The study of issues related to the origins of various peoples of the world can be classified as the most problematic areas of historical research. The main obstacle to identifying hidden facts about the life of ancient ethnic communities is the lack of writing at the time of their inception. In the case of the Slavic peoples, the situation is complicated by the vastness of the linguistic group, to which several ethnic groups belong. It is enough to note that the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia at different times formed independent states and commonwealths belonging to the Altai, Ural, Indo-European and Caucasian language groups. However, to today scientists have identified some factual layers in this direction of historical analysis that are beyond doubt.

Peoples on the territory of Russia during antiquity

The first people of the species Homo sapiens appeared in certain areas Central Asia and the Black Sea region about 30 thousand years ago. At that time, the northern and central parts of the territory were uninhabitable due to glaciers. Therefore, the very first peoples and ancient states on the territory of Russia arose in the southern and western regions as the most favorable for life and economy. As the population increased, the development of material production and the establishment of a primitive communal system in Central Asia, Transcaucasia and the Black Sea region, more and more new slave states were formed. At the same time, they developed autonomously and independently of each other. The only unifying feature is the raids of the same barbarians. These states had no contacts at all with the central and western regions in the European part of the present country, since the establishment of routes was hampered by mountain ranges and deserts.

One of the most notable states of that time can be called Urartu, which existed in Transcaucasia in the 9th century. BC e. It was formed on the shores of Lake Van, the territory of which now belongs to Turkey, but by the middle of the 7th century. his possessions extended to the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates. If we talk about the ethnic composition, the peoples and ancient states on the territory of Russia in the Black Sea region and Transcaucasia were predominantly represented by Armenian tribes. Urartu reached significant prosperity in the 8th century. BC e., but by the 6th century. due to the Scythian invasions it ceased to exist. Later, the same tribes founded the Armenian kingdom. Around the same period, Abkhazian and Georgian families developed in parallel, which formed the Colchis kingdom. Iberia, the Georgian kingdom, arises in the northern part of Transcaucasia.

Impact of the Arab conquest

In the history of Central Asia and Transcaucasia VII - VIII centuries. n. e. occupies a significant place Arab conquest, which brought with it the Islamic faith. At the current Russian territory this process took place in the Caucasus region. In particular, Islam spread among some peoples of the Northern and Eastern Caucasus and, in particular, the Azerbaijanis. However, the Arab conquerors also met with rejection among the local population. The same Georgians and Armenians, who had previously converted to Christianity, steadfastly resisted Islamization. However, in Central Asia, Islam gradually emerged as the dominant religion of the local population. After the collapse of the Arab Caliphate ancient peoples and civilizations on the territory of Russia were forced to confront the Seljuk Turks. Other states were formed during this struggle. For example, under King David the Builder, the unification of Georgian lands took place with the formation of the city of Tbilisi. To the north is the Abkhazian kingdom with independent Kakheti, and in the eastern part are Albania and a number of other small states.

Greek colonies in Russia

The Black Sea coast has become one of the most developed areas in the territory modern Russia in the VI - V centuries. BC e. This was greatly facilitated by the Greek colonialists, who in the 1st millennium BC. began to master southern lands. In the Azov and Black Sea regions, the Greeks form large colonial cities - such as Tiras, Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, Olbia, Feodosia, Tanais, Fasis, etc. To illustrate the success of these cities, it can be noted that in the 5th century. BC e. Panticapaeum was the central slave-holding power of the Bosporan state. It covered a significant part of the Azov region, promoting the development of local agriculture, trade, fishing, cattle breeding and handicrafts. It is important to emphasize that the most ancient peoples and civilizations on the territory of Russia in the Azov and Black Sea regions were not fully original. They copied the lifestyle and cultural structure brought by the Greeks. But at the same time, the colonies had close cultural and trade relations with the same Caucasian peoples and the steppe tribes of the Scythians. Up to the 3rd century. n. e. Greek tribes were regularly attacked by nomads, and during the great migration of peoples they were forced to leave altogether.

