About small peoples. Small peoples of Russia: list

Since ancient times, the vast territories of the Russian Federation have been inhabited by many peoples, tribes and settlements. Each of them had its own individual culture, characteristic dialect and local traditions. Today, some of them have completely disappeared, while others remain, but in smaller numbers. What are the smallest peoples of Russia? What is their history, culture and modern life? This will be discussed further.

Archintsy - small in number, but unique

In the Charodinsky district, in the place where the Khatar River flows, which is located on the territory of Dagestan, a settlement has been established, the inhabitants of which are called Archintsy. Some of their neighbors call them archie for short. During the Soviet Union, their number reached almost 500 people. These are the small peoples of Russia. Today, this small settlement has no intention of disappearing from the face of the Earth, and already numbers about 1,200 people.

Daily life of Archa residents

The weather conditions in the habitat of the Archin people can be called unfavorable, as they are characterized by very cold and long winters and short summers. Despite such a harsh climate, the inhabitants of this area (small peoples of Russia) have fairly good and productive pastures, on which livestock regularly grazed.

A cross between Christianity and paganism

A peculiarity of this people is their cultural similarity with their neighbors - the Avars. Although this area has not been thoroughly studied, from an archaeological point of view, it is safe to say that this territory was developed in the early Bronze Age. Judging by the latest finds, it can be assumed that the tribe was under the influence of paganism for quite a long time and only relatively recently began to adopt Christian traditions as the main religion. As a result, we can say that the lion's share of rituals and other religious aspects were mixed with each other, and the result was Christianity with an admixture of paganism. The indigenous peoples of Russia have come to terms with this state of affairs.

National clothes and food

Not much can be said about the traditional clothing of the tribe. It consisted mainly of rawhide and sheep skins. Such natural materials protected the Archa people quite well during the cold season, which, as we know, was quite long. The tribe's diet is predominantly meat. Raw, dried, raw smoked - all these and many other types of meat were actively used in the preparation of traditional dishes.
It is noteworthy that almost none of them could be done without adding old lamb fat. Both first and second courses were generously seasoned with it and some other spices. In general, we can say with confidence that the Archin people are a pleasant and hospitable, although not numerous, people.

Hospitality and morality

They revere ancient traditions and do not forget their origins. When a guest comes to the house, the owner does not sit down until the newcomer does so. Also, among the Archin people, the concept of hospitality was not limited to a hearty lunch. To receive a guest in the full sense of the word meant to provide him with a roof over his head and complete safety within his home. From the above we can safely conclude that this tribe had and has high moral standards.

Nogai or Karagash

Karagashi (Nogais) are a small ethnic group that settled and lives in the territory of the modern Astrakhan region. In 2008, there were about 8 thousand people, but there are suggestions that today their number has increased significantly. It is on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk region that most of the villages where these small peoples of Russia live today are located.

Most small or nomadic tribes are very similar in their type of activity - cattle breeding and vegetable growing. If there is a lake or river in the area, local residents do not miss the opportunity to go fishing. Women in such tribes are very economical and almost always do some kind of intricate needlework.
One of the most famous nomadic tribes are the Astrakhan Tatars. This is truly the titular nationality of the Republic of Tatarstan, which today is part of the Russian Federation. Compared to other regions of Russia, Tatarstan is relatively populous. According to some data recorded in 2002, there are about 8 million Tatars worldwide. The Astrakhan Tatars are one of their, so to speak, varieties. They can rather be called an ethnoterritorial group. Their culture and traditions are not far removed from ordinary Tatar customs, and are only slightly intertwined with Russian rituals. These are the costs of the fact that the smallest people in Russia live on the territory of a not entirely native state.

Udege people. Historically, Primorsk became the habitat of this small tribe. This is one of the few groups inhabiting Russia that does not have its own written language.
Their language is also divided into many dialects and does not have one officially approved form. Their traditional activities include hunting. This, perhaps, is exactly what the male half of the tribe should master perfectly. The small peoples of the north of Russia live in settlements where civilization is very poorly developed, so their hands, their skills and abilities are practically the only way to survive in this world. And they are quite successful at it.

The small peoples of Russia have their own traditional religion

The religious themes of the tribe are very close. It seems that the closer a person lives to nature, the more religious he becomes. And this is true, because alone with the sky, grass and trees, it seems that God himself is talking to you. The Udege people believe in many different otherworldly beings, including spirits and various supernatural forces.

A few Ulchi and their view of nomadic life

Ulchi. Translated, it means “people of the earth”, which, in fact, is so, only the people are very small, one might even say - the smallest people in Russia. The Ulchi inhabit the Khabarovsk Territory today and number approximately 732 people. The tribe is historically intertwined with the Nanai ethnic group. Traditionally, both in the past and in the present, the indigenous peoples of the north of Russia are engaged in fishing and seasonal hunting of elk or deer. If we talk about spiritual and religious life, then we can understand that it is in this area that one can meet the most real ritual shamans in the Ulchi tribe.

