Nivkhs
Encyclopedia
The Nivkh are an indigenous
ethnic group inhabiting the northern half of Sakhalin
Island and the region of the Amur River estuary in Russia
's Khabarovsk Krai
. Nivkh were mainly fishermen, hunters, and dog breeders. The Nivkh were semi-nomadic living near the coasts in the summer and wintering inland along streams and rivers to catch salmon
. The land the Nivkh inhabit is characterized as taiga
forest with cold snow-laden winters and mild summers with sparse tree cover. The Nivkh are believed to be the original inhabitants of the region deriving from a proposed Neolithic
people migrating from the Transbaikal
region during the Late Pleistocene
.
The Nivkh suffered heavily from foreign influences, the first of which was the migration of the Tungusic peoples. Later Manchu
dynasty in China
forced tribute upon its people. In 1850s–1860s 19th century, Russian Cossack
s annexed and colonized Nivkh lands, where they are a small, often neglected, minority today. Today, the Nivkh live in Russian-style housing and with the over-fishing and pollution of the streams and seas, they have adopted many foods from Russian cuisine
. The Nivkh practice shamanism
, which is important for the winter Bear Festival, though some have converted to Russian Orthodoxy.
As of the 2002 Russian Federation census, 5,287 Nivkh exist. Most speak Russian
today, though about 10 percent speak their indigenous Nivkh language
, which is considered an isolate language, though for convenience grouped with the Paleosiberian languages
. The Nivkh language is divided into four dialect
s.
. They may also be referred to as Nivkhi in 1920's Western literature, due to romanization of the Russian term "", which is the plural of "" (nivkh). In the seventeenth and eightieth centuries, Russian explorers first termed the group Gilyak (also Giliaks or Giliatski). The etymology of the name "Gilyak" is disputed by linguists, with some believing the name originated from an exonym given to the Nivkhs by a nearby Tungusic group
. Other scholars believe that "Gilyak" derives from Kile, another nearby Tungusic group that the Russians had mistakenly named Nivkhs.
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The origins of the Nivkh are hard to discern from current archeological research. Their subsistence by fishing and coastal sea-mammal hunting is very similar to the Koryak
and Itelmen on the Kamchatka Peninsula
. The rigging of dog-sleds is also similar to these Chukotko-Kamchatkan groups. Spiritual beliefs are similar to those of the Northwest Coast Indians
of North America
, whose ancestors migrated from this area. The Nivkh are physically and genetically different from the surrounding peoples, and scholars believe they are the indigenous inhabitants of the area. The current archeological model suggests that a sub-Arctic technological culture originating from the Transbaikal
region, termed the microlithic culture, migrated across Siberia and populated the Amur and Sakhalin region during the Late Pleistocene
, perhaps earlier. Scholars believe that people of this microlithic (small tool) culture were the first to migrate eastward into the Americas.
The microlithic culture was technologically adept for the harsh climate of Siberia during the ice age. After the Ice age receded, Tungusic people from the south pressed into the warmer northern areas, soon dominating the settled peoples. The Nivkh are considered the last surviving ethnic group able to adapt to the warmer climate and not be assimilated or squeezed out by the newcomers, hence the Nivkh isolate language. The earliest archeological radiocarbon dating
for Northern Sakhalin as of 2004 is the Neolithic
Age- Imchin Site 2, dated at 4950–4570 BCE near the Tym' River Estuary on the west coast.
period, when the island was connected to the Continent of Asia via the exposed Strait of Tartary
. When the ice age receded, the oceans rose and the Nivkh were split into two groups.
The earliest mention of the Nivkh in history is believed to be a 12th-century Chinese chronicle, referring to a people called Gilyemi (Chinese: 吉列迷 Jílièmí), who were in contact with the Mongol
rulers of the Yuan Dynasty
of China
. In 1643, Vassili Poyarkov
was the first Russian to write of the Nivkh, calling them Gilyak, a Tungus exonym
, by which they would be referred until the 1920s.
Nivkh lands extended along the northern coast of Manchuria
from the Russian fortress at Tugur, eastward to the mouth of the Amur at Nikolayevsk
, then south through the Strait of Tartary
as far as De Castries Bay.
For many centuries, the Nivkh were tributary to the Manchu
Empire. After the Treaty of Nerchinsk
in 1689, they functioned as intermediaries between the Russia
ns, Manchu
and Japanese
, the latter via their vassal, the Ainu
. Early contact with Ainu people
from southern Sakhalin was generally hostile, although trade between the two was apparent.
The Nivkh suffered severely from the Cossack
conquest and imposition of the Tsarist Russians; they called the latter kinrsh (devils). The Russian Empire gained complete control over Nivkh lands after the Treaty of Aigun
1858 and the Treaty of Peking 1860. The Russians established a penal colony on Sakhalin, which operated from 1857 to 1906. They transported numerous Russian criminal and political exiles there, including Lev Shternberg, an important early ethnographer of the Nivkh. The Nivkh were soon outnumbered; they were sometimes employed as prison guards and to track escaped convicts. The Nivkh suffered epidemics of smallpox
, plague, and Influenza
, brought by the foreign immigrants and spread in the crowded, unsanitary prison environment.