Period of the Scythian state

Even further north of the Greek colonies lived the Scythian tribes, distinguished by their vibrant and original culture, which also left its mark on the way of life of the southern peoples. The first mentions of the Scythians date back to the 5th century. n. e. and belong to Herodotus, who described these tribes as Iranian-speaking. In the first mentions geographical location the mouths of the Lower Bug, Danube and Dnieper are indicated. The same Herodotus divided the Scythians into plowmen and nomads - accordingly, according to the direction economic activity. The nomads were located in the Azov region, the Lower Dnieper region and the Crimea, and the plowmen mainly occupied the right bank of the Lower Dnieper and lived in dugouts. By the VI - IV centuries. BC e. There was a unification of the Scythian tribes, which later formed the basis of a full-fledged state in one of the current districts of Simferopol. This state was called Scythian Naples and its structure is characterized as a military democracy. But by the 3rd century. BC e. the Scythians begin to push out other ancient peoples on the territory of Russia in its modern form. In the regions of the Northern Black Sea region, the wars of Alexander the Great appear, and the Sarmatians come from the east. The biggest blow to the Scythians was dealt by the Huns, who later appeared on the Crimean Peninsula.

The Great Migration and the emergence of the Slavs

There were many reasons for the great migration, and for the most part this process took place in the territory modern Europe. The resettlement began in the 3rd century. n. e., and by the 4th century. Numerous barbarian tribes of Celts and Germans began to fight neighboring states in new territories. Forest and steppe barbarians went to seize richer lands in southern regions, which left its mark on the reorganization of parts of the North Caucasus and the Black Sea region. How did this affect the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia? The Great Migration of Peoples can be briefly described as the process of formation of independent Germanic, Roman and Slavic peoples. The Slavs did not play a key role at all during this period and figured already at the late stage of the resettlement, but it was precisely for the regions that today are included within the borders of Russia that they would later have a fateful influence.

The fact is that the resettlement occurred from two directions. As already noted, the main process took place in the European part - from the north-west, the Germans and Celts moved to conquer the southern lands. Nomads moved from the east from Asia, eventually traveling from China to France. There was activity in the southern regions themselves. From the Transcaucasus came the ancestors of modern Ossetians - the Alans. To varying degrees, these migration movements shaped the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The Eastern Slavs, in turn, joined the general wave of migration by the 4th century. n. e. They joined the stream, which consisted of Turks, Sarmatians, Illyrians and Thracians. For some time they had allied relations with the Huns and Goths, but later these tribes became enemies. Actually, it was the invasions of the Huns that forced the Slavs to settle in the directions of the west and southwest.

Theories of Slavic ethnogenesis

Today there is no exact idea of ​​how exactly and where the Eastern Slavs came from. Moreover, the group of this nationality is very extensive and included many individual ethnic groups and families. And yet, scientists have formulated three theories of ethnogenesis. Ancient peoples on the territory of Russia in the context of these areas of research are considered precisely as the origins of the formation of the Russian state.

So, the first theory is autochthonous. According to it, the original place of origin of the Slavs is the Dnieper River. This theory is based on archaeological research. The second theory is migration. She notes that the Eastern Slavs were identified as an independent ethnic group from the common pan-Slavic branch in the 1st century BC. e. Also, according to the theory of migration ethnogenesis, during the period of the great migration the Slavs could move in two directions - from the river basin. Oder to the Vistula, or from the Danube basin to the east. One way or another, in the 1st century BC. e. Slavic ancient peoples already lived on the East European Plain. The origin of the Eastern Slavs in Russia during this period is confirmed by Tacitus, Herodotus, Ptolemy and some of the Arab sources.

Antes and Sklavins

In the VI century. n. e. After the first wave of settlement of the Slavs, Byzantine writers began to distinguish two peoples - the Antes and the Sklavins. Often their mention was in the context of crowding out another Slavic people- Venedov. At the same time, Gothic sources emphasize that all three nationalities have one root, albeit a branched one. Thus, the sklavins are characterized as to a greater extent western group, the Ants are eastern, and the Wends are northern. Of course, there were other ethnic groups like the Radimichi, Northerners and Vyatichi, but these three are the most prominent ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The origin and further settlement according to sources of the same time extended from the lower Danube to Lake Murcia. In particular, the Antes occupied the territory from the Dniester to the very mouth of the Dnieper. However, the sources do not mark the boundaries of the distribution of the Slavs in the northern regions. About the same Wends, the Goths write that they occupy endless spaces.

According to the results already modern research in archeology, the Antes and Sklavins had minor differences, which mostly related to ritual rites. But at the same time, the cultural influence of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes on the Antes is noted, as evidenced by the very name of this nation, which is of Iranian origin. But, despite the differences, the ancient Slavic peoples on the territory of Russia often united on the basis of political and military interests. Moreover, there is also a theory according to which the Antes, Sklavins and Wends were not called different groups nationalities, but one ethnic group, but called differently by its neighbors.

