Who made the North Russian. Pomors

Today in the Russian North live both the descendants of the original inhabitants of the region and the descendants of those ethnic groups that settled together with the Russian settlers. The vast majority of residents of the region are Russian. Anthropologically, Russians of the North are distinguished by their above average height, blond hair and eye color.

Basically, local Russian residents are distinguished by all the characteristic features inherent in this ethnic group, which is largely explained by the predominance of urban residents among them (more than three-quarters of the entire Russian population of the North), a high level of education, and the elimination of the region’s isolation from the main territory of Russia over the twentieth century. However, the Russian North is also a place where a unique Russian sub-ethnic group - the Pomors - as well as sub-ethnic groups - the Pustozers and the Ust-Tsilemas - emerged.

Russian Pomors

The descendants of the Novgorod Ushkuiniks, who settled on the shores of the White and Barents Seas, formed a unique subethnic group of the Russian ethnos, known as Pomors. The word “Pomors” (more precisely, “Pomeranians”) was first mentioned in 1526, but already as an established self-name, so this concept was born several centuries earlier.

Pomors can be considered the most ancient subethnic group in Russia. The word “Pomor” is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to all the inhabitants of the Russian North, although it actually does not even mean the inhabitants of the sea coast, but only “marine prospectors” - fishermen, sea animal hunters, sailors who live in sea trades. In a word, Pomors “live not from the field, but from the sea,” as the Pomor proverb says. This is the definition of Pomors given by the writer from Arkhangelsk, Nikolai Vasilyevich Latkin (1832-1904), in his article published in the famous Encyclopedic Dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron. He wrote: “Pomors is a local term that has now become universal for the industrialists of the Arkhangelsk, Mezen, Onega, Kem and Kola districts of the Arkhangelsk province, engaged in fishing (mainly cod), halibut, partly shark and seal fisheries in Murman... and in the northern part of Norway , in places permitted to our industrialists. The word “Pomor” came from Pomorie..., and from “Pomors” it was transferred to their ships, on which they deliver the products of their fishing to Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg.” So, the Pomors as a subethnic group differed from the bulk of the Russian ethnos, including the northern Russians, by their traditional economic activities - fishing and maritime crafts.

It was truly impossible to separate the life of a Pomor from fishing. Wheat in the North has always been imported. It is no coincidence that the Pomors had a custom of cutting bread only while standing. Their own rye and barley barely germinate and are only suitable for livestock feed. Therefore, fishing here is a way of life, a method of survival that has developed over centuries.

The very way of life of the Pomors required initiative, ingenuity, a combination of patience and endurance with instant reaction, independence in business and judgment. So the Pomors became people of a special kind. It is significant that the very first Novgorod settlers on the shores of the Icy Sea in a surprisingly short time independently created a perfect system of maritime farming in the conditions of the polar north, since they could not borrow production maritime skills from the aboriginal population, since they were not engaged in marine fishing. These successes of the Russians look especially impressive if we remember that they were the first and for several centuries the only polar explorers. The famous polar sailors, the Vikings, sailed mainly in those latitudes where, thanks to the Gulf Stream, the polar ice did not reach. Among the main reasons for the cessation of long-distance Viking voyages from the end of the 11th century, and then the complete loss of all connections with Scandinavian settlements in Greenland, scientists name climate deterioration in high latitudes, which led to the “sliding” of the lower limit of floating ice to the south. Novgorodians, just during the period of the final “fading” of the Viking voyages, turn into masters of Arctic navigation.

The stages of Russian exploration of the polar seas look impressive: in the 12th century, the Novgorodians completely mastered the White Sea and made voyages far beyond its borders; in particular, they discovered the islands of Vaygach, Kolguev, and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago; in 1264, the polar Kola was founded, which gave its name to the Kola Peninsula; in the 14th century, Novgorodians constantly sailed to Norway, with which in 1326 Mister Veliky Novgorod signed a border agreement (this border still exists today, although there were plenty of conflicts with Norway); In the 15th century, and perhaps earlier, Pomors regularly went to Grumant (Spitsbergen); in the 16th century, trade between Rus' and Western Europe began across the Cold Sea, trading cities, forts and monasteries were built, including Arkhangelsk, Kola, Pechenga, etc.; in the 17th century, Pomors actively participated in the development of Siberia. In particular, they, moving by sea along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, reach Kolyma and the future Bering Strait. Most of the Siberian explorers, whose biographies are more or less known, were natives of the Russian North.

The ships of the Pomors were very advanced sea vessels. The main type of fishing and transport vessel on the White Sea in the 13th-16th centuries. became karbas, or rather, its many varieties. As transport ships, large seagoing hulks with a length of up to 12 m or even more, a width of 2-2.5 m, with a side height of about 1.5 m were used. With a draft of 0.7-0.8 m, they could take on board more than 8 tons of cargo. Such carbass apparently had one mast (later - two) with a straight sail. The most common fishing vessels for coastal fishing were, apparently, small “karbasa” 6-9 m long and 1.2-2.1 m wide.

Another Pomeranian ship of the 11th-16th centuries was the soyma. The length of the soyma was 5-12 m, the carrying capacity was up to 15 tons, the crew was 2-3 people.

The most famous Pomeranian ship was the lodya (in literature it is often referred to as “ladya”). “...In the XIII-XVI centuries. The length of the boats reached 18-25 m, width 5-8 m, side height 2.5-3.5 m, draft 1.2-2.7 m, load capacity 130-200 tons. The hull was divided by bulkheads into 3 compartments with hatches in deck. In the bow compartment there was a crew (25-30 people) and a brick oven..., in the aft compartment there was a helmsman or captain (feeder), in the middle there was a cargo hold. It had... three masts... The area of ​​the sails reached 460 m2, which made it possible to sail up to 300 km per day with a fair wind.... The cracks were caulked with moss and tarred. Two anchors were raised using a regular collar. In the 16th century The carrying capacity of Pomeranian boats reached 300 tons...”

Other Pomeranian ships include Osinovka and Ranshina. Osinovka is a small Pomor boat, hollowed out from an aspen trunk with rammings along the sides. The length was 5-7; side height - 0.5-0.8; draft - 0.3 m. It could take on board a load of up to 350 kg. It had from 2 to 4 pairs of oars, sometimes equipped with a mast. Ranshina (ranshina, ronchina, ronshina) is a sailing and rowing fishing vessel. Had 2-3 masts. Loading capacity - 20-70 tons. Used during the period XI-XIX centuries. for the purpose of fishing for fish and sea animals in difficult ice conditions. The ship had an egg-shaped underwater hull. When the ice compressed, it was squeezed out to the surface.

For long sea voyages in the 16th-17th centuries, a new type of vessel was created - the koch. On Kochi, Semyon Dezhnev discovered the strait between Asia and America. Koch length - 14, width - 5, draft - 1.75 m. Load capacity up to 30 tons. The crew size is 20 people, the speed is up to 6 knots.

Kochi is the main type of vessel designed for navigation in the Arctic Ocean. Some of them reached 25 meters in length. According to their design, the kochas were divided into flat-bottomed and keeled. They were distinguished by the strength of their construction. The ships were specially adapted to the ice conditions of the Arctic: they had double wooden lining and round contours that gave them the appearance of a nut shell. Thanks to such a body, the koch, when compressed by the ice, was pushed upward.

1 Fig. Pomor ships

The sea vessels of the Pomors were distinguished by high seaworthiness. Barrow, an English navigator who visited the north of Russia in 1555-1556, noted with professional envy not only the great development of Russian northern navigation in quantitative terms, but also pointed out the high seaworthiness of Russian boats. Standing at the mouth of the Kuloya River, Barrow “daily saw many Russian boats going down it, the crew of which consisted of a minimum of 24 people, reaching up to 30 on larger ones.” Coming out with the Russian boats from the mouth of the Kuloi into the sea, Barrow could note that all the “boats were ahead of us,” as a result of which “the Russians often lowered their sails and waited for us.”

Russian navigation in the polar seas was of a grandiose nature. Only at the end of the 16th century, and only on the Murmansk coast, 7,426 Pomeranian ships were simultaneously fishing, the crews of which in total exceeded 30 thousand people. The sons of Pomors from early childhood, from about 8 years old, took part in marine fishing. Pomeranian women were also quite significant in the maritime, usually purely male, trade. Pomeranians participated in coastal fishing with small seines and in ice fishing. But mostly women participated in fish processing, especially salmon, on the Murmansk coast.

In the “Murmansk” (i.e. modern Barents) Sea in the second half of the 16th century, Russian Pomors fished cod on a fairly significant scale, which they dried and sold to the Norwegians and Dutch. By the end of the 16th century, they procured up to 100-120 thousand pounds of dry and salted cod per year, and about 10 thousand pounds of fat were rendered from cod liver. In addition to Murmansk cod, Belomorka herring was traditionally caught off the coast of the White Sea. It was actively used by the Pomors on their own farms, including for livestock feed.

On Grumant (Spitsbergen), the Pomors hunted arctic fox, deer, polar bear and various sea animals, especially walrus and seal. Among the Pomors, there was even a kind of “specialization” of Grumanlan, that is, those who did not catch fish, but went to Grumant to fish for the winter. There were quite a lot of Grumanlan. At the end of the 18th century, up to 270 Pomeranian ships with a total crew of up to 2,200 people were constantly in the waters surrounding Spibergen. There were approximately 25 Russian fishing camps constantly located on the archipelago. Wintering on Spitsbergen for several years in a row was not uncommon. The famous Grumman Starostin wintered on Spitsbergen 32 times. There he died in 1826.

2 Rice. Arctic navigation area of ​​the Pomors

The Pomors also made long voyages to Matka (Novaya Zemlya archipelago), as well as the large islands of Kolguev, Vaygach, etc. It is interesting that the name of the straits on Novaya Zemlya contains the purely Pomeranian word “ball” (probably because the first sailors had to “ groping" in the mists among the rocks of the Arctic islands in search of a passage).

The Russian regular fleet was born in the north. In 1548, on the Solovetsky Islands, at the monastery, a shipbuilding shipyard appeared. In 1570, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the construction of ships began near Vologda for sailing in the north and the Baltic. In 1693, the construction of warships began at the Solombala shipyard in Arkhangelsk (three years earlier than the date considered the official date of birth of the Russian fleet). Due to lack of space, we will not talk about further studies of the polar seas. But, I think, the sailors Bering, Chirikov, Wrangel, Sedov, the Soviet winterers and pilots had worthy predecessors.

In the polar seas, long before Peter I created a regular fleet, the Pomors often had to fight the “Murmans” - the Norwegians, as well as the Swedes. The chronicles of the 15th century tell about this in some detail. Chronicles report battles with the Norwegians, dating these events to 1396, 1411, 1419. In 1419, the Norwegians appeared at the mouth of the Northern Dvina with a detachment of 500 people, “in beads and augers,” and destroyed Nenoksa and several other churchyards, as well as the St. Michael the Archangel Monastery, and all the monks of the monastery were killed. The Pomors attacked the robbers and destroyed two augers, after which the surviving Norwegian ships went to sea. In 1445, the Norwegians reappeared at the mouth of the Dvina, causing great damage to the local residents. Like the first time, the Norwegian campaign ended in complete failure. Suddenly attacking the enemy, the Dvinians killed a large number of Norwegians, killed three of their commanders and took prisoners, who were sent to Novgorod. The rest of the Norwegians “ran into the ships as runners.” In 1496, the Russians, under the command of Prince Peter Ushaty, also won a brilliant victory in a naval battle over the Swedes in the White Sea near what is now Knyazhya Guba.

Not only the navigation technique of the Pomors or their economic system is of particular interest. Northern Great Russians, including Pomors, due to their distance from invasions from the Wild Field and the absence of serfdom, had a higher level of education, were distinguished by self-esteem, hard work and business acumen. It is no coincidence that M.V. Lomonosov came from the Pomors. In the Russian North, many ancient customs, traditions, and morals, dating back to pagan antiquity, were preserved longer than anywhere else in Russia. It is no coincidence that it was in the North that ancient epics about the Kyiv princes and heroes, long forgotten near Kiev, were written down. Many architectural monuments have been preserved in the North, and we are not just talking about ancient Russian architecture, but specifically about a special northern Russian architectural school.