They worship spirits and try in every possible way to appease them with their behavior. Be that as it may, it is pleasant that such tribes with their ancient customs, rituals and traditions have reached even our civilized modernity. This makes it possible to experience their primitive flavor and uniqueness. There is a lot to learn from them about nature and human relationships.

Other small peoples of Russia (approximate list):

• yugi (yugen);
• Urum Greeks (Urum);
• Mennonites (German Mennonites);
• kereks;
• Bagulals (Bagvalians);
• Circassians;
• Kaitag people.

Small peoples

Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the indigenous peoples of the North) are peoples of less than 50 thousand people living in the northern regions of Russia, Siberia and the Russian Far East in the territories of the traditional settlement of their ancestors, preserving their traditional way of life , management and crafts and realizing themselves as independent ethnic communities.

general information

Indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East - this is the official name; more briefly, they are usually called the peoples of the North. The birth of this group dates back to the very beginning of the formation of Soviet power, to the 1920s, when a special resolution “On Assistance to the Peoples of the Northern Outskirts” was adopted. At that time, it was possible to count about 50, if not more, different groups that lived in the Far North. They, as a rule, were engaged in reindeer herding, and their way of life was significantly different from what the first Soviet Bolsheviks saw for themselves.

As time passed, this category continued to remain as a special accounting category, gradually this list crystallized, more precise names of individual ethnic groups appeared, and in the post-war period, at least since the 1960s, especially in the 1970s, this category began to include 26 nations. And when they talked about the peoples of the North, they meant 26 indigenous peoples of the North - they were called back in their time the small peoples of the North. These are different language groups, people speaking different languages, including those whose close relatives have not yet been discovered. This is the language of the Kets, whose relations with other languages ​​are quite complex, the language of the Nivkhs, and a number of other languages.

Despite the measures taken by the state (at that time it was called the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet government), separate resolutions were adopted on the economic development of these peoples, on how to facilitate their economic existence - still the situation remained quite difficult: alcoholism was spreading , there were a lot of social ills. So gradually we lived until the end of the 1980s, when suddenly it turned out that 26 peoples did not fall asleep, did not forget their languages, did not lose their culture, and even if something happened, they want to restore it, reconstruct it, and so on, want to use it in their modern life.

At the very beginning of the 1990s, this list suddenly began to live a second life. Some peoples of Southern Siberia were included in it, and so there were not 26, but 30 nations. Then gradually, during the 1990s - early 2000s, this list expanded, expanded, and today there are about 40-45 ethnic groups, starting from the European part of Russia and ending with the Far East, a significant number of ethnic groups are included in this the so-called list of indigenous peoples of the north of Siberia and the Far East.

What does it take to be on this list?

First of all, you as a people are officially forbidden to be fruitful and multiply in the sense that, let it sound rude, you should not be more than 50,000 people. There is a limit on numbers. You must live in the territory of your ancestors, engage in traditional farming, preserve traditional culture and language. Everything is actually not so simple, it is not easy to have a special self-name, but you must consider yourself an independent people. Everything is very, very difficult, even with the same self-name.

Let's try to look at, say, the Altai people. Altaians themselves are not included in the list of indigenous peoples. And for a long time in Soviet ethnography and Soviet science it was believed that this was a single people, formed, however, from different groups, but they formed into a single socialist nation. When the late 1980s and early 1990s arrived, it turned out that those who made up the Altaians still remember that they are not completely Altaians. This is how new ethnic groups appeared on the map of the Altai Republic and on the ethnographic map: Chelkans, Tubalars, Kumandins, Altaians themselves, Telengits. Some of them were included in the list of indigenous peoples of the North. There was a very difficult situation - the 2002 census, when the power structures of the Altai Republic were very afraid that due to the fact that a significant part of the former Altaians suddenly enrolled in the indigenous peoples, the population of the republic, that is, the titular people, would significantly decrease and then they would be taken away portfolios - there will be no republic, and people will lose their positions. Everything turned out well: in our country there is no such direct correlation between the titular ethnic group and the status of the entity in which it lives - it could be a republic, an autonomous district or something else.

But when it comes to ethnic identity, the situation is much more complicated. We said that several groups of these Altaians emerged. But if we take each of them, we will find that each of them consists of 5, 10, and maybe 20 divisions. They are called genus, or, in Altai, “syok” (‘bone’), some of them have a very ancient origin. In the same 2002, the leaders of the clans - they are called zaisans - when they learned that the people’s answer would not affect the status of the republic in any way, they said: “Oh, how good. So, maybe now we’ll write ourselves down as Naimans, Kipchaks (by the name of the clan).” That is, it really turns out that a person is generally an Altai, but at the same time he can be a representative of some ethnic group within the Altaians. He may be a member of his own family. If you dig around, you can find even smaller ones.

