Where do the Eskimos live? Mysterious people - Eskimos (11 photos)

Faces of Russia. "Living Together, Being Different"

The multimedia project "Faces of Russia" exists since 2006, talking about Russian civilization, the most important feature which is the ability to live together, remaining different - such a motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of various Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs "Music and songs of the peoples of Russia" were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs have been released to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a picture that will allow the inhabitants of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a picture of what they were like for posterity.

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The cycle of audio lectures "Peoples of Russia" - Eskimos

General information

ESKIMS,- one of the indigenous northern peoples, an ethnic community, a group of peoples in the USA (in Alaska - 38 thousand people), in northern Canada (28 thousand people), in Denmark (Greenland - 47 thousand) and the Russian Federation (Chukotka autonomous region Magadan region - 1.5 thousand people). Eskimos inhabit the territory from the eastern edge of Chukotka to Greenland. The total number is 115 thousand people (less than 90 thousand people in 2000). In Russia, the Eskimos are a small ethnic group - according to the 2002 census, the number of Eskimos living in Russia is 19 thousand people, according to the 2010 census - 1738 people - living mixed or in close proximity with the Chukchi in several settlements on the east coast Chukotka and Wrangel Island.

The languages ​​of the Eskimo-Aleut family are divided into two groups: Inupik (closely related dialects of the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, northern Alaska and Canada, Labrador and Greenland) and Yupik - a group from three languages(Central Yupik, Siberian Yupik and Sugpiak, or Alutiik) with dialects spoken by the population of western and southwestern Alaska, St. Lawrence Island and the Chukchi Peninsula.

Formed as an ethnic group in the Bering Sea region before the end of the 2nd millennium BC. In the 1st millennium AD, the ancestors of the Eskimos are carriers archaeological culture Thule settled in Chukotka and along the Arctic coast of America to Greenland.

The Eskimos are divided into 15 ethnocultural groups: The Eskimos of southern Alaska, on the coast of Prince William Bay and Kodiak Island, were subjected to strong Russian influence during the period of the Russian-American Company (late 18th - mid-19th century); The Eskimos of western Alaska, to the greatest extent, retain their language and traditional way of life; Siberian Huskies, including the St. Lawrence and Diomede Islands Huskies; Eskimos of northwest Alaska, living along the coast from Norton Bay to the US-Canadian border and in the interior of northern Alaska; Mackenzie Eskimos - a mixed group on the northern coast of Canada around the mouth of the Mackenzie River, formed in the late 14th and early 20th centuries from indigenous people and Nunaliit Eskimos - settlers from northern Alaska; copper Eskimos, named after cold-forged native copper tools, live on the northern coast of Canada along Coronation Bay and on the islands of Banks and Victoria; Netsilik Eskimos in northern Canada, on the coast of the Boothia and Adelaide peninsulas, King William Islands and in the lower reaches of the Buck River; close to them, the Igloolik Eskimos - the inhabitants of the Melville Peninsula, the northern part of Baffin Island and Southampton Island; Eskimo caribou living in the interior tundra of Canada west of Hudson Bay mixed with other Eskimos; Eskimos of Baffin Island in the central and southern parts of the island of the same name; The Eskimos of Quebec and the Eskimos of Labrador, respectively, in the north - northeast and west - southwest, up to the island of Newfoundland and the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the coast of the Labrador Peninsula, in the 19th century participated in the formation of the mestizo group of "settlers" (descendants from marriages between Eskimo women and white hunters and settlers); The Eskimos of the west of Greenland - the largest group of Eskimos, since the beginning of the 18th century have undergone European (Danish) colonization and Christianization; polar Eskimos - the northernmost group of aboriginal people on Earth in the extreme north-west of Greenland; The Eskimos of eastern Greenland, later than others (at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries), faced European influence.

Throughout their history, the Eskimos have created forms of culture adapted to life in the Arctic: a harpoon with a swivel tip, a hunting kayak, a deaf fur garment, a half-dugout and a domed dwelling made of snow (igloo), a fat lamp for cooking food, lighting and heating the dwelling, and etc. The Eskimos were characterized by an unformed tribal organization, the absence of childbirth in the 19th century (except, apparently, the Bering Sea Eskimos). Although some groups were Christianized (18th century), the Eskimos actually retained animistic ideas, shamanism.

The traditional occupations of the Eskimos are marine hunting, reindeer herding, and hunting.

The Eskimos have five economic and cultural complexes: hunting for large marine animals - walruses and whales (Eskimos of Chukotka, the St. Lawrence Islands, the coast of northwestern Alaska, the ancient population of western Greenland); seal hunting (northwestern and eastern Greenland, islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago); fishing (Eskimos of the west and southwest of Alaska); roaming hunting for caribou (Eskimo caribou, part of the Eskimos of northern Alaska); a combination of caribou hunting with sea hunting (most of the Eskimos of Canada, some of the Eskimos of northern Alaska). After the Eskimos were drawn into the orbit of market relations, a significant part of them switched to commercial fur hunting (trappering), in Greenland - to commercial fishing. Many work in construction, iron ore mines, oil fields, in arctic trading posts, etc. The Greenlanders and Eskimos of Alaska have a prosperous stratum and a national intelligentsia.