Pomors were also distinguished by some qualities of their character. For example, Pomors have been famous for their endurance from time immemorial. A simple example would be Mikhailo Lomonosov, who walked on foot with a convoy in winter for many hundreds of miles from Arkhangelsk to Moscow. But neither he himself nor any of the Pomors considered this something unusual. Many Pomors went fishing in Murman this way, on foot.

Noticing that in the spring months, starting from March, more fish accumulate in the Barents Sea than in the summer, Pomors began to go fishing “overland”, with the expectation of arriving at the camps on the eve of the fish run. Many Pomors, without waiting for navigation to open while the White Sea was still covered with ice, moved on foot through Karelia and the Kola Peninsula to the coast of the Barents Sea. This is how the spring (or, as they used to say in the old days, “spring”) cod fishery arose on Murman. Fishermen who went on spring fishing were called “veshnyaks”. Every year they went to fish for cod in Murman, on the coast of the Kola Peninsula. They had to go more than 500 miles from Kemi alone. At the same time, the veshnyaks walked or skied for two months - they left in March, arrived there in May, and returned home in late autumn. And in March it is still winter in those parts. There is nowhere to stay overnight along most of the route. And the fishermen spent the night right on the road - they made a fire and lay down on it, wrapped tightly in a fur jacket with a hood. It is interesting that in 1944, the famous Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl, participating together with Soviet troops in the liberation of Norway, watched with surprise as Russian soldiers, from among the Pomors, slept right in the snow.

In 1608, a census of fishing huts was carried out on the Murmansk coast. To the west of the Kola Bay, in the “Murmansk End”, 20 camps were taken into account, in which there were 121 huts, to the east of the Kola Bay, in the “Russian Side” - 30 camps with 75 huts.

For centuries, Pomors made long voyages to the polar seas. At the same time, they felt at home at sea. For example, in 1743, a group of Pomors crashed on Grumant (now Spitsbergen). For six years, until 1749, these Pomeranian Robinsons lived on a rocky island. For 6 years, only one out of 6 Pomors died of scurvy. Let us note that this was all perceived as an ordinary, even routine, problem, and not a feat.

In the 18th century, the Pomor culture reached maturity. But already from the end of this century, however, the life and way of life of the Pomors seemed to be mothballed. Arkhangelsk lost its role as a “window to Europe”, and there was also a “bleeding out” of the Pomors as a result of their migrations to Siberia and St. Petersburg, when the most determined and educated people left the North. All this led to stagnation of the Pomors' economy. The long-distance Arctic voyages of the Pomors gradually decreased, and at the end of the 19th century, already in the polar seas of Russia, the fishing of the Pomors began to sharply lose importance due to competition with the Norwegians. When steamships sailed the seas, the overwhelming majority of Pomors continued to sail on karbas. Voyages to Spitsbergen stopped, and the number of visits by Pomors to Novaya Zemlya sharply decreased.

Moreover, even in the White Sea, foreign ships began to dominate. Thus, in 1894, fishing was carried out by 13 Russian and 232 foreign ships.

3 Fig. Pomor

4 Fig. Pomorka

During the Soviet era, the Pomors lost many features of their culture. Industrialization transformed the traditional way of life of the Pomors. It is clear that Pomor wooden shipbuilding disappeared, and the Pomors themselves turned from unique “marine prospectors” into ordinary Soviet collective farmers. Pomeranian navigation as a cultural and social phenomenon disappeared, giving way to a professional one. The importance of religion has almost disappeared. In many places of residence, Pomors became a minority compared to the large newcomer population. Many Pomeranian villages were declared “unpromising” and abolished, and their former inhabitants moved to the cities, losing their traditional cultural identity.

And yet the Pomors did not disappear. The very word “Pomor” continues to sound proud and honorable, and it is not surprising that many northerners, even those who are not Pomors by origin, proudly identify themselves as Pomors. Unfortunately, the “Pomeranian revival” of the period of “perestroika” and Yeltsinism became a separatist movement. It is significant that its leaders were not Pomors at all.

The “Pomeranian Revival” quickly turned towards the path of independence, although, however, without openly declaring it. But the movement’s leaders (more precisely, their foreign sponsors) have done a lot. Thus, a certain urban Pomeranian subculture is created, which, however, relates to real Pomors in the same way as modern urban “Goths” relate to the ancient Germans. Dictionaries of the “Pomeranian dialect” - an artificially created “language” of the Pomors - began to be published, the publication of which was financed by the American Ford Foundation and the Norwegian Barents Secretariat. For children, again, with Norwegian money, they released the freely distributed “Pomeranian Skasks” (that’s right, with the letter “s”). The fact that all the fairy tales were recorded by scientists of the early 20th century in Pinega and in places where the inhabitants were not engaged in marine crafts and, therefore, were not classified as Pomors, did not bother the publishers. To make it clear what this “speaking” represents, we will give an example of the translation of one official name: National Educational Center “Pomeranian Institute of Original (Home-born) Peoples Polunótsi” Polunoshny (Northern) Federal University named after. M. V. Lomonosov. In the original, this text looks like this - scientific and educational center "Pomeranian Institute of Indigenous and Minority Peoples of the North of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University."

One could laugh at this, but it's really not funny at all. After all, this is exactly how the Ukrainian movement began a hundred and fifty years ago.

In this Pomor movement, the good goal of reviving the culture and traditional art of a unique part of the Russian ethnic group was quickly drowned in the desire to achieve the status of a “small people” for the Pomors, which automatically meant receiving certain economic benefits from the federal authorities, as well as inciting a split within Russia towards Great joy for foreign Russophobes. Thus, the coordinator of the so-called Pomors, who visited the IV interregional congress of Pomors. Vitaly Trofimov of the “International Movement for the Protection of Peoples’ Rights” summed up this event as follows: “I am not a supporter of either genetic or historical research. For me, the people are of interest as a political given. If there is a group with a stable identity and this is not a role-playing game during daylight hours, then the people exist.” Complete constructivism. There is a community striving for politicization. You can work... It’s a long way from the Caucasian self-determiners, but there is something to learn and, most importantly, there is also something to teach. We will create a new ethnic group."

In 2002, in the All-Russian Population Census, 6,571 people called themselves Pomors. Considering that at that time a total of 42 thousand Russian citizens called themselves hobbits, Scythians, Martians, the newly-minted “Pomors” found themselves in a specific company.

Russian territorial groups of Karelia

In addition to the Pomors, a number of small territorial groups of the Russian population formed in the vast expanses of the Russian North, differing both from the Pomors and from the bulk of the Russians. These groups had names depending on where they lived.

Vygozers. This was the name of a small group of Russians who lived in the area of ​​​​the large Vygozero. Their life and culture resembled the life and culture of their Karelian neighbors. In the 30s of the 20th century, especially after the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal and a number of industrial enterprises, this group practically disappeared into the multiplying population of Karelia.

Zaonezhans. Another, more numerous and surviving territorial group of Russians to this day was the Zaonezhians, who live, as one might guess from the name, beyond Lake Onega, on the territory of the Zaonezhsky Peninsula with the adjacent inhabited islands.

Vodlozery- another group of Russians living in the area of ​​the 4th largest lake in Karelia. This group was formed on the basis of a predominantly ancient Vepsian ethnic component, diluted by Russian immigrants from the Novgorod lands and representatives of the Nizovsky (“Moscow”) colonization.

All of these Russian groups were engaged in agriculture, and lake fishing played a prominent role in their economy. Finally, hunting for fur-bearing animals was typical for all residents of the Olonets province, famous for its dense forests. The Olonchans became famous as shooters in 1812, when, at a review in the presence of Emperor Alexander I, one shooter put a bullet in an apple, another shot a bullet in a bullet, and a third split them in half.

Pechora Pustozers

In the extreme northeast of the European part of Russia flows the Pechora River, one of the largest rivers in Europe (1809 km long). Although the Novgorodians penetrated Pechora back in the 11th century (as the Novgorod chronicles mention this), due to its remoteness, this land remained unoccupied by the Russians. The inhabitants of the region by this time were the Nenets and Entsy, who belonged to the Samoyed group of the Finno-Ugric language family, who were previously together called Samoyeds, probably from the name of one of the ethnic groups of the Entsy. “Samoyeds” lived from the Mezen to the lower reaches of the Yenisei. However, the Samoyeds were not at all the indigenous inhabitants of the Pechora region. The Russians, having arrived here, often found traces of the habitation of an earlier people: fortifications, cave-like stoves, abandoned dwellings, etc. Previously, the mysterious “Pechora” tribe lived here, which probably gave its name to the river. "Pechora" is mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years". Under 1133, the chronicle mentions “Pechora tributes,” from which we can conclude that “Pechora” paid tribute to Veliky Novgorod. The fact that this tribe subsequently disappears from written records means that it was conquered and assimilated by the Nenets. Under 1187 in the “Sofia Vremennik” the word “Pechora” tribute was replaced by the word “Perm”.

At the end of the 12th century, Novgorodians began to penetrate into the Pechora River basin, into the lands that were called Ugra. The Ugric peoples lived here (who at that time received the nickname “Ugra” from the Russians, which in Europe, when written in the Latin alphabet, became known as “ugra”, due to which the concept of Ugrians arose to designate a separate branch of the Ural language community). The direct descendants of the ancient Yugra people are the modern Khanty. Historical Yugra stretched in the north from the Arctic Ocean (the peninsula on the border of the Barents and Kara seas is still called Yugorsky, and the strait between the mainland and the island of Vaygach is called Yugorsky Shar), its western and eastern parts were lands along the northern slopes of the Ural Mountains.

Ugra was ruled by its own princes, there were fortified towns, and the Novgorodians encountered serious resistance. In 1187, Novgorod tribute collectors were killed in the Yugra land. In 1193, the Novgorod governor Yadrey suffered a heavy defeat from Ugra. However, by the beginning of the 13th century, Ugra was still annexed to Novgorod. However, subordination to Novgorod was reduced only to the payment of tribute. The weakness of the Novgorod government was also explained by the fact that the “Ponizovites,” especially the Ustyugans, in every possible way prevented the direct connection of the Ugra lands with Novgorod. Thus, in 1323 and 1329, the Ustyug residents intercepted and robbed the Novgorod tribute collectors. In the 14th century, Ugra began to gradually migrate beyond the Urals, where the Khanty and Mansi, two Ugric ethnic groups, still live. But the Nenets (Samoyeds) began advancing into the tundra.

In fact, the lands of Pechora under Moscow rule began to be developed by Russians in the last years of the 15th century. At the very end of the 15th century, a small Russian population already existed on Pechora, along with equally few aborigines. In the charter of Ivan III in 1485, it is noted that the Perm-Vychegda land has 1,716 “luks”, that is, adult men. The entire population was about 7 thousand people.

In 1499, beyond the Arctic Circle, on one of the peninsulas of Pustozersk, connected by a branch with Pechora, 25 kilometers from modern Naryan-Mar, the fort Pustozersk was built, which became the center of Pechora. In 1611, there were more than 200 households of permanent residents in Pustozersk. In 1663, the fort was burned by the Samoyeds, but was rebuilt. Samoyed attacks were repeated in 1688, 1712, 1714, 1720-23, 1730-31, when Tundra Samoyed uprisings broke out, but the town continued to exist and prosper. Despite its turbulent history, Pustozersk was a center of trade with the Samoyeds of the tundra. At the same time, Pustozersk became a place of exile. It was here that the leader of the Old Believers, Archpriest Avvakum, was imprisoned and burned in 1682 with three like-minded people “for great blasphemy against the royal house.” Artamon Matveev and Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the “galant” of Princess Sophia, were also exiled here.

At that time, the town lay on the way from Russia to Siberia. In the 18th century, a more convenient southern route to Siberia was opened through the Ural Mountains, and the town on Pechora gradually fell into decay. Added to this was the shallowing of the Pechora branch, on which the city stood.

