Indigenous population of Kamchatka

One of the most remote regions of Russia is the Kamchatka peninsula. The population of this part of the country is quite heterogeneous in terms of national composition, albeit with a clear predominance of Russians. This ethnos began to settle in this region only from the beginning of the XVIII century. But the indigenous population of Kamchatka, the people who lived on this peninsula from time immemorial, are gradually dissolving in the general mass of the population. Let's learn more about these ethnic groups in the Kamchatka Territory.

General demographic characteristics

Before starting to study the indigenous inhabitants, it is necessary to find out what the population of Kamchatka is today is in general. This will allow us to understand the significance and role of indigenous peoples in the contemporary life of the region.

First of all, we need to find out the total number of people in Kamchatka. This is one of the most important demographic indicators. The population in Kamchatka today is 316.1 thousand people. This is only the 78th indicator from 85 regions of the Russian Federation.

But the Kamchatka Territory occupies the tenth place in the country among the subjects of the federation. It is 464.3 thousand square meters. Km. Knowing the size of the population of Kamchatka and its area, you can calculate the density. This indicator is also considered one of the most important components of demographic statistics. The density of the population in Kamchatka at the moment is only 0.68 people per square kilometer. Km. This is one of the lowest rates in Russia. According to this criterion, the Kamchatka Territory ranks 81st among 85 regions of the country.

National composition

Now we have to look at the population of Kamchatka in the ethnic context. This will help us to identify the indigenous peoples of the region from the general population.

Ethnically, the population of Kamchatka has a nationality that numerically prevails over all the others. It's Russian. Their number is 252.6 thousand people, or more than 83% of the total number of inhabitants of the region. But the Russians are not the indigenous people of Kamchatka.

In a significant role the population of Kamchatka is also formed by Ukrainians. They are much smaller than the Russians, but this people ranks second among the ethnic groups of the region, accounting for more than 3.5% of the total population of the region.

The third place belongs to the Koryaks. This people already represents the indigenous population of Kamchatka. Its share in the total mass of the inhabitants of the region is just over 2%.

The remaining nationalities, both indigenous and non-indigenous, whose representatives live in Kamchatka, are considerably inferior in number to the three specified peoples. The total share of each of them does not even reach 0.75% of the total population. Among these small peoples in Kamchatka, it is necessary to single out Ittelmen, Tatars, Byelorussians, Evens, Kamchadals, Chukchi, Koreans.

Indigenous peoples

So which nationalities are indigenous to Kamchatka? In addition to the Koryaks, of whom we spoke above, the people who are aborigines of this peninsula are itelmen.

Stand alone are the Kamchadals, who are a sub-ethnos of the Russian people, who formed their national identity precisely in Kamchatka.

Each of these nationalities will be discussed in more detail below.

Koryaks: general information

As already mentioned above, the Koryaks are the third largest nationality of Kamchatka, and, thus, the first in terms of the number of representatives of the indigenous people of this northern region.

The total number of this nationality is 7.9 thousand people. Of these, 6,600 live in Kamchatka, which is just over 2% of the total population of the region. Mostly live representatives of this nationality in the north of the Kamchatka Territory, where the Koryaksky district is located. Also common in the Magadan region and in the Chukotka Autonomous District.

Most of the Koryaks currently speak Russian, but their historical language is Koryak. It is part of the Chukchi-Koryak branch of the Chukchi-Kamchatka language family. The most closely related to him languages are Chukchi and Alyutor. The latter is considered by some linguists as a subspecies of Koryak.

This people is divided into two ethnic groups: tundra and coastal Koryaks.

Tundra Koryaks have the self-name of chavchuven, which translates as "reindeer herders", and lead a nomadic lifestyle in the tundra expanses, breeding deer. Their original language is Koryak in the narrow meaning of the term. The Chavchuven are subdivided into the following sub-ethnoses: Parenets, Kamenets, Apukintsy, Itkants.

Coastal Koryaks have the self-name nymylans. They, unlike chavchuven, lead a sedentary lifestyle. Their main occupation is fishing. The aboriginal language of this ethnos is the alutor, about which we spoke above. The main subethnic groups of nymylans are: aljutrists, Karaginians, palanets.

Most of the believers in Koryak are currently Orthodox Christians, although the vestiges of shamanism that have come from the traditional beliefs of this people remain pretty strong.

The dwelling of the Koryaks is yaranga, which is a special kind of portable plague.

History of the Koryaks

Now let's look at the history of the Koryaks. It is believed that their ancestors inhabited the territory of Kamchatka in the first millennium of our era. They went down in history as representatives of the so-called Okhotsk culture.

For the first time, the name of the Koryaks began to appear on the pages of Russian documents from the 17th century. This was due to the progress of Russia in Siberia and the Far East. The first Russian visit of this region dates back to 1651. Since the end of the XVII century, the conquest of Kamchatka started by Russia. It began with Vladimir Atlasov, who, along with his detachment, captured several Koryak villages. However, the Koryaks have repeatedly raised a riot. But, in the end, all the uprisings were suppressed. Thus, the population of Kamchatka, including the Koryaks, became Russian subjects.

In 1803 the Kamchatka region was founded in the Russian Empire. The Koryaks lived mainly in the Gizhiginsky and Petropavlovsk uyezds of this administrative unit.

