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The Nganasans are one of the indigenous peoples of Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
. They are the northernmost of the Samoyed
Samoyed

Samoyed may refer to:* the Samoyedic peoples in Siberia who speak the Samoyedic languages: the Enets, the Nenets, the Nganasans, and the Selkups...
ic peoples, living on the Taymyr Peninsula
Taymyr Peninsula

Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in Siberia that forms the most northern part of mainland Asia. It lies between the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea and the Khatanga Gulf of the Laptev Sea in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia....
 by the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
. Their territory is part of Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai

Krasnoyarsk Krai is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . It is the list of subdivisions of Russia by area Russian region after the Sakha Republic, occupying an area of , which is 13% of the country's total territory ....
. Their "capital" is the settlement of Ust-Avam. They speak Nganasan language
Nganasan language

Nganasan language is a language of the Nganasan people. It was spoken by 1,063 and by 750 people in the southwestern and central parts of the Taymyr Peninsula....
.

The Avam Nganasans live in the western part of the Taymyr Peninsula, in the valleys of the rivers Pyasina, Dudypta, and Boganida. The speakers of the Vadeyev dialect live in the tundra
Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is an biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tund?r, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra....
 and in the eastern parts of Taymyr, in Khatangsky District by the Kheta River
Kheta River

Kheta River is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia, left composite of the Khatanga River. The length of the river is 604 km. The area of its drainage basin is 100,000 km?....
, Lake Taymyr
Lake Taymyr

File:Kara sea2TL.PNGLake Taymyr is a lake of the central regions of the Taymyr Peninsula in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. It is located south of the Byrranga Mountains....
, and the Khatanga Bay.

The Nganasans are few in number - 834 (2002 Census
Russian Census (2002)

Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Goskomstat ....
).






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The Nganasans are one of the indigenous peoples of Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
. They are the northernmost of the Samoyed
Samoyed

Samoyed may refer to:* the Samoyedic peoples in Siberia who speak the Samoyedic languages: the Enets, the Nenets, the Nganasans, and the Selkups...
ic peoples, living on the Taymyr Peninsula
Taymyr Peninsula

Taymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in Siberia that forms the most northern part of mainland Asia. It lies between the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea and the Khatanga Gulf of the Laptev Sea in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia....
 by the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
. Their territory is part of Krasnoyarsk Krai
Krasnoyarsk Krai

Krasnoyarsk Krai is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . It is the list of subdivisions of Russia by area Russian region after the Sakha Republic, occupying an area of , which is 13% of the country's total territory ....
. Their "capital" is the settlement of Ust-Avam. They speak Nganasan language
Nganasan language

Nganasan language is a language of the Nganasan people. It was spoken by 1,063 and by 750 people in the southwestern and central parts of the Taymyr Peninsula....
.

The Avam Nganasans live in the western part of the Taymyr Peninsula, in the valleys of the rivers Pyasina, Dudypta, and Boganida. The speakers of the Vadeyev dialect live in the tundra
Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is an biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tund?r, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra....
 and in the eastern parts of Taymyr, in Khatangsky District by the Kheta River
Kheta River

Kheta River is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia, left composite of the Khatanga River. The length of the river is 604 km. The area of its drainage basin is 100,000 km?....
, Lake Taymyr
Lake Taymyr

File:Kara sea2TL.PNGLake Taymyr is a lake of the central regions of the Taymyr Peninsula in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. It is located south of the Byrranga Mountains....
, and the Khatanga Bay.

The Nganasans are few in number - 834 (2002 Census
Russian Census (2002)

Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Goskomstat ....
). Throughout most of their history they have been nomadic hunters, fishers, and herders of reindeer
Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous across the northern Holarctic....
. They successfully resisted attempts at conversion to foreign religions until the Soviets. The biggest change in their history occurred in the 1940s, when the Soviet authorities decided to end their shamanist
Shamanism

Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun ....
 beliefs. Shamans were imprisoned and their holy artifacts confiscated. Since the 1960s, the nomadic life of the Nganasans has ended and they have been settled in villages, where they live alongside Russians
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
 and Dolgans
Dolgans

Dolgans are a Turkic languages-speaking people, who mostly inhabit Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The Russian Census counted 7,261 Dolgans. This number includes 5,517 in former Taymyr Autonomous Okrug....
. These sudden changes caused depression for many Nganasans and alcoholism
Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions to describe the detrimental effects of alcohol intake.In common and historic usage, alcoholism refers to any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite health problems and negative social consequences....
 is a big problem among them.

Shamanism


The isolated location of Nganasan people enabled shamanism
Shamanism

Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun ....
 as a living phenomenon among them even in the beginning of 20th century; the last notable Nganasan shaman's seances could be recorded on film in the 1970s.

One of the occasions in which the shaman partook was the clean tent rite held after the polar night
Polar night

The polar night is the night lasting more than 24 hours, usually inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, when the sun stays above the horizon for a long time is called the polar day, or midnight sun....
, including human sacrifice
Human sacrifice

Human sacrifice is the act of killing human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general....
.

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