The
Selkup , until 1930s called
ostyakOstyak on its own or in combination, can refer, especially in older literature, to several Siberian peoples and languages:* Ostyak:** Khanty people** Khanty language* Yenisei Ostyak:** Ket people** Ket language* Ostyak-Samoyed:...
-
samoyedSamoyed may refer to:* the Samoyedic peoples in Siberia who speak the Samoyedic languages: the Enets, the Nenets, the Nganasans, and the Selkups* the Samoyedic languages they speak* Samoyed , a dog breedLiam is cool!!...
s (остя́ко-самое́ды) are a people in
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern 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 USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. They live in the northern parts of
Tomsk OblastTomsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Viktor Kress has been governor of the oblast since 1991....
,
Krasnoyarsk KraiKrasnoyarsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia . It is the second largest federal subject after the Sakha Republic, occupying an area of , which is 13% of the country's total territory...
,
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous OkrugYamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug , or Yamalia, is a federal subject of Russia ....
, and
Nenets Autonomous OkrugNenets Autonomous Okrug , or Nenetsia, is a federal subject of Russia .It has an area of 176,700 km² and population of 41,546 as of the 2002 Census , 18,611 of whom live in Naryan-Mar, the administrative center.The Nenets language has official status along...
. They speak the
Selkup languageSelkup language is a language of the Selkups. It is spoken by some 1,570 people in the region between the Ob and Yenisei Rivers . The language name Selkup comes from the Russian "" Selkup language is a language of the Selkups. It is spoken by some 1,570 people (1994 est.) in the region between the...
, which belongs to the
Samoyedic languagesThe Samoyedic languages are spoken on both sides of the Ural mountains, in northernmost Eurasia, by perhaps 30,000 speakers altogether.The Samoyedic languages derive from a common ancestral language called Proto-Samoyedic, and together with the Finno-Ugric languages the Samoyedic languages form the...
of the
Uralic language familyThe Uralic languages constitute a language family of 39 languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
. Selkups as a people formed as a result of a long interaction and interbreeding between the Yeniseian
aboriginalThe term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number...
population of the middle
basinA drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean...
of the
Ob RiverThe Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia. It is the country's fourth longest. The Ob River also has the longest estuary in the world.-Names:...
and
Samoyedic peoplesThe term Samoyedic peoples 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...
, who had come to this region from the
Sayan MountainsThe Sayan Mountains are a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia....
in the beginning of the
1st millenniumThe first millennium is a period of time that commenced on January 1, 1 AD, and ended on December 31, 1000, of the Julian calendar. This millennium is the beginning of the Anno Domini/Common Era for this calendar....
. In the 17th century, some of the Selkups relocated up north to live along the
Taz RiverThe Taz is a river located in western Siberia, has a length of 1401 km and drains a basin estimated at 150,000 km².The Taz River flows into the Tazovskaya Guba, a roughly 250 km long estuary that begins in the area of Tazovskiy town and ends in the Gulf of Ob...
and
Turukhan RiverTurukhan River is a river in northern Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Yenisei River. The length of the river is 639 km. The area of its basin is 35,800 km². The Turukhan River freezes up in October and stays under the ice until late May - first half of June. Its main...
. They were mainly engaged in
huntingHunting is the practice of pursuing living animals for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
,
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, and
reindeerThe reindeer , also known as the caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous across the Arctic and Subarctic.- Distribution and habitat :...
breeding. In the 18th century, Selkups were subjected to a massive
baptismIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
campaign. However, they managed to keep their ancient religious beliefs and customs.
According to the
2002 CensusRussian 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 Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
, there were 4,249 Selkups in
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(4,300 in 1970).
There were 62 Selkups in Ukraine, of whom only one is a native speaker of the Selkup language (Ukrainian Census 2001).