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SAMOYEDES

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 118 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SAMOYEDES , a tribe of the Ural-Altaic See also:

group, scattered in small See also:groups over an immense See also:area, from the See also:Altai mountains down the basins of the Ob and See also:Yenisei, and along the shores of the See also:Arctic ocean from the mouth of the latter See also:river to the'See also:White See also:Sea. The tribe may be subdivided into three See also:main groups: (a) The Yuraks in the See also:coast-region from the Yenisei to the White Sea; (b) the Tavghi Samoyedes, between the Yenisei and the Khatanga; (c) the Ostiak Samoyedes, intermingled with See also:Ostiaks, to the S. of the others, in the See also:forest regions of See also:Tobolsk and See also:Yeniseisk. Their whole number may be estimated at from 20,000 to 25,000. The so-called Samoyedes inhabiting the S. of the governments of See also:Tomsk and Yeniseisk have been much under Tatar See also:influence and appear to be of a different stock; their sub-groups are the Kamasin See also:Tatars, the Kaibals, the See also:Motors, the Beltirs, the Karagasses and the Samoyedes of the See also:middle Ob. The proper See also:place of the Samoyedes among the Ural-Altaians is very difficult to determine. As to their See also:present name, signifying in its present See also:Russian spelling " self-eaters," many ingenious theories have been advanced, but that proposed by Schrenk, who derived the name " Samo-yedes " from " Syroyadtsy ' or " raw-eaters," leaves much to be desired. Perhaps the See also:etymology ought to be sought in quite another direction, namely, in the likeness to Suomi. The names assumed by the Samoyedes themselves are Hazovo and Nyanyaz. The Ostiaks know them under the names of Orghoy, or Workho, both of which recall the Ugrians; the name of Hui is also in use among the Ostiaks, and that of Yaron among the Syrgenians. The See also:language now spoken by the Samoyedes belongs to the Finno-Ugrian group, and is allied to Finnish but has a more copious See also:system of suffixes (see FINNC-UGR1c). It is a sonorous speech, pleasant to the See also:ear. No fewer than three See also:separate dialects and a dozen sub-dialects are known in it.

The conclusions deducible from their anthropological features—apart from the See also:

general difficulty of arriving at safe conclusions on this ground alone, on See also:account of the variability of the ethnological type under various conditions of See also:life—are also rather indefinite. The Samoyedes are recognized as having the See also:face more flattened than undoubtedly Finnish See also:stocks; their eyes are narrower, their complexion and See also:hair darker. Zuyev describes them as like the See also:Tunguses, with flattened See also:nose, thick lips, little See also:beard and See also:black, hard hair. At first sight they may be mistaken for Ostiaks—especially on the Ob—but they are undoubtedly different. See also:Castren considers them as a mixture of Ugrians with Mongolians, and Zograf as See also:brachycephalic Mongolians. Quatrefages classes them, together with the Voguls, as two families of the Ugrian sub-See also:branch, this last, together with the Sabmes (Lapps), forming See also:part of the Ugrian or Boreal branch of the yellow or Mongolic See also:race. It is probable that formerly the Samoyedes occupied the Altai mountains, whence they were driven N. by Turco-Tatars. Thus, the Kaibals See also:left the Sayan mountains and took See also:possession of the Abakan See also:steppe (See also:Minusinsk region), abandoned by the Kirghizes, in the earlier years of last See also:century, and in N.E. See also:Russia the Zyrians are still See also:driving the Samoyedes farther N., towards the Arctic coast. Since the researches of Schrenk it may be regarded as settled that in See also:historical times the Samoyedes were inhabitants of the so-called Ugria in the See also:northern Urals, while Radlov considers that the number-less See also:graves containing remains of the See also:Bronze See also:Period which are scattered throughout W. See also:Siberia, on the Altai, and on the Yenisei in the Minusinsk region, are See also:relics of Ugro-Samoyedes. According to his views this nation, very numerous at that See also:epoch—which precededthe See also:Iron-Period See also:civilization of the Turco-Tatars,—were See also:pretty well acquainted with See also:mining; the remains of their mines, sometimes 50 ft. deep, and of the furnaces where they melted See also:copper, See also:tin and See also:gold, are very numerous; their weapons of a hard bronze, their pots (one of which weighs 75 lb), and their melted and polished bronze and See also:golden decorations testify to a high development of See also:artistic feeling and See also:industrial skill, strangely contrasting with the See also:low level reached by their earthenware.