Though the Japanese Empire
never controlled the northern part of Sakhalin, Japan and Russia jointly ruled the island as part of the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda
. From the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg until the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth
, Russia governed all of Saxalin. From 1905 to 1945, Saxalin was partitioned between Russia and Japan along the 50th N parallel. Russia allowed Japanese entrepreneur fishermen were allowed in Nivkh lands from the 1880s until their 1948 expulsion. The Russian Priamur
Governor-Generalship had difficulty finding Russian labor and allowed Japanese and Nivkh fishermen to develop the area, though they were heavily taxed. Russian authorities prevented the Nivkh from fishing in prior coastal and river systems via bans and high taxes from cached fish. The first of many incidents of over-exploitation of fisheries by the Japanese (and latter the Russians) on the Tartar Strait and lower Amur occurred in 1898. It drove many Nivkh peoples into starvation or they had to import expensive foreign – Russian – foods.
Russia underwent the Bolshevik Revolution forming the Soviet Union
in 1922. The new government altered prior Russian Imperial
polices towards the Nivkh that were in line with communist ideology
. Soviet officials embraced the autonym Nivkh to replace the old term Gilyak, as a hallmark for new native self-determination. A brief Autonomous Okrug
was created for the Nivkh. The government granted them extensive fishing rights, which were not rescinded until the 1960s. But, other Soviet policies proved devastating. The Nivkh were forced into mass agricultural and industrial labor collectives
called kolkhoz
. Nivkh fishermen were difficult to convert to agricultural practices because of their belief that ploughing the earth was a sin. The Nivkh were soon working and living as a second-class minority group among the massive Russian labor force.
These collectives irrevocably altered the life style of the Nivkh. The traditional hunter-gathering
lifestyle disappeared. Soviet authorities showcased the Nivkh as a 'model' nation for a culture quickly transforming from the Neolithic
age to a socialist
industrial model. They banned the use of the Nivkh language from schools and the public square. The Russian language was mandated and russification
of the Nivkh accelerated. Many Nivkh stories, beliefs, and clan ties were forgotten by new generations. From 1945 to 1948, many Nivkh, as well as half of the Oroks and all of the Sakhalin Ainu
, who had been living under Japanese jurisdiction in the southern half of Sakhalin, were forced to move to Japan
along with the ethnic Japanese settlers. Many indigenous people would later return to the area.
Dr. Chuner Taksami
, an anthropologist, is considered the first modern Nivkh literary figure and supporter of Siberian rights. In the post-Soviet
Russian commonwealth of nations, the Nivkh have fared better than the Ainu or the Itelmens, but worse than the Chukchi
or the Tuvans
. The Soviet government in 1962 resettled many of the Nivkh into fewer, denser settlements, such that Sakhalin settlements had been reduced from 82 to 13 by 1986. This relocation was accomplished via the Soviet collectives that the Nivkh had become so dependent on. The closure of state-funded amenities such as a school or electricity generator prompted citizenry to move into government-preferred settlements.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Kolkhoz collectives were abandoned. The Nivkh were dependent on the state-funded collectives, and with their dissolution, rapid economic hardship ensued for the already poor populace. At present, the Nivkh living in the North of Sakhalin
island see their future threatened by the giant offshore oil extraction projects known as Sakhalin-I
and Sakhalin-II
, operated by foreign Western firms. Since January 2005, the Nivkh, led by their elected leader Alexey Limanzo
, have engaged in non-violent protest actions, demanding an independent ethnological assessment of Shell's and Exxon's plans. Solidarity actions have been staged in Moscow
, New York
and later in Berlin
. The monthly Nivkh newspaper, Nivkh Dif, established in 1990, is published using the west-Sakhalin dialect and is headquartered in the village of Nekrasovka.
s having summer and winter settlements. Nivkh villages consisted of 3 to 4 households shared by several families with larger villages rare, mostly located on the Amur estuary. Households were shared for reasons of community and survival during the harsh cold winters. Villages would last for several decades but were susceptible to floods and sometimes vanished such as the many wiped out during the devastating Amur floods of 1915 and 1968. Often households contained families that were not related. The village was usually composed of people from two to eight different clans, four being standard.
In the late fall able-bodied Nivkh men would leave the villages to hunt for game in the surrounding hunting grounds while women would gather foods from the forests. Nivkh would move to winter settlements near rivers to survive the harsh snows and catch salmon spawning. (see List of Nivkh settlements) The Nivk were very hospitable such that when the Nanai located upstream on the Amur when faced with hard times would often visit or stay in Nivkh villages.
unlike many paleo-Siberian groups. Although within the clan, marriage is endogamic
while sub-clans are exogamic. Nivkh marriage customs were very complicated and controlled by the clan. Cross-cousin marriage seems to be the original custom with the clan a latter necessity when the clan was unable to marry individuals without breaking taboo. The Bride price
was probably introduced by the Neo-Siberians. The dowry
was shared by the clan. The number of men generally exceeded the number of women. It was hard to gain wives, as they were few and expensive. This would lead to the wealthier men having more than one wife and the poor men without.
, before colonial Russians made efforts to convert the population to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Nivkh animists believe the island of Sakhalin is a giant beast lying on its belly with the trees of the island as its hair. When the beast is upset, it awakens and trembles the earth causing earthquakes. Nivkh have a pantheon of vaguely defined gods (yz, yzng) that presided over the mountains, rivers, seas and sky. Nivkhs' have extensive folklore, songs, and mythos of how humans and the universe were created, and of how fantastic heroes, spirits and beasts battled with each other in ancient times. Some Nivkhs have converted to Russian Orthodoxy
or other religions, though many still practice traditional beliefs. Fire is especially venerated. It is the symbol of the unity of the clan. Fire is considered a deity of their ancestors, protecting them from evil spirits and guarding their clan from harm. An open flame would be 'fed' a leaf of tobacco, spices, or a tipple of vodka in order to please the spirits for protection. Nivkhs would also frequently offer items to the deities by 'feeding'. The sea would be 'fed' an item of importance in order that the sea god protect the travelers.