By the middle of the 20th century, four independent ethnopolitical communities of the Eskimos had formed.

1) Eskimos of Greenland - see Greenlanders. 2) Eskimos of Canada (self-name - Inuit). Since the 1950s, the Canadian government began to pursue a policy of concentration of the indigenous population and the construction of large settlements. They retain the language, English and French are also common (Quebec Eskimos). Since the end of the 19th century, they have written based on the syllabic alphabet. 3) The Eskimos of Alaska are largely English-speaking, Christianized. Since the 1960s, they have been fighting for economic and political rights. Tendencies towards national-cultural consolidation are strong. 4) Asian (Siberian) Eskimos, Yupigyt, or Yugyt (self-name - "real people"; Yuits - the official name in the 1930s). The language belongs to the Yupik group, the dialects are Sirenik, Central Siberian, or Chaplin, and Naukan. Writing since 1932 based on the Chaplin dialect. The Russian language is widespread. Settled on the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula from the Bering Strait in the north to the Gulf of the Cross in the west. The main groups are: Navukagmit ("Naukanians"), living in the territory from the village of Inchoun to the village of Lavrentiya; ungazigmit ("Chaplintsy"), settled from the Senyavin Strait to Provideniya Bay and in the village of Uelkal; Sirenigmit ("Sireniks"), residents of the village of Sireniki.

Main traditional occupation- hunting for sea animals, mainly walrus and seal. The production of the whale, developed until the middle of the 19th century, then declined due to the extermination of it by commercial whalers. The beast was beaten on rookeries, ice, in the water from boats - with darts, spears and harpoons with a detachable bone tip. They also hunted reindeer and mountain sheep with bows and arrows. Since the middle of the 19th century, firearms have been spreading, and the commercial value of fur hunting for fox and arctic fox has increased. Bird hunting techniques were close to those of the Chukchi (darts, bird bolas, etc.). They were also engaged in fishing and gathering. They bred sled dogs. An in-kind exchange with the deer Chukchi and American Eskimos was developed, trade trips to Alaska and St. Lawrence Island were regularly made.

The main food is walrus, seal and whale meat - ice cream, pickled, dried, boiled. Venison was highly valued. Vegetable food, seaweed, shellfish served as seasoning.

Initially, they lived in large settlements in semi-dugouts (now "lyu"), which existed until the middle of the 19th century. In the 17-18 centuries, under the influence of the Chukchi, frame yarangas made of deer skins (myn "tyg" ak ") became the main winter dwelling. The walls of the yarangas were often lined with turf, made of stones or boards. The summer dwelling is quadrangular, made of walrus skins on a wooden frame, with a sloping roof. Until the beginning of the 19th century, communal houses were preserved - large semi-dugouts in which several people lived. families, as well as meetings and holidays.

In winter, dog sleds and walking skis served as the main means of transportation, and in open water - leather kayaks. The sleds, like the Chukchi ones, were arc-dusty until the middle of the 19th century and were harnessed by a fan, then the East Siberian sled with a train team spread. The kayak was a lattice frame, covered with leather, with the exception of a small round hole at the top, which was pulled together around the rower's belt. Rowing with one two-blade or two single-blade oars. There were also multi-oar canoes of the Chukchi type for 20-30 rowers (an "yapik").

Until the end of the 19th century, the Eskimos wore deaf clothes - kukhlyanka, sewn from bird skins with feathers inside. With the development of exchange with the Chukchi reindeer herders, clothes began to be sewn from reindeer fur. Women's clothing is a double fur overall (k "al'yvagyn") of the same cut as that of the Chukchi. summer clothes, both male and female, there was a deaf kamleika, sewn from seal intestines, later - from purchased fabrics. Traditional shoes - fur boots (kamgyk) with cut soles and often with an obliquely cut top, men's - up to the middle of the lower leg, women's - up to the knee; leather pistons with a toe cut much larger than the instep in the form of a "bubble". Women braided their hair in two braids, men shaved it, leaving a circle or several strands at the crown. The tattoo for men is circles near the corners of the mouth (a relic of the custom of wearing a lip plug), for women - complex geometric patterns on the face and arms. To protect against diseases, face painting with ocher and graphite was also used.

Traditional decorative arts- fur mosaic, embroidery with colored tendon threads on rovduga, beads, walrus tusk carving.

The Eskimos were dominated by a patrilineal account of kinship, a patrilocal marriage with working off for the bride. There were canoe artels (an "yam ima), which consisted of the owner of the canoe and his closest relatives and in the past occupied one semi-dugout. Its members divided hunting prey among themselves. Property inequality developed, especially with the development of barter trade, large merchants stood out, who sometimes became at the head of the settlements ("masters of the land").

