The aboriginal population

The aboriginal population

Kamchatka peninsula is inhabited now by several nationalities, which lived here in XVII in. To these nationalities belong:

1. The Koryaks are the main inhabitants of the Northern and the central part of the peninsula.
   The population is 5506 people. The residents of the coastal areas were called “nymylany” – “having the settled way of life”. They were originally hunters and fishermen. The nomads, grazing deer herds in tundra, called themselves “chavchuveny” - “the men of reindeer”. The reindeer was the main source of life for them: fur for making clothes, building portable dwellings (yarangas), bones for making tools and everyday things.
   
2. The Itelmeny, settles the south-western part of Kamchatka (in Tigil district) and the population. The name of this ethnic group means “living here”. The Itelmeny lived in big settlements along the rivers. The Itelmeny were originally hunters and fishermen. Sledges and dog teams were Itelmeny’s means of transport. The sledges were made of brich and fine fastened skin belts.
   
3. The Evens settles on the territories of Bystrinsky and Tigil districts. The population is 1529. Their major occupation was reindeer breeding. Besides hunting and reindeer breeding the coastal Evens were engaged in fishing and hunting sea animals. As distinct from the other ethnic groups of Kamchatka the Evens did not rear draught dogs, but they rode reindeers. The clothing especially women’s wear, was embroidered with glass beads.
   
4. The Aleuty are the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands. They called themselves “unangan”. The Aleuty were traditionally engaged in hunting sea animals (seals, sea lions, sea otters) and fishing. The sledges with dog teams became the customary method of transportation, and they used short and broad ski to climb the mountains in winter.
   
5. The Chukchi are the native settlers of Chukotka peninsula, the northern neighbors of the Koryaks. Some of them settled in the northern part of Kamchatka. The population is 1306 people. They had complex farming:  deer-raising combined with sea animals hunting and fishing. The Chukchi used the dog and reindeer sledges as kind of conveyance.

          In the peninsula live about 9000 Kamchadalov, descended from marriages between Russian people and the Itelmeny but they haven’t got the official status of the aboriginal population. They settle in the valley of the river Kamchatka and in the South of the peninsula (2 towns: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yelizivo)