Why should you be on this list?

Since there is a list, you can get into it, you can sign up for it. If you are not on this list, then you will not have any benefits. About benefits, as a rule, they say: “They signed up there because they want benefits.” Of course, there are some benefits if you know about them and can take advantage of them. Some people don't know that they exist. These are benefits for medical care, for receiving firewood (relevant in villages), it could be preferential admission for your children to university, there is another list of these benefits. But that's really not the most important thing. There is such a moment: you want to live on your own land, and you have no other land. If you are not included in this list of indigenous peoples of the North, then you will be treated like everyone else, although you are already a citizen of the Russian Federation. Then you will not have additional leverage in terms of protecting the territory on which you and your ancestors lived, hunted, fished, and practiced that traditional way of life, which is very important to you.

Why is it so important? Sometimes with laughter, sometimes without laughter they say: “Well, what can we take from him? Even if he is a “white collar” worker, the time comes for poutine or to collect cones in the taiga, he goes to the taiga to collect cones or to poutine, disappears into the sea and catches fish.” A man works in an office, but he cannot live without it. Here they tell it with laughter or even disdain. If we find ourselves, say, in the United States, then we will simply find that self-respecting companies will provide a person with vacation for this time, because they understand that he cannot live without it, and not because it is his whim, that he wants to go fishing, just like any of us might want to go somewhere on the weekend to relax. No, it’s something in the blood that drives a person from the office back to the taiga, to the lands of his ancestors.

If you do not have the opportunity to further protect this land, then various difficult life situations may occur. It is no secret that the territory inhabited by small indigenous peoples of the North is rich in mineral resources. It can be anything: gold, uranium, mercury, oil, gas, coal. And these people live on lands that seem very important from the point of view of the strategic development of the state.

7 smallest nations of Russia

Chulym people

Chulym Turks or Yus Kizhiler (“Chulym people”) live on the banks of the Chulym River in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and have their own language. In former times, they lived in uluses, where they built dugouts (odyg), half-dugouts (kyshtag), yurts and tents. They were engaged in fishing, hunting fur-bearing animals, extracting medicinal herbs, pine nuts, growing barley and millet, harvesting birch bark and bast, weaving ropes and nets, making boats, skis, and sledges. Later they began to grow rye, oats and wheat and live in huts. Both women and men wore trousers made from burbot skins and shirts trimmed with fur. Women braided many braids and wore coin pendants and jewelry. Dwellings are characterized by chuvals with open hearths, low clay stoves (kemega), bunks and chests. Some Chulymch residents converted to Orthodoxy, others remained shamanists. The people have preserved traditional folklore and crafts, but only 17% of 355 people speak their native language.

Oroks

Indigenous people of Sakhalin. They call themselves Uilta, which means “deer”. The Orok language has no written language and is spoken by almost half of the 295 remaining Oroks. The Japanese nicknamed the Orok people. The Uilta are engaged in hunting - sea and taiga, fishing (they catch pink salmon, chum salmon, coho salmon and salmon), reindeer husbandry and gathering. Nowadays, reindeer husbandry has fallen into decline, and hunting and fishing are under threat due to oil development and land problems. Scientists assess the prospects for the continued existence of the nation with great caution.

Enets

The Enets shamanists, also known as the Yenisei Samoyeds, call themselves Encho, Mogadi or Pebai. They live on Taimyr at the mouth of the Yenisei in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The traditional dwelling is a conical tent. Of the 227 people, only a third speak their native language. The rest speak Russian or Nenets. The national clothing of the Enets is a parka, fur pants and stockings. Women have a swing parka, men have a one-piece parka. Traditional food is fresh or frozen meat, fresh fish, fish meal - porsa. From time immemorial, the Enets have been engaged in reindeer hunting, reindeer husbandry, and Arctic fox. Almost all modern Enets live in permanent settlements.

Basins

The Tazy (Tadzy, Datzy) are a small and fairly young people living on the Ussuri River in the Primorsky Territory. It was first mentioned in the 18th century. The Taz originated from the mixing of the Nanai and Udege with the Manchus and Chinese. The language is similar to the dialects of northern China, but very different. Now there are 274 Tazis in Russia, and almost none of them speak their native language. If at the end of the 19th century 1,050 people knew it, now it is owned by several elderly women in the village of Mikhailovka. The Taz live by hunting, fishing, gathering, farming and animal husbandry. Recently, they have been striving to revive the culture and customs of their ancestors.

