Chukchi, Chukots or Luoravetlans. A small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyui rivers. The number according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002 is 15,767 people, according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 - 15,908 people.
Origin
Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, was adapted in the 17th century. Russian explorers used the Chukchi word chauchu [ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), by which name the Chukchi reindeer herders call themselves in contrast to the coastal Chukchi dog breeders - ankalyn (seaside, Pomors - from anki (sea)). Self-name - oravetӓеt (people, singular oravetғеtеn) or ғыгъоруватӓет [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt] (real people, singular ԓыгъоруватӓ'ен [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in Russian translation luora vetlan). The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukaghirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the shores of the Bering Strait).
The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the peculiarities of life of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog harness. The final solution to the question of ethnographic origin depends on a comparative study of the Chukchi language and the languages of nearby American peoples. One of the language experts, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, based on their language, the Chukchi were classified as Paleo-Asians, that is, a group of marginal peoples of Asia, whose languages stand completely apart from all other linguistic groups of the Asian continent, pushed out in very distant times from the middle of the continent to the northeastern outskirts.
Anthropology
The Chukchi type is mixed, generally Mongoloid, but with some differences. The racial type of the Chukchi, according to Bogoraz, is characterized by some differences. Eyes with an oblique cut are less common than eyes with a horizontal cut; there are individuals with thick facial hair and wavy, almost curly hair on their heads; face with a bronze tint; body color is devoid of a yellowish tint; large, regular facial features, high and straight forehead; the nose is large, straight, sharply defined; the eyes are large and widely spaced. Some researchers noted the height, strength and broad shoulders of the Chukchi. Genetically, the Chukchi reveal their relationship with the Yakuts and Nenets: Haplogroup N (Y-DNA)1c1 is found in 50% of the population, and Haplogroup C (Y-DNA) (close to the Ainu and Itelmen) is also widespread.
Story
The modern ethnogenetic scheme allows us to evaluate the Chukchi as the aborigines of continental Chukotka. Their ancestors formed here at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. The basis of the culture of this population was hunting for wild deer, which existed here in fairly stable natural and climatic conditions until the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. The Chukchi first encountered Russians back in the 17th century on the Alazeya River. In 1644, the Cossack Mikhail Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsk fort. The Chukchi, who at that time were wandering both east and west of the Kolyma, after a bloody struggle finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing back the Eskimo tribe of the Mamalls from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Bering Sea during their retreat. Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between Russians and Chukchi have not stopped, whose territory bordered on Russia along the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur region (for more details, see Annexation of Chukotka to Russia).
In 1770, after a series of military campaigns, including the unsuccessful campaign of Shestakov (1730), the Anadyr fort, which served as the center of the Russian fight against the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhnekolymsk, after which the Chukchi became less hostile to the Russians and gradually began to join into trade relations with them. In 1775, on the Angarka River, a tributary of the Bolshoi Anyui, the Angarsk fortress was built, where, under the protection of the Cossacks, an annual fair for barter trade with the Chukchi took place.
Since 1848, the fair was moved to the Anyui fortress (about 250 km from Nizhnekolymsk, on the banks of the Maly Anyui). Until the first half of the 19th century, when European goods were delivered to the territory of the Chukchi by the only land route through Yakutsk, the Anyui Fair had a turnover of hundreds of thousands of rubles. The Chukchi brought for sale not only ordinary products of their own production (clothing made from reindeer furs, reindeer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs - sea otters, martens, black foxes, blue foxes, which the so-called nose Chukchi exchanged for tobacco with the inhabitants of the shores of the Bering Sea and the northwestern coast of America.
With the advent of American whalers in the waters of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean, as well as with the delivery of goods to Gizhiga by ships of the voluntary fleet (in the 1880s), the largest turnover of the Anyui Fair ceased, and to end of the 19th century century, it began to serve only the needs of the local Kolyma trade, with a turnover of no more than 25 thousand rubles.
Farm
Initially, the Chukchi were simply reindeer hunters, but over time (shortly before the arrival of the Russians) they mastered reindeer husbandry, which became the basis of their economy.
The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting sea animals: in winter and spring - seals and seals, in summer and autumn - walruses and whales. They hunted seals alone, crawling up to them, camouflaging themselves and imitating the movements of the animal. The walrus was hunted in groups of several canoes. Traditional hunting weapons are a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net; since the second half of the 19th century, firearms have spread, and hunting methods have become simpler.
Life of the Chukchi
In the 19th century, Chukchi reindeer herders lived in camps of 2-3 houses. Migrations were carried out as the reindeer food became depleted. In the summer, some go down to the sea. The Chukchi clan is agnatic, united by the commonality of fire, consanguinity in the male line, a common totem sign, tribal revenge and religious rites. Marriage is predominantly endogamous, individual, often polygamous (2-3 wives); among a certain circle of relatives and brothers-in-arms, mutual use of wives is allowed, by agreement; levirate is also common. Kalym does not exist. Chastity does not matter for a girl.
The dwelling - yaranga - is a large tent of irregular polygonal shape, covered with panels of reindeer skins, with the fur facing out. Resistance against wind pressure is provided by stones tied to the pillars and cover of the hut. The fireplace is in the middle of the hut and surrounded by sleighs with household supplies. The actual living space, where the Chukchi eat, drink and sleep, consists of a small rectangular fur tent-canopy, fixed at back wall tent and sealed tightly from the floor. The temperature in this cramped room, heated by the animal warmth of its inhabitants and partly by a fat lamp, is so high that the Chukchi strip naked in it.
Until the end of the 20th century, the Chukchi distinguished between heterosexual men, heterosexual men who wore women's clothing, homosexual men who wore women's clothing, heterosexual women and women who wore men's clothing. At the same time, wearing clothes could also mean performing corresponding social functions.
Chukchi clothing is of the usual polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men consists of a double fur shirt (the lower one with the fur towards the body and the upper one with the fur outward), the same double pants, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a woman's bonnet. Women's clothing is completely unique, also double, consisting of seamlessly sewn trousers together with a low-cut bodice, cinched at the waist, with a slit on the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which Chukchi women can easily free their hands while working. Summer outerwear includes robes made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamleykas made of fine-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. The infant's costume consists of a reindeer sack with blind branches for the arms and legs. Instead of diapers, a layer of moss with reindeer hair is placed, which absorbs feces, which are removed daily through a special valve attached to the opening of the bag.
Women's hairstyles consist of braids braided on both sides of the head, decorated with beads and buttons. Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown.
Wooden, stone and iron tools
In the 18th century stone axes, spear and arrow tips, bone knives were almost completely replaced by metal ones. The utensils, tools and weapons currently used are mainly European (metal cauldrons, teapots, iron knives, guns, etc.), but even today in the life of the Chukchi there are many remnants of recent primitive culture: bone shovels, hoes, drills, bone and stone arrows, spear tips, etc., compound bow American type, slings made of knuckles, armor made of leather and iron plates, stone hammers, scrapers, knives, a primitive projectile for making fire by friction, primitive lamps in the form of a round flat vessel made of soft stone, filled with seal fat, etc. They were preserved by primitive people. light sleds, with arched supports instead of hooves, suitable only for sitting astride them. The sled is harnessed to either a pair of reindeer (among the reindeer Chukchi), or dogs, according to the American model (among the coastal Chukchi).
With the advent of Soviet power, populated areas schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions appeared. A written language was created. The Chukchi literacy level (ability to write and read) does not differ from the national average.
Chukotka cuisine
The basis of the Chukchi diet was boiled meat (reindeer, seal, whale); they also ate leaves and bark of the polar willow (emrat), seaweed, sorrel, shellfish and berries. In addition to traditional meat, the blood and entrails of animals were also used as food. Raw-frozen meat was widespread. Unlike the Tungus and Yukagirs, the Chukchi practically did not eat fish. Among the drinks, the Chukchi preferred herbal decoctions such as tea.
A unique dish is the so-called monyalo - half-digested moss extracted from a large deer stomach; Various canned food and fresh dishes are made from monyal. Semi-liquid stew made from monyal, blood, fat and finely chopped meat until very recently was the most common type of hot food.
Holidays
The reindeer Chukchi held several holidays: the slaughter of young reindeer in August, the installation of a winter home (feeding the constellation Pegyttin - the star Altair and Zore from the constellation Eagle), the division of herds in the spring (separation of the female deer from the young bulls), the festival of horns (Kilvey) in the spring after the calving of the female deer, sacrifices to fire, etc. Once or twice a year, each family celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday.
Chukchi religion
The religious beliefs of the Chukchi are expressed in amulets (pendants, headbands, necklaces in the form of straps with beads). Painting the face with the blood of the murdered victim, with the image of a hereditary-tribal sign - a totem, also has ritual significance. The original pattern on the quivers and clothes of the coastal Chukchi is of Eskimo origin; from the Chukchi it passed to many polar peoples of Asia.
