This page presents links for information on the many native peoples of Siberia. The colors of this page are the same as the Siberian Flag and the flags of several Siberian nations. The green represents the Siberian taiga, the largest forest in the world, the white represents the snow of winter. The Siberian winter is from November to March, and is culturally as well as materially important for all Siberians, native or Russian. However, Siberia is not the frozen wasteland as some believe, but a very rich and diverse environment sheltering vast amounts of wildlife and plants, some of which are quite rare and valuable.
The peoples of Siberia fall into three major ethno-linguistic groups:
The Buryat, the main group discussed at this website, are an Altaic nationality. Below you will find links grouped according to these three groups. In addition to this, please check out the Shamanism from Other Siberian Traditions page in order to view materials about the shamanism of these other native groups. This page also includes a section on native rights and environmental issues. Additional information will be found in the Relationship between Siberian and other native peoples page.
Siberian Native Peoples -- General
The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire:
A comprehensive web page with information and links on 85 native peoples within the Russian Federation, mostly Siberian aboriginal groups. Scroll down the list on the right side to select information on the ethnic group of your choice.
Photos of Siberian Native Peoples:
Provided by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Click on the ethnic group name for pictures and narrative description.
Crossroads of Continents-Peoples of Siberia:
NMNH webpage on the Even, Koryak, Nanai, and Chukchi. Includes WAV file of Chukchi lullaby.
Finno-Ugrian and Samojedic Center:
This site has information and links about the Finno-Ugrian peoples and languages, which are spoken by the native peoples of Western Siberia. There are further links about the Altaic peoples of Eastern Siberia as well.
Crossroads of Continents:
A virtual exhibit about the cultures of Northeastern Siberia and Alaska
DNA and the Peopling of Siberia:
This article discusses the latest research about the origins of Siberian peoples done through comparison of DNA from 13 different peoples, including the Buryat
"And did those feet in ancient time ..."
Aboriginal ways of life in danger of disappearing. About
two anthropologists' work in Siberia and the Canadian North.
Evidence Indicates Humans Inhabited Siberia 300,000 Years Ago
Northern Clans, Northern Traces:
A re-examination of the Bering Land bridge theory in light of
recent archaeological discoveries.
Jennifer's Language Page:
Compilation of basic important phrases in hundreds of the world's
languages including many native Siberian languages
Children's Drawings Reflect Siberian Traditional Culture
Way-Finding Techniques of Siberian Peoples
Endangered Languages of Russia:
An informational database
Oral Traditions, Material Culture, and National Identity in the Republics of Sakha (Yakutia)
and the Yukon Territory, Canada
THE OLD TURKS IN CENTRAL ASIA AND SOUTHERN SIBERIA
Oguz's Turk Page
Institute of Archeology and Ethnography:
Virtual exhibits from the museum of the Siberian Branch of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
Northeast Siberian Tribes
Native-L: Siberian Indigenous Peoples
Minority Languages of Russia on the Net
Ethnologue Database:
A listing of the 42 native Siberian languages, alternate names,
dialects, and number of native speakers. Christian oriented, so
it also lists Bible translations, but nevertheless a good resource
Flags of Siberian Native Peoples and Mongols
Yamalo-Nenets Flag with information on the region
Nenets Flag with information on the Nenets
Evenk Flag with information on the Evenks
Flag of the Dolgano-Nenets Autonomous Area
Khakass Flag with description
Khanty-Mansi Flag
Chukchi Flag
Altai Flag
Hakas Flag with description
Khanty-Mansi Flag with description
Koryak Flag with description
Siberian Flag and United States of Northern Asia Flags
Yakut (Sakha) Flag with description
Tuvan Flag with description:
Includes historical flags with old Mongolian script. Note similarity in colors to the Buryat national flag.
Buryat Flag with description
Flag of Ust-Orda Buryats:
This majority Buryat region was separated from Buryatia in 1937 and has been expressing interest in reunification.
Inner Mongolian Flag
Kalmyk Flag
Altaic Nationalities
The Unofficial Evenki Home Page:
Comprehensive information and links about the Evenks. By Joachim Otto Habeck, partly in English and partly in German.