Izhora

The Finno-Ugric people Izhora (Izhora) lived on the tributary of the Neva of the same name. The self-name of the people is Karyalaysht, which means “Karelians”. The language is close to Karelian. They profess Orthodoxy. During the Time of Troubles, the Izhorians fell under the rule of the Swedes, and fleeing the introduction of Lutheranism, they moved to Russian lands. The main occupation of the Izhors was fishing, namely the extraction of smelt and herring. The Izhors worked as carpenters, weaving and basket weaving. In the middle of the 19th century, 18,000 Izhoras lived in the St. Petersburg and Vyborg provinces. The events of World War II had a catastrophic impact on the population. Some of the villages burned down, the Izhorians were taken to Finland, and those who returned from there were transported to Siberia. Those who remained in place disappeared among the Russian population. Now there are only 266 Izhors left.

Vod

The self-name of this Orthodox Finno-Ugric vanishing people of Russia is Vodyalayn, Vaddyalaizyd. In the 2010 census, only 64 people classified themselves as Vod. The language of the nationality is close to the southeastern dialect of the Estonian language and to the Livonian language. From time immemorial, the Vods lived south of the Gulf of Finland, on the territory of the so-called Vodskaya Pyatina, which is mentioned in the chronicles. The nationality itself was formed in the 1st millennium AD. The basis of life was agriculture. They grew rye, oats, barley, raised livestock and poultry, and were engaged in fishing. They lived in barns, like Estonian ones, and from the 19th century - in huts. The girls wore a sundress made of white canvas and a short “ihad” jacket. Young people chose their own bride and groom. Married women had their hair cut short, while older women shaved their heads and wore a paykas headdress. Many pagan remnants have been preserved in the rituals of the people. Now Vodi culture is being studied, a museum has been created, and the language is being taught.

Kereki

Vanishing people. There are only four of them left in the entire territory of Russia. And in 2002 there were eight. The tragedy of this Paleo-Asian people was that from ancient times they lived on the border of Chukotka and Kamchatka and found themselves between two fires: the Chukchi fought with the Koryaks, and the Ankalgakku got the worst of it - that’s what the Kereks call themselves. Translated, this means “people living by the sea.” Enemies burned houses, women were taken into slavery, men were killed.

Many Kerek people died during the epidemics that swept the lands at the end of the 18th century. The Kereks themselves led a sedentary lifestyle, obtained food by fishing and hunting, and killed sea and fur-bearing animals. They were engaged in reindeer herding. The Kereks contributed to dog riding. Harnessing dogs in a train is their invention. The Chukchi harnessed dogs in a fan style. The Kerek language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka language. In 1991, there were only three people left in Chukotka who spoke it. To preserve it, a dictionary was recorded, which included about 5,000 words.

What to do with these people?

Everyone remembers well the movie “Avatar” and that nasty character who said that “they are sitting on my money.” Sometimes one gets the impression that those companies that are trying to somehow regulate relations with people living in those places where they can mine and sell something, treat them this way, that is, these are people who are simply getting in the way. The situation is quite complicated, because everywhere, in all cases, where something like this happens (this could be some sacred Lake Nouto, where the Khanty or Forest Nenets live, it could be Kuzbass with its coal deposits, it could be Sakhalin with its oil reserves), there is a certain clash of interests, more or less clearly expressed, between the indigenous peoples of the North, between the local population, in principle, everyone. Because what’s the difference between you, an aborigine, and a Russian old-timer who behaves exactly the same way, living on the same land, doing the same fishing, hunting, and so on, and suffering in the same way from dirty water and other negative consequences of mining or development? something fossil. The so-called stakeholders, in addition to the aborigines, include government agencies and the companies themselves that are trying to make some profit from this land.

If you are not on this list of indigenous peoples of the North, then it will be much more difficult for you to defend your land and your rights to the way of life that you want to lead. It is important to preserve your culture, because if you do not have a territory where you live compactly with your fellow tribesmen, then it will be very difficult to ensure that your children learn their native language and pass on some traditional values. This does not mean that the people will disappear, disappear, but in the way you perceive the situation, there may be such an idea that if my language disappears, I will cease to be some kind of people. Of course you won't stop. Throughout Siberia, a huge number of peoples of the North have lost their languages, but this does not mean that they do not speak any language. In some places the Yakut language has become their native language, and almost everyone speaks Russian. Nevertheless, people maintain their ethnic identity, they want to develop further, and the list gives them this opportunity.