After the October Revolution in 1930, the Koryaks were granted national autonomy. So the Koryaksky Autonomous Okrug was formed. In 1934 he entered the Kamchatka region, retaining his isolation. The administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Palana.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Koryak Autonomous Area, remaining part of the Kamchatka Oblast, received the rights of a subject of the federation. In 2005, a referendum was held, which resulted in the complete merger of the Koryak Autonomous District with the Kamchatka Oblast in 2007. Thus, the Kamchatka Territory was formed. The Koryak Autonomous District was liquidated as a subject of the federation, and in its place the Koryaksky District was formed - a territorial unit that is part of the Kamchatka Territory and has a special status, but lacks the former independence. The official languages of this territorial formation are Koryak and Russian.

At the moment, Russians make up 46.2% of the population of the Koryaksky district, and the Koryaks are 30.3%, which is significantly higher than in the whole Kamchatka region.

Itelmen: a general characteristic

Another indigenous people of Kamchatka are Itelmen.

Their total number is about 3.2 thousand people. Of these, 2.4 thousand live in the Kamchatka Territory, accounting for 0.74% of the total population, thus being the fourth largest ethnic group in the region. The rest of the representatives of this nation live in the Magadan region.

The bulk of Itelmen is concentrated in the Milkovo and Tigilsky districts of the Kamchatka Territory, as well as in its administrative center - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Most Italians speak Russian, but their traditional dialect is Itelmen, which refers to the Itelmen branch of the Chukchi-Kamchatka language family. Now this language is referred to as dying.

Itelmenmen profess Orthodox Christianity, but, like among the Koryaks, they have quite developed remnants of ancient cults.

The main occupation of the Itelmen, who have not moved to cities and live a traditional system, is fishing.

History of Itelmen

Itelmen - the ancient population of Kamchatka. Most of them lived in the southern half of the peninsula, giving the north to the Koryaks. By the time of the arrival of Russians, their number was more than 12.5 thousand people, thus exceeding the current number by 3.5 times.

After the start of the conquest of Kamchatka, the number of itelmen began to decline rapidly. The first conquest of this people began all the same Vladimir Atlasov. He passed the peninsula from north to south. After his assassination with his own associates in 1711, the cause of the Itelmen conquest was continued by Danil Antsiferov. He defeated the Itelmens in several battles, but in 1712 he was burned by them together with his detachment.

Nevertheless, the Itelmen did not succeed in stopping the tread of the Russian Empire to Kamchatka, and it was finally conquered. In 1740 the expedition of Vitus Bering laid the center for the spread of Russian influence on the peninsula - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Initially, the Russians called the Itelmen Kamchadals, but then the given name was assigned to another ethnos, which we will discuss below.

Who are the Kamchadals?

One of the sub-ethnoses of Kamchatka, which is considered to be indigenous, is the Kamchadals. This ethnic unit is a branch of the Russian nation. The Kamchadals are the descendants of the very first Russian settlers in Kamchatka, partially assimilating the local population, mainly the Itelmen, whom the Russians themselves earlier called this ethnonym.

At present, the total number of Kamchadals is about 1,9 thousand people. 1.6 thousand of them live in Kamchatka, and about 300 people live in the Magadan Region.

The Kamchadals speak Russian, and the culture of the titular nation of Russia is the basis of their culture. True, a certain influence on it was rendered by local peoples, for the most part Itelmen.

Anthropological features of the indigenous population

Now let's look at which group of peoples are the indigenous inhabitants of Kamchatka.

Koryakov and Itelmen can be safely attributed to the Arctic small race. In another way it is called the Eskimo and is the northern branch of a large Mongoloid race. This subbras is closer to anthropological features not to the continental Mongoloids, but to the Pacific.

The situation is much more complicated with the Kamchadals, since this nationality belongs to a mixed race. The Kamchadals are united by the signs of the Caucasoid and Mongoloid types, since, in fact, this ethnos is the fruit of mixing Russians with the ancient population of Kamchatka. This racial type is usually called the Urals.

Dynamics of the number

Over the past hundreds of years, the indigenous population of Kamchatka has significantly decreased. This situation was caused by several factors.

In the era of colonization of the Russian Empire of Kamchatka, epidemics played an important role in reducing the number of local population, as well as the extermination of indigenous people within the framework of colonization policy. At a later time, cultural assimilation took place. It was connected with the fact that being a representative of indigenous peoples became unjustifiable. Therefore, children from mixed marriages preferred to call themselves Russians.

Prospects

Prospects for the further development of indigenous peoples in Kamchatka are very vague. The Russian government began to stimulate the self-determination of the nationality of the population of the region in favor of confirming the Koryak, Kamchadal or Itelmen nationality by providing a number of benefits to representatives of these ethnic groups. But this is clearly not enough, because simply self-identification of a person with representatives of national minorities does not make the original culture of these peoples more widespread. For example, if the total number of Itelmen at the moment is 3.1 thousand people, which is more than twice the figure for 1980, the number of speakers in the Itelmen language is only 82, which confirms its extinction.

The region requires investing money in the culture of small peoples in the amount that the population of Kamchatka is ready to master.

General conclusions

We studied the indigenous population of Kamchatka, the peoples inhabiting this northeastern region of our country. Of course, at the moment, the development of the distinctive culture of these ethnic groups leaves much to be desired, but state structures are trying to do everything to these people, their languages and traditions have not completely disappeared.

Let's hope that in the future the number of representatives of the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka will only increase.