The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Margus Kolga
and executive organs was achieved only by 1860—1870. 70.
The economy was shaped by the natural conditions. The mountain pastures created ideal conditions for seasonal livestock breeding. Sheep were raised, as well as cattle and horses. Domestic fowl (poultry) were kept. Wool and cheese were exchanged for grain produced on flatter lands. Land cultivation, despite its high level, had an auxiliary role. As arable lands were scarce they had to be created artificially The solution was found in terraced fields supplied by a good irrigation system. The main crops were wheat and rye, later potatoes and vegetables were added. On the sunny slopes horticulture and viticulture were practised. The incorporation of Avaria into Russia meant access to the Russian market which, in its turn, boosted the local economy. Monetary and commercial relations developed, creating material differentiation within the society. On the other hand subordination to Russia meant being subjected to the colonial policy of the central authority, a policy took little heed of the wishes of the local peoples.
Soviet power that was officially established in Dagestan on January 20, 1920 and immediately faced serious consolidation problems. First, it was necessary to do away with the territorial isolation of the mountain villages. Secondly, a schooling system had to be introduced that would spread Soviet ideology alongside intensified central propaganda. All this was meant to change the national ideology and mentality of the Akhvakh people. Results, however, being slowish to appear prewar campaigns (collectivization, anti-Islam struggle) were carried out with violence and bloodshed. During collectivization many Akhvakh nationalist were killed.
Radical changes in the mentality and everyday life of the Akhvakhs emerged only after World War II, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s and especially amongst the younger generation. This was expressed in the different attitudes towards folk customs towards their observance and preservation. Since then the young have tended more and more to adopt Soviet ways and European urban clothing. The old customs, when observed, are not observed from any inner compulsion, but rather out of mere inertia or respect for the older generation. The traditions are falling into oblivion. The most acute problem for the Akhvakhs is connected with their mother tongue. At school the first five forms are taught in Avar, and from then on, in Russian. No subjects are taught in Akhvakh. The norms of endogamy that previously used to regulate the family relations have receded, and the number of mixed marriages is growing.
THE ALEUTS
The present self-designation aleut was first suggested by the Russians who reached the Aleutian Islands in 1741 during an expedition led by V. Bering. Written sources have used the name since 1747 and gradually it has been adopted by the Aleuts. Final consolidation of the name took place in the first decades of this century. According to G. Menovshchikov the name is derived from an Aleut word allkthuh meaning ‘community; host’. The old self-designation unangan evidently applied to the eastern Aleuts only, meaning probably ‘coastal people’ (K. Bergsland). Local groupings and inhabitants of different islands are known to have also used other names for themselves.
Habitat. The Aleut people are the native inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, the southwestern part of the Alaskan peninsula and the off-shore islands of Shumagin. Since the beginning of the 19th century there have been resettled Aleuts living on Commander Islands (Bering and Mednyi) which are under Soviet jurisdiction. The Aleut District in the Kamchatka Region was established in 1932. In 1969 the Aleuts of those two islands were gathered to live in Nikolskoye, Bering Island.
Population. In the middle of the 18th century, when Russians first explored the place, the islands were nearly all inhabited. The number of the Aleuts was estimated at approximately 25,000. Mass murder and enslavement of the natives reduced their numbers drastically. According to the data supplied by the missionary I. Veniaminov in 1834 there were less than 2,500 Aleuts left. The 1918 epidemics of smallpox and grippe took a further toll. In 1945 the anthropologist A. Hrolicka estimated the number of Aleuts at about 1,400. Nowadays the world number of the Aleuts is believed to be about 6,000. Part of the Eskimos of southeastern and southern Alaska also consider themselves Aleut. In the 1970s there were about 500 Aleuts living on the Commander Islands, but by 1984 their number had dropped to 300. On the US part of the Aleutian Islands a census was carried out in 1960 according to whose data there were 2,100 Aleut (mostly half-bred) who made up 35% of the local population. On Commander Islands the number of Aleuts has fluctuated as follows:
| 1901 | 502 |
| 1902 | 523 |
| 1903 | 509 |
| 1904 | 512 |
| 1905 | 514 |
| 1906 | 499 |
| 1913 | 516 |
| 1917 | 449 |
| 1921 | 377 |
| 1922 | 381 |
| 1923 | 364 |
| 1927 | 345 |
| 1935 | 367 |
Anthropologically Aleuts are close to the Eskimo people belonging to the mongoloid Arctic race. Their mingling with other types often emphasized in academic literature is evidently not well grounded. Newer results prove that despite the historical heterogeneity of the Commander Aleuts their genetic structure is Aleut.
Origin. The Aleut people were believed to have first arrived on the Aleutian Islands from the coast of northeastern Asia or from Alaska, not earlier than 3000 years ago. Latest research suggests that the aleuts arrival must have happened considerably earlier. Now the settlement of the Aleutians is associated with the time when there was still a land connection between America and Asia, that is, no later than 10—12 thousand years ago.
Language. The Aleut language, belonging to the Eskimo-Aleut languages, is considered as a member of the Paleo-Asiatic group. According to incomplete data the Aleut language can be divided into three dialects: Attu (Western), Atka and Unalaska (Eastern). The differences are small and do not impede mutual intelligibility. The present-day Aleuts are bilingual. The American Aleuts speak English, while the Asiatic Aleuts had already been russified by the beginning of the 19th century.
According to G. Menovshchikov the Aleuts of Bering Island speak the Atka dialect with a well-preserved basic vocabulary and grammatical structure. The version previously used on the Mednyi (Copper) Island was of the Attu dialect. In addition the strong Russian influence has produced a strange pidgin where verbs are conjugated by means of Russian suffixes, etc. Menovshchikov has suggested that the pidgin which is still spoken to a certain extent on Mednyi Island was at one time a lingua franca for Russians and the Aleut people.
Although the Aleut language has relatively much in common with Eskimo languages, the grammatical and lexical differences are considerable. The glotto-chronological method dates the linguistic divergence of the Aleut and the Eskimo peoples as at least 1000—2000 years back. Common developments can be traced in the phonology and word strucmre, but there are very few common roots in the lexis of the two languages. It is believed that the phonology of Aleut is more ancient than the Eskimo language.
The linguistic and cultural influence of Russian started to make itself felt by the 18th century. By the beginning of the 19th century practically all Aleuts living on Russian territories had been converted to Russian Orthodoxy. This was an efficient means of checking the local culture and language. On Bering Island the Russian influence has not penetrated to grammar yet, but some of it has been noticed in the vocabulary. The inhabitants of Mednyi Island are very much isolated from the remaining Aleut area. Nowadays their ordinary means of communication is Russian. Aleut has been preserved fragmentarily by the older members of but a few families but in general Aleut has receded before Russian.
Another strong wave of Russian swept over the islands during the Soviet period. Many Aleuts have left their native islands in search of better education. Ethnically pure marriages are rare, in most cases the spouse is found among another nation. According to R. Lyapunova the number of Aleuts living at Nikolskoye, Bering Island is about 300. About 200 live elsewhere, mostly on the Kamchatka peninsula. The same author points out that outside their own native islands the half-bred Aleuts refrain from calling themselves Aleut, but returning home they resume their ethnic identity.
History. Aleuts are the native inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands. Their contacts with Europeans date from the middle of the 18th century when their habitats were invaded by Russian sailors, tradesmen