Avar invasion

In the middle of the 7th century. n. e. the regions of the eastern Azov region and the North Caucasus were attacked by the Avars. The latter ravaged the lands of the Antes, but as they advanced into the country of the Slavs, their relations with Byzantium deteriorated. Nevertheless, in the Avar Khaganate by the second half of the 7th century. n. e. included almost all the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The story of this invasion was subsequently passed on for centuries and was even described in the Tale of Bygone Years. The size of the share of the Slavic people in the Kaganate was so impressive that John of Ephesus in his chronicles identified the Antes and Avars.

Archaeological information allows us to draw conclusions about a wide migration wave of Antes towards Pannonia. For example, the origin of the ethnonym Croats also has Iranian roots. Therefore, we can talk about the dominance of the Antes in the Kaganate over the Sklavins. And already the settlement of Croats throughout the Balkan Peninsula and parts Western Europe indicates the directions taken by the wave of migration of the Antes with the Avars. In addition, the ethnonym Serbs is of Iranian origin, which makes this ethnic group close to the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The Great Migration of Peoples did not have such an impact on the distribution of the Slavs in the eastern regions of Europe as the invasion of the Avars. They also left behind a cultural trace, but many scientists especially emphasize the likelihood of a demographic explosion by this time, which forced the Kaganate to look for new lands.

Completion of the history of the ants

Antes and other Slavic tribes during the 7th century. n. e. are in unstable hostile and allied relations with the Avar Khaganate and Byzantium. But it is important to emphasize that it was the advance of the Avars that provoked disagreements within the Slavic association. As sources note, the ancient peoples on the territory of modern Russia, formed by the Antes tribe, were eventually exterminated for their alliance with the Romans. This attempt at unity did not please the Avars, who sent an army to destroy the tribes. However, there is still no exact information about the fate of the remaining Antes. Some historians believe that they were completely defeated, while others are of the opinion that the Antes moved across the Danube.

The same “Tale of Bygone Years” indicates the death of Grand Duke Kiy and his warriors, after which the Slavic tribes began to fight among themselves, because of which the Khazars established strong power in the region. It is with this event that they associate new formation ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The origin of the Slavs in the first stages determined the formation of the Ant community, but after its decline, a new period of development of the East Slavic people began with the next round of settlement.

Development of new territories by the Slavs

In the 8th century the previously secured position on the Balkan Peninsula becomes less secure. This was facilitated by the arrival of Byzantium in the region, under whose pressure the Slavs had to retreat. In Greece, their assimilation is also taking place, which forces the tribes to look for new places for development in other directions. At this stage, we can already talk about the complete formation of the basis of ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. Briefly, they can be characterized as Slavic families, but as new lands are invaded, other ethnic groups join the main masses. For example, at the beginning of the 8th century. On the left bank of the Dnieper, the Romny culture is actively forming. At the same time, in the upper Dnieper region, the Smolensk Slavs formed their own layer of traditions and rituals.

A single linguistic and cultural space is created by the Slavs, who occupied the territory from the Danube to the Baltic. This advancement ultimately allowed the formation of the famous trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. As archaeological research shows, ancient peoples in Russia used this road already in the second half of the 8th century. By the 9th century. trade relations are formed between the Slavs and neighboring states, which allows them to enter the pan-European transport system. No less significant was the migration to the south, which made it possible to reach the countries of Asia Minor. Some of the Slavic tribes were captured by Emperor Justinian II during his campaign in the vicinity of Thessaloniki. The Bulgarian tribes acted as defenders in this clash, but further advances of the Eastern Slavs in this direction were suppressed for a long time.

East Slavic union of tribes living in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Oka and along the Moscow River. The settlement of the Vyatichi occurred from the territory of the Dnieper left bank or from the upper reaches of the Dniester. The substrate of the Vyatichi was the local Baltic population. The Vyatichi retained pagan beliefs longer than other Slavic tribes and resisted influence Kyiv princes. Disobedience and belligerence - business card Vyatichi tribe.

Tribal union of the Eastern Slavs of the 6th-11th centuries. They lived in the territories of what are now Vitebsk, Mogilev, Pskov, Bryansk and Smolensk regions, as well as eastern Latvia. They were formed on the basis of the incoming Slavic and local Baltic population - Tushemlinskaya culture. The ethnogenesis of the Krivichi involved the remnants of local Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes - Estonians, Livs, Latgalians - who mixed with the numerous newcomer Slavic population. The Krivichi are divided into two large groups: Pskov and Polotsk-Smolensk. In the culture of the Polotsk-Smolensk Krivichi, along with Slavic elements of decoration, there are elements of the Baltic type.

