The Samoyedic people (also Samodeic people) 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 Russia for some indigenous people of Siberia.
|People||Group||Language||Numbers||Most important territory||Other traditional territories|
|Nenets||Northern Samoyeds||Nenets language||45,000||Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug||Nenets Autonomous Okrug|
|Enets||Northern Samoyeds||Enets language||200–300||Krasnoyarsk Krai|
|Nganasans||Northern Samoyeds||Nganasan language||900–1000||Krasnoyarsk Krai|
|Selkups||Southern Samoyeds||Selkup language||3,700||Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug||Tomsk Oblast|
- Yurats (Northern Samoyeds)
- Kamasins or Kamas (Southern or Sayan Mountains Samoyeds)
- Mators or Motors (Southern or Sayan Mountains Samoyeds)
The largest of the Samoyedic people are the Nenets, who mainly live in two autonomous districts of Russia: Yamalo-Nenetsia and Nenetsia. Part of the Nenets and most of the Enets and Nganasans used to live in Taymyria autonomous district (formerly known as Dolgano-Nenetsia), but today this area is a territory with special status within Krasnoyarsk Krai. Most of the Selkups live in Yamalo-Nenetsia, but there is also significant population in Tomsk Oblast.
References and notesEdit
- Some ethnologists use the term 'Samodeic people' instead 'Samoyedic', see Balzer, Marjorie (1999). The Tenacity of Ethnicity. Princeton University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-691-00673-4.
- [T]he term Samoyedic is sometimes considered derogatory in Balzer, Marjorie (1999). The Tenacity of Ethnicity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00673-4.
- "Samoyeds" had no derogatory meaning and represents a modification of the expression same-edne in Arctic Institute of North America (1961). Anthropology of the North: Translations from Russian Sources. University of Toronto Press. p. 219.
- Demoskop Weekly No 543-544
- Unesco Red Book on Endangered Languages