They were not nomads, but husbandmen, and their See also:

irrigation canals are still to be seen. They kept horses (though in small See also:numbers), See also:sheep and goats, but no traces of their rearing horned See also:cattle have yet been found. The See also:Turkish invasion of S. Siberia, which took place in the 5th century, drove them farther N., and probably reduced most of them to See also:slavery. The Samoyedes, who now maintain themselves by See also:hunting and fishing on the See also:lower Ob, partly mixed in the S. with Ostiaks, recall the See also:condition of the inhabitants of See also:France and See also:Germany at the epoch of the See also:reindeer. Clothed in skins, like the See also:troglodytes of the See also:Weser, they make use of the same implements in See also:bone and See also:stone, eat carnivorous animals—the See also:wolf included—and cherish the same superstitions (of which those regarding the See also:teeth of the See also:bear are perhaps. the most characteristic) as were current among the Stone-Period inhabitants of W. See also:Europe. Their heaps of reindeer horns and skulls—memorials of religious ceremonies—are exactly similar to those dating from the similar period of civilization in N. Germany. Their huts often resemble the well-known stone huts of the Esquimaux; their graves are See also:mere boxes left in the See also:tundra. The See also:religion is See also:fetishism mixed with See also:Shamanism, the shaman (tadji-bei) being a representative of the See also:great divinity, the Num. The Yalmal See also:peninsula, where they find great facilities for hunting, is especially venerated by the Ob Ostiak Samoyedes, and there they have one of their See also:chief idols, Khese.

They are more See also:

independent than the Ostiaks, less yielding in See also:character, although as hospitable as their neighbours. They are said to be disappearing owing to the use of ardent See also:spirits and the prevalence of smallpox. They still maintain the high See also:standard of honesty mentioned by historical documents, and never will take anything left in the tundra or about the houses by their neighbours. The Yurak Samoyedes are courageous and warlike; they offered armed resistance to the Russian invaders, and it is only since the beginning of the century that they have paid See also:tribute. The exact number of the Ostiak Samoyedes is not known; the Tavghi Samoyedes may number about 10oo, and the Yuraks, mixed with the former, are estimated at 6000 in Obdorsk (about 15o settled), 5000 in See also:European Russia in the tundras of the Mezen, and about 350 in Yeniseisk. Of the S. Samoyedes, who are completely Tatarized, the Beltirs live by See also:agriculture and cattle-breeding in the Abakan steppe. They profess See also:Christianity, and speak a language closely resembling that of the Sagai Tatars. The Kaibals, or Koibals, can hardly be distinguished from the Minusinsk Tatars, and support themselves by rearing cattle. Castren considers that three of their stems are of Ostiak origin, the See also:remainder being Samoyedic. The Kamasins, in the See also:Kansk See also:district of Yeniseisk, are either herdsmen or agriculturists. They speak a language with an admixture of Tatar words, and some of their stems contain a large Tatar See also:element.

The interesting nomadic tribe of Karagasses, in the Sayan mountains, is disappearing; the few representatives are rapidly losing their anthropological features, their Turkish language and their distinctive See also:

dress. The Motors are now little more than a memory. One portion of the tribe emigrated to See also:China and was there exterminated; the remainder have disappeared among the See also:Tuba Tatars and the Soyotes. The Samoyedes on the Ob in Tomsk may number about 7000; they have adopted the Russian manner of life, but have difficulty in carrying on agriculture, and are a poverty-stricken See also:population with little prospect of holding their own. The See also:works of M. A. Castren are still the best authority on the Samoyedes. See Grammatik der samoyedischen Sprachen (1854); See also:Dictionary (1855); Ethnologische Vorlesungen fiber See also:die altaischen Volker (1857); Versuch einer koibalischen and karagassischen Sprachlehre (1857). See also A. Middendorf, Reise in den dussersten See also:Norden and Osten Sibiriens (1875).

End of Article: SAMOYEDES

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