Slovenian Ilmenskie- a tribal union of Eastern Slavs on the territory of the Novgorod land, mainly in the lands near Lake Ilmen, adjacent to the Krivichi. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Ilmen Slovenes, together with the Krivichi, Chud and Meri, participated in the calling of the Varangians, who were related to the Slovenes - immigrants from the Baltic Pomerania. A number of historians consider the ancestral home of the Slovenes to be the Dnieper region, others trace the ancestors of the Ilmen Slovenes from the Baltic Pomerania, since the legends, beliefs and customs, the type of dwellings of the Novgorodians and Polabian Slavs are very similar.

Duleby- tribal union of the Eastern Slavs. They inhabited the territories of the Bug River basin and the right tributaries of the Pripyat. In the 10th century The association of Dulebs disintegrated, and their lands became part of Kievan Rus.

Volynians- an East Slavic union of tribes that lived on the territory on both banks of the Western Bug and at the source of the river. Pripyat. In Russian chronicles, Volynians were first mentioned in 907. In the 10th century, the Vladimir-Volyn principality was formed on the lands of the Volynians.

Drevlyans- East Slavic tribal union, which occupied in the 6th-10th centuries. the territory of Polesie, the Right Bank of the Dnieper, west of the glades, along the rivers Teterev, Uzh, Ubort, Stviga. The area of ​​residence of the Drevlyans corresponds to the area of ​​the Luka-Raykovets culture. The name Drevlyans was given to them because they lived in forests.

Dregovichi- tribal union of the Eastern Slavs. The exact boundaries of the habitat of Dregovichi have not yet been established. According to a number of researchers, in the 6th-9th centuries the Dregovichi occupied territory in the middle part of the Pripyat River basin; in the 11th-12th centuries, the southern border of their settlement ran south of Pripyat, the northwestern - in the watershed of the Drut and Berezina rivers, the western - in the upper reaches of the Neman River . When settling Belarus, the Dregovichi moved from south to north to the Neman River, which indicates their southern origin.

Polotsk residents- a Slavic tribe, part of the tribal union of the Krivichi, who lived along the banks of the Dvina River and its tributary Polota, from which they got their name.
The center of Polotsk land was the city of Polotsk.

Glade- a tribal union of Eastern Slavs who lived on the Dnieper, in the area of ​​​​modern Kyiv. The very origin of the glades remains unclear, since the territory of their settlement was at the junction of several archaeological cultures.

Radimichi- an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the eastern part of the Upper Dnieper region, along the Sozh River and its tributaries in the 8th-9th centuries. Convenient river routes passed through the lands of the Radimichi, connecting them with Kiev. The Radimichi and Vyatichi had a similar burial rite - the ashes were buried in a log house - and similar female temple jewelry (temporal rings) - seven-rayed (among the Vyatichi - seven-paste). Archaeologists and linguists suggest that the Balt tribes living in the upper reaches of the Dnieper also participated in the creation of the material culture of the Radimichi.

Northerners- an East Slavic union of tribes that lived in the 9th-10th centuries along the Desna, Seim and Sula rivers. The origin of the name northerners is of Scythian-Sarmatian origin and is traced back to the Iranian word “black”, which is confirmed by the name of the city of northerners - Chernigov. The main occupation of the northerners was agriculture.

Tivertsy- an East Slavic tribe that settled in the 9th century in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers, as well as the Danube, including along the Budjak coast of the Black Sea in the territory of modern Moldova and Ukraine.

Ulichi- East Slavic tribal union that existed in the 9th - 10th centuries. The Ulichi lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Bug and on the shores of the Black Sea. The center of the tribal union was the city of Peresechen. Ulichi for a long time resisted the attempts of the Kyiv princes to subjugate them to their power.

Crimea is one of the amazing corners of the Earth. Due to its geographical location he was at the junction of habitat different nations, stood in the way of their historical movements. The interests of many countries and entire civilizations collided in such a small territory. The Crimean Peninsula has more than once become the scene of bloody wars and battles, and was part of several states and empires.

Varied natural conditions attracted the most peoples to Crimea different cultures and traditions For nomads there were vast pastures, for cultivators - fertile lands, for hunters - forests with plenty of game, for sailors - convenient bays and bays, a lot of fish. Therefore, many peoples settled here, becoming part of the Crimean ethnic conglomerate and participants in all historical events on the peninsula. In the neighborhood there lived people whose traditions, customs, religions, and way of life were different. This led to misunderstandings and even bloody clashes. Civil strife stopped when there was an understanding that it was possible to live and prosper well only in peace, harmony and mutual respect.