But there is one interesting twist here that no one has thought about yet. The fact is that it is increasingly heard among the younger generation of the indigenous peoples of the North, which, strictly speaking, have lost their ethnic specificity (they all speak Russian and do not wear traditional clothes): “We are indigenous peoples, we are indigenous peoples.” A certain community appears, perhaps it is a class identity, as in tsarist Russia. And in this sense, it apparently makes sense for the state to take a closer look at the processes that are now taking place in the North, and perhaps, if we talk about assistance, it may not be for specific ethnic groups, but for that new class community called the indigenous peoples of the North .

Why are the northern peoples disappearing?

Small nations differ from large ones not only in numbers. It is more difficult for them to maintain their identity. A Chinese man can come to Helsinki, marry a Finnish woman, live there with her all his life, but he will remain Chinese until the end of his days, and will not become a Finn. Moreover, even in his children there will probably be a lot of Chinese, and this manifests itself not only in appearance, but much deeper - in the peculiarities of psychology, behavior, tastes (even just culinary ones). If one of the Sami people finds himself in a similar situation - they live on the Kola Peninsula, in Northern Norway and Northern Finland - then, despite the proximity to their native places, after some time they will essentially become a Finn.

This is what happens with the peoples of the North and Far East of Russia. They preserve their national identity while they live in villages and engage in traditional farming. If they leave their native places, break away from their own people, then they dissolve in another and become Russians, Yakuts, Buryats - depending on where they end up and how life turns out. Therefore, their numbers are almost not growing, although the birth rate is quite high. In order not to lose national identity, you need to live among your people, in their original habitat.

Of course, small nations have intelligentsia - teachers, artists, scientists, writers, doctors. They live in the district or regional center, but in order not to lose touch with their native people, they need to spend a lot of time in the villages.

To preserve small nations, it is necessary to maintain traditional economies. This is the main difficulty. Reindeer pastures are shrinking due to growing oil and gas production, seas and rivers are polluted, so fishing cannot develop. Demand for reindeer meat and furs is falling. The interests of the indigenous population and regional authorities, large companies, and simply local poachers come into conflict, and in such a conflict, power is not on the side of small nations.

At the end of the 20th century. the leadership of districts and republics (especially in Yakutia, Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets districts) began to pay more attention to the problems of preserving national culture. Festivals of cultures of small nations have become regular, at which storytellers perform, rituals are performed, and sports competitions are held.

All over the world, the well-being, standard of living, and preservation of the culture of small national minorities (Indians in the Americas, Aborigines of Australia, Ainu of Japan, etc.) are part of the country’s calling card and serve as an indicator of its progressiveness. Therefore, the significance of the destinies of the small peoples of the North for Russia is disproportionately greater compared to their small numbers, amounting to only 0.1% of the country’s population.

State policy

It is customary for anthropologists to criticize government policy towards the small peoples of the North.

Policy towards the peoples of the North has changed over the years. Before the revolution, they were a special class - foreigners who had self-government within certain limits. After the 1920s The culture, economy and society of the northerners, like the rest of the country, have undergone major transformations. The idea of ​​developing the peoples of the North and bringing them out of the state of “backwardness” was accepted. The economy of the North became subsidized.

In the late 1980s - early 1990s. ethnographers have formulated a rationale for the direct interdependence of traditional cultural identity, traditional economy and traditional habitat. Economy and language were added to the romantic thesis of soil and blood. The paradoxical idea that the condition for the preservation and development of ethnic culture - language and customs - is the conduct of a traditional economy in a traditional habitat. This virtually hermetic traditionalism concept became the ideology for the SIM movement. It was the logical rationale for the alliance between ethnic intellectuals and emerging businesses. In the 1990s. Romanticism received a financial base - first, grants from foreign charitable foundations, and then from mining companies. The industry of ethnological examination was enshrined in the same law.

Research by anthropologists today shows that economic activity can exist and develop without preserving language. At the same time, languages ​​can also emerge from live family communication during housekeeping. For example, Udege, Sami, many dialects of Evenki and many other indigenous languages ​​are no longer heard in the taiga and tundra. However, this does not prevent people from engaging in reindeer husbandry, hunting, and fishing.

In addition to cultural figures and businessmen, an independent layer of leaders and political activists has formed among the indigenous indigenous peoples,

There is a point of view among SIM activists that benefits should not be selective, but apply to all representatives of the SIM, no matter where they live or what they do. As arguments, for example, arguments are offered that in the body the need for fish in the diet is laid down at the genetic level. An option to solve this problem is to expand the areas of traditional residence and traditional farming throughout the entire region.

The countryside in the Far North is not an easy place to live. People from different ethnic backgrounds work there in agriculture. They use the same technologies, overcome the same difficulties, face the same challenges. These activities should also receive government support regardless of ethnicity. The state guarantee of the protection of the rights of the peoples of Russia primarily guarantees the absence of any discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds.