According to their beliefs, the Chukchi are animists; they personify and idolize certain areas and natural phenomena (masters of the forest, water, fire, sun, deer, etc.), many animals (bear, crow), stars, sun and moon, believe in hosts of evil spirits that cause all earthly disasters, including illness and death, have a number of regular holidays (the autumn festival of deer slaughter, the spring festival of antlers, the winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, funerals of the dead, votive ministries, etc.). Each family, in addition, has its own family shrines: hereditary projectiles for producing sacred fire through friction for famous festivals, one for each family member (the lower plank of the projectile represents a figure with the head of the owner of the fire), then bundles of wooden knots “removing misfortunes”, wooden images of ancestors and, finally, a family tambourine, since the Chukchi ritual with a tambourine is not the property of only specialist shamans. The latter, having sensed their calling, experience a preliminary period of a kind of involuntary temptation, fall into deep thought, wander without food or sleep for whole days until they receive real inspiration. Some die from this crisis; some receive a suggestion to change their gender, that is, a man should turn into a woman, and vice versa. Those transformed take on the clothing and lifestyle of their new gender, even marrying, getting married, etc.
The dead are either burned or wrapped in layers of raw deer meat and left in the field, after first cutting into the throat and chest of the deceased and pulling out part of the heart and liver. First, the deceased is dressed, fed and told fortunes, forcing him to answer questions. Old people often kill themselves in advance or, at their request, are killed by close relatives.
A baydara is a boat built without a single nail, effective for hunting sea animals.
Most Chukchi by the beginning of the 20th century were baptized in Russian Orthodox Church However, among the nomadic people there are remnants of traditional beliefs (shamanism).
Voluntary death
Difficult living conditions and malnutrition led to such a phenomenon as voluntary death.
Anticipating many speculations, the ethnographer writes:
The reason for the voluntary death of old people is not a lack of good attitude to them from relatives, but rather the difficult conditions of their life. These conditions make life completely unbearable for anyone who is unable to take care of themselves. Not only the elderly resort to voluntary death, but also those suffering from some incurable disease. The number of such patients dying a voluntary death is no less than the number of old people.
Folklore
The Chukchi have a rich oral folk art, which is also expressed in the art of stone bone. The main genres of folklore: myths, fairy tales, historical legends, tales and everyday stories. One of the main characters was the raven - Kurkyl, a cultural hero. Many legends and fairy tales have been preserved, such as “Keeper of the Fire”, “Love”, “When do the whales leave?”, “God and the Boy”. Let's give an example of the latter:
One family lived in the tundra: a father, a mother, and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy herded the reindeer, and the girl helped her mother with housework. One morning, the father woke up his daughter and ordered her to light a fire and make tea.
The girl came out of the canopy, and God caught her and ate her, and then ate her father and mother. The boy returned from the herd. Before entering the yaranga, I looked through the hole to see what was going on there. And he sees God sitting on an extinguished fireplace and playing in the ashes. The boy shouted to him: “Hey, what are you doing?” - Nothing, come here. A boy entered the yaranga and they began to play. The boy plays, and he looks around, looking for his relatives. He understood everything and said to God: “Play alone, I’ll go to the wind!” He ran out of the yaranga. He untied the two most evil dogs and ran with them into the forest. He climbed a tree and tied the dogs under the tree. God played and played, he wanted to eat and went to look for the boy. He goes and sniffs the trail. I reached the tree. He wanted to climb a tree, but the dogs caught him, tore him into pieces and ate him.
And the boy came home with his herd and became the owner.
Historical legends have preserved stories about wars with neighboring Eskimo tribes.
Folk dances
Despite the difficult living conditions, the people found time for holidays, where the tambourine was not only ritual, but also simply musical instrument, the tunes of which were passed down from generation to generation. Archaeological evidence suggests that dances existed among the ancestors of the Chukchi back in the 1st millennium BC. This is evidenced by petroglyphs discovered beyond the Arctic Circle in Chukotka and studied by archaeologist N. N. Dikov.
All dances can be divided into ritual-ritual, imitative-imitative dances, staged dances (pantomimes), playful and improvisational (individual), as well as dances of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi.
A striking example of ritual dances was the celebration of the “First Slaughter of the Deer”:
After the meal, all the tambourines belonging to the family, hanging on the poles of the threshold behind a curtain of raw skins, are removed, and the ritual begins. The tambourines are played by all family members in turn for the rest of the day. When all the adults finish, children take their place and, in turn, continue to beat the tambourines. While playing tambourines, many adults call upon “spirits” and try to induce them to enter their body….
Imitative dances were also common, reflecting the habits of animals and birds: “Crane”, “Crane looks for food”, “Crane Flight”, “Crane looks around”, “Swan”, “Seagull Dance”, “Raven”, “Bull (deer) fight )", "Dance of the Ducks", "Bullfight during the Rut", "Looking Out", "Running of the Deer".
Trade dances played a special role as a type of group marriage, as V. G. Bogoraz writes, they served on the one hand as a new connection between families, on the other hand, old family ties were strengthened.
Language, writing and literature
Main article: Chukchi writing
By origin, the Chukchi language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of Paleo-Asian languages. Closest relatives: Koryak, Kerek (disappeared at the end of the twentieth century), Alyutor, Itelmen, etc. Typologically, it belongs to the incorporating languages (a word-morpheme acquires a specific meaning only depending on its place in the sentence, and can be significantly deformed depending on the conjugation with other members of the sentence).
In the 1930s The Chukchi shepherd Teneville created an original ideographic writing (samples are stored in the Kunstkamera - Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences), which, however, never came into widespread use. Since the 1930s The Chukchi use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Chukotka literature is created mainly in Russian (Yu. S. Rytkheu and others).
About 60 nationalities live in the district. In 1989, in Chukotka, with a total population of 164 thousand people, the indigenous population of the North (Chukchi, Eskimos, Evens, Yukagirs, Koryaks, etc.) amounted to 10%, i.e. 17 thousand people. The most representative in terms of quantitative composition were Russians (66%), Ukrainians accounted for 17%, Belarusians - 2%. Due to population migration, the share of indigenous peoples in the national composition increased to 21%.
Northeast Asia has long been inhabited by Paleo-Asian peoples - descendants ancient population Earth. These include the Chukchi, Koryaks, Itelmens and Yukaghirs, whose languages show some similarity with each other. The Nivkhs living in the lower reaches of the Amur and on Sakhalin are also close to them in language. All these peoples are linguistically close to each other, but have a completely different origin from the Eskimos and the Evenks (the former name of the Tungus). The threads of kinship between the Chukchi, Koryaks and Itelmens (the former name of the Kamchadals) lead to northwestern America, to the Indians, with whom they apparently merged as they moved north. The myths of the Koryaks and Kamchadals are close in form and content to the legends of the Indians of northwestern America.
Representatives of the indigenous peoples of the Far North in Chukotka are currently about 18 thousand inhabitants.
Chukchi.The total number of people is about 15 thousand people; 12 thousand people live in Chukotka. The original self-name of the Chukchi is “luoravetlan”, which means “real people”. Among the Chukchi and Koryaks, coastal sedentary groups that engage in fishing and hunting sea animals (self-name - “ankalyn”), and groups of nomadic reindeer herders (self-name - “chauchu” or “chavuchu”) stand out noticeably. Chavuchu means "reindeer herder". This is where the geographical names (toponyms) came from: Chukotka, Chukotsky. The division into coastal and reindeer groups can also be traced in the dialects of the Chukchi language.
The life and economic activities of the coastal Chukchi and Koryaks are largely reminiscent of the life of the Eskimos. Since ancient times, it contained the same leather canoe, a leather shuttle, a throwing harpoon, and a float made of inflated seal skin. The influence of Eskimo culture affects the language, religion and folklore of the coastal Chukchi.
Back in the 19th century V. The Kolyma River served as the western border of the regular nomadism of Chukchi reindeer herders. But once they lived even further to the west, as indicated by the name of the Bolshaya Chukochya River. But then the Chukchi disappeared from these places and reappeared on the left bank of the Kolyma River in the middle XIX centuries. Later, the Chukchi spread west along the sea coast to the Alazeya River and further, almost to Indigirka. In the south, the Chukchi occupied the territory up to the Olyutorsky Peninsula and further south. Total number reindeer Chukchi at the beginning XX V. there were 9-10 thousand people. They had about half a million deer. The Primorye Chukchi numbered about 3 thousand people.
Eskimos1.7 thousand people live in Russia, of which 1.5 thousand people live in Chukotka. Modern Eskimo settlements stretch along the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea, from Cape Dezhnev to Cross Bay, mainly in the Providensky, Chukotsky and Iultinsky regions. In the 1920s small Eskimo settlements arose on the territory of modern Shmidtovsky and Iultinsky districts (villages Ushakovskoye, Uelkal). The Eskimos are the largest and most northern people on Earth from the indigenous population of the Arctic. There are 97 thousand Eskimos in the world, they mostly live outside of Russia: in Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland. The most western representatives of the Eskimo people live in Chukotka.
The Eskimo language is divided into two groups: Inupik, spoken by the people of the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, northern Alaska and Canada, Labrador and Greenland, and Yupik, spoken by the Eskimos of western and southwestern Alaska, St. Lawrence Island and the Chukchi Peninsula. In addition to their native language, Russian is also common among Asian Eskimos, the Eskimos of Alaska are largely English-speaking, English and French are common among the Eskimos of Canadian Quebec, and Danish is common among the Greenlandic Eskimos. It is unlikely that you will find an indigenous people on the planet with such a variety of “second” languages.
The Eskimos do not have a common self-name. They call themselves by their place of residence or simply call themselves people: “Inuit”, “Yupigit” or “Yuit”, that is, “real people”.
