Chuvans

Chuvans
Alternative names: Chuvantsy

Total population
(1,300 (est.))
Regions with significant populations
Russia: 1,087 (2002) Ukraine: 226 (2001)
Languages
Russian, Chukchi (formerly Chuvan)
Religion
Russian Orthodoxy
Related ethnic groups
Russians, Yukaghir, Koryaks, Chukchi, Evens

Chuvans (Russian: чува́нцы) are one of the forty or so "less-numerous peoples of the North" recognized by the Russian government. Most Chuvans today live within Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the far northeast of Russia. Based on first-hand field research by several ethnographers in the 1990s, people who self-identify as Chuvans seem to do so by living in small villages and in the tundra in areas that are primarily associated with reindeer herding.

History

Historical accounts describe the Chuvans as a people in Siberia, belonging to the Yukaghir group. They roamed along the upper tributaries of the Anadyr River and Anyuy River in the 17th century. The Chuvans were engaged in hunting, fishing and reindeer-breeding. In the 18th century, some Chuvans retreated to the Kolyma River following attacks by the Chukchi. There they gradually russified. The other part was assimilated by the Koryaks and Chukchis. According to the 2002 Russian Census, there were 1087 Chuvans in Russia.

Language

The Chuvan language is extinct. Many Chuvans speak the Chukchi language in addition to Russian, and some have intermarried with the Chukchis. On the other hand, some, such as those living in the town of Markovo on the Anadyr River, neither herd reindeer nor are they able to speak Chukchi.

Ethnographic maps shows the Chuvans as the indigenous population of the Chuvanskoye village some 100 km west of Markovo.^[1]

References

• Historical data

1. Map 3.16 (Chukotskiy Avtonomnyi Okrug) from the series prepared for the INSROP (International Northern Sea Route Programme) Working Paper No. 90 in 1997.