About 200 peoples live on Russian territory. The history of some of them goes back to distant millennia BC. We found out which indigenous peoples of Russia are the most ancient and from whom they originated.

Slavs

There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs - some attribute them to the Scythian tribes from Central Asia, some to the mysterious Aryans, others to the Germanic peoples. Hence the different ideas about the age of an ethnic group, to which it is customary to add a couple of extra thousand years “for the sake of respectability.”

The first who tried to determine the age of the Slavic people was the monk Nestor, taking the biblical tradition as a basis, he began the history of the Slavs with the Babylonian pandemonium, which divided humanity into 72 nations: “From these 70 and 2 languages ​​the Slovenian language was born...”.

From an archaeological point of view, the first culture that can be called Proto-Slavic was the so-called culture of podklosh burials, which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “klesh”, that is, “upside down”. It originated between the Vistula and Dnieper in the 5th century BC. To some extent, we can assume that its representatives were Proto-Slavs.

Bashkirs

The Southern Urals and the adjacent steppes, the territories where the Bashkir ethnic group emerged, have been an important center of cultural interaction since ancient times. The archaeological diversity of the region baffles researchers and raises the question of the origin of the people in long list"mysteries of history."

Today, there are three main versions of the origin of the Bashkir people. The most “archaic” - Indo-Iranian says that the main element in the formation of the ethnos were the Indo-Iranian Sako-Sarmatian, Dakho-Massaget tribes of the early Iron Age (III-IV centuries BC), whose place of settlement was the Southern Urals. According to another, Finno-Ugric version, the Bashkirs are “siblings” of the current Hungarians, since they together descended from the Magyars and the Eney tribe (in Hungary - Eno). This is supported by the Hungarian legend, recorded in the 13th century, about the Magyars’ journey from the East to Pannonia (modern Hungary), which they made in order to take possession of Attila’s inheritance.

Based on medieval sources in which Arab and Central Asian authors equate the Bashkirs and Turks, a number of historians believe that these peoples are related.

According to the historian G. Kuzeev, the ancient Bashkir tribes (Burzyan, Usergan, Bailar, Surash and others) emerged on the basis of Turkic early medieval communities in the 7th century AD and subsequently mixed with Finno-Ugric tribes and tribal groups of Sarmatian origin. In the 13th century, historical Bashkortostan was invaded by nomadic Kipchakized tribes, who shaped the appearance of modern Bashkirs.

The versions of the origin of the Bashkir people are not limited to this. Passionate about philology and archaeology, public figure Salavat Gallyamov, put forward a hypothesis according to which the ancestors of the Bashkirs once left ancient Mesopotamia and reached through Turkmenistan Southern Urals. However, in the scientific community this version is considered a “fairy tale”.

Mari or Cheremis

The history of the Finno-Ugric people of the Mari begins at the beginning of the first millennium BC, along with the formation of the so-called Ananyin archaeological culture in the Volga-Kama region (VIII-II centuries BC).

Some historians identify them with the semi-legendary Fyssagetae - an ancient people who, according to Herodotus, lived near the Scythian lands. Of these, the Mari subsequently emerged, settling from the right bank of the Volga between the mouths of the Sura and Tsivil.

During the early Middle Ages, they were in close cooperation with the Gothic, Khazar tribes and Volga Bulgaria. The Mari were annexed to Russia in 1552, after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate.

Sami

The ancestors of the northern Sami people, the Komsa culture, came to the north in the Neolithic era, when these lands were freed from the glacier. The Sami ethnos, whose name translates as “land” itself, traces its roots back to the carriers of the ancient Volga culture and the Dauphinian Caucasian population. The latter, known in the scientific world as the culture of reticulated ceramics, inhabited a wide territory from the middle Volga region to the north of Fennoscandia, including Karelia, in the 2nd-1st millennium BC.

According to the historian I. Manyukhin, having mixed with the Volga tribes, they formed an ancient Sami historical community of three related cultures: the late Kargopol in Belozerye, Kargopolye and South-East Karelia, the Luukonsaari in Eastern Finland and Western Karelia, the Kjelmo and “Arctic”, in northern Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Kola Peninsula.

Along with this, the Sami language emerged and the physical appearance of the Lapps (Russian designation for the Sami) took shape, which is characteristic of these peoples today - short stature, wide-set blue eyes and blond hair.

Probably the first written mention of the Sami dates back to 325 BC and is found in the ancient Greek historian Pytheas, who mentioned a certain people “Fenni” (finoi). Subsequently, Tacitus wrote about them in the 1st century AD, talking about the wild Fenian people living in the area of ​​Lake Ladoga. Today the Sami live in Russia in the Murmansk region with the status of an indigenous population.

