Koryaks

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Koryaks
Koryak ceremony of starting the New Fire
Total population
8,022
Regions with significant populations
 Russia ∟  
Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples
Settlement of Koryaks in the Far Eastern Federal District by urban and rural settlements in %, 2010 census

Koryaks (

Anadyr
basin in the north.

The Koryaks are culturally similar to the

language family. They are more distantly related to the Itelmens on the Kamchatka Peninsula. All of these peoples and other, unrelated minorities in and around Kamchatka are known collectively as Kamchadals
.

Neighbors of the Koryaks include the

Alutor to the south (on the isthmus of Kamchatka Peninsula), the Kerek to the east, and the Chukchi to the northeast.[citation needed
]

The Koryak are typically split into two groups.[

coastal people are called Nemelan (or Nymylan) meaning 'village dwellers', due to their living in villages. Their lifestyle is based on local fishing and marine mammal hunting. The inland Koryak, reindeer herders, are called Chaucu (or Chauchuven), meaning 'rich in reindeer'. They are more nomadic, following the herds as they graze with the seasons.[4]

According to the 2010 census, there were 7,953 Koryaks in Russia.

Etymology

The name Koryak was from the

cossack Vladimir Atlasov, who conquered Kamchatka for the Tsar in 1695.[6] The variant name was adopted by Russia in official state documents, hence popularizing it ever since.[5]

Origin

The Koryak in Russian Federation

The origin of the Koryak is unknown.

ice age receded. They theorize that the ancestors of the Koryak had returned to Siberian Asia from North America during this time.[4] Cultural and some linguistic similarity exist between the Nivkh and the Koryak.[7][page needed
]

History

Koryak shaman woman (circa 1900)

The Koryak once occupied a much larger area of the Russian Far East. Their overlapping borders extended to the Nivkh areas in

warfare with Russian Cossacks reduced the Koryak population from 10–11,000 in 1700 to 4,800 in 1800.[8]

Under the

Koryak Autonomous Okrug was formed in 1931 and named after the Koryak people. Based on a local referendum in 2005, this was merged with Kamchatka Krai effective 1 July 2007.[4]

Culture

Lamellar armour traditionally worn by the Koryak people (circa 1900)

Families usually gathered into groups of six or seven, forming bands. The nominal chief had no predominating authority, and the groups relied on consensus to make decisions, resembling common small group egalitarianism.

The lives of the people in the interior revolved around

dietary fibre, needed to survive in the harsh tundra
.

Today, the Koryaks also buy processed food, such as bread, cereal, and canned fish. They sell some reindeer each year for money, but can build up their herds due to the large population of reindeer.

Koryak women's coat

cloth. The men wore baggy pants and a hide shirt, which often had a hood attached to it, boots and traditional caps made of reindeer skin. They still use the boots and caps. The women wore the same as the men, but with a longer shirt reaching to the calves. Today, women often wear a head cloth and skirt, but wear the reindeer skin robe
in cold weather.

The Koryak lived in domed shaped tents, called jajanga, or yaranga (from the more famous Chukchi term) similar to a

yurts. The framework was covered in many reindeer skins. Few families still use the yaranga as dwellings, but some use them for trips to the tundra. The centre of the yaranga had a hearth, which has been replaced by an iron stove. Reindeer hide beds are placed to the east in the chum. They used small cupboards
to store the families' food, clothing and personal items.

Transportation

Koryak reindeer herders

The inland Koryak rode

snowmobiles more often than reindeer. Most inter-village transport is by air or boat, although tracked vehicles are used for travel to neighboring villages.[10][page needed
]

They developed

tennis racket-shaped birch
bark or willow hoop. The sinew straps are used to attach the shoe to the foot.

Children learned to ride a reindeer, sleigh, and use snowshoes at a very young age.

The other Koryak were skilled seafarers hunting whales and other marine mammals.

Religion

Koryaks believe in a Supreme Being whom they call by various names: ŋajŋənen (Universe/World), ineɣitelʔən (Supervisor), ɣət͡ɕɣoletənvəlʔən (Master-of-the-Upper-World), ɣət͡ɕɣolʔən (One-on-High), etc. He is considered to reside in Heaven with his family and when he wishes to punish mankind for immoral acts, he falls asleep and thus leaves man vulnerable to unsuccessful hunting and other ills.

Amerindians.[4]

Environment

Palana, a majority Koryak town in Kamchatka Krai

Koryak lands are mountains and volcanic, covered in mostly Arctic tundra. Coniferous trees lie near the southern regions along the coast of the Shelekhova Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk. The northern regions inland are much colder, where only various shrubs grow, but these are enough to sustain reindeer migration.[4] The mean temperature in winter is −13 °C (9 °F) while the short summers are +12 °C (54 °F). The area they covered before Russian colonization was 301,500 km² (116,410 mi²), roughly corresponding to the Koryak Okrug, of which the administrative centre is Palana.[5] Today the Koryak are the largest minority group with 8,743 people. The krai's population is now majority ethnic Russian, descendants of the Cossack colonizers.

See also

References

  1. ^ Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity Archived 24 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  2. ^ [1] State statistics committee of Ukraine - National composition of population, 2001 census] (Ukrainian)
  3. Minority Rights Group
    . Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Chaussonnet 1995, p. 28-29.
  5. ^ a b c Kolga 2001, pp. 230–234.
  6. ^ Al'kor, Ia P., and A. K. Dranen. (1935) Kolonial'naia politika tsarizzna na Kamchatke, Leningrad: Tsentral'nyi istoricheskii arkhiv. Leningradskoe otdelenie.
  7. ^ a b Friedrich & Diamond 1994.
  8. ^ "Indigenous Peoples of the Russian North, Siberia and Far East", Arctic Network for the Support of the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Arctic
  9. ^ Jochelson 1908.
  10. ^ King 2011.
  11. JSTOR 659272
    .

Works cited

General references

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Koryaks.
New International Encyclopedia article "Koriaks
".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koryaks&oldid=1209744128"