). During the Festival, the bear would be dressed in a specially made ceremonial costume. It would be offered a banquet to take back to the realm of gods to show benevolence upon the clans. After the banquet, the bear would be sacrificed and eaten in an elaborate religious ceremony. Often dogs were sacrificed as well. The bear's spirit returned to the gods of the mountain 'happy' and would then reward the Nivkh with bountiful forests. The festival typically would be arranged by relatives to honor the death of a kinsman. Generally, the Bear Festival was an inter-clan ceremony where a clan of wife-takers restored ties with a clan of wife-givers upon the broken link of the kinsman's death. The Bear Festival was suppressed during Soviet occupation though the festival has had a modest revival since the decline of Soviet Union, albeit as a cultural instead of religious ceremony.
A very similar ceremony, Iomante
, is practiced by the Ainu people
of Japan
.
has a cold and harsh climate. In the fish-rich Amur River estuary in the districts of Nixhne-Amruskii and Takhtinskii, winters have high winds and heavy snows with mid winter usually averaging from -28° to -20°C (-18° to -4°F). Summers are wet and moderately warm ranging between 16° and 20°C (61° to 68°F). The area's biome
is characterized as Taiga
and evergreen coniferous forest
s consisting of larch, yew, birch, maple, lilac, honeysuckle, and extensive low-lying swamp grasses. Higher elevations have spruce, fir, ash, lime, walnut and mountain tops have cedar and lichens. Bears, foxes, sable
s, hares, Siberian tigers, elk
s, grouse
, and deer typical near the Amur outlet which usually floods during the rainy season.
Northern Sakhalin is harsher ecologically with mostly Taiga. Winters are longer, with a mean temperature of -19°C (-5°F), however short summers are warmer averaging 15°C (59°F) due to warmer Pacific Ocean currents moving around the island. Heavy snows blanket the island of Sakhalin (Yh-mif in Nivkh
) during winter, due to monsoon winds blowing from Siberia, drawing humidity as they pass over the Sea of Okhotsk
, Sea of Japan
, and the Strait of Tartary
. Barren tundra
dominates the north, with sparse trees such as larch, birch and various grasses, while moving southward, spruce and fir are seen. Bears, foxes, otters, lynx
, and reindeer
are common wildlife. The Island's major rivers are the Tym' and Poronai, rich in fish especially Salmon. Before Russian colonization, Nivkh villages could be found on these rivers approximately every 5 km.
The Strait of Tartar is currently only 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) wide and is shallow enough that the divide is covered by an ice bridge
during the winter that can be traversed by foot or dog sled. At the glacial maximum of the Ice Age, sea levels were 100 meters (300 feet) lower than they are today. The Eurasia
continent was connected to Sakhalin via the Strait of Tatar and Hokkaidō
via the Soya Strait of which humans migrated. This connection explains the similarities of trees, plants, and animals including now extinct mammoth
s. The receding ice age warmed the area allowing greater tree cover and wildlife, thus new resources for the Nivkhs to exploit. The opening of the Soya and then the shallower Tartar Strait allowed warm pacific currents to bathe the island and the lower Amur River.
dio which was modeled after Manchurian and Chinese dwellings of the Amur. The chad ryv were one-room structures with a gable
roof and a kan (Korean furnace) for heating. A nearby shed held sledges, skis, boats, and dogs.
and hem
. Ornaments were coins, bells, or beads made of wood, glass, or metal mostly originating from Manchurian and Chinese traders. Men's skiy were darker colored, shorter, and had pockets built into the sleeves. Men's clothing were less elaborate with ornaments on the sleeve and left lapel. Men would also wear a loose kilt called a kosk when hunting or traveling on dog sled. Boots were made of fish-, seal-, or deerskin, being very water tight. Fur hats (hak) were worn in winter, with the furry tails and ears of the animals used often adorning the back and crown of the hat. Summer hats (hiv hak) were conical made from birch-bark. After soviet collectivization, Nivkh mostly wear mass-produced Western clothing, but traditional clothing is worn for holidays and cultural events.
, Pink
, Trout), Red Eye, burbot
and pike found in rivers and streams. Salt water fishing provided saffron cod
, flatfish
, and marine goby
caught in the littoral
coasts of the Strait of Tartary
, Sea of Okhotsk
, and the Pacific Ocean
, though over fishing by Russian and Japanese trawlers have depleted many of these fish stocks. Additionally, Chinese and Russian industrial pollution such as phenols
and heavy metals in the Amur River have devastated fish stocks and damaged the Estuaries'
soil. A traditional preservation process called Yukola, involving slicing the fish in a particular way and drying the strips by hanging them in the frigid air, without salt, was used before foreign influences. The preservation process created a lot of dried fish waste, unpalatable for human consumption but utilized for dog food. Pulverizing dried fish and mixing it with fish skins, water, seal fat, and berries until the mixture had a sour cream consistency is a favorite Nivkh dish called mos. Nivkhs would hunt seal (Larha, Reinged, Reibbon, Sea-lions), duck, sable, and otters. They would gather various berries, wild leek
s, lilybulbs, and nuts. Contacts with the Chinese
, Manchu, and Japanese from the 12th century on introduced new foods incorporated in the Nivkhs diet such as salt, sugar, rice, millet
, legumes and tea. Russian 19th century colonisation introduced flour, bread, potatoes, vodka, tobacco, butter, canned vegetables and fruits, and other meats.