Peoples of Dagestan

On the territory of Dagestan, where remains of human settlements dating back to the 6th millennium BC are found, many peoples can boast of their ancient origins. This especially applies to the peoples of the Caucasian type - the Dargins and Laks. According to historian V. Alekseev, the Caucasian group formed on the same territory that it now occupies on the basis of the ancient local population of the Late Stone Age.

Vainakh

The Vainakh peoples, which include the Chechens (“Nokhchi”) and Ingush (“Galgai”), as well as many peoples of Dagestan, belong to the ancient Caucasian anthropological type, as the Soviet anthropologist Prof. Debets, “the most Caucasian of all Caucasians.” Their roots should be sought in the Kura-Araks archaeological culture, which inhabited the territory of the North Caucasus in the 4th and early 3rd millennium BC, as well as in the Maikop culture, which inhabited the foothills of the North Caucasus during the same period.

Mention of the Vainakhs in written sources is found for the first time in Strabo, who in his “Geography” mentions certain “Gargarei” living in the small foothills and plains of the Central Caucasus.

In the Middle Ages, the formation of the Vainakh peoples was strongly influenced by the state of Alania in the foothills of the North Caucasus, which fell in the 13th century under the hooves of the Mongol cavalry.

Yukaghirs

The small Siberian people of the Yukaghirs (“people of the Mezlots” or “distant people”) can be called the most ancient on the territory of Russia. According to the historian A. Okladnikov, this ethnic group emerged in the Stone Age, approximately in the 7th millennium BC in the east of the Yenisei.

Anthropologists believe that this people, genetically isolated from their closest neighbors - the Tungus, represents the oldest layer of the autochthonous population of polar Siberia. Their archaic nature is also evidenced by the long-preserved custom of matrilocal marriage, when after marriage the husband lives on his wife’s territory.

Until the 19th century, numerous Yukaghir tribes (Alai, Anaul, Kogime, Lavrentsy and others) occupied a vast territory from the Lena River to the mouth of the Anadyr River. In the 19th century, their numbers began to decline significantly as a result of epidemics and civil strife. Some of the tribes were assimilated by the Yakuts, Evens and Russians. According to the 2002 census, the number of Yukaghirs decreased to 1,509 people.

IN modern world Russia is largest country, occupying a vast area - more than seventeen thousand square kilometers. Two continents divide it into parts - European and Asian. Each of them is larger in territory than many not-so-small states of the Earth.

In terms of population, however, our country is only in ninth place. The number of Russians today does not reach one hundred and fifty million people. The problem is that most of the country's territory lies under deserted steppes and taiga, for example, these are the most remote regions of Siberia.

However, this is compensated by the number of peoples living here. This was predetermined by the past. Historically Russia is multinational state, which it became, absorbing neighboring peoples, attracting strangers large areas and riches. According to official data, almost two hundred peoples now live in the Russian state, differing sharply in numbers: from Russians (more than one hundred and ten million people) to Kerek (less than ten representatives).

How many of us are there?

How many peoples live in Russia? How to find out? Leading sources useful information about the population of our country are statistical censuses regularly conducted in last years. At the same time, according to modern methods and according to democratic approaches, data on the nationality of Russian residents by origin is not noted in documents, which is why digital material for the census appeared on the basis of self-determination of Russians.

In total, in recent years, a little more than 80% of the country’s citizens declared themselves Russian by nationality, leaving only 19.1% as representatives of other nations. Almost six million census participants were unable to identify their nationality at all or defined it as a fantastic people (elves, for example).

Summing up the final calculations, it should be noted that the total number of peoples of the country who do not consider themselves Russian population did not exceed twenty-five million citizens.

This suggests that the ethnic composition of the Russian population is very complex and requires constant special attention. On the other hand, there is one large ethnic group that serves as a kind of core of the entire system.

Ethnic composition

The basis national composition Russia is, of course, Russian. This people comes from their own historical roots from the Eastern Slavs who lived on the territory of Rus' since ancient times. A significant part of Russians exist, of course, in Russia, but there are large layers in a number of former Soviet republics and in the USA. This is the most significant European ethnic group. Today there are more than one hundred thirty-three million Russians living in the world.

Russians are the titular people of our country; their representatives dominate in a significant number of regions of modern Russian state. Of course, this led to side effects. The spread of this nation over several centuries over a vast territory in the course of historical development led to the formation of dialects, as well as separate ethnic groups. For example, on the coast White Sea Pomors live, making up a subethnic group of local Karelians and Russians who arrived in the past.