Like no other people in the world, the Eskimos are related to the Arctic Sea and the polar desert. They are typical hunters of sea animals. Fishing for marine mammals provided them with everything: food, clothing, shelter, fuel, transportation. whale bones served as excellent building material during the construction of the skeleton of semi-underground dwellings. The main food product of the ancient Eskimos was the meat of sea animals. From seal skins they learned to sew waterproof, waterproof fur clothing and boots (torbasa). In winter they wore a double thick fur jacket, men wore double fur pants, and women wore overalls.
Canoes were made from walrus skins. The perfection of leather frame kayaks with a hatch for a seat, accommodating from 1 to 30 people, is amazing. They became the prototype of the modern kayak.
Stone, deer antler (it was steamed and given any shape), musk ox horn, walrus tusk replaced metal and wood for the Eskimos. All over the world, Eskimos are famous for their ornamental and sculptural carvings of walrus tusks. In Greenland, they learned to build a dome-shaped dwelling out of snow - an igloo. To heat and illuminate their homes, they used fat-soaked bones of whales, seals and deer fat.
The Eskimos of Chukotka, St. Lawrence Island, the northwestern coast of Alaska and Western Greenland primarily hunt walruses and whales. In addition to marine fishing, they hunt Arctic foxes and fish in river mouths. Dogs are kept as pets; on average, there are 6-7 dogs per household.
Evens.The total population is 17 thousand people, 1.5 thousand people live in Chukotka. The old name of the Evens is Lamut, from the Tungusic word “lamu”, which means “sea”. This is a people close to the Evenks (the old name is “Tungus”). They speak a special dialect, although very close to Evenki, and live in the west of Chukotka, the north of the Kolyma Highlands, in the upper Anadyr basin and in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. At the beginning of the century, the Lamuts numbered about 3 thousand people; in the 1920s. A significant part of the Yukaghirs were assigned to the Evens.
ChuvantsevThere are 1.5 thousand people, 944 people live in Chukotka, mainly in the Markov region. The Chuvans are one of the Yukaghir clans, where there are many Russians who intermarried with the Chukchi and Yukaghirs. In Markov at the beginning of the 20th century. half of the population were already Russified Chuvans, and their Russian language still contains many Yukaghir words.
Yukagirovonly 1.1 thousand people, 160 people live in Chukotka. They live in the Anadyr and Bilibino regions.
Koryaks.The total number of Koryaks is 10 thousand people; 95 people live in Chukotka, mainly along the coast of the Gulf of Anadyr.
Kereki.There were only a few representatives of this nationality left, which until the 1960s. was not identified at all by population censuses as an independent ethnic group. The Kerek people live in the Beringovsky region. So, seven indigenous peoples of the North live in Chukotka. Nowhere else in the Arctic is there a region with such ethnic diversity as Chukotka.
Culture and economy of the nomads of Chukotka. Life in the cold consists of harsh everyday life. Hunters, nomads, and fishermen had to not only know most crafts, but also be original encyclopedists-craftsmen. They are the only ones who own household appliances, without which it is impossible to survive in extremely cold conditions.
Like the coastal Chukchi, the Eskimos built their economy on the prey of sea animals. The nomads of the tundra received everything they needed from domesticated reindeer. The nomads were so dependent on the reindeer that a kind of unity arose between the life of man and his herd of reindeer. This led to a constant search for new pastures and determined a nomadic lifestyle. The means of transportation were sled reindeer, dogs, canoes, and skis.
Deer meat serves as the basis of nutrition for northern nomads. Its steaming pieces are dumped from a huge cauldron onto wooden dishes or freshly chopped willow branches. Meat is often eaten raw and frozen. Thus, the body receives more microelements and biologically active substances. They also eat kidneys and tendons. Soup or porridge is made from deer blood. Deer antlers trimmed in the spring are roasted and also eaten. The most delicious dish is hot deer tongue.
Elegant and comfortable fur clothes of the peoples of the North are known all over the world. Lightweight and elastic, they retain heat well. Their traditional cut was adopted by polar explorers and mountaineers. Even the names: “kukhlyanka”, “anorak”, “parka” (warm jacket), “unty”, “kamiki”, “torbasa” (warm boots) are included in the languages of the peoples of the world from the speech of northern peoples.
The people of Chukotka lived in a large hemispherical tent - yaranga, as well as a fur tent. The frame of the yaranga is made up of a lattice of wooden poles. The frame is covered with reindeer or walrus skins and reinforced with heavy stones. Inside the yaranga there is still a small sleeping area made of skins - canopy. The design of the yaranga is created in such a way that it can be easily assembled or disassembled, which is very important for a nomadic lifestyle. Sometimes a yaranga has several compartments. The center of the yaranga is considered the most sacred place. There is a fire burning in a round hearth made of stones. This place is treated with the utmost respect. Pieces of deer meat and gutted fish carcasses are smoked over the fire. In places where there is no fuel for a fire, the yaranga is heated and illuminated by a fat lamp, which is fueled with whale or seal oil.
The polar peoples' good knowledge of nature, the habits of animals and birds is admirable. People who have to wander through the tundra and mountains quickly navigate the terrain. They develop a special internal vision of space and a sense of time. without saying a word, they can gather at a certain time for a gathering; they look for fellow tribesmen covered with snow during a blizzard, when they cannot be detected by footprints or with the help of dogs.
Some nationalities still observe a division into clans and the obligation of marriage between certain clans. The coastal Chukchi and Eskimos retain collective forms of labor, property and norms for the distribution of any spoils among all members of the community. For them, wealth does not necessarily entail prestige.
Without taking into account the experience of the indigenous peoples of the North developed over thousands of years, a reasonable organization of life in high latitudes. Nomadism, for example, is the most rational way to use fragile tundra landscapes. Herds of wild deer travel up to 2.5 thousand km per year. Obviously, similar movements must be made by herds of domestic reindeer. Therefore, reindeer herders spend a significant part of their lives in nomads. In winter they live with reindeer in the forest-tundra or in treeless expanses of the tundra; in summer they move to the shores of the seas or to the mountains.
Migrations brought people into contact with other nationalities. As a result, useful borrowings arose from spatially separated cultures. Thus, all reindeer herders of the tundra are characterized by sled reindeer herding, the same types of hunting: the use of traps for arctic foxes, crossbows, nets for catching geese, as well as similar clothes made of reindeer skins and shoes made of kamus, jewelry made of alternating strips of white and black fur, rectilinear ornament, ways of eating food. However, not everything was borrowed. For example, the breeds of deer among the Chukchi and Evens are different. Reindeer husbandry has taken root to a small extent in Native American culture.
In connection with the transfer of northern nomads to settled life in the 1950s. traditional forms of environmental management began to fade away. The nomads who lived in mobile yarangas were moved into houses. The lives of many of them improved, many wanted it, but not all. The trouble is that everyone was relocated. The children of nomads began to study in boarding schools and forgot their native language. They no longer mastered the skills of nomadic life in nature, but many were unable to join the alien life of industrial, port or mining villages. There was no one to competently develop the tundra. It turned out that the rational exploitation of the tundra directly depends on the preservation of the traditional way of life, spiritual culture and the use of the people’s language.
There is a point of view that future effective models of civilization are connected with the Arctic. It is supported by the facts of centuries-old, and in some cases even millennia-long, completely stable existence in the Arctic conditions of a number of ethnic groups while maintaining their constant numbers and without depletion of natural resources.
Everyone has heard the expression “naive Chukchi girl” and jokes about the Chukchi. In our understanding, this is a person far from the achievements of civilization. A symbol of naivety that borders on stupidity, starting any sentence with “however” and preferring vodka to their wives. We perceive the Chukchi as a distant northern people who are interested exclusively in deer and walrus meat. Who are the Chukchi really?
They know how to stand up for themselves
Valdis Kristovskis, a Latvian politician and leader of the Unity party, in an interview with the Latvian newspaper Delfi carelessly defended the phrase “Latvians are not Chukchi.” In response to this insult, the Diena newspaper published a response from Ooi Milger, a representative of the Louravetlan people (otherwise known as “Chukchi”). He wrote: “In your opinion, it turns out that the Chukchi are not people. This offended me very much. The Louravetlans are a people of warriors. Many books have been written about this. I have my father's carbine. Latvians are also a small people who had to fight for survival. Where does such arrogance come from? Here are the “naive” and stupid Chukchi for you.
Chukchi and all the “rest”
The small Chukchi people are settled over a vast territory - from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River, from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr River. This territory can be compared with Kazakhstan, and just over 15 thousand people live on it! (Russian census data in 2010)
The name Chukchi is the name of the people “Louratvelans” adapted for Russian people. Chukchi means “rich in deer” (chauchu) – this is how northern reindeer herders introduced themselves to Russian pioneers in the 17th century. “Loutwerans” is translated as “real people,” since in the mythology of the Far North the Chukchi are the “superior race” chosen by the gods. Chukchi mythology explains that the gods created the Evenks, Yakuts, Koryaks and Eskimos exclusively as Russian slaves, so that they would help the Chukchi trade with the Russians.
Ethnic history of the Chukchi. Briefly
The ancestors of the Chukchi settled in Chukotka at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. In such a natural-geographical environment, customs, traditions, mythology, language and racial characteristics were formed. The Chukchi have increased heat regulation, a high level of hemoglobin in the blood, and a fast metabolism, therefore the formation of this Arctic race took place in the conditions of the Far North, otherwise they would not have survived.