With the founding of the city of Mezen in 1780, Pustozersk lost its significance as an administrative center and became an ordinary village in the Pechora district of the Arkhangelsk province. It had no commercial or industrial significance; its population was constantly declining. If in 1843 there were four churches in Pustozersk, then by the end of the century only two remained, with a population of 130 people.

Its inhabitants formed an interesting ethnographic group - Pustozers. The Pustozers differed from other Russian northerners in that they did not come from the descendants of the Novgorodians or the “lower” “rostovshchina”, but were descendants of Moscow service people, as well as a number of exiles (as evidenced by the “acing” dialect of the Pustozers), who had completely adapted to life in tundra Pustozery became proof that Russian people are able to survive in any conditions, including the tundra.

Russians settled along the banks of the Pechora, living by fishing and sea fishing, partridge and wild game fishing, as well as cattle breeding. These same activities became the basis of the life of the Komi-Permyaks who settled at the beginning of the 16th century. lower reaches of Pechora. The Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III granted them fish tones for their participation in Russian mining expeditions of 1491-92. on the river Tsilma, as well as in the military campaign “to Ugra” in 1499-1500. Ore miners found copper and silver ores, founded mines and smelting furnaces. Here, for the first time in the Moscow state, copper smelting began, as well as silver and even gold, from which coins and medals were minted at the Moscow mint.

In 1574, Permians and Russian peasants lived in the “tax-free, uncultivated yards” of Pustozersky Posad - 52 households, 89 people. There were also 92 quitrent peasant households in the volost. By the end of the 16th century, about 2 thousand people already lived in Pustozersk.

Over time, the Pustozers began to buy reindeer from Samoyeds and breed reindeer themselves. Reindeer herds belonging to wealthy Russian owners - several tens of thousands of heads - grazed on Kolguev Island, in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, near Yugorsky Shar and on Vaigach. The total population in the 1910s was approximately 500 thousand. Fishing grounds (fish ponds, deer pastures, places for hunting sea animals) were considered family lands and were passed on by inheritance. In the 16th - 17th centuries, the pustozers went to Grumant (Spitsbergen) - the area of ​​their economic activity extended so far. By the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, it covered the entire Bolshezemelskaya tundra - from Pechora to the Urals, and also included the islands of Kolguev, Matveev, Dolgiy, Vaigach and Novaya Zemlya.

Each of the peoples who settled on this vast territory - Russians, Komi and Nenets - had their own habitat: the nomadic routes of the Nenets ran in the tundra, Russians and Komi settled along the banks of the Lower Pechora and other rivers, on the sea coast. The basis of life for the nomads was reindeer herding, for Russians and sedentary Komi - fishing and sea fishing. For several centuries there was a “grinding in” and interpenetration of different types of economic structures, material and spiritual culture. Gradually, a humanitarian community was formed in this territory, whose members, while maintaining national characteristics, borrowed from each other skills, customs, and elements of their way of life, which greatly contributed to their survival in harsh natural conditions.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. The main occupations of the Russian population continued to be fishing, sea fishing, hunting, and in winter also transportation. The main income came from fishing. Thus, in 1914, residents of the Pustozersk volost received about 90% of their income from it. Livestock farming and gardening were exclusively of an auxiliary nature, and their products were used for personal consumption. On average, peasant farms had 2 cows and 2-4 sheep.

In the 20-30s. In the 20th century, the Pustozers largely lost their cultural and economic features, and subsequently their identity. Putozersk in 1924 Pustozersk lost its city status. In 1928, 183 people lived in Pustozersk and there were 24 residential buildings and 37 non-residential buildings. In 1930, a collective farm was created in the village of Ustye, 5 km from Pustozersk. For many Pustozers, the Mikoyan collective farm was the main place of work. The construction of the city of Naryan-Mar, not far from Pustozersk, finally “finished off” old Pustozersk. The last residents left Pustozersk in 1962. But as a subenic group, the Pustozers disappeared much earlier, after the specific features of their economic life disappeared.

Pechora Ust-Tsilema

Another subethnic group of Russians in Pechora are the Ust-Tsilemas, who live in the region of the same name in the Komi Republic, whose ancestors, however, arrived here earlier than the Komi themselves.

Already in 1213, chroniclers reported the presence of silver and copper ores on the Tsilma River (a tributary of the Pechora). However, the remoteness from the main centers of Rus', as well as the events caused by the Mongol-Tatar invasion, led to the fact that only in the 16th century in Rus' they again remembered the mineral wealth of Tsilma, and their economic development began.

In 1542, Ust-Tsilma was founded by Novgorodian Ivashka Dmitriev Lastka. This small fort also became one of the most interesting centers of one of the Russian northern subethnic groups. The main occupation of Sloboda residents was fishing and hunting. At the first stage of settlement of this harsh region, agriculture and cattle breeding played a minor role in the life of the Ust-Tsilema people. Rich lands and river fisheries soon became the cause of discord between Ust-Tsilma and Pustozersk. In the future, this served as a serious obstacle to the rapprochement of two groups, isolated from each other, Russian by origin.

The population of the settlement grew very slowly, and after a century there were 38 households. But at the end of the 17th century, persecuted Old Believers began to move to Pechora, who founded a number of monasteries in the region. Residents of Ust-Tsilma did not accept Nikon’s “new products”. The persecution of Old Believers continued until the 50s. XIX century. Subsequently, the Ust-Tsilema, who differed sharply from their neighbors in their religion and economic management, turned into an original sub-ethnic group of Russians that has survived to this day.

In 1782, Ust-Tsilma already had 127 households and more than a thousand inhabitants. By this time, other small Russian villages had appeared in the neighborhood, founded by settlers from Ust-Tsilma. The inhabitants of the settlement were mainly engaged in hunting and fishing, and there were also artisans among them. Many plowed the land and grew barley. Livestock farming played an important role in the economy (horses, cows, sheep, and later deer began to be raised), on the basis of which the commercial production of cow meat and butter arose. Fairs were held annually in July and November. One cannot help but be amazed that in such harsh natural conditions the Ust-Tsilema people created effective agriculture. The village grew rich, as evidenced by the stone church.

At the end of the 19th century, there was a school, a hospital, several libraries, and a telegraph in Ust-Tsilma. The district authorities were also located here. In 1911, the first circumpolar scientific institution opened in the village - the Pechora Agricultural Experimental Station.

The Ust-Tsilema, like most Old Believers, tried to minimize contacts with people of other faiths, and practically did not marry “worldly” people, which included the rest of the Russians, as well as the Komi and Nenets. It is interesting that on the doors of the Ust-Tsilom houses there were two handles: one for the “true”, the other for the “worldly”.

Voluntary self-isolation contributed to the fact that the Ust-Tsilema people retained many features of the culture and way of life of pre-Petrine Russia. The main types of settlements of the Ust-Tsilems were villages, villages and repairs. The traditional dwelling consisted of five or six walls made of larch. The women's costume was of the Northern Russian type, that is, multi-colored clothing with a sundress. The folk calendar of the Ust-Tsilema people was formed on a fishing basis; the most developed in it were two cycles: winter (especially Christmastide) and spring-summer. The celebration of the “slides” was distinguished by its originality, one of which was dedicated to Midsummer’s Day, and the other to Petrov’s Day. These days there were mass celebrations in traditional costumes, which were accompanied by round dances, games, and songs. On the night of July 11-12, the so-called “Petrovshchina,” mutual treats of millet porridge and lighting of fires took place on the banks of the Pechora. In the traditional beliefs of the Ust-Tsilom people, a special place was occupied by the veneration of larch, which was considered a “pure tree” with protective and healing properties. (This was the legacy of pagan Rus').

The cultural heritage of the inhabitants of the Ust-Tsilemsky region is great. The most important discovery of the first half of the 20th century is the discovery here of the richest ancient Russian traditions - epic and bookish, dating back to the largest center of the non-priestly sense - the Pomeranian Concord. The cultural significance of the Ust-Tsilem area of ​​folk poetry and fairy-tale tradition is evidenced by the publication in 2001 of two volumes of “Bylina Pechora”, which opened the fundamental 25-volume collection of works “Code of Russian Folklore”. The Pushkin House in St. Petersburg houses more than a thousand monuments of Old Believer literature from Ust-Tsilma.

During the Soviet era, the Ust-Tsilema people were forced to abandon their isolation. True, their business acumen benefited the Soviet government. So, in 1932, a suede factory was opened in the village. The village was the center of Pechora shipping.

In the 30s In the 20th century, Ust-Tsilema again experienced a wave of persecution, during which all churches were closed. The main blow to the traditional culture of the Ust-Tsilom people was urbanization and industrial construction. By the end of the twentieth century, there were 262 industrial enterprises in the area, which employed the majority of local residents. The traditional crafts of the Ust-Tsilom people, especially fishing, have turned into just a form of leisure. At the same time, many Ust-Tsilema left their small homeland in order to obtain an education or career opportunities. In turn, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the Soviet Union arrived in the Komi Republic. All this led to a crisis in the traditional culture of the Ust-Tsilem people.

But the persistence of the Ust-Tsilems, who did not bend in the face of difficulties, was also manifested in the fact that they did not disappear as an ethno-confessional group. They created the organization “Rus Pechora”. Its branches are active in many cities of the Komi Republic and in Naryan-Mar.

Ust-Tsilma still attracts people with the unique traditions preserved here, old church service, original dialect, lyrical and epic singing, ancient costumes, ancient icons and books demonstrating the highest level of Russian folk culture.

The Ust-Tsilema people still have pronounced cultural specificity. It is clearly understood by the majority of the population of the district of the same name. In addition to the creation of “Rus of Pechora”, on a local initiative, in recent years a number of measures have been taken to preserve the historical heritage of the Ust-Tsilema people and their own anthem has been created, which is performed during all official events and which the Ust-Tsilema people certainly sing during home feasts:

We are Russians

We are Ust-Tsilema.

We are on our own land

We're home!

In recent years, Ust-Tsilma and its unique Gorki holiday, widely celebrated by the local population, have become the object of close attention in the media, including central television. This also contributed to the strengthening of the local self-awareness of the Ust-Tsilema people, the reclamation of their cultural values, including the traditions of the Old Believers. And, therefore, the history of Ust-Tsilem continues.

Sami (formerly Lapps).

The most ancient inhabitants of the region were, apparently, the Sami, whom the Russians called Lapps, or Lop. Nowadays in Russia, the Sami inhabit several villages in the Lovozero district of the Murmansk region. Most of the Sami live in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden. The lands inhabited by the Sami are called Lapland in Scandinavia, since the Sami were previously called “Paws”.

Previously, Lapps lived over a vast territory right up to the southern shore of Lake Ladoga. It is no coincidence that Novgorod chroniclers called the area in the lower reaches of the Volkhov River “Lop churchyards,” and opposite Staraya Ladoga, on the opposite bank of the Volkhov, is the village of Lopino. But, as mentioned above, the Lapps were gradually pushed back by the Karelians and Russians far to the north. As a result, by the 16th century the Lapps remained in the interior regions of the Kola Peninsula. The Russians clearly distinguished the “goblin,” that is, the forest lop, from the sea one.

By language, the Sami are part of the Finno-Ugric group of Uralic languages. As is often the case with unwritten languages ​​of ethnic groups that do not have statehood and are scattered over long distances, the Sami language has a huge number of different dialects. In the Sami language, 55 (!) dialects have been identified, which are combined into three groups.

In racial and anthropological terms, the Sami constitute a special laponoid small race, which is transitional between Mongoloids and Caucasians. However, it is possible that the racial type of the Sami arose during the period of formation of the races. The Sami often have fair skin and whitish eyes, while retaining many of the features characteristic of the Mongoloids.