The Eskimos invented the swivel harpoon to hunt sea animals, kayaks, snow igloos, and special fur and skin blinds. The Eskimo language belongs to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. The Russian Eskimos have a textbook of this language. There is also a dictionary: Eskimo-Russian and Russian-Eskimo. Programs in the Eskimo language are prepared by the Chukotka state television and radio company. Eskimo songs have become more and more popular lately. And largely thanks to the Ergyron ensemble.

Anthropologists believe that the Eskimos are Mongoloids of the Arctic type. The word "Eskimo" ("raw eater", "one who eats raw fish") belongs to the language of the Abnak and Athabaskan Indian tribes. From the name of the American Eskimos, this word has become the self-name of both American and Asian Eskimos.

Eskimos are people with their own ancient worldview. They live in harmony with nature. Despite the fact that some groups of Eskimos were Christianized as early as the 18th century, this people retained animistic ideas and shamanism.

The Eskimos believe in the master spirits of all animate and inanimate objects, natural phenomena, localities, wind directions, various human states. The Eskimos believe in the kinship of a person with any animal or object. Evil spirits are represented as giants and dwarfs.

To protect against diseases, the Eskimos have amulets: family and personal. There are also cults of the wolf, raven and killer whale. The Eskimo shaman acts as an intermediary between the world of spirits and the world of people. Not every Eskimo can become a shaman, but only one who is lucky enough to hear the voice of a helping spirit. After that, the shaman already alone meets with the spirits that he hears, and enters into a kind of alliance with them about mediation.

The Eskimos believed in good and evil spirits. Of the animals, the killer whale, considered the patron saint of sea hunting, was especially revered; she was depicted on canoes, hunters wore her wooden image on their belts. The main character of cosmogonic legends is Raven (Koshkli), the main plots of fairy tales are connected with a whale. The main rituals were associated with fishing cults: the Feast of Heads, dedicated to hunting for walruses, the Feast of Kita (Pola), etc. Shamanism was developed. After the 1930s, the Eskimos organized fishing farms. Traditional occupations and culture began to disappear. Traditional beliefs, shamanism, bone carving, songs and dances are preserved. With the creation of writing, the intelligentsia is formed. Modern Eskimos are experiencing a rise in national consciousness.

N.V. Kocheshkov, L.A. Feinberg

‘ENTZY, enneche (self-name - "man"), people in the Russian Federation, indigenous people Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug (103 people). The total number of 209 people. According to polling data, the number is about 340 people (in the census data, part of the Entsy is recorded as Nenets and Nganasans). According to the 2002 population census, the number of Enets living in Russia is 237 people, according to the 2010 census. - 227 people..

The name "Enets" was adopted in the 1930s. In pre-revolutionary literature, the Enets were called Yenisei Samoyeds, or Khantai (Tundra Enets) and Karasinsky (Forest Enets) Samoyeds, after the names of the camps where yasak was brought.

Resettlement - Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. They live in Taimyr, live in the Ust-Yenisei and Dudinsk regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Enets language, dialects - Tundra, or Somatu, Khantai (Madu-baza), and Forest, or Pe-Bai, Karasinsky (Bai-baza), the Samoyedic branch of the Ural-Yukaghir family of languages. Russian is also widespread (75% are fluent, 38% of Entsev consider it their native language) and Nenets languages.

Both the local population, reindeer hunters, and the Samoyeds who assimilated it, newcomers from the south of Siberia and the middle Tom region, took part in the ethnogenesis of the Entsev. In Russian sources, the Enets have been mentioned since the end of the 15th century as Molgonzey - from the name of the Mongkasi clan, or Muggadi (hence the name of the Russian prison Mangazeya). In the 18th - early 19th centuries they were referred to as Yenisei Samoyeds. The Enets were divided into tundra, or madu, somata, Khantai Samoyeds, and forest, or pe-bay, Karasin Samoyeds. In the 17th century, Madu roamed between the lower reaches of the Yenisei and Taz, pe-bay - on the upper and middle reaches of the Taz and Yenisei and on the right bank of the Yenisei in the basins of the Khantaika, Kureika and Lower Tunguska rivers. The number of Enets at the end of the 17th century was about 900 people. From the end of the 17th century, under pressure from the Nenets from the west and the Selkups from the south, they retreated to the lower Yenisei and its eastern tributaries. Part of the Enets was assimilated. From the 1830s, groups of tundra and forest Enets begin to roam together. Their total number at the end of the 19th century was 477 people. They were part of the right-bank (eastern coast of the Yenisei Bay) and forest-tundra (Dudinka and Luzino region) territorial communities.

The main traditional occupation is reindeer hunting. Fur hunting was also developed, and fishing on the Yenisei. Reindeer breeding was widespread, mainly pack-based, and draft reindeer breeding was also borrowed from the Nenets. The Enets Narts were somewhat different from the Nenets. In the 1930s, the Enets were organized into reindeer breeding and hunting farms.

The traditional dwelling is a conical tent, close to the Nganasan one and differing from the Nenets one in details of construction and covering. In the 20th century, the Nenets type of plague was adopted, from the Dolgans - the Naryan chum-beams. Modern Enets live mainly in stationary settlements.