Mythology of the Chukchi. Creation of the world
In Chukchi mythology, the raven appears - the creator, the main benefactor. Creator of the earth, sun, rivers, seas, mountains, deer. It was the raven who taught people to live in difficult natural conditions. Since, according to the Chukchi, Arctic animals participated in the creation of space and stars, the names of constellations and individual stars are associated with deer and ravens. The Capella star is a reindeer bull with a human sleigh. Two stars near the constellation Aquila - “A female deer with a fawn.” Milky Way- a river with sandy waters, with islands - pastures for deer.
The names of the months of the Chukchi calendar reflect the life of wild deer, its biological rhythms and migration patterns.
Raising children among the Chukchi
In the upbringing of Chukchi children, one can trace a parallel with Indian customs. At the age of 6, the Chukchi begin the harsh education of boy warriors. From this age, boys sleep standing up, with the exception of sleeping supported by a yaranga. At the same time, adult Chukchi were raised even in their sleep - they sneaked up with a hot metal tip or a smoldering stick, so that the boy would develop a lightning-fast reaction to any sounds.
Young Chukchi ran behind reindeer teams with stones on their feet. From the age of 6, they constantly held a bow and arrow in their hands. Thanks to this eye training, the Chukchi's vision is for many years remained sharp. By the way, this is why the Chukchi were excellent snipers during the Great Patriotic War. Favorite games are “football” with a ball made of reindeer hair and wrestling. We fought in special places - sometimes on walrus skin (very slippery), sometimes on ice.
The rite of passage into adulthood is a test for those who are viable. The “exam” relied on dexterity and attentiveness. For example, a father sent his son on a mission. But the task was not the main thing. The father tracked his son while he walked to carry out his task, and waited until his son lost his vigilance - then he released an arrow. The young man’s task is to instantly concentrate, react and dodge. Therefore, passing the exam means surviving. But the arrows were not coated with poison, so there was a chance of survival after being wounded.
War as a way of life
The Chukchi have a simple attitude towards death - they are not afraid of it. If one Chukchi asks another to kill him, then the request is carried out easily, without a doubt. The Chukchi believe that each of them has 5-6 souls, and there is a whole “universe of ancestors”. But in order to get there, you must either die with dignity in battle, or die at the hands of a relative or friend. Your own death or death from old age is a luxury. Therefore, the Chukchi are excellent warriors. They are not afraid of death, they are fierce, they have a sensitive sense of smell, lightning-fast reactions, and a sharp eye. If in our culture a medal is awarded for military merits, then the Chukchi are on the back side right palm got a dot tattoo. The more dots, the more experienced and fearless the warrior.
Chukchi women correspond to the harsh Chukchi men. They carry a knife with them so that in case of serious danger they can stab their children, parents, and then themselves.
"Home Shamanism"
The Chukchi have what is called “domestic shamanism.” These are echoes of the ancient religion of the Louravetlans, because now almost all Chukchi go to church and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. But they are still “shamanizing” to this day.
During the autumn slaughter of livestock, the entire Chukotka family, including children, beats a tambourine. This ritual protects deer from disease and early death. But this is more like a game, like, for example, Sabantui - the holiday of the end of plowing among the Turkic peoples.
Writer Vladimir Bogoraz, ethnographer and researcher of the peoples of the Far North, writes that in real shamanic rituals people are cured of terrible diseases and mortal wounds are healed. Real shamans can grind a stone into crumbs in their hands and “sew up” a lacerated wound with their bare hands. The main task of shamans is to heal the sick. To do this, they fall into a trance in order to “travel between worlds.” In Chukotka, people become shamans if a Chukchi is saved in a moment of danger by a walrus, deer or wolf - thereby “transferring” ancient magic to the sorcerer.
A remarkable feature of the Chukchi shaman is that he can “gender me” at will. Men, at the behest of the spirits, become women, even get married. Bogoraz suggested that these were echoes of matriarchy.
Chukchi and humor
The Chukchi came up with the saying “laughter makes a man strong.” This phrase is considered the life credo of every Chukchi. They are not afraid of death, they kill easily, without feeling the burden. For other people, it is incomprehensible how you can first cry over the death of a loved one and then laugh? But despondency and melancholy for the Chukchi are a sign that a person has been “captured” by the evil spirit of Kele, and this was condemned. Therefore, the Chukchi constantly joke, make fun of each other, laugh. From childhood, Chukchi are taught to be cheerful. It is believed that if a child cries for a long time, then his parents raised him poorly. Girls for marriage are also chosen according to their liking. If a girl is cheerful and has a sense of humor, she has a better chance of getting married than one who is always sad, since it is believed that a sad girl is sick and therefore dissatisfied, because she thinks about illnesses.
Chukchi and jokes
Not only the Chukchi laugh, but they also like to make fun of the Chukchi. The topic of the Chukchi in Russian jokes is one of the most extensive. People have been making jokes about the Chukchi since the times of the USSR. Alexandra Arkhipova, Associate Professor at the Center for Typology and Semiotics of the Russian State University for the Humanities, associates the beginning of the appearance of jokes with the 60s film “Chief of Chukotka.” There, the familiar Chukchi “however” sounded for the first time. The image of the Chukchi in jokes is that of someone who doesn’t know Russian well, a wild, gullible person who constantly reflects. There is also an opinion that we read the measure of our national superiority from the Chukchi. Like, the Chukchi are stupid and naive, but we are not like that. Today, the main topic of jokes has shifted towards the former Chukotka governor Roman Abramovich.
Chukchi. Historical background
The Chukchi are the largest people in the group of northeastern Paleo-Asians, which, in addition to them, includes the Koryaks and Itelmens. The closeness of the Chukchi (and Koryaks) to the Itelmens is manifested almost exclusively in the field of language; The closeness between the Chukchi and Koryak exists not only in language, but also in various areas of material and spiritual culture. Both the Chukchi and Koryaks were divided into coastal hunters and reindeer herders - inhabitants of the tundra. It should be noted that in the economy, life, and culture between the Reindeer Chukchi and the Koryaks, there have long been similarities. neck than, for example, between deer and primor Chinese Chukchi.
The coastal Chukchi call themselves an'kalyn (plural an'kalyt) - "sea dweller", "Pomor", and the tundra Chukchi reindeer herders - chavchu (plural chavchuvat), like the reindeer Koryaks. In addition, how the coastal and reindeer Chukchi call themselves lygyoravetlyan, (plural lygyoravetlyat), which means “real person.”
The Russian name "Chukchi", "Chukchi" comes from the mentioned term "Chavchu".
In 1929-1930, when resolving the issue of the names of the small nationalities of the North, the name “Lygyoravetlan” was adopted as a common name for the Chukchi, transformed in Russian “Luoravetlan”, “Luoravetlany”.
However, in statistics and in all official documents in general (entries in passports, etc.), the term “Chukchi” (female name “Chukchanka”) is used; Only in the Nizhnekolymsk region of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic did the term “luoravetlan” take root in official statistics, but even there it is not used at all in everyday speech.
The Koryaks neighboring the Chukchi call them Lygitanni’ytan - “true foreigner.” The same ancient name for the Koryaks is also in the Chukchi language.
In both languages, the original meaning of the term tanp’ytap was “enemy”, “foreigner”.
The Chukchi language belongs to the group of incorporating or including languages. Incorporation is expressed in a word complex consisting of two or three stems. The main stem (either a verbal predicate or a nominal modifier) accepts all changes in number, case, person, mood and tense. There are no dialects in the Chukchi language; only morphological features distinguish the language of the western - Reindeer - from the language of the eastern - coastal - Chukchi. In the former, incorporation is preserved to a greater extent.
One of the features of the Chukchi language is the difference between female and male pronunciation.
Women pronounce “ts” where men pronounce “r”; for example, krym - ktsim (“no”). One can also note the presence in the Chukchi language of many ancient vocabulary elements of the Eskimo language.
The counting system in the Chukchi and Koryak languages is characteristic - twenty-digit - counting by the number of fingers, so counting literally means “to finger”, 20 - literally “twenty fingers”, 40 - “two arms, two legs”.
According to the 1926-1927 census. The Chukchi numbered 12,364 people, including about 70% nomadic and about 30% sedentary. The Chukchi live only within the USSR. The bulk of them are concentrated in the Chukotka National District of the Magadan Region (the district center is the working village of Anadyr). The district includes six districts: Anadyrsky, Eastern Tundra, Markovsky, Chaunsky, Chukotsky, Iultinsky. About 300 Chukchi (according to the 1926-1927 census) lived in the Nizhnekolymsk region of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. About 1,000 Chukchi lived in the Koryak National District, mainly in the Parapolsky Dol area in the north of the Olyutorsky district.
Neighbors of the Chukchi: on the coast of the Bering Sea - Eskimos, in the south - Koryaks, to the west of Kolyma - Yakuts and isolated families of Yukaghirs. The Chukchi meet with the Evens in the basins of the river. Kolyma and Anadyr. The neighbors of the Chukchi are also the Chuvans, who in the past were a division of the Yukaghirs. The Chukchi and Koryaks called them, like the Yukaghirs, etel (atal).