In the Mesolithic era (X-V millennium BC), the Laponoids lived in the area between the Ob and Pechora. The Sami people most likely descend from the Finno-Ugric population that came to the lands of Scandinavia in the early Neolithic era (after the retreat of the ice cover at the end of the last ice age), penetrating into Eastern Karelia, Finland and the Baltic states starting in the 4th millennium BC. e. Presumably in the 1500-1000s. before i. e. The separation of the proto-Sami from the single community of native language speakers begins, when the ancestors of the Baltic Finns, under Baltic and later German influence, began to switch to a sedentary lifestyle as farmers and cattle breeders.

From Southern Finland and Karelia, the Sami migrated further and further north, fleeing the spreading colonization of the Suomi Finns and Karelians. Following the migrating herds of wild reindeer, the ancestors of the Sami during the 1st millennium AD. e., gradually reached the coast of the Arctic Ocean and reached the territories of their current residence. At the same time, they began to move to breeding domesticated reindeer, turning into a people of reindeer herders.

The Kola Lapps already paid tribute to the Novgorodians in 1216. In the 11th century, several Russian settlements already existed on the Tersky Coast (the southern, White Sea part of the Kola Peninsula), and in 1264, the Russian settlement of Kola arose on the Kola coast of the Barents Sea, which gave its name to the peninsula, which contributed to the strong cultural Russification of the Lapps. In 1550, the Trifon-Pechenga monastery was created in their lands, and the Christianization of the Lapps began. However, the Sami still have remnants of paganism in their everyday life. At the end of the 18th century, Lapps, subjects of the Russian Empire, numbered 1,359 people.

In the Russian Empire, the Sami belonged to the peasant class. Mostly the Lapps were engaged in reindeer herding, having almost no contact with the outside world. True, many Lapps were hired for fishing by the Solovetsky monks. Some Lapps worked as auxiliary workers in the shipyards of the Pomors. In the XIX - early XX centuries. The Sami led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, making short seasonal migrations. For some of the Kola Sami, lake and river fishing played a leading role, for others - sea fishing. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th centuries. About 70% of the adult Sami population was engaged in cod fishing. Among the Eastern Sami, reindeer herding played a significant role, supplemented by salmon fishing. All Sami hunted large (elk, wolf) and small animals and birds. By the end of the 19th century. their economic situation worsened due to the loss of traditional lands, which were appropriated by clever adventurers who poured into the North. Alcoholism and various infectious diseases became widespread among the Lapps. By 1914, all the Lapps submitted to the Russian Empire numbered only 1,700 people.

Under Soviet rule, 9 national village councils were formed on the Kola Peninsula. According to the 1926 census, the Sami numbered 1,706 people, that is, the size of the ethnic group has remained virtually unchanged since 1914. All of them led a semi-nomadic lifestyle; only 12% were literate. In the 1920s the transition of the Sami to sedentary life and the creation of collective farms begins. Since the early 1930s. In the Soviet Union, Sami writing was created, first on a Latin basis, later translated into Cyrillic. However, the large-scale industrialization of the Kola Peninsula, the construction of roads, ports, and military facilities, led to the destruction of the traditional habitat of the Sami and the undermining of their traditional culture. Drunkenness has become widespread again among the Sami, and the suicide rate has increased incredibly. The natural increase in Sami became insignificant, and children from mixed marriages usually did not consider themselves Sami. Many Sami, having lost their native language, began to consider themselves Russians or Karelians. As a result, if according to the 1979 census, out of 1,565 Sami in the Murmansk region, 933 people (59.6%) spoke their native language, then according to the 1989 census, out of 1,615 Sami, 814 people (50.4%). The number of Sami city dwellers is increasing. According to the 1989 census, they made up 39.1% of the Sami population of the RSFSR.

Karelians

Karelians live in their republic of Karelia, inhabiting mainly the western part of the republic. Interestingly, Karelians are not the original inhabitants of Karelia. They settled in the North at the same time and together with the Russians.

In anthropological terms, Karelians belong to the northern Caucasians, who are characterized by the world's maximum degree of depigmentation (whiteness) of hair, eyes and skin. Their features - a very high frequency of blond hair (along with light brown up to 50-60%), and especially light eyes (up to 55-75% gray and blue) - are also characteristic of a significant part of the modern population. True, among the Karelians there stands out a group of Lapps assimilated by them, living in the Segozero region, having some features of the laponoid group of the Ural type.

Ancestors of the Karelians in the 1st millennium AD. occupied the territory north and northwest of Lake Ladoga, including the Saimaa Lakes region. By the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. Here the tribal association “Korela” was formed with its center in the city of Korela (now the city of Priozersk, Leningrad region). The Karelians were first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1143, although the Russians had known them for several centuries by that time.

From the 11th century Part of the Korela begins to move along with the Novgorodians to the Olonets Isthmus (between Lakes Onega and Lake Ladoga), where they interact with individual groups of Ves. As a result of this interaction, the South Karelian ethnographic groups of Livviks and Ludics are formed. From the same time, the development of the territories of modern middle and northern Karelia began, where the ancestors of the Karelians met the Sami. Some of the Sami were assimilated, the rest were pushed back to the 18th century. to the Kola Peninsula.

In the 12th century. Karelians are drawn into the orbit of influence of the Novgorod state. In the 13th century (around 1227, according to the chronicles) they converted to Orthodoxy. A birch bark letter with text in Karelian written in Cyrillic, found in Veliky Novgorod, dates back to the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. In 1478, after the annexation of the Novgorod land to Moscow, the Karelian territory became part of the Russian state. The fact that Karelians lived for many centuries as part of Rus' and professed Orthodoxy led to the strongest Russian cultural influence on Karelians.

However, until the 17th century, the bulk of Karelians lived on the Karelian Isthmus. When in 1617, according to the Stolbovo Treaty, the Karelian lands went to Sweden, a significant part of the Karelians left their historical homeland, moving to Russia of the same faith. According to Swedish sources, 1,524 families, or 10 thousand people, left Korelsky district alone in 1627-35. However, an even more massive exodus of Karelians to Russia occurred in the second half of the 17th century. The resettlement process continued until 1697.

Karelians mainly settled near Tver, in the Ryazan region (near Medyn). In general, the Karelians are a rare example of a people who have almost completely abandoned their historical homeland. In their historical homeland, the Karelian Isthmus, only 5% of the Karelians remained, gradually assimilated by the Suomi Finns.

Some Karelians settled in the lands around Tver devastated by the Time of Troubles, forming a group of Tver Karelians, some settled along the Chagoda River, forming the Tikhvin Karelians (now the Boksitogorsky and Podporozhye districts of the Leningrad region). The Karelians who settled in the Ryazan region were completely assimilated by the end of the 19th century. The bulk of the Karelians moved to the nearby lands, already partly inhabited by fellow tribesmen, between Lakes Ladoga and Onega and the White Sea. Since then and forever this region has become Karelia. Strictly speaking, the majority of Karelians did not move to Karelia, but, being already completely Russified, Karelians outside Karelia quickly lost their ethnic identity, joining the Russian ethnos, which was close in life, culture and religion.

During the era of Peter the Great's reforms, Karelia also experienced rapid development. Olonetsky and Petrovsky factories appeared, the sawmill industry developed, granite mining began, and resorts appeared. During the reign of Catherine II, the Alexander Cannon Factory and about two dozen state-owned and private metallurgical and sawmills were built in Karelia. An indicator of the importance of Karelia was the creation of a special Olonets province, which occupies most of the lands of modern Karelia.

However, Karelia developed in less favorable conditions than many regions of Russia. In the 19th and early 20th centuries. Karelia was “sub-capital Siberia” and “the land of unafraid birds.”

During the revolution, the Bolsheviks created the Karelian Labor Commune in 1920, which three years later became the Karelian Soviet Autonomous Republic. It should be noted that the republic included areas with a predominance of Russian and Vepsian populations. The Karelians themselves were an ethnic minority. In general, in 1939, all Finnish ethnic groups in Karelia (Karelians, Vepsians, Suomi Finns) together made up 27% of the population. In 1933, the Karelians of Karelia numbered 109 thousand people. At the same time, the Tver Karelians, who numbered approximately 155 thousand people at that time, outnumbered the Karelians of Karelia.

During the Soviet era, large-scale construction of industrial enterprises began in Karelia. The population of the republic has grown significantly due to visitors from all over the Soviet Union.

In 1940, after the Soviet-Finnish war, when part of the territories separated from Finland was annexed to Karelia (despite the fact that the Finnish population of these lands was evacuated by the Finnish authorities before the war, so the USSR received empty territories), Karelia was created. Finnish Federal Republic. The word “Finnish” in this case was explained not only by the generally accepted fact of the kinship of the Karelians with the Finns - Suomi, but also by such a circumstance as the arrival in the 20s. approximately 2 thousand “Red Finns” - political emigrants from Finland, where the 1918 revolution ended in defeat, came to Karelia. Hoping that the Finnish proletarians would once again rebel against the power of the bourgeoisie, the Bolsheviks created “Red Finland” on the lands of the former Olonets province, in which the Karelians themselves, not to mention the Finnish emigrants, were an ethnic minority. In the early 30s, the years of the great economic crisis, several thousand more Finnish emigrants arrived in Karelia from Finland, forming the ruling elite of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1939, there were 8 thousand Finnish emigrants (a little more than 1.5% of the republic’s population), which did not stop the Kremlin from making these emigrants a “titular nation.” In 1940, the union “Karelo-Finnish” republic was proclaimed, practically without Finns. In this regard, at that time there was a joke that “in the Karelo-Finnish Republic there are only two Finns: the Financial Inspector and FINkelstein, but in general they are one and the same person.”

A chimerical pseudo-state formation was created when the main local population (Russian and Karelian peasants) were removed from power and self-government, and emigrant revolutionaries began to lead them. Finnish and Russian were adopted as the official languages. In 1933, more than half of the 500 secondary schools in Karelia taught in Finnish. In educational institutions for Russians, compulsory study of the Finnish language was introduced. The Karelian language was recognized as “wrong,” the Karelians themselves were called “a people who do not have their own written language,” and they were also forced to study and communicate with each other in Finnish. True, this was partly explained by the fact that the Karelians themselves do not have a single literary language, since they speak three mutually incomprehensible dialects. In the early 30s, there was even an official term “Karelian-Finnish language,” which still meant the language of the Finnish-Suomi, related, but different from the language of the Karelians.

During the Great Patriotic War, part of Karelia was occupied by Finnish troops. Much to the surprise of the Finns, who expected that their kindred Karelians would greet the “Finnish brothers” as liberators, a guerrilla war against the invaders broke out in Karelia. In 1944, Finnish troops were driven out of the territory of the republic.

After the Great Patriotic War, local authorities became concerned about the almost complete absence of Finns in “their” republic, and Ingrian Finns deported from the Leningrad region began to be sent to Karelia. A curious, but generally typical for the USSR, situation arose when, in their homeland in the vicinity of the northern capital of Russia, the remaining Finns were forbidden to speak their native language, while at the same time imposing the Finnish language on Russians and Karelians in neighboring Karelia. However, the number of Finns in Karelia, the majority of whom were Ingrians, was still small - by 1959 there were 27 thousand of them, or 4% of the republic’s inhabitants. Subsequently, the number of Finns is steadily declining as a result of assimilation and return to their historical small homeland in the Leningrad region. In 2002, there were 14 thousand Finns in Karelia (2% of the population).

The KFSSR was clearly an artificial formation, and was abolished in 1956.

As part of the USSR, Karelia occupied a prominent place in forestry and the extraction of certain types of minerals. The population of the republic has increased sharply due to immigrants from all over the country. In 1959, the republic had 651 thousand inhabitants, that is, three times more than in 1920. Subsequently, population growth continued, and by 1989 there were already 790 thousand inhabitants living in Karelia.