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
ethnic group inhabiting the northern half of Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
Island and the region of the Amur River estuary in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
's Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Russian Far East. It lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, but also occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The administrative center of the krai is the...
. Nivkh were mainly fishermen, hunters, and dog breeders. The Nivkh were semi-nomadic living near the coasts in the summer and wintering inland along streams and rivers to catch salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
. The land the Nivkh inhabit is characterized as taiga
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
forest with cold snow-laden winters and mild summers with sparse tree cover. The Nivkh are believed to be the original inhabitants of the region deriving from a proposed Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
people migrating from the Transbaikal
Transbaikal
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia , or Dauria is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative name, Dauria, is derived from the ethnonym of the Daur people. It stretches for almost 1000 km from north to south from the Patomskoye Plateau and North...
region during the Late Pleistocene
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...
.
The Nivkh suffered heavily from foreign influences, the first of which was the migration of the Tungusic peoples. Later Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
dynasty in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
forced tribute upon its people. In 1850s–1860s 19th century, Russian Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s annexed and colonized Nivkh lands, where they are a small, often neglected, minority today. Today, the Nivkh live in Russian-style housing and with the over-fishing and pollution of the streams and seas, they have adopted many foods from Russian cuisine
Russian cuisine
Russian cuisine is diverse, as Russia is the largest country in the world. Russian cuisine derives its varied character from the vast and multi-cultural expanse of Russia. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of...
. The Nivkh practice shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
, which is important for the winter Bear Festival, though some have converted to Russian Orthodoxy.
As of the 2002 Russian Federation census, 5,287 Nivkh exist. Most speak Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
today, though about 10 percent speak their indigenous Nivkh language
Nivkh language
Nivkh or Gilyak is a language spoken in Outer Manchuria, in the basin of the Amgun , along the lower reaches of the Amur itself, and on the northern half of Sakhalin. 'Gilyak' is the Manchu appellation...
, which is considered an isolate language, though for convenience grouped with the Paleosiberian languages
Paleosiberian languages
Paleosiberian languages or Paleoasian languages is a term of convenience used in linguistics to classify a disparate group of languages spoken in some parts of north-eastern Siberia and some parts of Russian Far East...
. The Nivkh language is divided into four dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s.
Etymology
Nivkhs (plural Nivkhgu), an endonym, means "person" in the Nivkh languageNivkh language
Nivkh or Gilyak is a language spoken in Outer Manchuria, in the basin of the Amgun , along the lower reaches of the Amur itself, and on the northern half of Sakhalin. 'Gilyak' is the Manchu appellation...
. They may also be referred to as Nivkhi in 1920's Western literature, due to romanization of the Russian term "", which is the plural of "" (nivkh). In the seventeenth and eightieth centuries, Russian explorers first termed the group Gilyak (also Giliaks or Giliatski). The etymology of the name "Gilyak" is disputed by linguists, with some believing the name originated from an exonym given to the Nivkhs by a nearby Tungusic group
Tungusic languages
The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain...
. Other scholars believe that "Gilyak" derives from Kile, another nearby Tungusic group that the Russians had mistakenly named Nivkhs.
Origins
Koryak
Koryak may refer to:*Koryak Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject of Russia*Koryaks, a people of northeastern Siberia*Koryak language, language of the Koryaks*Koryak, the illegitimate son of Aquaman, a fictional character in DC Comics...
and Itelmen on the Kamchatka Peninsula
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of . It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west...
. The rigging of dog-sleds is also similar to these Chukotko-Kamchatkan groups. Spiritual beliefs are similar to those of the Northwest Coast Indians
Salishan languages
The Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, whose ancestors migrated from this area. The Nivkh are physically and genetically different from the surrounding peoples, and scholars believe they are the indigenous inhabitants of the area. The current archeological model suggests that a sub-Arctic technological culture originating from the Transbaikal
Transbaikal
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia , or Dauria is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative name, Dauria, is derived from the ethnonym of the Daur people. It stretches for almost 1000 km from north to south from the Patomskoye Plateau and North...
region, termed the microlithic culture, migrated across Siberia and populated the Amur and Sakhalin region during the Late Pleistocene
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...
, perhaps earlier. Scholars believe that people of this microlithic (small tool) culture were the first to migrate eastward into the Americas.
The microlithic culture was technologically adept for the harsh climate of Siberia during the ice age. After the Ice age receded, Tungusic people from the south pressed into the warmer northern areas, soon dominating the settled peoples. The Nivkh are considered the last surviving ethnic group able to adapt to the warmer climate and not be assimilated or squeezed out by the newcomers, hence the Nivkh isolate language. The earliest archeological radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
for Northern Sakhalin as of 2004 is the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
Age- Imchin Site 2, dated at 4950–4570 BCE near the Tym' River Estuary on the west coast.
History
The Sakhalin Niviks populated the island during the Late PleistoceneLate Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...
period, when the island was connected to the Continent of Asia via the exposed Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia , connecting the Sea of Okhotsk on the north with...