The Chukchi-speaking Reindeer Chuvans live in the upper reaches of Anadyr in the Markovsky district of the Chukotka National District and can currently be classified as the Chukchi. Descendants of sedentary Chuvans who speak Russian live in a number of villages in the Chukotka and Koryak national districts (Markovo, Penzhino, etc.). They can now be considered Russian.
The territory of the Chukotka District is 660.6 thousand km 2. The natural conditions of individual parts of this vast territory are very different. Let us note some common features inherent in the entire or almost entire territory. This is, first of all, severity climatic conditions. It must be said that, despite the relatively southern position a significant part of the district, its climate is incomparably harsher than the climate of the Kola Peninsula, which lies entirely beyond the Arctic Circle. The climate is characterized by low, not only winter, but also summer temperatures, which is due to the influence of the seas, especially the Chukotka, plenty of ice throughout the summer.
The northern part of the Chukotka District, covering watersheds and the northern slope of the Anadyr Range, stretching from Cape Shelagsky to the bay. Cross, as well as the mountainous Chukotka Peninsula and the coastal areas to Cape Medvezhy (near the Kolyma Bay) entirely belong to the tundra zone. The climate of this part is characterized by dampness, fog and very low temperatures. In another vast part of the district - in the basin of its largest river, Anadyr - the climate, as you move westward from the Bering Sea, becomes more and more continental.
The vegetation of the Anadyr basin is dominated by bushes (elfin pine, alder). Rocky-lichen tundras are common in the mountains, and meadows and wetlands are common in the valleys. Along the river valleys, with the exception of the middle and lower reaches of Anadyr, there are even deciduous forests (poplar, birch). Coniferous forests (larch) are found in the upper reaches of Anadyr and along the river. Mainu. Thus, somewhat conditionally, we can consider that the described region belongs to the forest-tundra zone, with the exception of areas located north of the Anadyr Estuary, where only tundra is located.
The territory to the west of the ridge. The Gydan and Anadyr Plateau - mountainous regions in the basin of the right tributaries of the Kolyma (Omolon, Bolshoi and Maly Anyuy) - are distinguished by an even more continental climate and belong mainly to the forest-tundra and mountain-taiga strip of the forest zone.
The commercial terrestrial fauna of the district is represented not only by tundra animals and birds - such as, for example, white and, less commonly, blue fox, polar wolf, reindeer, partridge (the last two species are also found in the forest zone), but also forest ones: squirrel, ermine , elk, fox, brown bear, entering the tundra, wolverine, living mainly in the forest-tundra, but running into the tundra and taiga. There are also representatives of mountain fauna (ram, almost exterminated) and relict steppe fauna (European gopher). Marine mammals are richly represented: whale, beluga whale, killer whale, walrus (Pacific), various types of seals (nerpa, bearded seal), sea lion. There are polar bears on the coast. Of the marine fish, it is worth noting cod and anadromous salmon, the large migration of which, however, is observed only near Anadyr and to the south. The freshwater fish fauna is dominated by salmon (whitefish, nelma and others in the Kolyma basin; grayling in the rivers and lakes of the more eastern regions).
According to their economy and way of life, the Chukchi were recently divided into two main groups: reindeer herders - Chaucha (Chavcha) and coastal sea animal hunters (an'kalyt).
They were divided into several territorial groups: 1) Western Tundra Chukchi; were settled in the Nizhne-Kolyma region of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; 2) Maloanyu Chukchi; wandered between Anyui and the Arctic Ocean, in the summer they went to the seashore; 3) Omolon Chukchi; wandered along the river Omolon and its right tributaries below the river. The young people never went to the sea; 4) Chow some Chukchi; wandered near Chaunskaya Bay and Cape Schmidt; 5) Amguem Chukchi; wandered along the river Amgueme; 6) Chukchi of the Chukotka Peninsula; were settled in the territory east of the line connecting the hall. Cross and Kolyuchinskaya Bay; this group was more closely associated with the coastal Chukchi than others; 7) Onmylensky (internal) Chukchi; wandered along the left tributaries of the river. Anadyr: Belaya, Tanyurer and Kanchalan, as well as along the upper reaches of Anadyr, where the Chukchi mixed with the Chuvans assimilated by them;
Tumansky or Vilyunei Chukchi; were settled along the river. Velikaya and along the seashore south of the mouth of Anadyr. The same group included the Chukchi who lived in the territory of the Koryak settlement, as well as a small group of the Chukchi of the river basin. Maina.
The settlements of the coastal Chukchi on the coast of the Bering Sea were located from Cape Dezhnev to the river. Khatyrki. Somewhat west of Provideniya Bay, from the village. Serinek (Russian pronunciation of Sireniki) to the Strait. Senyavin, Chukchi villages were interrupted by Eskimo villages. In a number of villages the population is mixed, Chukchi-Eskimo. On the coast of the Arctic Ocean, the coastal Chukchi lived from the village. Uelena to Cape Shelagsky (Erri), with breaks between the mouths of the river. Vankarem and Amguema. As a rule, coastal villages were located on capes or spits prominent in the sea (Yandagai, Nunyamo, Uelen, etc.), i.e., where large sea animals are more abundant. These villages were previously very small: they had from 2 to 20 yarangs (dwellings). Recently, due to collectivization, there has been a consolidation of settlements. This process is taking place especially intensively in the Chukotka region.
The question of the origin of the Chukchi is inextricably linked with the problem of the origin of the Eskimos. On this nographic literature is widespreadThe most fully developed theory by the Russian researcher V.G. Bogoraz, according to which in the past there was a direct connection between the Paleo-Asian tribes of northeast Asia and the Indians of northwestern America. According to this theory, the Eskimos are relatively recent newcomers to the Bering Sea region, separating the Paleo-Asians and Indians like a wedge. This "Eskimo wedge" theory raises a number of objections. Archaeological, historical and linguistic materials show us a wider distribution of a population that did not know reindeer herding, lived sedentary in semi-underground dwellings, and was engaged primarily in hunting sea animals - a population in which one can see the ancestors of the Eskimos.
In the culture of the Chukchi, primarily the coastal ones, we find many elements characteristic of the Eskimos. The features of commonality in the Eskimo and Chukchi languages were indicated above. Anthropological data also indicate a common basis in the formation of the Chukchi and Eskimos and thus contradict the “Eskimo wedge” theory.
If we take into account the very close proximity of the Chukchi and Koryaks both in culture and language, we can assume that the area of formation of the Chukchi-Koryak group lay south of the modern territory of their settlement. From here, the ancestors of the Chukchi spread north, assimilating the Eskimos and, in turn, experiencing the influence of the Eskimo language and culture.
Chukchi folklore reflects clashes between the Chukchi and Asian Eskimos, and between the Chukchi and Koryaks. Although even an approximate dating of the Chukchi legends is difficult, V. G. Bogoraz still considers the legends about the Chukchi-Eskimo clashes to be more ancient than the Koryak-Chukchi ones: the first legends have been preserved less clearly and vividly, they lack proper names. In these tales, the Chukchi most often appear as reindeer herders. They raid the Eskimos, seize their prey - sea animals and captives, who are forced to graze their reindeer.
The archaeological excavations of S. I. Rudenko on the [coast in 1945 and the excavations of A. P. Okladnikov at Cape Baranov in 1946, as well as toponymy, indicate that the territory from Cape Schmidt to Cape Dezhnev was occupied in ancient times by Eskimos. Now the Chukchi live in most of this territory. Apparently, there was a process of merging of both groups, accompanied by the victory of the Chukchi language over the Eskimo language. As a result of this, the modern coastal Chukchi were formed, whose economy, culture and way of life bear traces of Eskimo influence.
Thus, it can be assumed that the methods and techniques of hunting sea animals and the tools of this hunt were borrowed by the Chukchi from the Eskimos. In the area of beliefs, it should be noted the coincidence of many previously widespread rituals and holidays among the coastal Chukchi with the Eskimos, these include: sacrifices to the sea for good luck in fishing, a holiday
Keretkun "a - the spirit of the owner of the sea (among the Eskimos - Kanak "a, or “Big Woman”), “baidar festival”, “head festival”, whale festival, etc.
From numerous Chukchi legends about clashes with the Koryaks, it is clear that the purpose of the Chukchi raid on the Koryaks was to capture the reindeer herds. Frequent clashes between the Chukchi and Koryaks are confirmed by historical documents of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The relationship between the Chukchi and neighboring peoples was not limited to clashes. Intertribal exchange also occupied a large place. According to legend, meetings between the Chukchi and Eskimos for exchange took place in Uelen and Naukan; both sides appeared fully armed and offered each other items of exchange at the ends of spears or exchanged them with naked knives in their hands. The exchange took place between the Eskimos of Alaska and the island. St. Lawrence, on the one hand, and the coastal Chukchi and Asian Eskimos, on the other. The American Eskimos needed reindeer skins and clothing made from the skins. The reindeer Chukchi, through the Asian Eskimos, exchanged blubber, walrus, sea hare and river beaver skins, and belts with them. In the tundra, the Chukchi had a wide exchange with the Koryaks, Yukaghirs and Evens.
The Russians first encountered the Chukchi in the mid-17th century. In 1642, the Cossack Ivan Erastov and his comrades met the Chukchi west of the Kolyma on the river. Alazee.