Tunguska: The Cosmic Mystery of the Century:
When fire rained down from heaven the Siberian natives believed it was a sign of the wrath of the upper world spirits. What really did happen over the Siberian Taiga in 1908? Was it a meteorite or a UFO?
Tunguska Home Page:
Information and links about the Tunguska disaster. Dramatic photo of the devastation taken from the air.
Respublika Sakha (Yakutia)
A comprehensive page on the Yakut (Sakha) people and their autonomous republic. It includes a lot of information on traditional culture and shamanism in addition to geography,
size of native populations, etc.
Evenkia
About the Evenk Autonomous Region in Northern Siberia, the Evenks, and their culture. The Evenk Autonomous Region is one of the largest native autonomous regions in Russia.
Krasnoyarskiy Kray:
Part of the Evenk Autonomous Region. Information and links.
Kingdom of Cold and Beauty:
About the Evenk homeland in northern Siberia
Michail Grey Wolf:
A page about an Evenk artist and his works. Since his defection to the west over 10 years ago he has networked with the Navajo in
the Western United States and is currently working in Germany.
Reindeer herding and Evenki cultural identity
Manchu Language and Culture
Field Notes from Siberia:
A researcher's experiences among the Dolgan
Use of plants among hunters in the forest of the lower Amur
In the Soviet House of Culture:
Review of a book about the Nivkh's struggle to preserve their
culture in the face of missionary pressure in tsarist times
and Soviet minority policy
Ethnic identity:
Cultural and economic factors in Sakha ethnic consciousness
Space, gender and migration among pastoralists today
Welcome to Sakha (Yakutia)
Yakutia (in German)
Yakutia: Birth of a Nation (in French)
Information on Yakut Culture
Federal relations between Yakutsk and Moscow
Altai: (in German)
Coal mining endangers the traditional way of life of the
Shors and Teleuts
Welcome to Altai:
Web page about the Altai Republic
Royal Body Snatchers put on Ice:
The Altai of southern Siberia ban the digging up of
ancient burial sites on their lands, accusing archaeologists of
plundering and disrespect for their ancestors. Reminiscent of
similar controversies over Native American remains
Gallery of Ethnographic Images:
Pictures of shaman's costume, everyday dress and traditional dwelling of the Altaian people
Altai
Tuva
Tuva (in German)
Friends of Tuva
Report from Tuva:
An anthropologist's impression of Tuvan culture, landscape, and shamanism
Tuvan Photo Gallery
Throat Singers of Tuva
Two Voices, One Throat:
An interview with a Tuvan hoomei singer
The Tuvan Page
Khakassia
Uralic (Samoyed) Nationalities
A Word Turns into a song:
A page dedicated to the songs of the Nenets. It includes transcriptions of shaman songs and other folk songs.
Uralic Languages in Russia
Nenets-Selkup-Mansi-Khanty
The Samoyede: The People and their Dog:
This article briefly describes the Samoyed (Nenets) people and
their famous dog breed. The text contains many interesting
links to additional material about Nenets culture and shamanism.
Nganasans:
An article about the Nganasans, their culture and homeland.
Saami and Nenets language and culture in the Barents Region:
This page describes efforts to preserve the traditional language and culture of the peoples of the Barents Region.
Nenets and Khanty of the Yamal Peninsula:
This page describes the culture and environment of this region, which is now severely endangered by gas and oil development.
The Living Yamal:
Describes an ethnographic expedition to study the Samoyedic peoples of the Yamal Peninsula. Includes a very interesting page on shamanism, "The Sacred Landscape"
BTN Scripts: Nenets:
This short illustrated article describes the Nenets people and how their traditional way of life is being threatened by oil and gas development.
Help save the natural environment for the Khanty
people of Siberia
The Nenets and Khanty of Yamal Peninsula:
A richly illustrated article about traditional way of life.
Khanty and Nenets in Western Siberia:
Indigenous reindeer herders under siege by the oil industry. The difficult issue of conflict between industrial development and native rights.
Photos of Nenets Traditional Life (commentary in German)
West Siberia: Not only Oil (in German)
Tyumen Oblast:
This vast region is the home of the Nenets, Khanty, and Mansi,
and this page has links not only about the oblast but also about its native peoples. Some of the links are in Russian and may not
show up intelligbly on computers not set up for Cyrillic writing.