. When the ice age receded, the oceans rose and the Nivkh were split into two groups.
The earliest mention of the Nivkh in history is believed to be a 12th-century Chinese chronicle, referring to a people called Gilyemi (Chinese: 吉列迷 Jílièmí), who were in contact with the Mongol
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
rulers of the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In 1643, Vassili Poyarkov
Vassili Poyarkov
Vassili Danilovich Poyarkov was the first Russian explorer of the Amur region.The Russian expansion into Siberia began with the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582. By 1643 they reached the Pacific at Okhotsk...
was the first Russian to write of the Nivkh, calling them Gilyak, a Tungus exonym
Exonym and endonym
In ethnolinguistics, an endonym or autonym is a local name for a geographical feature, and an exonym or xenonym is a foreign language name for it...
, by which they would be referred until the 1920s.
Nivkh lands extended along the northern coast of Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
from the Russian fortress at Tugur, eastward to the mouth of the Amur at Nikolayevsk
Nikolayevsk
Nikolayevsk is a town and the administrative center of Nikolayevsky District of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the left shores of the Volga River. Population:...
, then south through the Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia , connecting the Sea of Okhotsk on the north with...
as far as De Castries Bay.
For many centuries, the Nivkh were tributary to the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
Empire. After the Treaty of Nerchinsk
Treaty of Nerchinsk
The Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 was the first treaty between Russia and China. The Russians gave up the area north of the Amur River as far as the Stanovoy Mountains and kept the area between the Argun River and Lake Baikal. This border along the Argun River and Stanovoy Mountains lasted until...
in 1689, they functioned as intermediaries between the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns, Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
and Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
, the latter via their vassal, the Ainu
Ainu people
The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
. Early contact with Ainu people
Ainu people
The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
from southern Sakhalin was generally hostile, although trade between the two was apparent.
The Nivkh suffered severely from the Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
conquest and imposition of the Tsarist Russians; they called the latter kinrsh (devils). The Russian Empire gained complete control over Nivkh lands after the Treaty of Aigun
Aigun
Aigun was a historic town of China in northern Manchuria, situated on the right bank of the Amur River, some 30 km south from the central urban area of Heihe .The Chinese name of the town, which literally means "Bright Jade", is a transliteration of the original Manchu Aigun was a historic...
1858 and the Treaty of Peking 1860. The Russians established a penal colony on Sakhalin, which operated from 1857 to 1906. They transported numerous Russian criminal and political exiles there, including Lev Shternberg, an important early ethnographer of the Nivkh. The Nivkh were soon outnumbered; they were sometimes employed as prison guards and to track escaped convicts. The Nivkh suffered epidemics of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, plague, and Influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
, brought by the foreign immigrants and spread in the crowded, unsanitary prison environment.
Though the Japanese Empire
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
never controlled the northern part of Sakhalin, Japan and Russia jointly ruled the island as part of the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda
Treaty of Shimoda
The Treaty of Shimoda of 1855, formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia , was signed between the Russian Vice-Admiral Euphimy Vasil'evich Putiatin and Toshiakira Kawaji of Japan in the city of Shimoda, Izu Province, Japan, on February 7, 1855...
. From the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg until the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth
Treaty of Portsmouth
The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905 after negotiations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine in the USA.-Negotiations:...
, Russia governed all of Saxalin. From 1905 to 1945, Saxalin was partitioned between Russia and Japan along the 50th N parallel. Russia allowed Japanese entrepreneur fishermen were allowed in Nivkh lands from the 1880s until their 1948 expulsion. The Russian Priamur
Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...
Governor-Generalship had difficulty finding Russian labor and allowed Japanese and Nivkh fishermen to develop the area, though they were heavily taxed. Russian authorities prevented the Nivkh from fishing in prior coastal and river systems via bans and high taxes from cached fish. The first of many incidents of over-exploitation of fisheries by the Japanese (and latter the Russians) on the Tartar Strait and lower Amur occurred in 1898. It drove many Nivkh peoples into starvation or they had to import expensive foreign – Russian – foods.
Russia underwent the Bolshevik Revolution forming the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1922. The new government altered prior Russian Imperial
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
polices towards the Nivkh that were in line with communist ideology
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Soviet officials embraced the autonym Nivkh to replace the old term Gilyak, as a hallmark for new native self-determination. A brief Autonomous Okrug
Okrug
Okrug is an administrative division of some Slavic states. The word "okrug" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "district", or "region"....
was created for the Nivkh. The government granted them extensive fishing rights, which were not rescinded until the 1960s. But, other Soviet policies proved devastating. The Nivkh were forced into mass agricultural and industrial labor collectives
Collective farming
Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...
called kolkhoz
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
. Nivkh fishermen were difficult to convert to agricultural practices because of their belief that ploughing the earth was a sin. The Nivkh were soon working and living as a second-class minority group among the massive Russian labor force.
These collectives irrevocably altered the life style of the Nivkh. The traditional hunter-gathering
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
lifestyle disappeared. Soviet authorities showcased the Nivkh as a 'model' nation for a culture quickly transforming from the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
age to a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
industrial model. They banned the use of the Nivkh language from schools and the public square. The Russian language was mandated and russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
of the Nivkh accelerated. Many Nivkh stories, beliefs, and clan ties were forgotten by new generations. From 1945 to 1948, many Nivkh, as well as half of the Oroks and all of the Sakhalin Ainu
Ainu people
The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
, who had been living under Japanese jurisdiction in the southern half of Sakhalin, were forced to move to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
along with the ethnic Japanese settlers. Many indigenous people would later return to the area.