But the number of Karelians continued to decline during the Soviet era. From 109 thousand inhabitants of the republic in 1933 to 78 thousand in 1989 - this is the reduction of the Karelian ethnic group. In the post-Soviet era, the process of reduction of Karelians continued, and the 2002 census stated that there were 65 thousand Karelians left in Karelia (9% of the total population). This is explained by urbanization (in 1989, 62% of Karelians lived in cities), which contributed to their assimilation of urban Russian-speaking culture, the assimilation of some Karelians by Russians, as well as depopulation. ¾ of all marriages in the city, and half in the village, concluded by a groom or bride of Karelian nationality, were interethnic. In the capital of Karelia, the city of Petrozavodsk, the Karelian population is only 5.3%. More than half of Russian Karelians (51.1%) consider Russian their native language; only 62.2% are fluent in Karelian. The age structure of the Karelian population is unfavorable. According to the 1989 census, more than 20% of Karelians were over 60 years old. Thus, for the Karelian ethnic group, the demographic situation remains the most important problem.

Vepsians

Modern Vepsians are the descendants of the already repeatedly mentioned “all” nationality. It once occupied the vast territory of the Russian North. Under the name “you” this people is mentioned in the 6th century by the Gothic historian Jordan. The 10th century Arab scholar Ibn Fadlan called them “visu”. The Russians called them Chud (by the way, this is what the Vepsians were called until 1917), Chukhars, or, distinguishing them from other Finnish tribes, simply the whole.

Historically, the Vepsians have been associated with the Russian state since its formation. In Russian chronicles, “all” is mentioned in connection with the events of 859 and 862, the time of the calling of the Varangians to Rus'. Later (882 AD) in the “Tale of Bygone Years” there is another mention of the ethnonym “all”. Together with the Varangians, Chud, Slovenes, Merya and Krivichi, she all took part in the campaign of Prince Oleg, who conquered Smolensk and Lyubech and took the Kiev throne. She all lived in the Obonezhskaya Pyatina of Veliky Novgorod, later - as part of the Moscow state. Together with the Slavs, they all accepted Christianity, although, however, remnants of paganism persisted in these parts for several centuries, as evidenced by the numerous lives of local saints who fought against the pagans. But one of the most respected saints of ancient Rus', Alexander Svirsky (1448-1533), was apparently a Vepsian. In church tradition, Alexander Svirsky is considered the only Russian saint who saw the Trinity. Socially, Vepsians were classified as state peasants, like almost all residents of the North. Many Vepsians worked at the Olonets factories and the Lodeynopol shipyard. Veps were also among the very first builders of St. Petersburg.

By the time the Slavs came into contact with the whole over a millennium ago, the ancestors of the Vepsians occupied the territory between Lakes Ladoga, Onega and White. Subsequently, everyone settled in different directions, often merging with other ethnic groups. For example, in the 12th-15th centuries, some Vepsians who penetrated into areas north of the Svir River merged with the Karelians. The easternmost of the Vepsians joined the Komi. However, most of the people who lived along the Sheksna River and White Lake became Russified. As a result, the ethnic territory of the Vepsians was significantly reduced. Nowadays, Vepsians live in the south of Karelia, in the northeast of the Leningrad region and a small territory in the west of the Vologda region.

The number of Vepsians itself is also decreasing. According to the calculations of Academician Köppen, in 1835 there were 15,617 Vepsians living in Russia at that time, including 8,550 in the Olonets province and 7,067 in the Novgorod province. According to the 1897 census, the number of Vepsians was 25.6 thousand people. , including 7.3 thousand living in Eastern Karelia, north of the Svir River. In 1897, Vepsians made up 7.2% of the population of the Tikhvin district and 2.3% of the population of the Belozersky district of the Novgorod province.

After the October Revolution, Vepsian national districts, as well as Vepsian councils and collective farms, were created in places where people lived compactly. In the early 1930s, the introduction of teaching the Vepsian language and a number of academic subjects in this language in primary schools began, and textbooks of the Vepsian language appeared. The total number of Vepsians in the 20-30s. numbered 32 thousand people. At the end of the 30s, due to the deterioration of relations with Finland, all forms of Vepsian national self-government were abolished. Some of the Vepsian public figures were repressed, the autonomous Vepsian region was transformed into a regular administrative region. Subsequently, Vepsians migrated to Leningrad and other large cities of the country, which only strengthened the gradual assimilation of the ethnic group. In 1959, according to the census, there were 16 thousand Vepsians, in 1979 - 8 thousand. True, there are actually more Vepsians, since many Vepsians living in cities consider themselves Russians. In 2002, there were 8,240 Vepsians.

One of the reasons for the assimilation of the Vepsians is that this small ethnic group lives scattered, interspersed with others. Finally, the Veps themselves from different regions speak differently. The Vepsian language belongs to the northern group of the Baltic-Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric language family; it is closest to the Karelian, Izhorian, and Finnish languages. The Vepsian language is relatively homogeneous in its structure, although dialectal differences exist. Scientists distinguish three dialects. The Vepsian language was included in 2009 by UNESCO in the Atlas of Endangered Languages ​​of the World as “severely endangered”.

Komi (Zyryans)

The Komi are also among the indigenous ethnic groups of the Russian North (previously the name Zyryans was adopted). The self-name of the ethnic group is Komi-Mort (Komi people) and Komi-Voityr (Komi people). Komi live mainly in their republic (in which in 1989 they made up 26% of the total population), as well as in the Russian regions of the Russian North (Arkhangelsk and Murmansk). Komi belongs to the Permian group of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family. The relatives of the Komi are the Udmurts and the Permian Komi, who in ancient times constituted one ethnic group.

In anthropological terms, the Komi (like other Perm ethnic groups) belong to the sublaponoid racial type. It is characterized by brachycephaly (short head), mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes (that is, black hair, gray and brown eyes predominate), a wide nose bridge, weak beard growth and a medium-wide face with a tendency to flattening. In general, the Komi are representatives of a race transitional from Caucasoids and Mongoloids.

The ancestors of the Komi (at that time they were also the ancestors of all Perm ethnic groups) took shape in the 2nd millennium BC. e. in the upper Volga region. Later, the ancestors of this ethnic group spread to the north, to the Kama region. In the 1st millennium BC n. e. future Komi ended up on the territory of the modern Komi Republic.

In the IV-VIII centuries. AD In the territory of modern settlement of the Komi, the Vanvizda culture is known, whose speakers spoke Finno-Permian languages. Subsequently, in the basins of the Vym and Vychegda rivers, as a result of the continuing influx of Finnish tribes from Trans-Kama, an ethnic group was formed, which Russian chroniclers called Vychegda Perm. The region of settlement of the Komi-Permyaks was called Perm the Great by ancient chroniclers.

In the Vychegda valley, the right tributary of the Northern Dvina, the archaeological Vym culture (IX-XIV centuries), correlated with the chronicle Permian Vychegda, developed.

The population of Vychegda Perm had stable trade and cultural ties with Volga Bulgaria and Russia.

Since the 12th century, Perm Vychegda came under the rule of Veliky Novgorod and the Rostov-Suzdal princes. Fortified settlements appeared, which became important administrative, political and craft and trade centers. One of these centers was the Pozhegsky settlement on the Vym River, which arose at the end of the 12th century and existed until the 14th century. The settlement was located in a naturally fortified place; on three sides it had additional timber-earth fortifications in the form of ramparts and ditches. Above-ground dwellings and half-dugouts, industrial and outbuildings have been identified in the settlement. During the excavations, numerous data were obtained about the population's occupations in agriculture and animal husbandry, blacksmithing, jewelry, woodworking, bone-carving crafts, and trade. To repel attacks, the inhabitants of the settlement had a large supply of weapons.

The Pozheg settlement arose as a stronghold of tribute collectors and warriors. Gradually the settlement turns into an important trade, craft and military-administrative center. His death was probably a consequence of the struggle between Veliky Novgorod and Moscow.

In 1366, as the Vychegda-Vym Chronicle reported, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow (the future Donskoy) forced Novgorod to give him Perm and Pechora, as well as part of the Dvina land. But we are not talking about the annexation of these lands to the Moscow principality, but, most likely, about the transfer to the Moscow prince of the right to collect part of the tribute. The lands of the present Komi Republic finally became part of the Muscovite kingdom only during the reign of Ivan III, when the power of local princes was eliminated and Russian administration was extended to the entire region.

As a result of Russian colonization, there is a powerful impact of the culture of the Eastern Slavs. However, there were also borrowings by the Slavs from the Zyryans. Probably, the word “dumplings” was borrowed by the Russians precisely from the Zyryan words “pelnyan” (“bread ear”).

In 1379-1380 The missionary activity of Stephen of Perm began in the region, whose mother was a Zyryanka, thanks to which the future saint spoke the Komi language from childhood. He baptized the Chud pagans who lived along the Northern Dvina and Vychegda, and founded the first churches and monasteries in the region. For the success of his sermons, Stefan created the Permian (that is, ancient Komi) alphabet of 24 letters. As a model, Stefan used the letters of the Greek and Slavic alphabets, as well as the Chud “passes” (signs depicted on various objects). Parts of Perm, however, greeted the spread of Christianity with hostility. Not wanting to be baptized, some of the pagans from Vychegda migrated further to the northeast. Already in the “Life of Stefan of Perm” the baptized Chud were called “Zyryans”. Since the 16th century, the exonym “Zyryans” was assigned to the ethnic group, displacing the earlier term “Perm,” although the self-name “Komi” was still in use, but only among the Zyryans themselves.

However, despite the fact that most of the Zyryans were baptized, pagan rituals existed among them for a long time. “Pure” pagans survived for a long time. At the beginning of the 16th century, Sigismund Herberstein noted that “even to this day, throughout the forests, very many of them remain idolaters.” In the 17th century, the Komi were involved in a church schism, and from that time Old Believers spread among some of their groups (especially among the Komi-Zyryans living along the Vashka, Mezen and Pechora rivers).

In the XV-XVI centuries. under the pressure of the ongoing Russian colonization of the North, the Komi ethnic massif moved eastward. The Komi population disappeared in the lower reaches of Vashka, Pinega, lower Vychegda, Viledi, Yarenga, lower Luza. This disappearance is explained both by the migration to the east of the main part of the Komi, and by the Russification of the remaining ones. But from that time until the beginning of the twentieth century. There was a continuous expansion of the Komi ethnic territory. In the XVI-XVII centuries. The Komi settled in the upper Vychegda, and in the 18th-19th centuries. - Pechora and Izhma. Thus, the Komi-Zyryans mainly occupied the territory of the current Komi Republic, leaving the lands of the Northern Dvina basin.

Many Zyryans took an active part in the development of Siberia. Komi hunters and traders have long known the roads leading beyond the “Stone Belt”. They were guides in Ermak’s detachment, with whose campaign the annexation of Siberia began, and in a number of other detachments of Russian servicemen heading at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. on the Ob and Irtysh, along the coast of the Arctic Ocean (towards Mangazeya), were among the first inhabitants of many Siberian cities that arose at the end of the 16th-17th centuries. (Tyumen, Tobolsk, Pelym, Surgut, Berezov, Verkhoturye, etc.), participated in the development of the Lena, Amur, Kamchatka, New Siberian and Aleutian Islands basins, in the famous campaign of S.I. Dezhnev and F.A. Popov around Chukotka. Immigrants from the Komi region F.A. Chukichev and D.M. Zyryan (judging by their surname, they are definitely a Komi-Zyryan) led the development of Indigirka, Kolyma and Penzhina.

In the process of interaction with surrounding ethnic groups, the Komi included assimilated groups of Ves (Vepsians), Russians, Samoyeds (Nenets) and Voguls (Mansi). This affected the anthropological appearance and individual components of the Komi culture and led to the formation of 10 separate ethno-local groups within the Komi, as well as the mestizo ethnic group of the Izhemtsy.

In the harsh northern conditions, the economy of the Komi-Zyryans had its own characteristics. Until the 18th century, the basis of the Zyryan economy was hunting and fishing. The Zyryans actively hunted for sable. Fishing along the Vychegda, Vym, especially on Pechora, has become large-scale. Pechora salmon and other valuable varieties of fish were sent to Kholmogory, Mezen and Arkhangelsk, and from there some of them went abroad.