GOVERNMENT DECEPTION THREATENS DESTRUCTION OF EASTERN KHANTY TRADITIONAL CULTURE
SACRED TRUST:
Preserving Land And Culture Among the Khanty of Western Siberia
ALTERNATIVE TO GENOCIDE:
THE YUGANSKII KHANTY BIOSPHERE RESERVE
The Khanty and West Siberia
Khanty Bear Feast Songs:
Description of the ritualized bear feast of the Samoyedic Khanty with songs and a photo essay.
Funeral Customs of the Northern Khants:
Funeral customs of the Samoyedic Khanty people, includes photo essay.
Paleo-Siberian Nationalities
Koryak Net:
A page of information and links about the Koryak people.
Kamchatka: In the land of the Great Raven (in German)
The Aleut, one of Siberia's least known Minorities
The Ainu, another small Siberian ethnic group:
Although they do exist in larger numbers in Japan, Siberia also has a small Ainu population
Ainu:
Information and links about Ainu culture, in both English
and Japanese
Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands:
Information about this region with links. Russian and English
Secret of Sakhalin Island:
Information and links about Sakhalin, including historical maps and rare Japanese paintings showing the native Siberian inhabitants drawn during Mamiya Rinzo's visit in 1806
Environmental and Native Rights Issues
Dioxin Conference:
An international conference to address the problem of dioxin pollution in Lake Baikal
Conflicting Interest of Animal Welfare and Indigenous Peoples:
Do native peoples have the right to trap furs according to their own traditional way of life? What are their rights to manage resources on their own land? Looks at the issues for both Siberians and Native Americans.
Shundahai Network:
Natives protest nuclear testing in Siberia and the American West.
The Right to Adequate Food in the Russian Federation:
A very critical and thought provoking article about the
present subsistence situation of Siberian peoples. Native peoples' hunting and fishing rights have been curtailed, and their hunting grounds are being degraded by mining and
oil and gas extraction. People are starving. What is the world going to do about it?
The Big Problem of Small Ethnic Groups:
This article examines the plight of native Siberians using the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region as an example. Traditional
subsistence is threatened by environmental degradation. Infant mortality is high and life expectancy is 18 years less
than for Russians. The information in this article is quite disturbing.
Hotspots in the Taiga:
Endangered areas of the boreal forests throughout the Northern Hemisphere
The Taiga Rescue Network:
An international organization dedicated to the preservation
of the taiga forest.
Struggle over Land and Resources in the Russian North
Discrimination against Native Peoples of Siberia
The Carbon Bomb: Climate Change and the Fate of the Northern Boreal Forests:
A Greenpeace report about the dangers to the survival of the northern forests (taiga) which cover much of Siberia. The overall area of this forest is comparable to the Amazonian rainforest and is a diverse but sensitive and endangered
ecosystem.
The Russian Far East:
To identify and protect specific, important hotspots in the Russian Far East and Siberia through the dissemination of information, fundraising for nature reserves, public advocacy,
and the reform of foreign business investment and trade.
Trying to break with the past: ethnic elite development in the Komi Republic
Repatriation:
A very important issue for all native peoples at this time.
Sustainable economic recovery for remote regions:
Finding a common ground between mineral resource
development and local pastoral and subsistence
economies in Russia and Central Asia
Environmental change and indigenous knowledge in
Siberia and Alaska
International institute for Sustainable Development:
An important strategy for the integration of modern technology
into native cultures without destroying the traditional
balance with the earth.
International Model Forest Network
Siberia Logging:
Siberian natives succesfully stop logging of the taiga
in a court case
Natural World Heritage Properties:
Includes Lake Baikal, the Komi Taiga, and the Kamchatka
Fourth World Documentation Project
Indigenous Peoples of the North protest in Russia
John Zikers Papers:
Summaries of papers presented by John Zikers regarding the
problem of ethnic minorities in Siberia
Black Snow:
Oil and the native peoples of western Siberia
Minorities at Risk Project
Gaia Forest Conservation Archives:
Russian forest conservation documents
Siberia: The tortured land
COMPETING FOR RESOURCES:
FIRST NATION RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST
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