Dr. Chuner Taksami
Chuner Taksami
Chuner Mikhailovich Taksami is a Russian ethnographer of Nivkh origin and has a Doctor of Historical Sciences attained in 1955.He was born in Lower Amur River of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. He is a spokesman for the Nivkh and other Siberian peoples. Taksami specializes in Siberian historical,...
, an anthropologist, is considered the first modern Nivkh literary figure and supporter of Siberian rights. In the post-Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Russian commonwealth of nations, the Nivkh have fared better than the Ainu or the Itelmens, but worse than the Chukchi
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
or the Tuvans
Tuvans
Tuvans or Tuvinians are Turkic peoples living in southern Siberia. They are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation...
. The Soviet government in 1962 resettled many of the Nivkh into fewer, denser settlements, such that Sakhalin settlements had been reduced from 82 to 13 by 1986. This relocation was accomplished via the Soviet collectives that the Nivkh had become so dependent on. The closure of state-funded amenities such as a school or electricity generator prompted citizenry to move into government-preferred settlements.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Kolkhoz collectives were abandoned. The Nivkh were dependent on the state-funded collectives, and with their dissolution, rapid economic hardship ensued for the already poor populace. At present, the Nivkh living in the North of Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
island see their future threatened by the giant offshore oil extraction projects known as Sakhalin-I
Sakhalin-I
The Sakhalin-I project, a sister project to Sakhalin-II, is a consortium to locate and produce oil and gas on Sakhalin Island and immediately offshore, in the Okhotsk Sea, from three fields: Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun-Dagi....
and Sakhalin-II
Sakhalin-II
The Sakhalin-2 project is an oil and gas development in Sakhalin Island, Russia. It includes development of the Piltun-Astokhskoye oil field and the Lunskoye natural gas field offshore Sakhalin Island in the Okhotsk Sea, and associated infrastructure onshore. The project is managed and operated...
, operated by foreign Western firms. Since January 2005, the Nivkh, led by their elected leader Alexey Limanzo
Alexey Limanzo
Alexey Limanzo, President of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of North Sakhalin Region, is the chairman of the council of the indigenous people plenipotentiary of Sakhalin Island -External links:*...
, have engaged in non-violent protest actions, demanding an independent ethnological assessment of Shell's and Exxon's plans. Solidarity actions have been staged in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and later in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The monthly Nivkh newspaper, Nivkh Dif, established in 1990, is published using the west-Sakhalin dialect and is headquartered in the village of Nekrasovka.
Village life
The Nivkh were semi-nomadic Hunter-gathererHunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s having summer and winter settlements. Nivkh villages consisted of 3 to 4 households shared by several families with larger villages rare, mostly located on the Amur estuary. Households were shared for reasons of community and survival during the harsh cold winters. Villages would last for several decades but were susceptible to floods and sometimes vanished such as the many wiped out during the devastating Amur floods of 1915 and 1968. Often households contained families that were not related. The village was usually composed of people from two to eight different clans, four being standard.
In the late fall able-bodied Nivkh men would leave the villages to hunt for game in the surrounding hunting grounds while women would gather foods from the forests. Nivkh would move to winter settlements near rivers to survive the harsh snows and catch salmon spawning. (see List of Nivkh settlements) The Nivk were very hospitable such that when the Nanai located upstream on the Amur when faced with hard times would often visit or stay in Nivkh villages.
Clan
Nivkh clans (khal) were a group of people united by marriage ties, a common derived deity, arranging marriages, and responsible for group dispute resolution. The clan is divided into three exogamous sub-clans. A clan would cooperate with other members on hunts and fishing when away from the village. A Nivkh clan believed they had "one (common) akhmalk or imgi, one fire, one mountain man…one bear, one devil, one tkhusind (ransom, or clan penalty), and one sin."Marriage
Marriage tended to be exogamicExogamy
Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside of a social group. The social groups define the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. In social studies, exogamy is viewed as a combination of two related aspects:...
unlike many paleo-Siberian groups. Although within the clan, marriage is endogamic
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...
while sub-clans are exogamic. Nivkh marriage customs were very complicated and controlled by the clan. Cross-cousin marriage seems to be the original custom with the clan a latter necessity when the clan was unable to marry individuals without breaking taboo. The Bride price
Bride price
Bride price, also known as bride wealth, is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom...
was probably introduced by the Neo-Siberians. The dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
was shared by the clan. The number of men generally exceeded the number of women. It was hard to gain wives, as they were few and expensive. This would lead to the wealthier men having more than one wife and the poor men without.
Religion
Nivkh's traditional religion was based on animist beliefs, especially via shamanismShamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
, before colonial Russians made efforts to convert the population to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Nivkh animists believe the island of Sakhalin is a giant beast lying on its belly with the trees of the island as its hair. When the beast is upset, it awakens and trembles the earth causing earthquakes. Nivkh have a pantheon of vaguely defined gods (yz, yzng) that presided over the mountains, rivers, seas and sky. Nivkhs' have extensive folklore, songs, and mythos of how humans and the universe were created, and of how fantastic heroes, spirits and beasts battled with each other in ancient times. Some Nivkhs have converted to Russian Orthodoxy
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
or other religions, though many still practice traditional beliefs. Fire is especially venerated. It is the symbol of the unity of the clan. Fire is considered a deity of their ancestors, protecting them from evil spirits and guarding their clan from harm. An open flame would be 'fed' a leaf of tobacco, spices, or a tipple of vodka in order to please the spirits for protection. Nivkhs would also frequently offer items to the deities by 'feeding'. The sea would be 'fed' an item of importance in order that the sea god protect the travelers.