But by the 18th century, when the number of fur-bearing animals had significantly thinned out (which led to the resettlement of many Zyryan hunters to Siberia), and fish from the Caspian Sea began to successfully compete with fish from the northern seas, the Zyryans began to finally switch to agriculture and cattle breeding, which had previously had auxiliary significance. In the northernmost areas of settlement, the Zyryans switched to reindeer herding, in which they were very successful. At the end of the 19th century, as the pulp and paper industry developed, many Zyryans became lumberjacks and timber raftsmen.

The Zyryans lived in small villages. Although cities gradually developed in the region, there were few city dwellers among the Zyryans. The only city in which the Zyryans made up the absolute majority of the population was Ust-Sysolsk, which arose back in the 16th century, and only received city status in 1780. However, until the Soviet era, Ust-Sysolsk was just a large village, numbering just over 5 thousand inhabitants in 1910.

Demographics testify to the development of the region. In the middle of the 16th century, 10-12 thousand Komi lived in the European Northeast. In 1678 - 1679 there were approximately 19.3 thousand inhabitants in the region, of which 17.3 - 17.6 thousand were Komi and 1.7 - 2 thousand Russians.

In 1725, there were approximately 40 thousand inhabitants in the region (38-39 thousand Komi and 2.5 thousand Russians), in 1745 - 42-42.5 thousand, in 1763 - 48.5-49 thousand, and by 1782 the population increased to 58.0 - 59.0 thousand (51.5-52 thousand Komi and 3.5-4 thousand Russians). In 1795, 58-59 thousand people lived in the region, of which (54.0 - 54.5 thousand Komi and 4.0 - 4.5 thousand Russians. Russians lived in Ust-Tsilma and arose in the neighborhood of villages in the 18th century, in Ust-Vym, Loyma, settlements near Seregovsky and those that appeared in the 18th century at the Sysol Nyuvchimsky, Kazhimsky and Nyuchpasssky factories.In 1811, there were 59.3 - 60.5 thousand in the region, in 1835 - 83-84 thousand people, and by 1858-1860 the population increased to 97-100 thousand Komi and 10-13 thousand Russians.In 1897, within the current Komi Republic there were about 142 thousand Komi and 14-16 thousand Russians. Approximately 12 thousand Komi lived in other regions, more than 9 thousand of them in Siberia. In 1917-1918, about 190 thousand Komi and approximately 20 thousand Russians lived in the Komi region.

The region was poor and backward, often used by the authorities of the Russian Empire as a place of exile. But the development of the region, although slow, still continued. By 1913, 2 power plants were built, coal deposits and oil sources were explored.

The Komi-Zyrians demonstrated a desire for education, which made them one of the most educated peoples of the Russian Empire. As the prominent sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, himself half Komi, noted in his book “The Zyryans” in 1911, “the Zyryans are the third most literate people in Russia: the Germans come first, the Jews second, and then the Zyryans.” Although the alphabet of Stephen of Perm was forgotten over time, in the 18th-19th centuries there were various Cyrillic-based graphic systems for the Zyryan language. In the 19th century, more than 100 translations and original books were published in the Zyryan language. Only in 1918, V. A. Molodtsov developed a standard alphabet based on Russian graphics.

During the years of the revolution and the Civil War, the territory of the region was the scene of military operations. On August 22, 1921, the Autonomous Soviet Republic of Komi was proclaimed. It should be noted that, as in the case of Karelia and many other Soviet autonomies, the republic initially, in addition to the ethnic Komi regions, also included regions with a predominance of the Russian population. However, the Komi constituted the majority in the republic. So, in 1929 there were 234.7 thousand inhabitants, about 10% of whom were Russians.

In 1930, Ust-Sysolsk was renamed Syktyvkar, which, in fact, means “city on Sysol” in the Komi language. A university and a number of other universities were opened in Syktyvkar.

Since that time, the “old regime” name of the ethnic group “Zyryans” has disappeared, replaced by the ethnonym “Komi”. In Soviet times, industry was rapidly developing in the republic, in particular, oil, coal, pulp and paper, and furniture. Significant urbanization of the region has occurred. The population of Syktyvkar in 1939 numbered 25 thousand inhabitants, and in 1989 - 232 thousand. During the Soviet era, cities such as Vorkuta, Ukhta, Inta, Sosnogorsk, and Pechora emerged. The urban population significantly outnumbered the villagers. Thus, in 1993, the city dwellers in the republic amounted to 933.7 thousand people, the rural population - 312 thousand people.

The population of the republic grew significantly due to the arrival of the population, among whom there were many prisoners. As a result, the Komi themselves became a national minority in their own republic. However, unlike many other Finnish peoples, the Komi population continued to grow. In 1926, there were 195 thousand Komi on the territory of the autonomy, in 1959 - 245 thousand, in 1970 - 276 thousand, in 1979 - 281 thousand, in 1989 - 291 thousand people. Taking into account the Komi who lived outside the republic, the total number of the ethnic group in 1989 was 336.3 thousand people.

The collapse of the USSR and crisis phenomena in the political, economic, social and cultural life of Russia led the republic and its indigenous ethnic group to a difficult situation. The population of the republic, numbering 1,248.9 thousand inhabitants in 1990, decreased to 974.6 thousand in 2007, and in 2010 the republic was home to 901 thousand 600 people, of which almost 694 thousand are urban residents. The population as of January 1, 2011 was 899.7 thousand people, of which 693.2 thousand people (77%) were city residents and 206.5 thousand people (23%) were rural residents. In 2010, the population of the republic decreased by 8.8 thousand people, or 1%

The Komi ethnic group is also experiencing a demographic crisis, decreasing in both absolute and relative numbers. Only for 1989-2002. the number of the ethnic group decreased from 336 to 293 thousand people. Of the 293 thousand Komi in Russia, 256 thousand live in the republic itself.

Thus, although the Komi are more numerous than the majority of Finno-Ugric ethnic groups in historical Russia, their future fate as an ethnic group remains problematic.

Izhemtsy

Interesting people live in the Izhemsky district of the Komi Republic. Actually, officially no Izhem ethnic group exists, and all Izhem people are classified as Komi, whose language is spoken, but this is precisely the case when the actual existence of the ethnic group, due to political and bureaucratic reasons, is not reflected in official statistics. Izhma people have a strong ethnic identity. During the 2002 census, more than 16 thousand people called themselves Komi-Izhemtsy.

As an ethnic group, the Izhemtsy appeared right before the eyes of researchers. The ethnic group of Izhma people (Izvatas) began to take shape at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries at the junction of the territories inhabited by three peoples: the Komi-Zyryans, the Russian Ust-Tsilema Old Believers and the Samoyeds (Nenets). Between 1568 and 1575, the Izhemskaya Sloboda was founded on the Izhma River, a tributary of the Pechora. According to legend, its founders were Komi settlers from the villages on the Upper Mezen of the Glotovaya Sloboda and the Russians of the Ust-Tsilemskaya Sloboda. For a long time, Izhemskaya Sloboda remained the only Komi settlement on Nizhnyaya Pechora; only at the end of the 18th century new settlements appeared around it. Samoyed neighbors began to join the local population. The mixture of these three peoples led to the emergence of this ethnic group. But the Komi people played a predominant role, which is why the Izhemtsy language has more Komi words than Russian and Nenets ones. As the famous traveler Lepekhin wrote in the 18th century, “Izhma is inhabited by three tribes of people. The first villagers were Zyryans. The Izhemtsy lived near the Izhma River and in other places in the Yarensky district. Then they were joined by many Russian families, and some of the Samoyeds who received holy baptism. All these residents speak Zyrian.” As a result of long-term interethnic mixing and ethnocultural mutual influence, the Izhma people developed unique features in the anthropological type, a special Izhma dialect of the Komi language arose with significant borrowings from the Russian and Nenets languages, and changes occurred in the traditional economic complex.

Initially, the leading economic activities of the Izhma people were hunting and fishing, with cattle breeding and farming as auxiliary industries. In the 18th-19th centuries, while maintaining previous occupations, reindeer husbandry became the leading sector of the economy. Reindeer husbandry was the main factor in the intensive expansion of the ethnic territory of the Izhma people.

By the beginning of the 19th century, the Izhma people had mastered the entire middle Pechora, the Kolva and Usa basins, and founded settlements in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, on the Kola Peninsula and in the lower reaches of the Ob River. According to the 1897 census, the Komi population of the Pechora region (that is, the Izhemtsy) numbered 22 thousand people, about 10 thousand people lived outside the region.

The Izhma people always treated the southern Komi with a certain sense of superiority. This was understandable: on Izhma people lived richer because they were distinguished by their entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen. But not only these qualities allowed them to deploy throughout the north of the European part of Russia and beyond the Ural ridge. A craving for literacy, a constant thirst to “be no worse than others,” knowledge of the surrounding nature, independence, perseverance, natural cunning, in the end - these qualities are characteristic of an Izhemtsian. Having adopted reindeer husbandry from the Nenets, the Izhma people turned it into commercial production in a relatively short period. They mastered and developed a completely unique model of reindeer husbandry, combining in their culture the nomadic skills of the Nenets, the everyday culture of the Russians, while preserving the ethnic culture of the Komi-Zyryans. The basis for this was given by the experience of the Izhma people, who abandoned permanent nomadic life and learned to drive herds to their villages for the winter.

The constantly growing number of reindeer herds drove the Izhemets to the east and west of the North in search of new pastures. Reindeer husbandry played a huge, if not decisive, role in the formation of the ethnic group, but fishing and hunting, and cattle breeding in their ethnic homeland also remained the occupation of the Izhma people.

The final formation of the Izhem ethnic group can be attributed to the middle of the 19th century. Izhem merchants build schools and temples in their villages, which still amaze with their simple sophistication and grandeur, power plants and suede factories, because it is suede that comes into fashion and brings huge profits.

The fact that the population strives for education deserves attention. The first school in rural areas in the Komi region opened in Izhma in 1828 at the expense of ordinary peasants.

The revolution and civil war caused enormous damage to the Izhma people. The Izhma reindeer herding system was virtually destroyed by measures taken by the state in the 1920s. The Izhemtsy themselves were declared to belong to the Komi. However, the cultural and economic development of the region continued. In the 20-30s. In the Izhemsky region, there were three secondary educational institutions. The organizers of all these educational institutions were representatives of the local population.

In general, the Izhemsky region has retained some features that sharply distinguish it from other regions of the Russian North, where the newcomer population has significantly outnumbered the local natives. More than 80% of the indigenous population lives in the current territory of the Izhemsky district. This fact contributes to the preservation of the traditional way of life, traditional culture and attitude of people living in close relationship with nature. For example, the local population spoke out for the protection of their rights to a clean environment and against illegal oil refining in areas where the population traditionally uses natural resources. The case went to court with the leadership of the Komi Republic and the Izhemtsy won. In addition, demographically, the Izhma people find themselves in a more advantageous position than many small ethnic groups of the North. According to the 1989 census, 27.8 thousand Komi lived in the Izhemsky and Usinsky regions of the Komi ASSR, and about 18 thousand more descendants of people from Izhma live in Western Siberia and the European North. Nowadays, there are a number of public organizations of Izhemtsy whose goal is, firstly, to achieve recognition of the Izhmatsy as an independent ethnic group, and secondly, to develop the culture and economy of this people.

Nenets (Samoyeds)

In the northeast of the region live the Nenets, who were previously called Samoyeds.

It is interesting that the Nenets are the “titular” nationality of three subjects of the Russian Federation - the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Arkhangelsk Region, the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug of the Tyumen Region and the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The total number in 2002 was 41 thousand people. Most Nenets live in Siberia. In the European part of Russia, the Nenets live in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Arkhangelsk Region. However, in this autonomy in 2002, the Nenets numbering 7,754 people made up only 18.7% of the district’s population

Nevertheless, taking into account the historical circumstance that the ancestors of the Nenets came into contact with the Russians back in the era of the Novgorodians’ exploration of Pomerania, an essay about the Nenets is necessary precisely in the section on the Russian North.

The Nenets belong to the Samoyed group of the Uralic language family. It is interesting that the name of the group is actually derived from their old name “Samoyeds”.