Winter men's clothing - a double deaf parka with a hood, fur pants, high shoes made of deer skins, fur stockings. The women's park, unlike the men's, was oar. Under it they wore sleeveless overalls, sewn with fur inside, with sewn copper decorations: crescent-shaped plaques on the chest, rings, chains, tubes - on the hips; a needle case, a bag for a flint, etc. were also sewn to it. Women's shoes were shorter than men's. The women's winter hat was also sewn in two layers: the lower one with the fur inside, the upper one with the fur out. From the 2nd half of the 19th century, the forest Enets and from the 20th century - the tundra ones adopted Nenets clothing.

Traditional food - fresh and frozen meat, in summer - fresh fish. Yukola and fishmeal - porsa were harvested from fish.

Until the 18th century, there were clans among the Enets (among the tundra Enets - Malk-Madu, Sazo, Solda, etc., among the forest Enets - Yuchi, Bai, Muggadi). Since the end of the 17th century, in connection with the resettlement to the east and the destruction of the traditional tribal land use, they break up into smaller exogamous groups. Until the 19th century, there were big families, polygamy, levirate, marriage with the payment of bride price. Since the end of the 19th century, the neighboring camp communities have become the main form of social organization.

The forest Enets were officially converted to Christianity. Cults of master spirits, ancestors, shamanism are preserved. Folklore includes mythological and historical legends, animal tales, bylichki. Artistic applique on fur and cloth, bone carving are developed.

Materials used

The Eskimos inhabit four countries, four parts of the vast circumpolar world. They live in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Chukotka. In Russia, they number only 1,700 people, mainly concentrated in three "national" villages in the southeastern part of the Chukotka Peninsula. Their relatives live 60 kilometers away, on the island of St. Lawrence, which is visible from the shore in good weather. However, they are already citizens of another country. Candidate tells EastRussia about the friendship of one people and two states historical sciences, an anthropologist with rich expeditionary experience and a specialist in the Eskimos of Russia and Canada Dmitry Oparin.

One people, but two neighboring states. How in such a situation not to lose contact?
- First of all, you need to understand that direct relatives of the Eskimos of Chukotka live on the island of St. Lawrence - aunts, uncles, nephews. Their communication and interaction has been going on for several hundred years. It ended only with the beginning of the Cold War. Until 1948, the Eskimos were in constant contact with each other, went to visit each other, got married, exchanged goods. The main time for trips was in May and June, when there are no storms and the ice has already gone. Moreover, in the middle of the 19th century, there was a severe famine on the island, from which two-thirds of the population of St. Lawrence Island died out, and the Chukchi Eskimos after this event again began to populate the area. As a result, the descendants of the Chukchi Eskimos became the population of the island. In general, the interaction of the Russian Eskimos and the coastal Chukchi with the United States until the 20s of the 20th century was much more intense and close than with the Russian administration, the Orthodox mission or the Cossacks. For example, they served as harpooners on American whaling ships. Of the European languages, the Eskimos knew English.

How did this affect the Eskimos of Alaska and Chukotka?
- As a result, an interesting socio-cultural situation was formed, which took shape under the great influence of Protestantism, the English language, American culture and Western economics - the so-called contact-traditional society. It combines two main factors: on the one hand, people are in contact with the industrial world, being somewhat dependent on the products of civilization - sugar, tobacco, gramophones, whiskey and gunpowder, and on the other hand, they continue to engage in traditional nature management. At the same time, the structure of society remains traditional, as well as religious ideas. This situation persisted until the 1920s and 30s, when the Soviet presence in Chukotka became more and more noticeable.

Is there any evidence from that period that characterizes this type of organization in Eskimo society?
- There are memories of Alaskan and our Eskimos, who went to visit each other back in the 1930s. I interviewed a lot of older people who remember such visits. They say that when the Alaskan Eskimos came to the Asian coast, our Eskimos performed a ritual - they pretended to throw stones at approaching boats in order to leave the spirits of the guests in the sea and not let them ashore. When the guests went ashore, they had to step over the fire for a kind of mystical disinfection. During such visits, holidays, exchanges and feasts were arranged.

I read the memoirs of an American Eskimo who came to Soviet Chukotka. He remembered polite border guards, good medical care and a visit to the cinema. One of the strongest experiences of this Eskimo happened during a visit to the district center of Providence. There he was frightened by a huge dog that was chasing him through the whole village. Shouting out requests for help, the hero of the story broke into the house of the locals, who had to calm him down for a long time. As it turned out, the big dog turned out to be a horse that was not yet familiar to the population of St. Lawrence Island.

- Thus, the USSR did not at first interfere with active cross-border communication with Alaska?
- In 1948 the borders were closed and opened only in 1989. The Soviet Eskimos hid the presence of relatives in Alaska, but apparently sometimes met with them on boats in the border waters. In 1989, at the end of perestroika, the borders were opened, close cooperation between Chukotka and Alaska began - economic, humanitarian, cultural. In the 1990s, there was a crisis in Chukotka, and it lived worse than all regions of Russia, with the exception of military Chechnya. 2/3 of the population left the region. There were cases when our Eskimos left for Alaska. Firstly, she helped - provided medicines, food, humanitarian aid, so now there are our compatriots in Alaska.

