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Yakuts, self-designation: Sakha, are a Turkic people associated with the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic
Sakha Republic

The Sakha Republic is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the list of the largest country subdivisions by area in the world at 3,100,000 km? with a population of less than one million....
.

The Yakut or Sakha language belongs to the Northern branch of the Turkic family of languages
Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea to Siberia and Western China, and are sometimes considered to be part of the proposed Altaic languages....
. There are about 456,000 speakers (Russian census, 2002) mainly in the Republic of Sakha
Sakha Republic

The Sakha Republic is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the list of the largest country subdivisions by area in the world at 3,100,000 km? with a population of less than one million....
 (Yakutia) in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur
Amur

The Amur River or Heilong Jiang is the Earth's ninth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China....
, Magadan
Magadan

Magadan is a port types of inhabited localities in Russia on the Sea of Okhotsk and gateway to the Kolyma region. It is the administrative center of Magadan Oblast , in the Russian Far East....
, Sakhalin
Sakhalin

Sakhalin , also Saghalien, is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45?50' and 54?24' N. It is part of Russia and is its largest island, administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast....
 regions, and the Taymyr
Taymyr Autonomous Okrug

Taymyr Autonomous Okrug , or Taymyria, was a federal subjects of Russia of Russia , the northernmost in mainland Russia . It is named after the Taymyr Peninsula....
 and Evenki
Evenks

The Evenks or Evenki are a Tungusic people of Northern Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 35,527 ....
 Autonomous Districts. Out of all population in Yakutia 382,000 are Yakuts or about 39% of the population in Yakutia; their share lowered during Soviet rule due to forced immigration, and other relocation policies, but has slightly increased since.






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Yakuts, self-designation: Sakha, are a Turkic people associated with the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic
Sakha Republic

The Sakha Republic is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the list of the largest country subdivisions by area in the world at 3,100,000 km? with a population of less than one million....
.

The Yakut or Sakha language belongs to the Northern branch of the Turkic family of languages
Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea to Siberia and Western China, and are sometimes considered to be part of the proposed Altaic languages....
. There are about 456,000 speakers (Russian census, 2002) mainly in the Republic of Sakha
Sakha Republic

The Sakha Republic is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia . At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the list of the largest country subdivisions by area in the world at 3,100,000 km? with a population of less than one million....
 (Yakutia) in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur
Amur

The Amur River or Heilong Jiang is the Earth's ninth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China....
, Magadan
Magadan

Magadan is a port types of inhabited localities in Russia on the Sea of Okhotsk and gateway to the Kolyma region. It is the administrative center of Magadan Oblast , in the Russian Far East....
, Sakhalin
Sakhalin

Sakhalin , also Saghalien, is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45?50' and 54?24' N. It is part of Russia and is its largest island, administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast....
 regions, and the Taymyr
Taymyr Autonomous Okrug

Taymyr Autonomous Okrug , or Taymyria, was a federal subjects of Russia of Russia , the northernmost in mainland Russia . It is named after the Taymyr Peninsula....
 and Evenki
Evenks

The Evenks or Evenki are a Tungusic people of Northern Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 35,527 ....
 Autonomous Districts. Out of all population in Yakutia 382,000 are Yakuts or about 39% of the population in Yakutia; their share lowered during Soviet rule due to forced immigration, and other relocation policies, but has slightly increased since. Given the large number of speakers, the Yakut language is considered to be somewhat less endangered than most other regional languages of the Russian Federation.

The Yakuts are divided into two basic groups based on geography and economics. Yakuts in the north are historically semi-nomadic hunters, fishermen, yak and reindeer breeders, while southern Yakuts engage in animal husbandry focusing on horses and cattle.

Origin

Yakuts originally migrated from Olkhon
Olkhon

Olkhon is the fourth-largest List of islands in lakes. It is by far the largest island in Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia, with an area of 730 km? ....
 and the region of Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is in southern Siberia in Russia, located between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryatia to the southeast, near the city of Irkutsk....
 to the basins of the Middle Lena
Lena River

The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean: the Ob River, the Yenisei River and the Lena. It is the 10th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest drainage basin....
, the Aldan
Aldan River

The Aldan River is the second-longest tributary of the Lena River in eastern Siberia. The river is 2,273 km long, of which around 1,600 km is navigable....
 and Vilyuy
Vilyuy

The Vilyuy River is the longest tributary of the Lena River in eastern Siberia. The river is approximately 2,650 km long, of which around 1,450 km is navigable....
 rivers, where they mixed with other northern indigenous peoples of Russia such as the Evens
Evens

The Evens or Eveny are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in some of the regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha Republic east of the Lena River....
 and Evenks
Evenks

The Evenks or Evenki are a Tungusic people of Northern Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 35,527 ....
.

The northern Yakuts were largely hunters, fishermen and 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....
 herders, while the southern Yakut raised cattle and horses. Both groups lived in yurt
Yurt

A yurt is a portable, felt-covered, wood latticework-framed dwelling structure used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia....
s and led a semi-nomadic life moving from winter to summer camps each year.

In the 1620s Russians began to move into their territory, annexed Yakutia, imposed a fur tax, and managed to suppress several Yakut rebellions between 1634 and 1642. The discovery of gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
 and, later, the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway
Trans-Siberian Railway

The Trans-Siberian Railway or Trans-Siberian Railroad is a network of railways connecting Moscow and European Russia with the Russian Far East provinces, Mongolia, China and the Sea of Japan....
, brought ever-increasing numbers of Russians into the region. By the 1820s almost all the Yakuts had been converted to the Russian Orthodox church although they retained, and still retain, a number of shamanistic practices.

In 1919 the new Soviet government named the area the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Trivia


  • French producer Hector Zazou
    Hector Zazou

    Hector Zazou was a prolific France composer and record producer who has worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists....
     recorded a traditional Tayouks (a cappella
    A cappella

    Acappella music is vocal music or singing without musical instrument accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance music polyphony and Baroque concertato style....
    ) song. Throat singer Lioudmila Khandi performed the song, titled "Yakut Song" on the 1994 album Chansons des mers froides
    Chansons des mers froides

    Chansons des mers froides is a 1994 album by French musician Hector Zazou.Zazou approached Sony Records with merely the title and the concept of songs from the Arctic....
     (Songs from the Cold Seas).
  • Renowned Red Army
    Red Army

    The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
     sniper Fyodor Okhlopkov
    Fyodor Okhlopkov

    Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov Okhlopkov was one of the most effective snipers in the Red Army during the World War II. He was granted the status of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1965 as well as an Order of Lenin, after complaints he had been overlooked for the citations due to his ethnicity ....
     was Yakut. He was granted the status of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1965 (#10678) as well as an Order of Lenin, after complaints he had been overlooked for the citations due to his ethnicity.

See also

  • Dingling
    Dingling

    The Dingling or Gaoche , Chile , Tiele were an ancient Siberian people. They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River in the area west of Lake Baikal and began to expand westward in the 3rd century....
  • List of indigenous peoples of Russia
    List of indigenous peoples of Russia

    The list of indigenous peoples of Russia consists of the following sublists:*List of small-numbered indigenous peoples of Russia, as defined by the Russian law....
  • Turkic peoples
    Turkic peoples

    The Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia, and who mostly speak languages belonging to the Turkic languages....


External links

  • in Russian