As the analysis shows, the Law “On Guarantees of the Rights of Indigenous Minorities of the Russian Federation” stands out in its approach from the entire Russian legal system. This law considers peoples as subjects of law. The inability to lead provides the basis for the formation of an estate - a group of people endowed with rights due to their ethnic origin. Local executors of laws will long face attempts to legally close a fundamentally open social system.

The principal way out of this situation may be to overcome the romanticism of traditionalism and separate the policy of supporting economic activity and supporting ethnocultural activity. In the socio-economic part, it is necessary to extend benefits and subsidies to indigenous minorities to the entire rural population of the Far North.

In the ethnocultural part, the state can provide the following types of support:

1. Scientific support, represented by research organizations and universities, in their development of programs and training of specialists.
2. Legal support in the form of development and adoption of norms for the preservation and development of ethnocultural heritage.
3. Organizational support in the form of development and implementation of ethnocultural programs of cultural institutions and educational institutions.
4. Financial support for NGOs developing ethnocultural initiatives in the form of grant support for promising projects.

The smallest peoples of the world

PRESENTATION HAS BEEN PREPARED : Shkrob G.G.

Asian pygmies The name pygmies comes from the Greek word “pygme”, i.e. “fist”, and actually means “fists”.

• This group of small dark-skinned tribes came to the territory of modern Asia during one of the migration waves from the African continent. Ethnologists believe that Asian pygmies became the ancestors of the Papuans New Guinea and Australia. This small people, together with the inhabitants of Sri Lanka, are usually united into the Australoid race. Gradually, the newcomer tribes were forced out by agricultural Asian tribes and survived only on a few small islands.

Vod The self-name of the people is Vodi, which translated from Votic sounds like “local”. The people are included in the UNESCO list of endangered and small peoples of Russia.

• These are small representatives of the people called the Finno-Ugrians; they are considered the indigenous population of the territory of modern St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Leningrad aborigines are considered the smallest and most ancient people of modern Russia. Today, the Vod are one of the smallest ethnic groups living on the territory of the Russian Federation. At the time of the 2010 census, out of all the once numerous people, 64 people remained. These people live in two small villages of Krakolye and Luzhitsy, which are located in the Leningrad region, Kingisepp district. The Votic language is considered extinct.

Guadja

• The tribes of this small people live east of the Amazon, and, according to scientists, no other people are as threatened with extinction as the Guadja. At the moment, there are only about 350 representatives left, a third of whom are cut off from the outside world, living in inaccessible tropical forests. Problems for Guadzh, like many peoples of the New World, began after the start of colonization. The Guadja were forced to leave their sedentary way of life and turned into nomads, which radically violated their centuries-old way of life and put them at risk of extinction. Huge damage to the people was caused by deforestation for agricultural needs, which the authorities Brazil agreed to suspend only under pressure from international organizations.

Kereki

• Kereks are one of the smallest peoples of the Russian Federation. They also call themselves “ankalgakku”, which translates as “seaside people”. At the moment, there are only a few representatives of this small people, and, most likely, in a few years there will not be a single representative left. The Kerek suffered greatly from the assimilation of the Chukchi. It is believed that it was from this people that the Chukchi learned how to harness dogs to sleds, since it was the Kereks who invented this method of transportation.

CHULYMTSI Chulym Turks, Yus Kizhiler (self-name, literally Chulym people), Pestyn Kizhiler (self-name, literally our people)

• The number of this indigenous people of Russia is 355 people as of 2010. Despite the fact that most of the Chulym people recognize Orthodoxy, the ethnic group carefully preserves some traditions of shamanism. The Chulym people live mainly in the Tomsk region, in the basin of the Chulym River (a tributary of the Ob) and its tributaries Yaya and Kiya. It is interesting that the Chulym language does not have a written language.

Basins

• Tazis are a mestizo ethnic group in Primorye. It is believed that the Tazy were formed as a result of mixed marriages of the Chinese, Manchus, Udege, and Nanais. The number of this people living in Primorye is only 276 people. The Taz language is a mixture of one of the Chinese dialects with the Nanai language. Now this language is spoken by less than half of those who consider themselves to be Taz.