In the 1990s, Russians often traveled to St. Lawrence Island by boat. This was the main method of transportation until 8 passengers on one boat drowned and the authorities banned the use of boats. Since then, small planes of the private American company BeringAir fly there, which carry out charter flights. However, contacts are facilitated by the fact that the indigenous peoples of Chukotka do not need a visa to the island of St. Lawrence. A year ago, boat communication was restored, so that Russian and American Eskimos resumed active interaction.

Do the Eskimos communicate only within the border areas, as in Chukotka and Alaska, or do they have some kind of unions, associations?
There is ICC - Inuit Circumpolar Conference, the main association of the Eskimos, uniting residents of Greenland, Canada, Russia and the USA. It has more political than practical meaning. If you want the globalized Euro-American world to know about you and your interests, you should play by its rules, create an association and hold some events. Of course, the Eskimos of the vast circumpolar region communicate with each other, exchange experiences and try to solve their problems together. But there is no practical benefit, at least for ordinary Eskimos of Chukotka and Alaska, from ICC.

How do the Eskimos of Chukotka and Alaska live? Are there differences in their economic activity, culture and religious beliefs?
Asian or Siberian or Chukchi Eskimos mainly live in three so-called "national" villages - New Chaplino, Sireniki and Uelkal. Some live in the regional center of Providence, the village of Lavrentiya, in the capital of the region, Anadyr. Many study in St. Petersburg, some live in central Russia - for example, in Voronezh. The Eskimos living on the coast of Chukotka are engaged in traditional nature management, in particular, hunting for marine mammals: walruses, bearded seals, seals and whales. They have quotas for shooting animals. Although in Russia it is required to be a member of an artel for hunting, to obtain many licenses and certificates. On the island of St. Lawrence, this is easier - everyone can hunt, getting their own food. They are also collecting.

Was it organized in modern times some kind of industry in Chukotka and Alaska? Are there any changes in the employment model?
- Previously, there were fat shops, fur farms on the Chukchi coast, where people worked. Now the main source of income has become state, budgetary organizations - schools, housing and communal services, etc. Hence unemployment and the outflow of the young population who were able to get an education. On the island of St. Lawrence, the situation is similar. Young people leave "for the mainland" in the United States in search of a better life.

What is the religious picture of Eskimo beliefs?
- Russian Eskimos have preserved traditional beliefs and animistic ideas about the world - they "feed the spirits", observe many different rules, but among them there are Orthodox and Protestants - especially representatives of charismatic evangelical movements, Baptists and Pentecostals. On the island of St. Lawrence, the vast majority of the Eskimos are Protestants. On this basis, religious contradictions sometimes arise.

Is the Eskimo language preserved in modern times? Are there any programs to support or revitalize it?
- A big problem in Russia has formed in the field of the Eskimo language, since there are very few of its speakers left. Chukchi Eskimos are predominantly mestizos, children of interethnic marriages who live in mixed Chukchi-Eskimo-Russian settlements. On the island of St. Lawrence, the situation is healthier than in Russia, since there the Eskimos are practically isolated from the outside world, and maintain a distance from the global culture. In this they were helped by the geography and peculiarities of the historical development of America and Alaska. On the island of St. Lawrence there are two settlements in which only the Eskimos live - almost everyone speaks the Eskimo language there, there is a language environment. Moreover, they publish computer games in Eskimo for children, films are made and books are printed. We do not have such programs - only private and often weak initiatives. At one time in Novy Chaplino, language was not even taught at school - there were no resources and specialists.

Are they trying to solve the problem with the Eskimo language in Russia?
There are attempts, but against the background of international experience, they look uncertain. There is a group in What's up, where the Eskimos of Chukotka and St. Lawrence Island are united in one chat, about 200 people in total. There they are constantly rewritten in equal proportions in Russian and Eskimo languages. The Internet creates a virtual space for communication. A positive example of the development of the Eskimo language and culture is the island of St. Lawrence, where there is no fear of innovation, and there is a basis for the development of aboriginal culture. In Alaska and Canada, the Eskimos are actively using the modern possibilities of the media space to preserve their identity. Healthy and correct work is being carried out, which develops the Eskimo culture, adapting it to modern world with the use of information technology. In Russia, on the contrary, they rarely use virtual technologies to help indigenous peoples, they try to isolate their culture from the influence of the outside world. As practice shows, it is impossible to conserve peoples - they also want to have beautiful clothes, smartphones and the benefits of civilization. They need to be helped to adapt themselves and adapt their culture to the realities of modernity, which only helps to preserve their identity, language and culture.