In anthropological terms, the Nenets belong to the Ural contact small race, whose representatives are characterized by a combination of anthropological characteristics inherent in both Caucasians and Mongoloids. Due to their widespread settlement, the Nenets are anthropologically divided into a number of groups demonstrating a main tendency towards a decrease in the proportion of Mongoloidity from east to west.

According to the 1926 census, there were 16.4 thousand Samoyeds, in 1959 - 23.0 thousand, in 1970 - 28.7 thousand, in 1979 - 29.4 thousand, 1989 - 34.4 thousand, and finally, in 2002, their number exceeded 40 thousand people. But, let us repeat, most Nenets live in the north of Western Siberia. In the Russian North, the Nenets live between the eastern shore of the White Sea and the Ural Mountains. In the European part of Russia, the Nenets have 3 main habitats, which are usually called “tundras” - Bolshezemelskaya (from the Pechora River to the spurs of the Urals), Malozemelskaya (between the Timan Ridge and Pechora), and Kanino-Timanskaya tundra (on the Kanin Peninsula and further east to the Timan Ridge).

If in Siberia some of the Nenets live in the taiga, then among the Nenets of the Russian North tundra reindeer herders absolutely predominate. The Nenets lead a nomadic lifestyle, carrying out annual migrations with reindeer herds according to the system: summer - northern tundra, winter - forest-tundra. The material culture of the Nenets is adapted to the nomadic way of life. All human needs are provided by domestic reindeer herding products. Fishing, waterfowl hunting, and fur trade are of seasonal economic importance.

As already mentioned, the Nenets were not the first inhabitants of the tundra of northern Europe. Russian chroniclers mentioned the Pechora tribe, which gave its name to the river. Nenets legends mention a certain “Sirtya” people, who previously lived in the lands of the Pechora basin and the Subpolar Urals, engaged in marine fishing. The Sirtya, according to Nenets legends, were nomadic hunters of the tundra and the sea coast, hunted wild deer, fish and sea animals, spoke a language different from Nenets, and were very short in stature. But the Sirtya did not know reindeer husbandry. It is interesting that in the end the sirtya disappeared forever underground (striking similarity with Russian legends about the self-buried miracle).

The Samoyed ethnic groups, which include the Nenets (Samoyeds), developed in the Sayan Highlands of Siberia. Under pressure from nomadic Turkic tribes, the ancestors of the Samoyeds began to move into the tundra zone. Around the 13th century, after almost a thousand years of migration, the Samoyeds occupied modern ethnic territory. Probably, the aborigines of the European tundra, who did not engage in reindeer herding, and therefore were significantly inferior to the newcomers in numbers, were assimilated by the Nenets.

The Russians called the Nenets Samoyeds, and only in the 30s. In the 20th century, they were politically correct called Nenets (from the ethnonym Nenets, which meant “man”). At the same time, the Nenets alphabet was created.

Religiously, the majority of the Nenets remained pagan animists, although as early as the 1820s. Attempts were made to baptize the Samoyeds, accompanied by the destruction of their pagan idols. However, the Samoyeds adopted Christianity very superficially, remaining, in essence, pagans.

Today, a number of Nenets continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, moving with their herds of reindeer through traditional nomadic areas. Some Nenets live sedentarily on reindeer herding and fishing collective farms. Finally, an increasing number of Nenets are settling in cities, where they work in the service sector, gradually losing their ethnic specificity.

These are the people of the Russian North. Isn’t it true that a country that has such people, modest in appearance, not inclined to show off themselves, but preserving the truly Lomonosov thirst for knowledge, the endurance and perseverance of the Pomor, the strength of faith of the Solovetsky brethren, will always be invincible. Descendants of ancient aboriginal ethnic groups, great-great-grandchildren of the Novgorod ushkuiniks, grandchildren of Soviet engineers and Soviet prisoners, modern northerners possess the qualities that created Russia. And, I think, the Russian North and its people will still show the country and the world new great achievements.

Baltic-Finnish peoples of Russia. M., Nauka, 2003, p. 218

Bylykh S.K. History of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region. Izhevsk, 2006, P.47

www.komiinform.ru/news/77338/#

Using the map, determine which geographical objects are named after Russian explorers?

Laptev Sea, Cape Dezhnev and Chelyuskin, Ratmanov and Krusenstern Islands, Bering Strait and Bering Sea, Chersky Ridge

Questions in a paragraph

*Use the maps to determine by what waterways the Novgorodians reached the White Sea. What ancient Russian trade routes led to the south and southeast.

The routes of penetration of the Novgorodians to the shores of the Bely and Pechora mari were different.

1. We walked along the Sheksna River to White Lake, then along the Ukhtomka River to Lake Volotskoye, then dragged to Lake Dolgoye, from there along the Modlona River to Lake Polshemskoye, then through the Ukhtomka River, Lake Vozhe, the Svid River, Lake Lacha and ended up in the Onega River and along it to White Lake.

2. We walked from White Lake along the Kovzha River, then dragged it to the Vytegra River; then through Lake Onega, the Vodla and Chereva rivers to Lake Volotskoye, along the Voloshev and Pocha rivers into Lake Kenozero, then along the Kena River to Onega and the White Sea.

3. Along the rivers Volga, Sheksna, Slavyanka, Lake Nikolskoye, dragging to Lake Blagoveshchenskoye, then along the Porozovitsa rivers, Lake Kubenskoye, Sukhona rivers to the Severna Dvina and the White Sea.

The road from the Varangians to the Greeks led south, the Volga-Caspian route, a land route that began in Prague and through Kyiv went to the Volga and further to Asia.

Questions at the end of the paragraph

1.When and by whom was the Russian North developed?

In the 12th century, Novgorodians mastered the entire European North of the country from the Kola Peninsula to the Pechera basin. They paved the way to the seas of the Arctic Ocean. In the 15th century, Pomor industrialists entered the Kara Sea through the Yugorsky Shar and Kara Gate straits, entered the mouth of the Ob and Taz, and founded Mangazeya. Russian Pomors reached the islands of Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen. In 1639, Tomsk Cossack Ivan Yuryevich Moskvitin described the Shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, explored the Lena basin, and mentioned the Amur for the first time.

2.When did the Russian campaigns in Siberia begin and what were the reasons for them?

The first campaigns in Western Siberia were led by Moscow governors in the 15th century. They determined the highest part of the Urals and its true direction. The role of Pomors in the exploration of Siberia is great. Much information has been preserved about Ermak’s campaign in Siberia. His team studied all the river routes of Western Siberia. In the fight against Kuchum, Ermak died, but his troops advanced up the Irtysh and conquered Southern Siberia.

3. Tell us what territories and geographical objects were known to the Novgorodians in the 12th century.

In the 12th century, Novgorodians mastered the entire European North of the country from the Kola Peninsula to the Pechera basin. They paved the way to the seas of the Arctic Ocean. They gave names to the northern shores - Murmansk, Tersky, Karelian. Novgorodians even managed to cross the Urals.

4.Name the lands discovered and annexed to the Moscow Principality in the XIV-XV centuries.

Siberia and Far East

5. Tell us about the campaigns of the Cossack Ermak Timofeevich to Siberia.

Who owned the idea of ​​going to Siberia: Tsar Ivan IV, the industrialists Stroganov, or Ataman Ermak Timofeevich personally - historians do not give a clear answer. But since the truth is always in the middle, most likely, the interests of all three parties converge here. Tsar Ivan - new lands and vassals, the Stroganovs - security, Ermak and the Cossacks - the opportunity to profit under the guise of state necessity. In this place, a parallel between Ermakov’s troops and corsairs (the difference between pirates and corsairs) simply suggests itself - private sea robbers who received letters of safe conduct from their kings for the legalized robbery of enemy ships.

Goals of Ermak's campaign

Historians are considering several versions. With a high degree of probability this could be: preventive protection of the Stroganovs' possessions; the defeat of Khan Kuchum; bringing the Siberian peoples into vassalage and imposing tribute on them; establishing control over the main Siberian water artery Ob; creating a springboard for the further conquest of Siberia. There is another interesting version. Ermak was not at all a rootless Cossack chieftain, but a native of the Siberian princes who were exterminated by the Bukhara protege Kuchum when he seized power over Siberia. Ermak had his own legitimate ambitions for the Siberian throne, he did not go on an ordinary predatory campaign, he went to reconquer his land from Kuchum. That is why the Russians did not encounter serious resistance from the local population. It was better for him (the population) to be “under his own” Ermak than under the stranger Kuchum. If Ermak established power over Siberia, his Cossacks would automatically turn from bandits into a “regular” army and become the sovereign’s people. Their status would change dramatically. That is why the Cossacks so patiently endured all the difficulties of the campaign, which did not at all promise easy gain, but promised them much more...

Campaign of Ermak's troops to Siberia through the Ural watershed

So, according to some sources, in September 1581 (according to other sources - in the summer of 1582) Ermak went on a military campaign. This was precisely a military campaign, and not a bandit raid. His armed formation included 540 of his own Cossack forces and 300 “militia” from the Stroganovs. The army set off up the Chusovaya River on plows. According to some reports, there were only 80 plows, that is, about 10 people each.

From the Lower Chusovsky towns along the bed of the Chusovoy River, Ermak’s detachment reached:

According to one version, he climbed up the Serebryannaya River. They dragged the plows by hand to the Zhuravlik River, which flows into the river. Barancha – left tributary of Tagil;

According to another version, Ermak and his comrades reached the Mezhevaya Utka River, climbed it and then transferred the plows to the Kamenka River, then to the Vyya - also a left tributary of Tagil.

Hostilities

The movement of Ermak’s squad to Siberia along the Tagil River remains the main working version. Along Tagil, the Cossacks descended to Tura, where they first fought with the Tatar troops and defeated them. According to legend, Ermak planted effigies in Cossack clothing on the plows, and he himself with the main forces went ashore and attacked the enemy from the rear. The first serious clash between Ermak’s detachment and the troops of Khan Kuchum occurred in October 1582, when the flotilla had already entered Tobol, near the mouth of the Tavda River. The subsequent military actions of Ermak’s squad deserve a separate description. Books, monographs, and films have been made about Ermak’s campaign. There is enough information on the Internet. Here we will only say that the Cossacks really fought “not with numbers, but with skill.” Fighting on foreign territory with an enemy superior in numbers, thanks to coordinated and skillful military actions, they managed to defeat and put to flight the Siberian ruler Khan Kuchum. Kuchum temporarily expelled him from the capital - the town of Kashlyk (according to other sources, it was called Isker or Siberia). Nowadays there is no trace left of the town of Isker itself - it was located on the high sandy bank of the Irtysh and over the centuries was washed away by its waves. It was located about 17 versts up from present-day Tobolsk.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak

Having removed the main enemy from the road in 1583, Ermak began to conquer the Tatar and Vogul towns and uluses along the Irtysh and Ob rivers. Somewhere he met stubborn resistance. Somewhere, the local population themselves preferred to come under the patronage of Moscow in order to get rid of the alien stranger Kuchum, a protege of the Bukhara Khanate and an Uzbek by birth. After the capture of the “capital” city of Kuchum - (Siberia, Kashlyk, Isker), Ermak sent messengers to the Stroganovs and an ambassador to the Tsar - Ataman Ivan Koltso. Ivan the Terrible received the ataman very kindly, generously gifted the Cossacks and sent the governor Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with 300 warriors to reinforce them. Among the royal gifts sent to Ermak in Siberia were two chain mail, including a chain mail that once belonged to Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Shuisky.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible receives an envoy from Ermak

Ataman Ivan Ring with the news of the capture of Siberia

Tsar's reinforcements arrived from Siberia in the fall of 1583, but could no longer correct the situation. Kuchum's superior troops defeated the Cossack hundreds individually and killed all the leading atamans. With the death of Ivan the Terrible in March 1584, the Moscow government had “no time for Siberia.” The undead Khan Kuchum became bolder and began to pursue and destroy the remnants of the Russian army with superior forces...