Shamanism
Shamans' (ch'am) main role was in diagnosing and curing disease for the Nivkh. The rare Shamans typically wore an elaborate coat with a belt often made of metal. Remedies composed of plant and sometimes animal matter were employed to cure sickness. Talismans were used or offered to patients to prevent sickness. Shamans additionally functioned as a conduit to combat and ward off evil spirits that cause death. A shaman's services usually were compensated with goods, quarters and food.Bear Festival
Nivkh Shamans also presided over the Bear Festival, a traditional holiday celebrated between January and February depending on the clan. Bears were captured and raised in a corral for several years by local women, treating the bear like a child. The bear was considered a sacred earthly manifestation of Nivkh ancestors and the gods in bear form (see Bear CultBear worship
Bear worship is the religious practice of the worshiping of bears found in many North American and North Eurasian ethnic circumpolar religions such as the Sami, Nivkh, Ainu, and pre-Christian Finns...
). During the Festival, the bear would be dressed in a specially made ceremonial costume. It would be offered a banquet to take back to the realm of gods to show benevolence upon the clans. After the banquet, the bear would be sacrificed and eaten in an elaborate religious ceremony. Often dogs were sacrificed as well. The bear's spirit returned to the gods of the mountain 'happy' and would then reward the Nivkh with bountiful forests. The festival typically would be arranged by relatives to honor the death of a kinsman. Generally, the Bear Festival was an inter-clan ceremony where a clan of wife-takers restored ties with a clan of wife-givers upon the broken link of the kinsman's death. The Bear Festival was suppressed during Soviet occupation though the festival has had a modest revival since the decline of Soviet Union, albeit as a cultural instead of religious ceremony.
A very similar ceremony, Iomante
Iomante
is the name of an Ainu ceremony. The word literally means "to send something/someone off", and generally refers to the Ainu brown bear sacrifice. However, in some Ainu villages, it is a Blakiston's Fish Owl, rather than a bear, that is sacrificed. In Japanese, the ceremony is known as or,...
, is practiced by the Ainu people
Ainu people
The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Environment
The Russian Far EastRussian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
has a cold and harsh climate. In the fish-rich Amur River estuary in the districts of Nixhne-Amruskii and Takhtinskii, winters have high winds and heavy snows with mid winter usually averaging from -28° to -20°C (-18° to -4°F). Summers are wet and moderately warm ranging between 16° and 20°C (61° to 68°F). The area's biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
is characterized as Taiga
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
and evergreen coniferous forest
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...
s consisting of larch, yew, birch, maple, lilac, honeysuckle, and extensive low-lying swamp grasses. Higher elevations have spruce, fir, ash, lime, walnut and mountain tops have cedar and lichens. Bears, foxes, sable
Sable
The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
s, hares, Siberian tigers, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
s, grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
, and deer typical near the Amur outlet which usually floods during the rainy season.
Northern Sakhalin is harsher ecologically with mostly Taiga. Winters are longer, with a mean temperature of -19°C (-5°F), however short summers are warmer averaging 15°C (59°F) due to warmer Pacific Ocean currents moving around the island. Heavy snows blanket the island of Sakhalin (Yh-mif in Nivkh
Nivkh language
Nivkh or Gilyak is a language spoken in Outer Manchuria, in the basin of the Amgun , along the lower reaches of the Amur itself, and on the northern half of Sakhalin. 'Gilyak' is the Manchu appellation...
) during winter, due to monsoon winds blowing from Siberia, drawing humidity as they pass over the Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...
, Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
, and the Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia , connecting the Sea of Okhotsk on the north with...
. Barren tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
dominates the north, with sparse trees such as larch, birch and various grasses, while moving southward, spruce and fir are seen. Bears, foxes, otters, lynx
Lynx
A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
, and reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
are common wildlife. The Island's major rivers are the Tym' and Poronai, rich in fish especially Salmon. Before Russian colonization, Nivkh villages could be found on these rivers approximately every 5 km.
The Strait of Tartar is currently only 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) wide and is shallow enough that the divide is covered by an ice bridge
Ice road
Ice roads are frozen, human-made structures on the surface of bays, rivers, lakes, or seas in the far north. They link dry land, frozen waterways, portages and winter roads, and are usually remade each winter. Ice roads allow temporary transport to areas with no permanent road access...
during the winter that can be traversed by foot or dog sled. At the glacial maximum of the Ice Age, sea levels were 100 meters (300 feet) lower than they are today. The Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
continent was connected to Sakhalin via the Strait of Tatar and Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
via the Soya Strait of which humans migrated. This connection explains the similarities of trees, plants, and animals including now extinct mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
s. The receding ice age warmed the area allowing greater tree cover and wildlife, thus new resources for the Nivkhs to exploit. The opening of the Soya and then the shallower Tartar Strait allowed warm pacific currents to bathe the island and the lower Amur River.