Do you

• This extremely small people lives on the territory of Latvia. Presumably arrived in Baltics from the east and northeast direction. The closest peoples related to the Livs are modern , with whom the Livonians maintained economic and linguistic ties before the start of XX century , especially with the fishermen of the island Saaremaa , And water (now living in several villages of the Leningrad region). From time immemorial, the main occupations of the Livs were piracy, fishing and hunting. Today, the people have almost completely assimilated. As of 2016, 168 residents of Latvia have “Liv” nationality indicated in the Population Register data [

Pitcairns

• This people is the smallest in the world and lives on the small island of Pitcairn in Oceania. The number of Pitcairns is about 60 people. All of them are descendants of the sailors of the British warship Bounty, who landed here in 1790. The Pitcairn language is a mixture of simplified English, Tahitian and Maritime

Okieki

• The Okiek, also called Ogiek or Akiek, are an African people living in the northeast of Tanzania, the south (in the Mau forest) and the west (in the forests around Elgon volcano) of Kenya. According to official statistics in 2000, the population of this people was 869 people, about half of them spoke the Okieki language. The rest of the inhabitants communicate in a mixed language, formed from neighboring peoples. They spend most of their lives in the forest, hunting antelope and wild pigs. In addition, this tribe collects honey from wild bees in the Mau forest. The problem of the disappearance of the Okiek tribe began after the Kenyan government demanded that the people living in the forest leave this territory, since the country began a program to combat illegal logging. But human rights organizations say the people are being displaced and destroyed by tea planters and logging companies. Over the past 15 years, about 25% of the trees in the Mau forest have disappeared. As a result, the population of antelope and wild pigs decreased, making life more difficult for the African people.

Jarawa

• The Jarawa tribe live in India on the coast of the South and Middle Adaman Islands. The black population, which belongs to the large Australoid race, is about 300 people. These people speak the endangered Jarawa language, which is part of the Adaman language family. Today they are almost the only tribe on earth that practically does not communicate with the outside world. The Jarawa tribe rarely had conflicts with neighboring tribes. But unlike other peoples, they did not accept any gifts left by anthropologists. They threw boxes of rice bags, bananas and cloth into the sea. It was only in 1974 that the missionaries managed to partially establish contact with them, and once a month the Jarawa tribe receives humanitarian aid in the form of rice and fruits. Bags of provisions are left on the shore, and at night the Indians take them to their village. In the late 90s, the Indian government declared the area where the Jarawa tribe lives a closed zone to avoid bringing discord into their lives and not infecting them with viral diseases.

Do you know how the word “pygmies” is translated? People the size of a fist. This is the smallest people on the planet.

Most people by the word “pygmies” mean short people living in Africa. Yes, this is partly true, but even the African pygmies are not one people. Various nationalities live on the Dark Continent: the pygmies Batwa, Bakiga, Baka, Aka, Efe, Sua, and this is not the whole list. The height of an adult man usually does not exceed 145 centimeters, and a woman - 133 cm.

How do the smallest people on the planet live?

The life of pygmies is not easy) They live in temporary villages in the forests. Why temporary, you ask? The smallest people have a nomadic lifestyle, they are constantly in search of food and look for places rich in fruits and honey. They also have ancient customs. So, if a person dies in the tribe, then he is buried under the roof of the hut and the settlement is abandoned forever.

Near temporary villages, pygmies hunt deer, antelope and monkeys. They also collect fruits and honey. With all this, meat makes up only 9% of their diet, and they exchange the bulk of their production for garden vegetables, metal, fabrics, and tobacco from people who keep farms near the forest.

Little people are considered excellent healers: they prepare medicinal and poisonous potions from plants. It is because of this that other tribes dislike them, as they attribute magical powers to them.

For example, the pygmies have a curious way of catching fish: first, they poison the pond, which causes the fish to float to the surface. And that’s it, the fishing was a success, all that remains is to collect the catch. No gatherings with fishing rods on the shore or harpoon fishing. After a few hours, the poison stops working and the live fish returns to its normal life.

The lifespan of pygmies is very short: from 16 to 24 years. People who live to be 40 years old are truly long-livers. Accordingly, they reach puberty much earlier: at 12 years of age. Well, they start having offspring at the age of fifteen.

Still in slavery

Africa is the most controversial continent. Slavery has long been prohibited throughout the world, but not here. For example, in the Republic of Congo, according to established tradition, pygmies are inherited among the Bantu people. And these are the real slave owners: the pygmies give them their spoils from the forest. But, unfortunately, the small people are forced to endure such treatment, since the “owners” give them the products and goods necessary for survival, without which it is impossible to live in the forest. Moreover, the pygmies use tricks: they can be “slaved” by several farmers at the same time in different villages. If one owner did not provide food, then perhaps another will make him happy.

Pygmy genocide

The smallest people have been under constant pressure from other tribes for many centuries. And here we are talking not only about slavery, but even about... cannibalism! Moreover, in our modern world, in the 21st century. So, during the civil war in the Congo (1998-2003), pygmies were simply caught and eaten. Or, for example, in one of the African provinces, North Kivu, at one time there was a group working to prepare the territory for mining. And during the cleansing process they killed and ate the pygmies. And some peoples of the Dark Continent generally believe that the flesh of a pygmy will give magical power, and a relationship with a woman from some low-statured tribes will relieve diseases. That's why rape happens very often here.

