The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Margus Kolga
The invaders’ predatory colonial policies doomed the local Aleut culture to abortion and the Aleut people to physical extinction. In 1799 the Aleut areas fell under the administration of the Russian-American Company. Beginning in 1825 the Company forcefully resettled Aleuts from several of their traditional areas to the then empty islands of Bering (mainly from Atka and Andreyan), Mednyi (from Attu a.o. islands) and Pribylov. The first 17 Aleut families moved to Bering Island were told to hunt sea otters there. In 1821 the Aleut were termed as the islanders who had to work for the Company from the age of 18 to 50. Although in 1844 the obligation was officially repealed the situation remained the same. The Aleut people were converted to Russian Orthodoxy and subjected to Russian cultural influence. In 1867 Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were sold to the USA, while the Commander Islands remained under Russian jurisdiction in the Kamchatka Petropavlovsk Area.
Life on the Commander Islands was extremely isolated. Only one or two ships used to visit the place during the navigable period. Neither was there much communication between the two islands. In 1897 the non-Aleut population made up 10% of the inhabitants of both islands together, the rest being either Aleut or their successors. According to S. Patkanov Aleut was spoken also by 14 Ainus. On Mednyi Island 35% of the inhabitants termed themselves Aleut, the remaining 65% said they were half-breeds (of an Aleut mother). It was also possible that the percentage of half-breeds was lower, but as the people were already suffering from an ethnic inferiority complex they felt the status of a half-breed to be more dignified. Nevertheless they are reported to have adhered to Aleut traditions and spoken the Aleut language. According to Russian authors (N. Grebnitsky, B. Dybovsky, N. Voloshinov a.o.) the physical extinction of the Aleut people started in 1871 when the Commander Islands were leased to American businessmen for 20 years. It was then that the Europeanization of the traditional Aleut life-style began. With their earnings, which were not insubstantial, especially on Mednyi, they are reported to have bought clothes unsuitable for the local conditions, moved to live in the so-called American houses that were not warm enough, etc. In 1891 Russia refused to prolong this rather profitable contract fearing total Americanization of the natives. Although the American rule was declared extremely unfavourable for the Commander Aleuts it was with its end that the real trouble began. The Russian merchants who, according to the new lease, became masters of the island drove the Aleuts to wasteful hunting of sea mammals on an unprecendented scale paying them with trifles and alcohol (even though the importing of alcohol to the islands was prohibited by law). It was now that the final extinction of the people became a real danger. In 1899, for example, as many as 12% of the islanders died. Famine brought by the Civil War period increased the mortality rate even more.
In 1928 the Aleut National District was established on the Commander Islands, with its centre in Nikolskoye, Bering Island. The relative stabilization of the situation, however, was not sufficient for a rapid growth of the Aleut population. This was due to some serious diseases, especially tuberculosis that had infected 20% of the population, and chronic alcoholism. It was only in 1935 that an increase in the population occured. Yet new plagues were on their way in. In the 1930s labour started to be imported from the mainland, while the Aleut people began to leave their native islands for non-Aleut environments. In 1969 all the remaining Aleuts were forced to move to Nikolskoye. At present the number of new settlers surpasses that of the Commander Aleuts fivefold.
Ethnic culture. The Aleut people have always derived their livelihood from the hunting of sea mammals (seals, fur-seals, etc.) and fishing. In the severe polar conditions the gathering of everything edible was also of great importance. Hunting and fishing gear was made of stone, bone and wood. Family relations were characterized by polygamy (both ways), giving away children to uncles to foster, and the mutual exchange of children.
According to traditional practice the catch and game belonged to the whole community, not to the hunter and his family only. The dwellings were half-earthen and large. Male as well as female clothing was made of animal and bird skins. Mats and baskets woven of grass were popular in every household. Traditional food consisted of the meat of sea mammals and seabirds, fish (eaten raw) and molluscs.
The sources of Russian cultural influence were the Russian administration, the Russian Orthodox Church and the parochial school. Folk art (pantomime dances, for example) still survived, but were practised in jealously guarded secrecy for fear of Russian disparagement.
Nowadays mink-farming and cattle-breeding as well as horticulture have developed in addition to the traditional branches of economy.
Those Aleuts who were forcefully resettled to the Commander Islands had to accommodate their life-style to the local natural conditions. There the winters are colder and there is more snow than on the Aleutian Islands. The inhabited northern part of Bering is just flat tundra, and Mednyi is rocky. New means of transport — the dog harness (also in summer) were introduced.
Nowadays folk culture survives to a certain extent thanks to the Museum of Local Lore, Children’s Art School and a folklore ensemble.
Writing. The Aleut people became an object of research following the Russian occupation. The initiative belonged to the missionary I. Veniaminov. Nowadays extensive research projects are under way in the USA. An Aleut writing system with its base the Cyrillic alphabet, was devised in the 19th century by I. Veniaminov and V. Metsvetov. As on Bering Island there was a parochial school (belonging to the Russian-American company), and nearly all adult men could read and write in Russian. In addition there was always a native Aleut around teaching children the same skills in the Aleut language. In 1867 when the Aleutian Islands were ceded to the USA the writing system fell into disuse. The teaching of the Aleut language to the US Aleuts was resumed in the middle of the 1970s only.
THE ALTAICS
Self-designation. In 17th and 18th century sources and in travel books of the 19th century, the following names have been used to denote the South Altaics: Mountain Kalmyks, White Kalmyks (applied especially to the Teleuts), Altaics or Kalmyks by the Biya. The Altaics were often incorrectly called Kalmyks because of the similarities in the appearance of the two peoples. The Russian authorities were never interested in investigating the genetic origin of the Altaic language or the people. In the same arbitrary way the North Altaics were called Taiga Tatars or Shors Kuznets Tatars. The name Altai-kizhi (to be exact Altai-kishi), “the people of Altai”, spread in the 1840s. The first mention of this was by P. Chikhachev: “The Telengits differentiate themselves (Chuyu-kishi) from Altaikishis, although both call themselves Telengits.”
Another name for them, Oirot, originated in Oyrat, a Mongolian tribe that once ruled over Altai. Until 1947 the Altaics were officially known as Oirots and their territory the Oirot autonomous region. In 1947 Oirot was officially replaced by the term Altaic and the territory was renamed the Mountain-Altai (Gorno-Altai) autonomous region.
At the end of the 19th century the Altai-kizhis possessed no clear idea of their ethnic territory. The national awareness that would have promoted the distinction between the Altai-kizhis and other kindred tribes of the Mountain Altai had not yet developed.
Habitat. Nowadays the Altaics live in the Sayan uplands in the Altai district of the Mountain Altai autonomous region.
Population. Past censuses do not contain complete data for the Altaics. For example, the census of 1897 does not take into account the Chelkans, Kumandins and Teleuts. According to the 1959 census the Altaics numbered either 44,654 or 45,300 (according to different sources), 88.7% of whom were native speakers. According to the 1979 census data the total number of Altaics was approximately 60,000 of whom 50,203 lived in the autonomous region. A characteristic of the Altaics, as well as of other Turkic peoples, is a somewhat low rate of birth. This is due to the relatively large number of people who are below the child-bearing age (1—19 years). Soviet scholars consider this to be a result of the last war. The Altaics make up only 29.1% of the population of the Mountain-Altai autonomous region.
Anthropologically, the Altaics are divided into the North and South Altaics, between whom there are outstanding differences. The South Altaics belong to the Asiatic and South-Siberian type of the Mongoloid race. The North Altaics are less Mongoloid. They exhibit some European traits and they belong anthropologically