Samoyedic peoples

The Samoyedic peoples (sometimes Samodeic peoples)^[a] are a group of closely related peoples who speak Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguistic, ethnic, and cultural grouping. The name derives from the obsolete term Samoyed used in Russian Empire for some of the Indigenous peoples of Siberia, see Samoyedic languages#Etymology for comments of the etymology.

Peoples

Contemporary

People	Language	Numbers^[1]	Most important territory	Other traditional territories
Nenets	Nenets	45,000	Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Nenets Autonomous Okrug Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District	Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
Enets	Enets	200–300	Krasnoyarsk Krai
Nganasans	Nganasan	900–1000	Krasnoyarsk Krai
Selkups	Selkup	3,700	Tomsk Oblast Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug	Krasnoyarsk Krai
Kamasins	Kamassian (extinct)	20^[2]^[b]	Krasnoyarsk Krai

Extinct

Yurats, who spoke Yurats^[3]
Mators or Motors, who spoke Mator^[3]

Comments

Traditionally, Samoyedic languages and peoples have been divided into two major areal groups: Northern Samoyedic (Nenets, Yurats, Enets, Nganasans), and Southern Samoyedic (Selkups) with a further subgroup of Sayan-Samoyedic (Kamasins, Mators) named after the Sayan Mountains. This classification does not reflect linguistic relations, being purely geographical.

The largest of the Samoyedic peoples are the Nenets, who mainly live in two autonomous districts of Russia: Yamalo-Nenetsia and Nenetsia. Some of the Nenets and most of the Enets and Nganasans used to live in the Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District. Most of the Selkups live in Yamalo-Nenetsia, but there is also a significant population in Tomsk Oblast.

Gallery

Historical pictures

Samoyed in summer dress, in 1781, by Johann Gottlieb Georgi
Samoyed in 1781 by Johann Gottlieb Georgi
Habit of a Samoyed woman and child in 1768, by Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche^[4]
Samoyed winter dress (before 1906)
A reindeer herd in Kolguyev Island in 1895.

Modern

Yenisei Samoyedes (Enets people) around a campfire (1914)
Nganasans, 1927
Nganasan folkloric group, 2018
Nenets group, 1913
Nenets family
Nenets children, 2016
Northern Selkups, 2012
Kamasin family, 1925

Notes

^ Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic peoples' instead 'Samoyedic', see Balzer, Marjorie (1999). The Tenacity of Ethnicity. Princeton University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-691-00673-4.
^ 0,2% of the population of Sayansky District (21 ppl) are declared as Kamasins and their descendants by the district administration in the official tourist guide (2021).

References

^ Demoskop Weekly No 543-544
^ "Администрация Саянского района. Унифицированный туристский паспорт. Саянский район Красноярского края". Retrieved 2023-01-04.
^ ^a ^b Unesco Red Book on Endangered Languages
^ "Habit of a Samoyede woman and child subject to Russia in 1768. Femme Samoyèd". New York Public Library Digital Collections website.

External links

Media related to Samoyedic peoples at Wikimedia Commons

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[1] Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic peoples' instead 'Samoyedic', see Balzer, Marjorie (1999). The Tenacity of Ethnicity. Princeton University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-691-00673-4.

[4] 0,2% of the population of Sayansky District (21 ppl) are declared as Kamasins and their descendants by the district administration in the official tourist guide (2021).

[2] Demoskop Weekly No 543-544

[УТП-3] "Администрация Саянского района. Унифицированный туристский паспорт. Саянский район Красноярского края". Retrieved 2023-01-04.

[UNESCORedBook-5] Unesco Red Book on Endangered Languages

[6] "Habit of a Samoyede woman and child subject to Russia in 1768. Femme Samoyèd". New York Public Library Digital Collections website.

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