Among the more complex ethnic associations, groups of peoples can be noted. The largest group of peoples are the Slavs, mainly from the eastern subgroup.

In total, representatives of nine large language families live in Russia, differing greatly in language, culture, and way of life. With the exception of the Indo-European family, they are mainly of Asian origin.

This is the approximate ethnic composition of the Russian population today according to official data. What can be said definitely is that our country is distinguished by a significant diversity of nationalities.

The largest nations of Russia

The nationalities living in Russia are quite clearly divided into numerous and small. The first ones, in particular, include:

• The Russian inhabitants of the country number (according to the latest census) more than one hundred and ten million people.
• Tatars of several groups, reaching 5.4 million people.
• Ukrainians number two million. The bulk of the Ukrainian people live on the territory of Ukraine; in Russia, representatives of this people appeared in the course of historical development in the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and modern periods.
• Bashkirs, another nomadic people in the past. Their number is 1.6 million people.
• Chuvash, residents of the Volga region - 1.4 million.
• Chechens, one of the peoples of the Caucasus, - 1.4 million, etc.

There are other peoples of similar numbers who played an important role in the past and, possibly, the future of the country.

Small nations of Russia

How many small nations live on the territory of Russia? There are many such ethnic groups in the country, but they are poorly represented in the total population because they are very few in number. These national groups include the peoples of the Finno-Ugric, Samoyed, Turkic, and Sino-Tibetan groups. Particularly small are the Kereks (a tiny people - only four people), the Vod people (sixty-four people), the Enets (two hundred and seventy-seven), the Ults (almost three hundred people), the Chulyms (a little more than three and a half hundred), the Aleuts (almost half a thousand) , Negidals (just over five hundred), Orochi (almost six hundred). For all of them, the problem of survival is a pressing and everyday issue.

Map of the peoples of Russia

In addition to the strong dispersion in the size of the national composition of Russia and the inability of many ethnic groups in modern times to maintain their numbers independently, there is also the problem of distribution within the country. The population of Russia is distributed very heterogeneously, which is caused primarily by economic incentives both in the historical past and in the present.

The bulk is located in the area between the Baltic St. Petersburg, the Siberian Krasnoyarsk, the Black Sea Novorossiysk and the Far Eastern Primorsky Territory, where all big cities. The reasons for this are good climate and a favorable economic background. To the north of this territory there is permafrost caused by eternal cold, and to the south there are vast expanses of lifeless desert.

In terms of population density, Siberia has one of the last places in the modern world. Its vast territory is home to less than 30 million inhabitants. This represents only 20% of the country's total population. While in its vast area Siberia reaches three-quarters of the expanses of Russia. The most densely populated areas are the directions Derbent - Sochi and Ufa - Moscow.

In the Far East, a significant population density runs along the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Highway. Increased standards of population density are also observed in the Kuznechny coal basin region. All these areas attract Russians with their economic and natural wealth.

The country's largest peoples: Russians, and to a lesser extent Tatars and Ukrainians, are mainly located in the southwest of the state. Ukrainians today are mostly located on the territory of the Chukotka Peninsula and in the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, in the distant Magadan region.

Other small peoples of the Slavic ethnic group, such as the Poles and Bulgarians, do not create large compact groups and are scattered throughout the country. The Polish population is found in a fairly compact group only in the Omsk region.

Tatars

The number of Tatars living in Russia, as noted above, exceeded the level of three percent of the total Russian population. About a third of them live compactly in the region of the Russian Federation called the Republic of Tatarstan. Group settlements exist in the Volga regions, in the far north, etc.

A significant part of the Tatars are supporters of Sunni Islam. Individual groups Tatars have differences in language, culture and way of life. The common language is within the Turkic group of languages ​​of the Altaic language family, it has three dialects: Mishar (western), the more widespread Kazan (middle), and the slightly distant Siberian-Tatar (eastern). In Tatarstan, this language appears as an official one.

Ukrainians

One of the many East Slavic peoples is the Ukrainians. More than forty million Ukrainians live in their historical homeland. In addition, significant diasporas exist not only in Russia, but also in the countries of Europe and America.

Ukrainians living in Russia, including labor migrants, number about five million people. A significant number of them are located in cities. Particularly large groups of this ethnic group are located in the capital, in oil- and gas-bearing regions of Siberia, the Far North, etc.