In 1644 the Nizhnekolymsky fort was founded, and in 1649 the Anadyr fort. From here the Cossacks subsequently came into direct contact with the Chukchi. Along with service people, industrial and commercial people penetrated into the northeast.
Attempts to impose yasak on the Chukchi ended unsuccessfully, since the territory where the Chukchi settled was poor in fur, and collecting yasak from the nomadic population in the tundra presented great difficulties. In the second half of the 18th century. The government completely abandoned the forced taxation of the Chukchi with yasak: trips to the Chukchi habitats - to completely unknown and inaccessible tundras caused large material costs and were not justified by any economic benefits. In 1770, the Anadyr fortress was liquidated, the maintenance of which from 1710 to 1764 cost 1,381 thousand rubles, and the yasak delivered through it during this time was estimated at only 29 thousand rubles. With the opening of the sea route to Kamchatka, the Anadyr fort lost its transit significance.
The last decades of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. characterized by the establishment of trade relations between the Russians and the Chukchi, in which the Chukchi themselves were interested. Russian goods (especially boilers and other iron products) and tobacco were in great demand among the Chukchi. Archival sources indicate that Western Chukchi reindeer herders repeatedly turned to local administration with requests to expand trade.
By the end of the 18th century. refers to the emergence of the first Russian-Chukchi fairs, which lasted until the revolution. In 1788, the beginning of the Anyui Fair was laid (on the Anyui River, in the village of Ostrovnoye), which played a major role in the development of trade relations throughout the northeast. The rapid growth of its turnover, which already reached 200 thousand rubles in 1822. banknotes, is explained by the fact that not only the Chukchi reindeer herders, but also the settled population of Chukotka - the coastal Chukchi and Eskimos, and through them the Eskimos of Alaska - were drawn into trade relations. Thus, the population of a vast territory of several thousand kilometers was drawn into exchange relations. Later, several more Russian-Chukchi fairs arose: Tumanskaya (on the tributary of Anadyr - Maine), Markovskaya (on Anadyr), Chukotka (east of the village of Penzhino), etc. The main units of exchange in Russian-Chukchi trade were: on the Russian side, tobacco and cauldrons , from Chukchi - red fox. All other goods were calculated in these units.
Simultaneously with the organization of trade, the tsarist administration tried to impose tribute on the Chukchi and in this way finally subordinate them to its influence. In an effort to win over the Chukchi, local authorities acted very carefully. Yasak was paid on a voluntary basis, and its payment was encouraged by gifts. Every year the treasury allocated a certain amount to the local administration for the purchase of various goods (tobacco, boilers, knives). These goods were brought to the fair and presented to the Chukchi, who voluntarily paid yasak.
After establishing good neighborly relations with the Russians, the Chukchi were no longer prevented from expanding their nomadic territories. Therefore, from the beginning of the 19th century. The Chukchi began to gradually spread to the west and southwest into territories previously inhabited by the Yukaghirs. This was caused by the strong growth of Chukchi reindeer husbandry, which required new pastures.
According to the “Charter on the Administration of Foreigners” of 1822, the Chukchi were classified as a special section of “foreigners imperfectly dependent on the government”, who are “governed and judged according to their customs and rituals” and pay tribute “at their own discretion, both in quantity and as".
By the end of the 50s of the XIX century. refers to the organization among the Chukchi “tribal administration”. Kolyma police officer G. Maydel, later known as a researcher of the Chukchi, divided them into “clans” and appointed a prince in each “clans,” thus seeking to use the wealthy elite of the Chukchi to collect yasak. Back at the beginning of the 20th century. the descendants of the princes retained daggers, medals and similar insignia issued to their ancestors. But these measures did not produce the expected results; the Chukchi did not recognize the authority of the appointed princes and did not pay yasak.
The Primorye Chukchi have been known from historical documents since 1648, since the voyage of Semyon Dezhnev. In the 18th and 19th centuries. They were repeatedly visited by Russian Cossacks sent from the Anadyr fort, as well as Russian travelers and sailors, topographers, merchants, etc. In the 50s of the 19th century. In the seas washing the Chukotka Peninsula, American industrialists appeared - whalers, who, at the same time as sea fishing, were also engaged in trade with the local population (the coastal Chukchi and Eskimos). The penetration of Americans into Chukotka had a devastating impact on the economy of the coastal population. The large-scale trade in alcohol and the massive destruction of the most valuable local fisheries - whales and walruses - had a detrimental effect on the well-being of the coastal Chukchi and Eskimos.
In the last decades of the 19th century. The tsarist government is taking some steps to expel foreigners. In 1889, a special administrative Mariinsky post was opened in Anadyr. The development of Russian trade in Chukotka is encouraged, and the Russian merchants begin to successfully compete with foreigners. Coal mining is also being established, mainly for steamships. This continued until the First World War. The war years were accompanied by a significant influx of small, mostly foreign traders to Chukotka. On the coasts of the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Strait, many English, American, Norwegian and other whalers and traders who soldered and robbed the indigenous population. They were removed from there only after the establishment of Soviet power in Chukotka.
Education
Schoolchildren can easily answer the question “Where do the Chukchi live?” In the Far East there is Chukotka or the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. But if we complicate the question a little: “Where do the Chukchi and Eskimos live?”, difficulties arise. There is no region of the same name; we need to find a more serious approach and understand the national intricacies.
Are there any differences between the Chukchi, Eskimos and Koryaks?
Of course there is. These are all different nationalities, once tribes, having common roots and inhabiting similar territories.
The regions in Russia where the Chukchi or Luoravetlans live are concentrated in the north. These are the Republic of Sakha, Koryak Autonomous Okrug and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Since ancient times, their tribes inhabited the extreme regions Eastern Siberia. At first they were nomadic, but after the reindeer were tamed, they began to adapt a little to a sedentary lifestyle. They speak the Chukchi language, which has several dialects. The Luoravetlans or Chukchi (self-name) divided themselves into sea hunters living on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and reindeer hunters of the tundra.
Some anthropologists classify the Eskimos as a Mongoloid race of Arctic origin. This nation lives in the state of Alaska (USA), in the northern regions of Canada, on the island of Greenland (Denmark) and quite a few (1,500 people) in Chukotka. In each country, Eskimos speak their own language: Greenlandic, Alaskan Inuit, and Canadian Eskimo. All of them are divided into different dialects.
Who are the Chukchi and Koryak? The Luoravetlans first pushed back the Eskimo tribes, and then separated territorially from the Koryaks. Today the Koryaks (a common nationality with the Chukchi) constitute the indigenous population of the eponymous Autonomous Okrug Kamchatka region in Russia. In total there are about 7,000 people. The Koryak language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka group. The first mentions of the Koryaks are found in documents of the 16th century. People are described, some of whom were engaged in reindeer herding, and others in marine fishing.
Appearance
Where do the Chukchi live and what do they look like? The answer to the first part of the question is formulated above. More recently, scientists have proven the genetic relationship of the Chukchi and Indians. Indeed, their appearance has a lot in common. The Chukchi belong to a mixed Mongoloid race. They are similar to the inhabitants of Mongolia, China, and Korea, but are somewhat different.
The eye shape of Luoravetlan men is more horizontal than slanting. The cheekbones are not as wide as those of the Yakuts, and the skin color has a bronze tint. Women of this nationality are more similar in appearance to Mongoloids: wide cheekbones, wide noses with large nostrils. The hair color of both sexes is black. Men cut their hair short, women braid two braids and decorate them with beads. Married women wear bangs.
Luoravetlan winter clothes are two-layer, most often sewn from fawn fur. Summer clothing consists of capes or jackets made of deer suede.
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Character Traits
When drawing a psychological portrait of this nationality, they note the main feature - excessive nervous excitability. Luoravetlan are easily disturbed from a state of spiritual balance; they are very hot-tempered. Against this background, they have a tendency towards murder or suicide. For example, a relative can easily respond to the request of a seriously ill family member and kill him so that he does not suffer in agony. This nation is extremely independent and original. In any dispute or struggle they show unprecedented persistence.
At the same time, these people are very hospitable and good-natured, naive. They selflessly come to the aid of their neighbors and everyone in need. They take the concept of marital fidelity very lightly. Wives are rarely jealous of their husbands.
Living conditions
Where the Chukchi live (pictured below), there is a short polar summer, and the rest of the time is winter. To refer to the weather, residents use only two expressions: “there is weather” or “there is no weather.” This designation is an indicator of the hunt, that is, whether it will be successful or not. From time immemorial, the Chukchi have continued their fishing traditions. They love seal meat very much. A happy hunter catches three in one go, then his family with children (usually 5-6 of them) will be fed for several days.
Places for yarang families are most often chosen surrounded by hills so that there is more calmness. It is very cold inside, although the dwelling is lined length and breadth with skins. Usually there is a small fire in the middle, surrounded by round boulders. There is a hanging cauldron of food on it. The wife takes care of the housework, butchering carcasses, cooking, and salting meat. There are children near her. Together they collect plants in season. The husband is the breadwinner. This way of life has been preserved for many centuries.
Sometimes such indigenous families do not go to the villages for months. Some children don't even have a birth certificate. Parents then have to prove that this is their child.
Why is the Chukchi the hero of jokes?
There is an opinion that Russians composed humorous stories about them out of fear and respect, a sense of superiority over themselves. Since the 18th century, when Cossack troops moved across endless Siberia and met the Luoravetlan tribes, rumors began to circulate about a warlike nation that was very difficult to surpass in battle.