How common is alcoholism in Chukotka and among the Eskimos of Alaska? During the Soviet era, there was a harsh "dry law" in those areas. Has he survived?
- Restriction of alcohol and alcohol is an extremely important measure for these regions. Alcoholism is a big problem for any aboriginal population, whether Siberian or North American. The uncontrolled import of alcohol and vodka is still prohibited in the national villages of Chukotka, but the prohibited products go to the Eskimos. There are corruption schemes, some private entrepreneurs sell alcohol around the clock and deliver it to hunting bases. Alcoholism among the Eskimos reaches insane, monstrous proportions. In Chukotka, it causes violent deaths, accidents, suicides, early pregnancies, etc. In Alaska, the percentage of alcoholics is lower, but there is another problem - drugs that are not available in Chukotka, since this is a more expensive object of addiction. On the island of St. Lawrence, there is also a dry law - if you want to drink alcohol, then you go to the city, to Nome.

Do the Eskimos have special privileges, rights, like an indigenous small people?
- Yes, definitely. First of all, these are quotas - they have the right to hunt a whale and kill from 3 to 5 individuals a year. There are quotas for shooting walruses, seals, bearded seals, etc. The Eskimos are given a free road to the mainland, to Moscow, once every two years, and in both directions. In the public sector, they are paid quite high salaries thanks to bonuses, there are quotas for admission to some St. Petersburg universities. Many people, only a quarter of the Eskimos or Chukchis, enroll in the indigenous population for the sake of obtaining privileges. In case of pregnancy or illness, every resident of a remote village can call for an ambulance flight and he or she will be taken by helicopter to the regional center. Of course, this service does not only affect the Eskimos, but they actively use it. Every helicopter I've flown has carried at least one pregnant girl.

What would you, as a specialist, advise the state or private activists who want to help the Russian Eskimos?
- Firstly, I believe that there are no exclusively "Eskimo" problems. It is necessary to create jobs so that people do not become drunkards and do not leave for the mainland - to develop traditional nature management, form a sales market, develop tourism, bone carving. Secondly, it is necessary to invest in the preservation of the language - to make computer games in Eskimo, to produce new textbooks and other educational materials. Thirdly, in every village there should be groups of anonymous alcoholics, full-time narcologists and full-time psychologists who would not work with the population on short visits, but would help people all year round.

The Eskimos are called the people who have long inhabited the territory of Chukotka in Russian Federation, Alaska in the United States of America, Nunavut in Canada and Greenland. The total number of Eskimos is about 170 thousand people. The largest number of them live in the Russian Federation - about 65 thousand people. There are about 45,000 of them in Greenland, and 35,000 in the United States of America. and in Canada - 26 thousand people.

Origin of the people

Literally, "Eskimo" means a person who eats meat. But in different countries they are called differently. In Russia, these are Yugyts, that is, real people, in Canada - Inuit, and in Greenland - Tladlits.

When wondering where the Eskimo lives, you must first understand who these interesting people are. The origin of the Eskimos is still considered today controversial issue. There is an opinion that they belong to the most ancient population in the Bering region. Their ancestral home may have been the northeast of Asia, and from there the settlers settled in the northwest of America through

Asian Eskimos today

The Eskimos of North America live in the harsh Arctic zone. They occupy mainly the coastal part of the north of the mainland. And in Alaska, the Eskimo settlements occupy not only the coastal strip, but also some islands. The population living on the Copper River is almost completely assimilated with the local Indians. Just like in Russia, there are very few settlements in the United States of America in which only Eskimos live. Their predominant number is located on the territory of Cape Barrow, on the banks of the Kobuka, Nsataka and Colville rivers, as well as along

The life and culture of the Greenlandic Eskimos and their relatives from Canada and the United States of America are similar. However, even today their dugouts and utensils are mostly gone. From the middle of the twentieth century, the construction of houses, including multi-storey ones, began to develop intensively in Greenland. Therefore, the housing of the Eskimos has changed significantly. More than fifty percent of the population began to use electricity and gas burners. Almost all Greenlandic Eskimos now prefer European clothing.

Lifestyle

The life of this people is divided into summer and winter modes of existence. Since ancient times, the main occupation of the Eskimos was hunting. In winter, the main prey of hunters is seals, walruses, various cetaceans, and sometimes bears. This fact explains why the territory where the Eskimo lives is almost always located on the sea coast. The skins of seals and the fat of dead animals have always faithfully served these people and helped them survive in the harsh Arctic conditions. In summer and autumn, men hunt birds, small game and even fish.

It should be noted that the Eskimos are not nomadic tribes. Despite the fact that in the warm season they are constantly on the move, they winter for several years in one place.

Unusual housing

To imagine what the Eskimos live in, you need to understand their way of life and rhythm. Due to the peculiar seasonality, the Eskimos also have two types of housing - tents for summer habitation and These dwellings are unique in their own way.

When creating summer tents, their volume is taken into account to accommodate at least ten people. From fourteen poles, a structure is created and covered with skins in two layers.

In the cold season, the Eskimos came up with something else. Igloos are snow huts that are their winter home option. They reach about four meters in diameter and two meters high. People are provided with lighting and heating thanks to seal fat, which is in bowls. Thus, the temperature in the room rises to twenty degrees above zero. These homemade lamps are used to cook food and melt snow for water.

As a rule, two families live in one hut. Each of them occupies its own half. Naturally, housing gets dirty very quickly. Therefore, it is destroyed and a new one is erected in another place.

