Siberia: Icy Land of Mystery

The cultures of Siberia are represented by four groups: Chinese-influenced cultures of the Amur River region; the Even, reindeer herders living west of the Sea of Okhotsk; the Koryak of Kamchatka and adjacent maritime regions; and the Chukchi, who, like the Koryak, were divided between reindeer breeders on the interior and sea mammal hunters on the coast.

The Amur River Peoples

The southernmost portion of the Siberian Pacific, once part of the ancient empires of China and Korea, is formed by the lower Amur basin. The Amur River is the largest in Siberia (about 2700 miles), equal in size and might to Alaska's Yukon River. For ages, the Amur River served as a "cultural highway" along which peoples moved, exchanging and mixing customs, beliefs, and artistic traditions. The Amur was the main route of communications connecting the forests of the Siberian interior, the Pacific coastland, and even the remote shores of the Arctic Ocean. Migrations of peoples from China and the Central Asian steppe brought agriculture, animal husbandry, metalware, and pottery to the gateways of of Siberia.

The Native people who inhabited the lower Amur valley were a mixture of various of Tungus and Manchu tribes from the interior, Nivkh, and probably Ainu migrants from Sakhalin Island and the Amur estuary. Except for the Nivkh, all Native peoples of the Amur valley speak closely related languages of Tungus-Manchu stock. They share the same general name for themselves, nani ("local people"), and a number of clan names and clan groups cross ethnic lines. Presently, those nations are known as: Nanai (pop. 12,000), Ulchi (pop. 3200), Udegai (pop. 1,900), Oroch (pop. 900), and Negidal (pop. 600). Another 1,500 Nanai and 4,000 Oroch live on the Chinese side of the Amur and along adjacent streams.

The Even, Reindeer Herders

The interior part of the Siberian Pacific, rarely visited by coastal dwellers, is dominated by people of a different stock. The Russians called them Tungus. This general name covers a great number of Native tribes that populated central and eastern Siberia from the Pacific shore, through five time zones, deep into inner Asia. Their languages belong to the same linguistic stock as the Manchu people of northern China; this makes the Tungus distant relatives of nomadic Turkic and Mongolic nations, the herdsmen and fierce warriors of the Eurasian steppe.

The ancient Tungus originated somewhere on the northeastern fringe of the steppe, probably between Lake Baikal and the upper Amur River. From this region, they moved north into the Siberian forest (or taiga) to become its complete masters and most skilled users.

In their age-old move through the mountains and forests of inner Siberia, the Tungus tribes gradually split into three major clusters. Those who moved northward and westward formed the largest portion, today known as the Evenk (current population 30,000 in Russia and about 20,000 in northern China). Those who moved eastward - to eastern Yakutia, Kolyma River, and the northern Okhotsk Sea - called themselves Even (presently about 17,000). Migrants into the Amur River basin mixed with local tribes and formed a number of small fishing and hunting nations.

The Koryak

Cultural affinities between Native Siberians and Native Alaskans go far beyond the Bering Strait area. Anthropologists have found striking parallels between the myths, rituals, and dwelling types of the Koryak - inhabitants of the Kamchatka Peninsula - and those of Tlingit, Tsimshian, and other Native peoples of America's Northwest Coast.

The central figure of Koryak mythology is Big-Raven (Quikil or Quikinnaqu), who appears as the first man, the father and protector of the Koryak, as well as a powerful shaman and a supernatural being. As the Great Transformer of the world, Big-Raven presides at every shamanistic ceremony. Almost all Koryak myths and folktales deal with the life, travels, adventures, and tricks of Big-Raven and his family. About 80 percent of those episodes have parallels in the mythology of the Northwest Coast indigenous peoples.

These similarities have led researchers to seek ancient cultural connections or even a common origin for these peoples separated by the North Pacific. Koryak (as well as neighboring Itelmen and Chukchi) were once called "Americanoids" and were thought to be return migrants from America to Siberia, after the initial peopling of the New World.

Although this hypothesis lacks proof beyond similarities in myths and beliefs, Koryak-Northwest Coast affinities are still a key subject for research.

The Chukchi: Warriors and Traders

The Chukchi are the largest Native nation (about 15,000) on the Asian side of the North Pacific. At present, they populate a huge area that reaches from Bering Strait to the Kolyma River valley deep in inland Siberia, and extends along both the Arctic and Pacific coasts of northeast Asia. Their name was given to them by Russians, who also bestowed it on the Chukchi Peninsula, Chukchi Sea, Chukchi Autonomous Area, and the Chukchi District, which faces Alaska across Bering Strait.

The Russian name "Chukchi" actually comes from the Chukchi word Chauchu ("rich in reindeer"). Reindeermen use this word to distinguish themselves from coastal folk, who are usually called Anqallyt ("the sea people"). Although an indigenous Siberian people, the Chukchi apparently came to Bering Strait later than the Eskimos. Anthropologists trace their origin to the ancient residents of interior and coastal Siberia, around the northern Okhotsk Sea, that is, about a thousand miles from Bering Strait. Their closest kin are the Koryak people of northern Kamchatka, with whom the Chukchi share similarities in language beliefs, and historical traditions.