The Chukchi taught their sons fearlessness and dexterity from childhood, raising them in Spartan conditions. In the harsh terrain where the Chukchi live, the future hunter must be sensitive, be able to endure any discomfort, sleep standing up, and not be afraid of pain. The favorite national wrestling takes place on a slippery sealskin spread, with sharp claws sticking out along the perimeter.
Militant reindeer herders
The Koryak population, which before the Chukchi became part of the Russian Empire, fled from the battlefield if they saw at least several dozen luoravetlans. Even in other countries there were tales about militant reindeer herders who are not afraid of arrows, dodge them, catch them and launch them at the enemy with their hands. Women and children who were captured killed themselves to avoid being enslaved.
In battle, the Chukchi were merciless, accurately killing the enemy with arrows, the tips of which were smeared with poison.
The government began to warn the Cossacks not to engage in battles with the Chukchi. At the next stage, they decided to bribe, persuade, and then solder the population (more so in Soviet times). And at the end of the 18th century. A fortress was built near the Angarka River. Fairs were periodically held near it to trade with reindeer herders in exchange. Luoravetlans were not allowed into their territory. Russian Cossacks have always been interested in where the Chukchi live and what they do.
Trade affairs
Reindeer herders paid tribute to the Russian Empire in the amount they could afford. Often she was not paid at all. With the beginning of peace negotiations and cooperation, the Russians brought syphilis to the Chukchi. They were now afraid of all representatives of the Caucasian race. For example, with the French and British they did not have trade relations just because they are "white".
Business ties were established with Japan, a neighboring country. The Chukchi live where it is impossible to extract metal ores in the depths of the earth. Therefore, they actively bought protective armor, armor, other military uniforms and equipment, and metal products from the Japanese.
The Luoravetlans exchanged furs and other extracted goods for tobacco with the Americans. The skins of blue fox, marten, and whalebone were highly valued.
Chukchi today
Most of the Luoravetlans mixed with other nationalities. There are almost no purebred Chukchi left now. The “ineradicable people,” as they are often called, assimilated. At the same time, they preserve their occupation, culture, and way of life.
Many scientists are confident that the small indigenous ethnic group is threatened not by extinction, but by the social abyss in which they find themselves. Many children cannot read and write and do not go to school. The standard of living of the Luoravetlans is far from civilization, and they do not strive for it. The Chukchi live in harsh natural conditions and do not like having their own rules imposed on them. But when they find frozen Russians in the snow, they bring them to the yaranga. They say that they then put the guest under the skin along with his naked wife so that she can warm him up.
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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF HISTORY
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Essay on ethnology
Traditional Chukchi culture
Irkutsk, 2007
Introduction
Ancestral homeland and resettlement of the Chukchi
Main activities
Social order
Life of the Chukchi
Beliefs and rituals
Conclusion
Introduction
Chukchi, (self-name, “real people”).
The population in the Russian Federation is 15.1 thousand people, the indigenous population of the Chukotka Autonomous Region. districts (11.9 thousand people). They also live in the north of the Koryak Autonomous Area. district (1.5 thousand people) and in the Lower Kolyma region of Yakutia (1.3 thousand people).
502: Bad Gateway
people) speak the Chukchi language.
The first mentions of the Chukchi, in Russian documents - from the 40s of the 17th century, divide them into "reindeer" and "foot". Reindeer herders roamed the tundra and on the coast of the Arctic Ocean between Alazeya and Kolyma, at Cape Shelagsky and further east to the Bering Strait.
The settlements of the “foot” Chukchi, sedentary sea hunters, were located together with the Eskimos between Cape Dezhnev and the Bay of the Cross and further south in the lower reaches of Anadyr and the Kanchalan River. The number of Chukchi at the end of the 17th century. was about 8-9 thousand people.
Contacts with the Russians initially remained mainly in the lower Kolyma. Attempts to impose tribute on the Lower Kolyma Chukchi and military campaigns against them in the mid-17th century did not bring results.
Due to military conflicts and the smallpox epidemic, the number of Lower Kolyma Chukchi decreased sharply, and the remainder migrated to the east. After the annexation of Kamchatka to Russia, the population of the Anadyr fort, founded in 1649, began to grow, which
Since the end of the 18th century, trade contacts between the Chukchi and the Russians intensified.
According to the “Charter on the Administration of Foreigners” of 1822, the Chukchi did not bear any duties; they contributed yasak voluntarily, receiving gifts for it. The established peaceful relations with the Russians, Koryaks and Yukagirs, and the development of herding reindeer herding, contributed to the further expansion of the Chukchi territory to the west.
By the 1830s, they had penetrated the river. Bolshaya Baranikha, by the 1850s - in the lower Kolyma, by the mid-1860s - in the area between the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers; to the south - the territory of the Koryaks, between Penzhina and Korfu Bay, where the Koryaks were partially assimilated.
In the east, the assimilation of the Chukchi - Eskimos - intensified. In the 1850s American whalers entered into trade with the coastal Chukchi. The expansion of the territory inhabited by the Chukchi was accompanied by the final identification of territorial groups: Kolyma, Anyui, or Malo-Anyu, Chaun, Omolon, Amguem, or Amguem-Vonkarem, Kolyuchino-Mechigmen, Onmylen (inner Chukchi), Tumansk, or Vilyunei, Olyutor, Bering Sea ( Sea Chukchi) and others. In 1897, the number of Chukchi was 11,751 people.
Since the end of the 19th century, due to the extermination of sea animals, the number of coastal Chukchi fell sharply, by 1926 it amounted to 30% of all Chukchi. Modern descendants of the coastal Chukchi live in the villages of Sirenki, Novo Chaplino, Providence, Nunligran, Enmelen, Yanrakynnot, Inchoun, Lorino, Lavrentiya, Neshkan, Uelen, Enurmino on the eastern coast of Chukotka.
In 1930, the Chukotka National District was formed (since 1977 - author.
district). The ethnic development of the Chukchi in the 20th century, especially during the period of consolidation of collective farms and the formation of state farms from the 2nd half of the 50s, was characterized by consolidation and overcoming the isolation of individual groups
Ancestral homeland and resettlement of the Chukchi
The Chukchi were divided into reindeer - tundra nomadic reindeer herders (the self-name Chauchu - "reindeer man") and the coastal - sedentary hunters of sea animals (the self-name Ankalyn - "coastal"), living together with the Eskimos.
These groups were connected by kinship and natural exchange. Self-names based on place of residence or migration are common: uvelelyt - “Uelenians”, “chaalyt” - “Chukchi wandering along the Chaun River”. These self-names are preserved, even among residents of modern enlarged settlements. The names of smaller groups within the settlements: tapkaralyt - “living on the spit”, gynonralyt - “living in the center”, etc.
Among the Western Chukchi, the self-name Chugchit (probably from Chauchu) is common.
Initially, the ancestral home of the Chukchi was considered to be the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, from where they moved north, assimilating part of the Yukaghirs and Eskimos. According to modern research, the ancestors of the Chukchi and related Koryaks lived in the inner regions of Chukotka.
Occupying the area inhabited by the Eskimos, the Chukchi partially assimilated them and borrowed many features of their culture (fat lamps, canopies, the design and shape of tambourines, fishing rituals and holidays, pantomime dances, etc.).
Long-term interaction with the Eskimos also affected the language and worldview of the indigenous Chukchi. As a result of contacts between land and sea hunting cultures, the Chukchi experienced an economic division of labor. Yukaghir elements also took part in the ethnogenesis of the Chukchi. Contacts with the Yukaghirs became relatively stable at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, when the Yukaghirs, under the influence of the Evens, moved east to the Anadyr River basin.
Reindeer husbandry developed among the tundra Chukchi, apparently under the influence of the Koryaks, shortly before the appearance of the Russians.
Main activities
The main occupation of the tundra Chukchi was nomadic reindeer herding, which had a pronounced meat-hide character.
Sled reindeer were also used. The herds were comparatively large in size; the deer were poorly accustomed and were grazed without the help of dogs. In winter, the herds were kept in places sheltered from the wind, migrating several times during the winter; in the summer, men went with the herd into the tundra, women, old people and children lived in camps along the banks of rivers or the sea.
The reindeer were not milked; sometimes the shepherds sucked the milk. Urine was used to lure deer. Deer were castrated by biting the sperm ducts.
The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting sea animals: in winter and spring - seals and seals, in summer and autumn - walruses and whales. They hunted seals alone, crawling up to them, camouflaging themselves and imitating the movements of the animal. The walrus was hunted in groups of several canoes. Traditional hunting weapons - a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, from the 2nd floor.
19th century Firearms became widespread and hunting methods became simpler. Sometimes they shot seals at high speed from sleds.
Fishing, except for the basins of Anadyr, Kolyma and Sauna, was poorly developed. Men were engaged in fishing. Fish were caught with a net, a fishing rod, and nets. In summer - from a kayak, in winter - in an ice hole. Salmon was stored for future use.
Before the advent of firearms, wild deer and mountain sheep were hunted, which were subsequently almost completely exterminated.
Under the influence of trade with the Russians, the fur trade spread. To this day, bird hunting has been preserved using “bolas” - throwing weapons made of several ropes with weights that entangled a flying bird. Previously, when hunting birds, they also used darts with a throwing plank and noose-traps; eiders were beaten in the water with sticks. Women and children also collected edible plants.