Of course, all this affects the life of a small people: there are no more than 280 thousand people left, and this figure is decreasing every year.

Why is he so short?

In fact, the miniature nature of these peoples is explained by evolution. Moreover, the reasons are different in different nations; this is exactly the conclusion that scientists came to. Thus, genetic analyzes have shown that in some tribes (for example, among the Sua and Efa pygmies), a child’s growth limiter is activated already in the womb and babies are born very small. And in other nations (Baka), children are born normal, the same as among representatives of European races, but in the first two years they grow very slowly. All these changes at the genetic level are provoked by various factors.

Thus, poor nutrition contributes to short stature: the body of pygmies has decreased in the process of evolution. The fact is that they need much less food to survive than larger nations. It is also believed that the tropics “helped” short stature: after all, body weight affects the amount of heat produced, so large peoples have a much greater chance of overheating.

Well, another theory says that miniature makes life easier in the tropics, making pygmies more nimble, because in impenetrable forests this is an excellent quality. This is how evolution helped little people adapt to their lifestyle and climate.

Interesting facts about pygmies that you didn't know before

Fact #1. Many people believe that pygmies live in forests. However, this is not always the case: for example, the Twa pygmies live in deserts and swamps.

Fact #2. Moreover, some anthropologists classify dwarf peoples as pygmies, where a man’s height does not exceed 155 centimeters. In their opinion, pygmies live in different parts of the world: in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Bolivia and Brazil. Here, for example, are the Philippine pygmies:

Fact #3. Most of the words among pygmies are associated with honey and plants. In general, they have lost their native language and now speak the languages ​​of the peoples around them.

Fact #4. Some researchers believe that pygmies are representatives of an ancient people who existed more than 70 thousand years ago.

Fact #5. Pygmies were known back in Ancient Egypt. Thus, black dwarfs were brought as gifts to rich nobles.

Fact #6. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, pygmy children were sold to zoos in Europe as exhibits.

Fact No. 7. The smallest people in the world are the Efe and Zaire pygmies. The height of women does not exceed 132 cm, and that of men - 143 cm.

Fact #8. In Africa there live not only the shortest people, but also the tallest. In the Dinka tribe, the average height of a man is 190 cm, and a woman is 180 cm.

Fact #9. Pygmies even today do not use a calendar, so they do not know the exact age.

Fact #10. A Caucasian child aged 2.5 years is approximately the same height as a five-year-old pygmy.

1. Khanty. This is the largest ethnic group on the list - according to the census, there are 31,000 Khanty in Russia. They live in the north of Western Siberia, breed deer, fish and hunt; they are unlikely to be able to visit the spalotus.me spa. The photo shows a shaman.

11. Koryaks. Indigenous inhabitants of the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, now there are only more than six thousand of them in Russia. One of the northernmost peoples in the world. A musher is a dog sled driver in the village of Ilpyr.

12. Tofalars. Tofalarka in national costume.

13. A total of 600 Tofalars (formerly called Karagas) now live in Eastern Siberia.

14. Archintsy. In the 2010 census, only 12 people indicated this nationality, apparently, which is why they were included in the Avars. They live in Dagestan. National headdress of Archinka women.

15. Water. Residents of the Leningrad region. Now there are just over seventy of them left. Girl in national costume

16. N.F. Nesterov is a representative of an ancient Votic family. In his hands he holds “chapiu” - they are needed for weaving large fishing nets.

17. Nivkhs (Gilyaks). They live near the mouth of the Amur River (Khabarovsk Territory) and on the northern part of Sakhalin Island. The name translates as “man”, or gilemi - “people on oars”. In total there are a little more than 4,000 people in Russia. Nivkh in festive costume

18. Selkups. Selkups (or Ostyak-Samoyeds) are a people living in the north of Western Siberia. There are 3,600 people left in Russia. Samoyed Ostyaks

19. Reindeer herder

20. Nganasans. Nganasans inhabit the east of the Taimyr municipal district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the territory subordinate to the administration of the city of Dudinka. The northernmost people of Eurasia, there are 860 of them in Russia. The self-name "nya" is "comrade". Little Nikita and Alexey Chunanchary

24. Chum salmon. Kety (self-name keto, ket - “person”), a little more than a thousand people live in Russia. Kets family, early 20th century.

25. Dolgans. They are considered the northernmost Turkic-speaking people in the world. The Cossacks, who brought Orthodoxy with them, gave the Dolgans their surnames at baptism: Kudryakov, Zharkov, Chuprin, Porotov. The surnames have been preserved to this day. Now there are just under 8,000 people left in Russia; they live in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Sakha. Girls in national costumes.