Dwellings
Nivkhs lived in two types of self-built winter dwellings. Most ancient of these was the ryv (or to). The dwelling was a round dugout about 7.5 meters (23 feet) in diameter, shored up by wooden poles and covered with packed dirt and grass. The ryv had a fireplace in the center and a smoke hole for light and smoke escape. The other type of dwelling used for winter is the chad ryv similar to the NanaiNanai language
The Nanai language is spoken by the Nanai people in Siberia, and to a much smaller extent in China's Heilongjiang province, where it is known as Hezhe...
dio which was modeled after Manchurian and Chinese dwellings of the Amur. The chad ryv were one-room structures with a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
roof and a kan (Korean furnace) for heating. A nearby shed held sledges, skis, boats, and dogs.
Clothing
Nivkhs traditionally wore robes (skiy for men, hukht for women) having three buttons, fastened on the left side of the body. Winter garments were made of skins from fish, seal, sable, and furs from otter, lynx, fox, and dog. Women's hukht extended below the knee and were light multicolored with intricate embroideries and various ornaments sewed on the sleeves, collarCollar (clothing)
In clothing, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. Among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other necklines such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or...
and hem
Hem
To hem a piece of cloth is to sew a cut edge in such a way as to prevent unraveling of the fabric.There are many different styles of hems of varying complexities. The most common hem...
. Ornaments were coins, bells, or beads made of wood, glass, or metal mostly originating from Manchurian and Chinese traders. Men's skiy were darker colored, shorter, and had pockets built into the sleeves. Men's clothing were less elaborate with ornaments on the sleeve and left lapel. Men would also wear a loose kilt called a kosk when hunting or traveling on dog sled. Boots were made of fish-, seal-, or deerskin, being very water tight. Fur hats (hak) were worn in winter, with the furry tails and ears of the animals used often adorning the back and crown of the hat. Summer hats (hiv hak) were conical made from birch-bark. After soviet collectivization, Nivkh mostly wear mass-produced Western clothing, but traditional clothing is worn for holidays and cultural events.
Diet
The Nivkh had a diverse diet being semi-nomadic before colonization. Fish was the main source of food for the Nivkh, such as Pacific Salmon, (ChumChum salmon
The chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is a Pacific salmon, and may also be known as dog salmon or Keta salmon, and is often marketed under the name Silverbrite salmon...
, Pink
Pink salmon
Pink salmon or humpback salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. It is the smallest and most abundant of the Pacific salmon.- Appearance :...
, Trout), Red Eye, burbot
Burbot
The burbot is the only gadiform fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and eelpout. It is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk...
and pike found in rivers and streams. Salt water fishing provided saffron cod
Saffron cod
The saffron cod , is a commercially harvested fish closely related to true cods . It is dark grey-green to brown, with spots on its sides and pale towards the belly. It may grow to 60 cm and weigh up to 1.3 kg....
, flatfish
Flatfish
The flatfish are an order of ray-finned fish, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through and around the head during development...
, and marine goby
Goby
The gobies form the family Gobiidae, which is one of the largest families of fish, with more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most are relatively small, typically less than 10 cm in length...
caught in the littoral
Littoral
The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to...
coasts of the Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary
Strait of Tartary is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia , connecting the Sea of Okhotsk on the north with...
, Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...
, and the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, though over fishing by Russian and Japanese trawlers have depleted many of these fish stocks. Additionally, Chinese and Russian industrial pollution such as phenols
Phenols
In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of a hydroxyl group bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group...
and heavy metals in the Amur River have devastated fish stocks and damaged the Estuaries'
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
soil. A traditional preservation process called Yukola, involving slicing the fish in a particular way and drying the strips by hanging them in the frigid air, without salt, was used before foreign influences. The preservation process created a lot of dried fish waste, unpalatable for human consumption but utilized for dog food. Pulverizing dried fish and mixing it with fish skins, water, seal fat, and berries until the mixture had a sour cream consistency is a favorite Nivkh dish called mos. Nivkhs would hunt seal (Larha, Reinged, Reibbon, Sea-lions), duck, sable, and otters. They would gather various berries, wild leek
Leek
The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae...
s, lilybulbs, and nuts. Contacts with the Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
, Manchu, and Japanese from the 12th century on introduced new foods incorporated in the Nivkhs diet such as salt, sugar, rice, millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, legumes and tea. Russian 19th century colonisation introduced flour, bread, potatoes, vodka, tobacco, butter, canned vegetables and fruits, and other meats.
Further reading
- Chekhov, Anton PavlovichAnton ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
, and Brian Reeve. (1993) A Journey to Sakhalin. Cambridge: Ian Faulkner. ISBN 1-85763-005-X - Grant, Bruce (1995) In the Soviet House of Culture. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
. ISBN 0-691-03722-1 - Taksami, Ch. MChuner TaksamiChuner Mikhailovich Taksami is a Russian ethnographer of Nivkh origin and has a Doctor of Historical Sciences attained in 1955.He was born in Lower Amur River of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. He is a spokesman for the Nivkh and other Siberian peoples. Taksami specializes in Siberian historical,...
(1967) Nivkhi: Sovremennoe Khoziaistvo, Kul'tura i Byt. [The Nivkhs: Contemporary Economy, Culture, and Way of Life]. Leningrad: Nauka
External links
- The Nivkhs from The Red BookThe Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian EmpireThe Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire is a book about the small nations of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russia and some other post-Soviet states of today...
- Norwegian Polar Institute article
- Sound Materials of the Nivkh Language The World's Largest Sound Archive of the Nivkh Language on the Web
- Shell Oil on Sakhalin - Putting Profits before People and the Environment