 Negidals in the upper reaches of theAmgun | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 533 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Russia | 481[1] |
 Ukraine | 52[2] |
| Languages | |
| Negidal language | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nanais,Ulchs | |
Negidals (Negidal:элькан бэйэнин,romanized: elkan bayenin, "local people"; Russian:негидальцы,negidaltsy)[3] are an Indigenous ethnic group in theKhabarovsk Krai in Russia, who live along theAmgun River[3] andAmur River.
The ethnonym "Negidal" is a Russian rendering of theEwenki termngegida, which means "coastal people".
Negidals are an indigenous ethnic group inhabiting the lower reaches ofAmgun River (formerly also living in theAmur River region) inPriamurye, Russian Far East. Nowadays, the majority of Negidals live inUlchskiy District and, to a lesser extent, inImeni Poliny Osipenko District (mostly in Vladimirovka village) inKhabarovsk Krai; a number of Negidal families also live inNikolayevsky,Nanaisky and other districts.
Negidals have been a small indigenous community in the Russian Far East since the first population censuses, as demonstrated by the Negidal Population Table.[citation needed] A major drawback of most censuses is the insufficient coverage of the Negidal population, in particular, the Soviet censuses listied Evenks andOrochs as Negidals in certain cases:
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1897 | 423 |
| 1926 | 426 |
| 1959 | 350 |
| 1970 | 537 |
| 1979 | 504 |
| 1989 | 622 |
| 2002 | 527 |
According to the 2002 census, there were 567 Negidals in Russia, 147 of whom still spoke the Negidal language. According to the 2010 census, there were 513 Negidals in Russia, 75 of whom still spoke the Negidal language.[4]
After the fall of the USSR, according to the2001 census, 52 Ukrainian citizens identified themselves as Negidals. Of these, 31 declaredNegidal as their native language, 11 are Russian-speaking and for 9 the mother tongue is another language.[2]
TheNegidal language belongs to theTungusic language family and is closely related to theEvenki language.[3]
Negidal alphabet was introduced in 2009 but is scarcely, if ever, used. The majority of Negidals living in Russia speak the Russian language.[5]
Negidal has two dialects – Upper Negidal (Verkhovskoj) and the now seemingly extinct Lower Negidal (Nizovskoj); the dialectal division corresponds with the subethnic division into Lower and Upper Negidals, the two subgroups having local cultural, traditional, and linguistic differences.
The Negidal language is considered anendangered language; a 2017 study failed to find any active speakers of the Lower dialect, with only a few elderly people actively speaking Upper Negidal in Vladimirovka.[6]
Negidal people are considered to descend fromEvenks that settled in the Amgun basin during theIron Age. After branching off from the mainTungusic ethnic family and reaching theOkhotsk Coast, Negidals were geographically isolated.[3]
The Amgun River served as a link connecting isolated Negidal settlements. Ancient Negidals who settled in this region relied primarily on fishing and kept their economic and cultural traditions. Although Negidals preserved traditional ties with theEvenks, they also began actively contacting autochthonous peoples such asUlchs,Nanai andNivkh,[3] who consequently influenced Negidals' ethnogenesis, as well as their cultural and economic life, and to some extent, assimilated them.
From the middle of the second millennium until the nineteenth century, the Negidals, like other local groups, paid tribute toChina and maintained trade relations withManchu merchants.
Negidals first made contact with Russians in the early 17th century.[3] As Russia expanded into the region, migrants fromRussia and Ukraine began to actively settle in the Far East.
In theSoviet Union, Negidals had been affected by thecollectivization. Particularly, in 1945, due to the merging of smallerkolkhozes, Negidals fromChukchagirskoye and Kamenka were resettled to Vladimirovka village.[7]
Negidals are officially consideredOrthodox Christians but preserved their ownanimistic beliefs andshamanism.[3]
Traditionally, Negidals relied primarily on fishing and hunting. Upper Negidals also practicedreindeer herding (exclusively as a means of transport). Negidals fished in winter and summer and hunted marine mammals (primarilyseals) using harpoons.[8]
Both Upper and Lower Negidals employeddog sleds; and the Upper Negidals also rode reindeer sleds, occasionally sitting on the backs of reindeer. Boats and skis are two other traditional means of transportation. In the past, Negidals employedtravois (calledkelchi), usually for dragging large prey.
Negidals traditionally crafted clothing and footwear out of animal hides and fur and produced handmade household items (such as fur blankets orbirch bark utensils). Negidal traditional garments consisted of clothing and footwear made out of fish and seal skin and dog hides. Traditional attire included robes (tetchennge, uykeli), leggings (heykii), different types of footwear (onta) and headwear (avun).[9]
Negidal housing vary depending on the sub-ethnic group (Upper or Lower Negidals) and time of the year.
Traditionally, Upper Negidals lived in large movablechum tents, that were covered with reindeer hides in the winter. Lower Negidals, who were more settled, had winter lodgings—large carcass houses with akang along one of the walls—while summer lodgings were small gable-roofed bark huts made from bark. Hunters built forest huts for temporary shelter.
Log cabins first began to be used by the Negidal people in the late 18th century. The flooring was made out of birch bark mats. A hut consisted of a hearth (later a stove borrowed from the Russians) and beds, covered with conifer branches and animal hides. These beds served as both tables and resting places. Tools and utensils were hung on the walls or placed in corners.[citation needed]
Negidals adapted farming from Russian settlers in the late 19th century; farming was actively introduced in Soviet kolkhozes, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, it remained mostly in the form of gardens.[8]
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