Preservation of the Eskimo ethnic group

A person who has visited the lands where the Eskimo lives will not forget the hospitality and goodwill of this people. There is a special kindness and kindness here.

Despite the beliefs of some skeptics about the disappearance of the Eskimos from the face of the earth in the nineteenth or twentieth century, this people stubbornly proves the opposite. They managed to survive in the difficult conditions of the Arctic climate, create their own original culture and prove tremendous resilience.

The unity of the people and its leaders plays a big role in this. An example of this is the Greenlandic and Canadian Eskimos. Photos, video reports, relationships with other species of the population prove that they were able not only to survive in a harsh environment, but also to achieve greater political rights, as well as gain respect in the world movement among the natives.

Unfortunately, on the territory of the Russian Federation, the socio-economic situation of the indigenous population looks a little worse and requires support from the state.

On the Chukchi Peninsula. Self-name - yuk - "man", yugyt, or yupik - "real person". The Eskimo languages ​​are divided into two major groups - Yupik (Western) and Inupik (Eastern). On the Chukchi Peninsula, Yupik is divided into Sirenik, Central Siberian, or Chaplin and Naukan dialects. Eskimos Chukotka, along with their native language, speak Russian and Chukchi.

The origin of the Eskimos is debatable. Eskimos are direct heirs ancient culture, widespread from the end of the first millennium BC. along the shores of the Bering Sea. The earliest Eskimo culture- Old Bering Sea (until the 8th century AD). It is characterized by the extraction of marine mammals, the use of multi-seat leather canoes, complex harpoons. From the 7th century AD until the XIII-XV centuries. went development whaling, and in the more northern regions of Alaska and Chukotka - hunting for small pinnipeds.

The main type of economic activity was marine hunting. Before mid-nineteenth V. The main hunting tools were a spear with an arrow-shaped double-edged tip (pan), a rotary harpoon (ung'ak') with a detachable tip made of bone. They used canoes and kayaks to navigate the water. Baidara (anyapik) - light, fast and stable on the water. Its wooden frame was covered with walrus skin. The canoes were different types- from single to huge 25-seater sailboats.

On land they moved on arc-dusty sleds. Dogs harnessed "fan". From the middle of the XIX century. the sledges were pulled by dogs harnessed by a train (a team of the East Siberian type). Short dustless sleds with runners made of walrus tusks (kanrak) were also used. On the snow they went on "racket" skis (in the form of a frame of two planks with fastened ends and transverse struts, intertwined with sealskin straps and lined with bone plates from below), on ice with the help of special bone spikes mounted on shoes.

The way sea animals were hunted depended on their seasonal migrations. Two seasons of whale hunting corresponded to the time of their passage through the Bering Strait: in spring to the north, in autumn v to the south. Whales were shot with harpoons from several canoes, and later with harpoon guns.

The most important object of the fishery was the walrus. WITH late XIX V. new fishing weapons and equipment appeared. Hunting for fur-bearing animals spread. The extraction of walruses and seals replaced the whaling industry, which had fallen into decay. When there was not enough meat from sea animals, they shot wild deer and mountain sheep, birds, and fished with a bow.

The settlements were located in such a way that it was convenient to observe the movement of the sea animal v at the base of pebble spits protruding into the sea, on elevated places. Most ancient type dwellings - a stone building with a floor deepened into the ground. The walls were made of stones and whale ribs. The frame was covered with deer skins, covered with a layer of turf, stones, and again covered with skins on top.
Until the 18th century, and in some places even later, they lived in semi-underground frame dwellings (today). In the XVII-XVIII centuries. frame buildings appeared (myn`tyg`ak), similar to the Chukchi yaranga. The summer dwelling is a quadrangular tent (pylyuk), shaped like an obliquely truncated pyramid, and the wall with the entrance was higher than the opposite one. The frame of this dwelling was built of logs and poles and covered with walrus skins. From the end of the 19th century light wooden houses with a gable roof and windows appeared.

The clothes of the Asian Eskimos are deaf, made of deer and seal skins. Back in the 19th century They also made clothes from bird skins.

They wore fur stockings and seal torbasas (kamgyk) on their feet. Waterproof shoes were made from dressed seal skins without wool. Fur hats and mittens were worn only when moving (roaming). Clothing was decorated with embroidery or fur mosaics. Until the 18th century eskimos, piercing the nasal septum or lower lip, hung walrus teeth, bone rings and glass beads.

Male tattoo - circles in the corners of the mouth, female v straight or concave parallel lines on the forehead, nose and chin. A more complex geometric ornament was applied to the cheeks. They covered with a tattoo their arms, hands, forearms.

Traditional food is the meat and fat of seals, walruses and whales. The meat was eaten raw, dried, dried, frozen, boiled, harvested for the winter: fermented in pits and eaten with fat, sometimes in a semi-cooked form. Raw whale fat with a layer of cartilaginous skin (mantak) was considered a delicacy. The fish was dried and dried, and freshly frozen in winter. Reindeer meat was highly valued, which was exchanged among the Chukchi for the skins of marine animals.