To dig up roots, they used a tool with a tip made of horn, and later - iron.
Traditional crafts include fur dressing, weaving bags from fireweed and wild rye fibers for women, and bone processing for men. Developed artistic carving, and engraving on bone and walrus tusk, applique of fur and sealskin, embroidery with deer hair.
The Chukchi ornament is characterized by a small geometric pattern. In the 19th century, artisanal associations emerged on the east coast to produce carved walrus ivory items for sale. In the 20th century Thematic engraving on bone and walrus tusk developed (works by Vukvol, Vukvutagin, Gemauge, Halmo, Ichel, Ettugi, etc.).
The center of bone carving art was a workshop in the village of Uelen (established in 1931).
In the 2nd half. 19th century many Chukchi began to be hired on whaling schooners and gold mines.
Social order
The social system of the Chukchi, at the beginning of contacts with the Russians, was characterized by the development of a patriarchal community into a neighboring one, the development of property, and differentiation.
Deer, dogs, houses and canoes were privately owned, while pastures and fishing grounds were communally owned. The main social unit of the tundra Ch. was a camp of 3-4 related families; Among the poor, camps could unite unrelated families; in the camps of large reindeer herders, their workers lived with their families.
Groups of 15-20 camps were connected by mutual assistance. Primorye Ch. united several families into a canoe community, headed by the owner of the canoe. Among the reindeer Ch., there were patrilineal kinship groups (varat), bound by common customs (blood feud, transfer of ritual fire, common signs on the face during sacrifices, etc.).
Until the 18th century Patriarchal slavery was known. The family in the past was a large patriarchal one, to the end. 19th century - small patrilocal. According to the traditional wedding ceremony, the bride, accompanied by relatives, rode her reindeer to the groom. At the yaranga, a deer was slaughtered and with its blood the bride, groom and their relatives were marked with the groom's family marks on their faces.
The child was usually given a name 2-3 weeks after birth. There were elements of group marriage ("variable marriage"), labor for the bride, and among the rich - polygamy. Many problems in reindeer Ch. arose with disproportion in the sex structure (there were fewer women than men).
Life of the Chukchi
The main dwelling of the Chukchi is a collapsible cylindrical-conical tent-yaranga made of reindeer skins for the tundra, and walrus for the coastal ones.
The vault rested on three poles in the center. Inside, the yaranga was partitioned with canopies in the form of large blind fur bags stretched on poles, illuminated and heated by a stone, clay or wooden fat lamp, on which food was also prepared.
They sat on skins, tree roots or deer antlers. Dogs were also kept in yarangas. The yaranga of the coastal Chukchi differed from the dwellings of the reindeer herders in the absence of a smoke hole. Until the end of the 19th century, the coastal Chukchi retained a semi-dugout, borrowed from the Eskimos (valkaran - “house of whale jaws”) - on a frame made of whale bones, covered with turf and earth. In summer it was entered through a hole in the roof, in winter - through a long corridor.
The nomadic Chukchi camps consisted of 2-10 yarangas, stretched from east to west, the first yaranga from the west was the head of the community. The settlements of the coastal Chukchi numbered up to 20 or more yarangas, randomly scattered.
Chukchi
Chukchi or luoravetlany(self-name - ygyoravetet, oravetet) - a small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyuya rivers.
The number according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002 is 15,767 people, according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 - 15,908 people.
Number of Chukchi in Russia:
Number of Chukchi in Russia:
Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, was adapted in the 17th century.
Russian explorers used the Chukchi word chauchu [ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), by which name the Chukchi reindeer herders call themselves in contrast to the coastal Chukchi - dog breeders - ankalyn (seaside, Pomors - from anki (sea)). Self-name - oravetӓеt (people, singular oravetғеtеn) or ғыгъоруватӓет [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt] (real people, singular ԓыгъоруватӓ'ен [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in Russian translation luora vetlan).
The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukaghirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the shores of the Bering Strait). The Chukchi type is mixed, generally Mongoloid, but with some differences. Eyes with an oblique cut are less common than eyes with a horizontal cut; the width of the cheekbones is less than that of the Evenks; there are individuals with thick facial hair and wavy, almost curly hair on their heads; complexion with a bronze tint; body color is devoid of a yellowish tint.
The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the peculiarities of life of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog harness.
The final solution to the question of ethnographic origin depends on a comparative study of the Chukchi language and the languages of nearby American peoples. One of the language experts, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, based on their language, the Chukchi were classified as Paleo-Asians, that is, a group of marginal peoples of Asia, whose languages stand completely apart from all other linguistic groups of the Asian continent, pushed out in very distant times from the middle of the continent to the northeastern outskirts.
Story
The modern ethnogenetic scheme allows us to evaluate the Chukchi as the aborigines of continental Chukotka. Their ancestors formed here at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. The basis of the culture of this population was hunting for wild deer, which existed here in fairly stable natural and climatic conditions until the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. The Chukchi first encountered Russians back in the 17th century on the Alazeya River.
In 1644, the Cossack Mikhail Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsk fort. The Chukchi, who at that time were wandering both east and west of the Kolyma, after a bloody struggle finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing back the Eskimo tribe of the Mamalls from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Bering Sea during their retreat.
Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between the Russians and the Chukchi have not stopped, whose territory bordered on the Russian along the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur region (for more details, see.
Who are the Chukchi really?
Russian-Chukchi Wars).
In 1770, after Shestakov’s unsuccessful campaign, the Anadyr fort, which served as the center of the Russian struggle against the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhnekolymsk, after which the Chukchi became less hostile towards the Russians and gradually began to enter into trade relations with them. In 1775, on the Angarka River, a tributary of the Bolshoi Anyui, the Angarsk fortress was built, where, under the protection of the Cossacks, an annual fair for barter trade with the Chukchi took place.
The Chukchi treated all their neighbors extremely arrogantly and not a single people in their folklore, with the exception of the Russians and themselves, are called people. In the Chukchi myth about the creation of the world, the purpose of the Russians is considered to be the production of tea, tobacco, sugar, salt and iron, and the trade of all this with the Chukchi. But, for some unknown reason, the Russians despised their destiny and began to fight.
Since 1848, the fair was moved to the Anyui fortress (about 250 km from Nizhnekolymsk, on the banks of the Maly Anyui).
Until the first half of the 19th century, when European goods were delivered to the territory of the Chukchi by the only land route through Yakutsk, the Anyui Fair had a turnover of hundreds of thousands of rubles. The Chukchi brought for sale not only ordinary products of their own production (clothing made from reindeer furs, reindeer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs (beavers, martens, black foxes, blue foxes) , which the so-called nose Chukchi exchanged for tobacco with the inhabitants of the shores of the Bering Sea and the northwestern coast of America.
With the advent of American whalers in the waters of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean, as well as with the delivery of goods to Gizhiga by ships of the voluntary fleet (in the 1880s), the largest turnover of the Anyui Fair ceased, and by the end of the 19th century it began to serve only the needs of the local Kolyma trading, with a turnover of no more than 25 thousand.
Language and literature
By origin, the Chukchi language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of Paleo-Asian languages. Closest relatives: Koryak, Kerek (disappeared at the end of the twentieth century), Alyutor, Itelmen, etc. Typologically, it belongs to the incorporating languages (a word-morpheme acquires a specific meaning only depending on its place in the sentence, and can be significantly deformed depending on the conjugation with other members of the sentence).
In the 1930s The Chukchi shepherd Teneville created an original ideographic writing (samples are stored in the Kunstkamera - Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences), which, however, never came into widespread use. Since the 1930s The Chukchi use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Chukotka literature is created mainly in Russian (Yu. S.
Rytkheu and others).
How do modern Chukchi live?
Aleutian
neighboring Chukchi and Eskimos
lives next to the Chukchi
member of the Chukchi and Eskimos
Alaskan Chukchi
northwest of the Chukchi and Koryaks
northwest of the Chukchi
compatriots of the Chukchi and Eskimos
neighbors Chukchi and Eskimov
neighboring Chukchi and Eskimos
neighboring Chukchi and Eskimos
live next to the Chukchi
(Chukotka.
house of whale jaws), living among the peoples of the Bering Sea shores (Eskim, Aleutsi, Chechchi): semi-skeleton with the skeleton of a large bone, covered with earth and a tent
the essence of the plague for the Chukchi
and the plague for the Chukchi and Tipe for the Indians
Chukchi profession
Chukki on a sleigh
Chukchi spirit - owner of sea animals
suitable neighbors for the Chukchi
southern neighbor Chukchi
between the Chukchi and Enixi
These words were also found using the following terms:
capital of the Chukchi
Possible answers to your crossword puzzle
Anadyr
Aleutian
ALEUTKA
ALEUTHES
joke
Valkarana
- Vancarania culture, ca.
The Wankarani culture existed north of Lake Poopo, now part of the Oruro Department of Bolivia, at an altitude of about 4,000 meters.
- (Chukchi Whale Jaw House), living among the peoples on the Bering Sea coast (Eskimos, Aleutians, Chechchi): semi-skeleton with a skeleton of large ossicles covered with earth and a tent
KERETKUN
- The spirit of the Chukchi is the owner of sea animals
KORNAKI
KORNACH
NANAITS