On August 6, 1585, on the quiet bank of the Irtysh, Ermak Timofeevich himself died. With a detachment of only 50 people, Ermak stopped for the night at the mouth of the Vagai River, which flows into the Irtysh. Kuchum attacked the sleeping Cossacks and killed almost the entire detachment; only a few people survived. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the ataman was dressed in two chain mail, one of which was a gift from the Tsar. It was they who dragged the legendary chieftain to the bottom of the Irtysh when he tried to swim to his plows. The abyss of waters hid the Russian hero of the pioneer forever. Legend has it that the Tatars caught the chieftain’s body and mocked him for a long time, shooting at him with arrows. And the famous royal chain mail and other armor of Ermak were taken apart as valuable amulets that brought good luck. The death of Ataman Ermak is very similar in this regard to the death at the hands of the aborigines of another famous adventurer - Fernando Magellan.

The results of Ermak's campaign in Siberia

For two years, Ermak’s expedition established Russian Moscow power in the Ob left bank of Siberia. The pioneers, as almost always happens in history, paid with their lives. But the Russian claims to Siberia were first outlined precisely by the warriors of Ataman Ermak. Other conquerors came after them. Soon enough, all of Western Siberia “almost voluntarily” became a vassal, and then administratively dependent on Moscow. And the brave pioneer, Cossack ataman Ermak became over time a mythical hero, a sort of Siberian Ilya-Muremets. He firmly entered the consciousness of his compatriots as a national hero. Legends and songs are written about him. Historians write works. Writers are books. Artists - paintings. And despite many blind spots in history, the fact remains that Ermak began the process of annexing Siberia to the Russian state. And no one after that could take this place in the popular consciousness, and the adversaries could lay claim to the Siberian expanses.

1. Russia is located:

A) northern 1) m. Dezhneva

B) southern 2) m. Chelyuskin

B) western 3) Bazarduzu

D) eastern 4) sand spit of the Gulf of Gdansk

Baltic Sea

a) Black

b) Beringovo

c) Barentsevo

d) Chukotka

a) Pacific Ocean

c) Atlantic Ocean

a) White

b) Barents

c) Okhotsk

6. Russia is located:

a) in 11 time zones;

b) in 10 time zones;

c) in 12 time zones;

d) in 24 time zones;

a) at 0° meridian;

c) at 180° meridian;

d) at the equator.

a) 7 hours ago;

b) 7 hours ahead;

c) 11 hours ago;

9. Time within boundaries time zone is called:

a) local;

b) waist;

c) summer;

d) maternity leave;

10.

_________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

13. Who discovered the way to Siberia? __________________________________________

14. He studied the Ussuri region - __________________________________________

15. Who discovered Lake Baikal? _____________________________________________________

16. The sea is named after the brothers - ________________________________________

17. When and by whom was the Russian North developed? ________________________________

18. He in 1696 Made a trip to Kamchatka - ______________________________

19. In 1932 O. Schmidt and V. Voronin passed ___________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Class _____ Last name, first name ________________________________________________

Generalization test on the topic “Our Motherland on the World Map.”

1. Russia is located:

a) in the northern and western hemispheres;

b) in the northern and eastern hemispheres;

c) in the northern, eastern and western hemispheres;

d) only in the northern hemisphere.

2. Find the match: Extreme points of Russia:

A) northern 21) m. Dezhneva

B) southern 3 2) M. Chelyuskin

B) western 4 3) Bazarduzu city

D) eastern 1 4) sand spit of the Gulf of Gdansk

Baltic Sea

3.The cleanest sea off the coast of Russia

a) Black

b) Beringovo

c) Barentsevo

d) Chukotka

4. Typhoons and tsunamis occur in the seas:

a) Pacific Ocean

b) Arctic Ocean

c) Atlantic Ocean

5. Kislogubskaya TPP was built at sea:

a) White

b) Barents

c) Okhotsk

6. Russia is located:

a) in 11 time zones;

b) in 10 time zones;

c) in 12 time zones;

d) in 24 time zones;

7. Where does a new day begin:

a) at 0° meridian;

b) in the Arctic Circle;

c) at 180° meridian;

d) at the equator.

8. If you move from the 9th time zone to the 2nd time zone, then you need to set the clock to:

a) 7 hours ago;

b) 7 hours ahead;

c) 11 hours ago;

9. Time within boundaries time zone is called:

a) local;

b) waist;

c) summer;

d) maternity leave;

10. Determine the standard time of Magadan if it is 6 o'clock in Moscow.
(10-2)+6h.= 14h

11. Which sea coast did the Novgorodians, the Pomors, develop?

Barentsevo

12. Why did the Pomors swim to Mangazeya?

For fur

13. Who discovered the way to Siberia? Ermak

14. He studied the Ussuri region - N.M. Przhevalsky

15. Who discovered Lake Baikal? – Kurbat Ivanov

16. The sea is named after the brothers - Laptev

17. When and by whom was the Russian North developed? – Russians of the XΙΙ century.

18. He in 1696 Made a trip to Kamchatka - V. Atlasov

19. In 1932 O. Schmidt and V. Voronin passed - Northern Sea Route

20. The first Russian scientist - a natural scientist with a worldwide reputation - M.V. Lomonosov

Domestic navigators - explorers of the seas and oceans Nikolai Nikolaevich Zubov

2. Exit of Novgorodians to the shores of the White and Barents seas

The beginning of the Russian advance to the north and northeast - to the shores of the White and Barents Seas - must be dated back to the 9th–10th centuries.

Three main motives drew the Russians to the harsh North. The first is the desire to escape boyar oppression and internecine wars. The second is the desire to escape religious persecution. The third is the hope of getting out of poverty in the rich fisheries and animal industries of the White and Barents Seas.

A forced change of religion, under the compulsion of the authorities, always and everywhere caused resistance, sometimes expressed in uprisings, sometimes in a kind of going underground, and sometimes in relocation from their homes to new areas.

Thus, Academician Lepekhin wrote:

“During Vladimirov’s baptism, many, and especially those from Novgorod, who did not want to accept the Christian faith, leaving their homes, moved to these places, which, due to their remoteness and local situation from the searches of the Vladimirovs, seemed safe to them, and were already known to them due to trade were…"

At the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries. The flow of Russians to the north and northeast intensified, similar to what began in the 15th century. and especially intensified in the 17th century. the persecution of the schismatics caused a new intensified advance of the Russians also to the north and northeast.

Fishing and hunting in the White and Barents Seas attracted not only industrialists, but also merchants who exchanged their catch from industrialists, and caused the development of navigation and shipbuilding, especially since the banks of the rivers flowing into the White Sea were rich in timber.

Very little written information about the beginning of Russian settlement of the shores of the White and Barents Seas has been preserved. One of the most ancient records about the Slavs in our north is from the Arab writer Abu Hamed, who in the first half of the 10th century. reported “about the Yugras who lived in the north of the Urals - as if they were buying iron blades from the Slavs at an expensive price...”

Abu Hamed could have heard about this from Persian and Arab merchants who traded with the Russian North.

This trade was interrupted by the Tatar invasion, and after the opening of sea routes to India by the Dutch, it ceased altogether.

But if trade relations between the North and South were stopped by the Tatar invasion, then relations between the West (Novgorod) and the East (Northwestern Siberia) continued to develop. Thus, the First Sofia Chronicle tells that already in 1032 the Novgorodian Uleb went to the “Iron Gate”.

A well-known expert on our North, Vasily Vasilyevich Krestinin, wrote:

“This name, previously unknown (Iron Gates.-N. 3.) in the geography of our northern countries now raises a new question, in the discussion of the campaign of the Novgorodians beyond the Iron Gates, which took place in the summer of 1032, described in the Novgorod chronicler; Should the river campaign of the Novgorodians be attributed to this or to the Vaigach gates?

From the above excerpt it follows that Krestinin considered it possible for the Novgorodians to penetrate the Kara Sea in the first half of the 11th century.

In 1079, the Novgorod prince Gleb Svyatoslavovich died in the northern Urals. The chronicle of Nestor under 1096 says that around 1092 the Novgorodians, on the orders of Gyuryata Rogovich, went to Pechora and Ugra for tribute.

The areas near Kholmogory were mentioned in written sources in 1137. The Monastery of Michael the Archangel at the mouth of the Northern Dvina was founded between 1110 and IZO. In the first half of the 12th century. among the Novgorod possessions the Tersky coast of the White Sea Throat is mentioned.

It is unknown when exactly Kola was founded on Murman, but it was first mentioned in the Norwegian chronicle in 1210, and in the Russian chronicle in 1264.

It is curious that already from 1200 the Norwegians were forced to maintain a permanent naval guard to protect against Russian raids, and in 1307 in the extreme northeast of Norway they even built the Vardehuz fortress (our Pomors called it Vargaev.)

It has already been emphasized that the chronicles predominantly noted events that most affected the interests of contemporaries. But such events as the founding of a city, a monastery, the establishment of a sea guard, long-distance campaigns of the Novgorodians to the Urals must have their own prehistory, sometimes long, but usually not noted in written sources. Therefore, to clarify the time of the appearance of Russians on the shores of the White and Barents Seas, one has to resort to indirect conclusions.

Firstly, we must take into account the fact that during their advance to the northeast from the ancient centers of their settlements - Novgorod and Ladoga - the Novgorodians up to “Kamen” (Ural) almost did not encounter resistance, since there were no many people on their way. any organized state associations. Secondly, on this path they encountered many rivers and lakes, which greatly facilitated their progress.

Rivers and lakes in those days, especially in the geographical conditions of the Russian North, were essentially the only means of communication - in the summer on rafts and boats, in the winter - on sleighs and skis on flat ice. Rivers and lakes provided the settlers with fish, and coastal forests provided material for building boats, houses, and fuel. Hunting on lakes and forests provided food and furs.

From Lake Ilmen it was easy to get along the Volkhov to Lake Ladoga, then along the Svir to Lake Onega, and then along the Vodla to Vodlozero. Further from the river basins of the Baltic Sea, it was not difficult to move along short portages to the rivers flowing into the White Sea (and the Slavs acquired the skills of moving along rivers and portages during the development of the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”). Thus, the Novgorodians gradually reached Kem and Onega, then the Northern Dvina and Pechora.

It should be noted that the so-called Pomeranian coast (the western coast of Onega Bay) is very convenient for the initial development of the sea. This coast is very indented and forms many lips and bays, which are well protected from winds and swell by the Onega skerries stretching along the Pomeranian coast.

It is natural to assume that part of the Novgorodians moving east, having reached Onega, separated and descended along Onega to the White Sea. Here the flow of Novgorodians again split into two. Some climbed along the shores of the White Sea north to Kandalaksha, and then along rivers and portages reached Kola (hydrographer N. Morozov, noting that between Kandalaksha and Kola there was only one portage about one kilometer long, believed that the Russians penetrated into Kola from Kandalaksha ).

The other part, turning east at the exit from Onega Bay, reached the mouth of the Northern Dvina by sea, perhaps even earlier than those Novgorodians who crossed Onega during their movement to the east and descended along the Northern Dvina to its mouth.

Unfortunately, there is no direct data to support such assumptions.

Indirect confirmation of such assumptions is the great similarity of events during the advance of the Novgorodians to the east in the 10th–12th centuries. and events during the advance of explorers and sailors in Siberia in the 16th and 17th centuries.

As we will see later, the Russians, moving east through Siberia, simultaneously descended along the rivers to the Arctic Ocean and then crossed by sea from the mouth of one river to the mouth of another. The motivations that forced them to choose such paths were the same among both the Novgorodians and the Siberian explorers - the search for fishing grounds, the search for new tribes with whom barter trade could be conducted and on whom taxes could be imposed.

One cannot think that the Novgorodians, who committed in the 11th century. campaigns to Pechora and Ugra, the entire long journey from Novgorod to the Urals were made through unknown uninhabited areas. Thus, if, according to the chronicles, the Novgorodians already by the end of the 11th century. mastered military and trade routes in the Trans-Urals, then we must assume that they appeared on the shores of the White Sea no later than the end of the 10th century.

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