The kinship account was kept on the paternal line, the marriage was patrilocal. Each settlement consisted of several groups of kindred families, who occupied a separate semi-dugout in winter, in which each family had its own canopy. During the summer, families lived in separate tents. The facts of working off for a wife were known, there were customs to woo children, marry a boy to adult girl, the custom of "partnership in marriage", when two men exchanged wives as a sign of friendship (hospitable hetaerism). There was no marriage ceremony as such. In wealthy families there was polygamy.

Eskimos were practically not Christianized. They believed in spirits, the masters of all animate and inanimate objects, natural phenomena, localities, wind directions, various human states, in the family relationship of a person with any animal or object. There were ideas about the creator of the world, they called him Sila. He was the creator and master of the universe, followed the observance of the customs of the ancestors. The main sea deity, the mistress of sea animals was Sedna, who sent prey to people. Evil spirits were represented as giants or dwarfs, or other fantasy creatures who sent sickness and misfortune to people.

In each village there lived a shaman (usually it was a man, but female shamans are also known), who was an intermediary between evil spirits and people. Only the one who heard the voice of the helper spirit could become a shaman. After that, the future shaman had to meet alone with the spirits and conclude an alliance with them about mediation.

Fishing holidays were dedicated to the extraction of a large animal. Especially famous are the holidays on the occasion of whale hunting, which were held either in the fall, at the end of the hunting season - "seeing off the whale", or in the spring - "meeting the whale". There were also holidays for the beginning of sea hunting, or "launching canoes into the water" and a holiday for "walrus heads" dedicated to the results of the spring-summer fishery.

Eskimo folklore is rich and varied. All types oral art subdivided into unipak v "message", "news" and into unipamsyuk v stories about events in the past, heroic legends, fairy tales or myths. Among the fairy tales, a special place is occupied by the cycle about the crow Kutkh, the demiurge and the trickster, who creates and develops the universe.
The earliest stages in the development of the Eskimo Arctic culture include bone carving: a sculptural miniature, and artistic bone engraving. The ornament covered hunting equipment, household items; images of animals and fantastic creatures served as amulets and decorations.

Music (aingananga) is predominantly vocal. Songs are subdivided into "large" public - songs-hymns, which are sung by ensembles and "small" intimate - "songs of the soul". They are performed solo, sometimes accompanied by a tambourine.

The tambourine is a personal and family shrine (sometimes used by shamans). It occupies a central position in

In the north, in incredibly harsh weather conditions, a small ethnic group of people lives - the Eskimos. Everyone knows that they walk in warm coats, hunt with the help of harpoons ... And this is usually where knowledge ends. After reading the article, you will learn many more interesting and fun facts about this amazing people.


1. In the manufacture of warm clothing, the Eskimos simply have no equal. In the fur coats made by them, even a fifty-degree frost is not terrible. Historically, most men hunted, so in addition to warm clothes, they also needed reliable protection from animal fangs. Thus was born the armor of bone plates, interconnected by strips of skin. Most often, walrus tusks were used for this purpose. It is noteworthy that the armor of the Eskimos and Japanese warriors are outwardly very similar.

2. The word "Eskimo" is translated as "raw eater" or "one who eats raw fish" and is perceived by the local population as a dismissive treatment with a clearly negative connotation. Therefore, it would be more correct and tactful to call this nationality "Inuit".

3. Kissing in a fifty-degree frost is not the most pleasant thing - you can freeze to each other. Therefore, the Inuit never kiss, but simply rub their noses, sniffing each other's skin and hair. This gesture is intimate and is practiced only between close people. Its correct name is "kunik".

4. There are no vegetarians among the Inuit, as the weather conditions are clearly not conducive to growing vegetables and fruits here. In the diet local residents are included different kinds meat, ranging from poultry to bear meat, seaweed and some types of berries. Such a diet was supposed to lead to serious health problems, but no. The health of the local population can only be envied.

5. Traditionally, igloos (dwellings made of ice and snow) are thought to be domed, but in fact they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Since the “igloo” in translation from the language of the local population is translated simply as “dwelling”.

6. All peoples have their own “horror story” for children, and the Eskimos were no exception. They scare their babies with Callupilluk. According to local legends, this is a monster that lives under the ice and drags people who have fallen into the water into the depths of the sea.

7. There are blondes among the Eskimos. Initially, scientists assumed that their ancestors were the ancient Vikings, who sailed here once upon a time. But DNA research in 2003 completely debunked this theory. As it turned out, with incest between close relatives, blond children are most often born.

8. Ask any European to choose a synonym for the word "snow" and he will answer you with a maximum of ten words. While the Eskimos have about 400 words for this type of precipitation. For example, “akuilokok” is slow-falling snow, and “pyegnartok” is snowy weather, which is perfect for hunting, etc.

9. In the age of firearms northern peoples and continue to use tools for hunting, created from stone and animal bones.

10. Most Inuit live below the poverty line. There is a very high unemployment rate, which has led to an increase in alcoholism among men. It is amazing how in such conditions this people managed to maintain its primitive culture and way of life.