Samoyedic peoples

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Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages      Yukaghir      Samoyedic      Ugric      Finnic

A group of Samoyedes around a campfire, 1914

Samoyed (before 1906)

The term Samoyedic peoples (also Samodeic peoples) ^[1] is used to describe peoples speaking Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic family. They are a linguistic grouping, not an ethnic or cultural one. The name derives from the obsolete term Samoyed used in Russia for some indigenous peoples of Siberia.^{[2] [3]}

[edit] Peoples

Samoyedic peoples include:

• Northern Samoyedic peoples
  • Nenets
  • Enets
  • Nganasan

• Southern Samoyedic peoples
  • Selkup
  • Kamasins or Kamas (now extinct as a distinct ethnic group)
  • Mator or Motor (now extinct as a distinct ethnic group)
  • Koibal (now extinct as a distinct ethnic group)

[edit] Location

The largest of these peoples are Nenets numbering 34,000. They live in three autonomous districts of Russia: Nenetsia, Yamalia (also known as Yamalo-Nenetsia), and Taymyria (formerly known as Dolgano-Nenetsia).

[edit] Cultural References

• In Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point: "God-thirsty from the spiritual deserts of the workshop and the office, men came as to a temple [to a bar]...the mysterious divinity revealed itself to them...the shamans of the Samoyedes ate toadstools and were filled with the spirit of Num."

[edit] Gallery

Nenets child

Nenets inside a tent

[edit] References and Notes

• Nedeljković, Mile (2001) (in Serbian). Leksikon naroda sveta. Srpska književna zadruga. http://books.google.com/books?id=sJsuHQAACAAJ&dq. 

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