamchatka Peninsula -Aliutor people, like the Chukchi and the Koryak belong to the mongoloid Northern-Asiatic race; Aliutors have long been considered as part of the Koryak people.
  3. Chukchi - Chukchi Peninsula - primarily a coastal culture with secondary exploitation of inland areas - Before 4000 BC, Chukchi (an ancient Siberian population originally residing at Sea of Okhotsk) migrated northward to inner tundra of Chukotka, assimilating Yupik and Yukagir (Dallman); archaeological and other data suggest that Chukchi entered the area from the west less than 2000 years ago and found the coastal region occupied by a population related to the Eskimo (Britannica.com); 2nd cent. AD: Chukchi migration to north coast, repeatedly assimilating Yupik and adopting cultural and linguistic elements of these (Dallmann);
  4. Chuvan - north-east Sakha Republic, Chukchi Peninsula
  5. Dolgan - southern part of Taimyr Peninsula; Taymyr (Dolgan-Nenets) AO, Krasnoyarsk kray, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
  6. Enets, Entsy - east bank of the River Yenisey in the western part of the Taimyr Peninsula.
  7. Eskimo, Yupik - Chukotka - occupied inner tundra of Chukotka, before 4000 BC; some assimilation by incoming Chukchi before 4000 BC; 3000 BC Siberian Eskimo migration to Alaska;
  8. Even, Lamuts - Khabarovsk district, Magadan region, northern part of Yakutia, Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas; ; ca. 1000 AD, Tungus penetration of central and eastern Siberia, and Even are descendants of the Tungus penetration (Dallmann);
  9. Evenk - In the first centuries AD, reindeer herding was introduced by the ancestors of the Evenki, who migrated into Yakutia; ca. 1000 AD, Tungus penetration of central and eastern Siberia, and Evenks are descendants of the Tungus penetration (Dallmann); the Evenks are probably descended from a mixture of Tungus and Yukagir cultures. Ancient Tungus nomads absorbed a great deal of Yukagir culture and a distinct ethnic groups was identified as early as the 14th cent;
  10. Itel'men, Kamchadal - Kamchatka Peninsula - Itelmen are derived from eastern Mongolian tribes that spread across eastern Siberia and eastern Asia (Tarinsk culture, 5000 BC); archaeological and other data suggest that Kamchadal [Itelmen] entered the area from the west less than 2000 years ago and found the coastal region occupied by a population related to the Eskimo (Britannica.com)
  11. Kamchadal (see also Itelmen)
  12. Ket
  13. Khanty - 2000 BC to AD 1: Khanty are nomadic horse-breeders in Irtysh basin (early Ugrian) and have contact with northern Uralian hunters and fishers; ca. 500 AD, Northward migration of early Ugrians to Lower Ob basin and development of modern Khant culture (Dallmann); 1032 first account of Khanty in Russian chronicles; 1187 Khanty kill Novgorodian marauders who came to extort tribute;
  14. Komi - northwest Russia - In 1st mill. BC Komi ancestors inhabited the middle and upper Kama River region; around 500 AD the Komi split, and one group migrated to the Vychegda basim. There they mixed with other indigenous people and began acquiring a separate ethnic identity, and they evolved into the contemporary Komi. Those who stayed behind in the Kama basin became known as the Komi Permyaks.; 10th to 14th cents, Komi separated as an individual ethnos from the Ugrians (Dallmann); ca 1180s: Komi seem to have accepted imposition of tribute-paying to Novgorod; toward end of 14th cent, Komi begin to be converted to Christianity. St. Stephen Khrap of Perm started work in the area in 1379, constructed a Komi alphabet and translated several religious texts into Komi; "The Komi do not belong to the 'numerically small peoples' of the North. There are approx. 300,000 Komi living in the Russian Federation. The Komi can look back on a long written historiography. Already before 1400, an early missionary had developed a Komi alphabet. Close contact with their neighbours, the Russians, and similar forms of livelihood have made ethnic distinctions quite subtle. It is hardly possible to tell an urban Komi from an urban Russian by other criteria than language" (Habeck [link dead])
  15. Koryak - Koryak autonomous okrug, Kamchatka oblast, Chukchi autonomous okrug, Evenkiya, Magadan oblast - archaeological and other data suggest that Koryak entered the area from the west less than 2000 years ago and found the coastal region occupied by a population related to the Eskimo (Britannica.com); 11th cent AD: beginning of period of transition of Koryak to a reindeer-breeding culture resulting from influence of Tungus groups penetrating central and eastern Siberia (Dallmann);
  16. Mansi - Khanty-Mansi National District of the Tyumen region in north-western Siberia - 1032 first account of Mansi in Russian chronicles
  17. Nanai - Amur Basin; Khabarovsk Kray, Primorye Kray, Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
  18. Negidal - live on the banks of the River Amgun in the Khabarovsk District and fall into two groups: the Lower Amgun and the Upper Amgun Negidals.
  19. Nenet, Yurak-Samoyeds, or Yuraks - believed to have split away from Finno-Ugrian groups about 3000 BC and migrated east; mixed with Turkic-Altaic peoples around 200 BC; the Nenets already lived in their present land before the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD; 1216: Russian Chronicles report that a taxman from the Kola peninsula had encountered the Nenets people;
  20. Nganasan, Tavgi-Samoyed, or Tavgi - northernmost people of RF, and live mainly in the Taymyr Peninsula
  21. Nivkh - Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk kray (Nizhniy Amur)
  22. Orochi - southern part of the Khabarovsk Area, more particularly on the lower reaches of the River Tumnin (Usjka, Usjka-Russkaya) and on the Amur and Kopp rivers.
  23. Orok - northern part of Sakhalin Island
  24. Saami - Kola Peninsula, northern Finland, Sweden and Norway - 1325: Saami on Kola pen. paying tribute to Novgorod;
  25. Selk'up - by the River Taz and between the middle reaches of the Ob and the Yenisey in Siberia.
  26. Tofalar - north of the East-Sayan Mountains, on a boundless taiga area, on the upper reaches of tributaries of the River Ob, the Uda, the Biryuza, the Kan, the Gutar and the Ia.
  27. Udege - The Udeghe are scattered over an extensive area in the Khabarovsk region and in the Ussuri taiga, in the northern part of the Primorye region.
  28. Ul'chi, Ulcha, Mangun  - Amur Basin
  29. Yakut or Sakha - Sakha Republic - In last centuries BC, Yakut migration from the Baikal to the upper Lena region; 10th-15th cents: Central Yakutia was settled by the ancestors of the Yakuts, pastoral Turkic tribes who migrated northweard from the Baikal region and partially assimilated the local population; 13th & 14th cents: Sakha are thought to have migrated northwards fromLake Baikal to the middle reaches of the Lena River and the lower Vilyuy and Aldan Rivers; as they moved northward, they replaced their horses and cattle with their now traditional reindeer; 15th cent: Yakuts spread beyond the Lena area in northeastern and western direction;
  30. Yukaghir - northeastern Sakha Republic - occupied inner tundra of Chukotka, before 4000 BC; some assimilation by incoming Chukchi before 4000 BC?; In the first centuries AD, Yukaghir migrate to Sea of Okhotsk; Yukaghir are an ancient Siberian population derived from Ust-Belaya archaeological culture which spread from Taymyr to the Anadyr area (Dallman); 11th cent: Yukaghir are influenced by influx of Tungus peoples penetrating central and eastern Siberia;

General and Collective Descriptions Archaeology
Amanda Graham, 2006