Belarusians

In modern Russia, Belarusians, taking into account their total number in the world, constitute a large number of. As the 2010 census of the Russian population shows, there are a little more than half a million Belarusians living in Russia. A significant proportion of white people are located in the capitals, as well as in a number of regions, for example in Karelia and the Kaliningrad region.

In the pre-revolutionary years, a large number of Belarusians moved to Siberia and Far East, later there were national administrative units. By the end of the eighties, there were more than one million Belarusians on the territory of the RSFSR. Nowadays, their number has been halved, but it is obvious that the Belarusian stratum in Russia will be preserved.

Armenians

There are quite a lot of Armenians living in Russia, although according to different sources, their number differs. Thus, according to the 2010 census, there were slightly more than one million people in Russia, that is, less than one percent of the total population. According to the assumptions of the Armenians public organizations, the number of the Armenian stratum in the country at the beginning of the twentieth century exceeded two and a half million people. And Russian President V.V. Putin, speaking about the number of Armenians in Russia, voiced the figure of three million people.

In any case, Armenians play a serious role in the social and cultural life of Russia. Thus, Armenians work in the Russian government (Chilingarov, Bagdasarov, etc.), in show business (I. Allegrova, V. Dobrynin, etc.), and in other fields of activity. In sixty-three regions of Russia there are regional organizations Union of Armenians of Russia.

Germans

The Germans living in Russia are representatives of an ethnic group that has experienced a contradictory and, in some ways, even tragic story. Migrating en masse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the invitation of the Russian government, they mainly settled in the Volga region and the western and southern provinces of the Russian Empire. Life on good lands was free, but in the twentieth century historical events hit the Germans hard. First the First World War, then the Great Patriotic War led to mass repression. In the fifties and eighties of the last century, the history of this ethnic group was hushed up. It is not for nothing that the mass migration of Germans began in the nineties, the number of which, according to some sources, barely exceeds half a million.

True, in recent years, episodic re-evacuations from Europe to Russia have begun, but so far they have not reached large proportions.

Jews

It is difficult to say how many Jews currently live in Russia due to their active migration both to Israel and back to the Russian state. In the historical past there were many Jews in our country - in Soviet era several million. But with the collapse of the USSR and significant migration to their historical homeland, their number decreased. Now, according to public Jewish organizations, there are approximately one million Jews in Russia, half of them are residents of the capital.

Yakuts

They are a fairly numerous Turkic-speaking people, an indigenous population of the region adapted to local conditions.

How many Yakuts are there in Russia? According to the 2010 All-Russian Census of the Domestic Population, there were slightly less than half a million people, mainly in Yakutia and surrounding regions. The Yakuts are the largest (about half the population) people and the most significant of the indigenous peoples of Russian Siberia.

In the traditional economy and material culture of this people there are many close similarities with the pastoralists of southern Asia. On the territory of the Middle Lena, a version of the Yakut economy was formed, combining nomadic cattle breeding and the most important extensive types of fisheries (meat and fish production), similar to the local one. In the north of the region there is also a distinctive form of harness reindeer herding.

Reasons for resettlement

The history of the ethnic composition of the population of Russia in the course of its development is extremely ambiguous. The accelerated settlement of the Russian state by Ukrainians occurred back in the Middle Ages. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, according to instructions government agencies settlers from the southern lands headed east to develop new territories. After some time, representatives of social classes from different regions began to be sent there.

Representatives of the intelligentsia voluntarily moved to St. Petersburg in an era when this city had the status of the capital of the state. Nowadays, Ukrainians constitute the largest ethnic group in Russia in terms of number of people after, of course, the Russians.

At the other pole are representatives of small nations. The Kereks, who have the smallest numbers, are in particular danger. According to the latest census, there are only four representatives left, although fifty years ago there were only one hundred Kerek people. The leading languages ​​for these people are Chukchi and common Russian; their native Kerek is found only in the form of an ordinary passive language. The Kereks, in terms of their level of culture and ordinary daily activities, are very close to the Chukchi people, which is why they were in constant assimilation with them.

Problems and future

The ethnic composition of the Russian population will undoubtedly develop in the future. IN modern conditions The revival of ethnographic traditions and the culture of peoples is clearly visible. However, the development of ethnic groups experiences a number of problems:

• poor fertility and gradual decline of most peoples;
• globalization, and at the same time the influence of culture and life large nations(Russian and Anglo-Saxon);
• general economic problems that undermine the economic base of peoples, and so on.

Much in such a situation depends on the national governments themselves, including the Russian one, and on global opinion.

But I want to believe that the small peoples of Russia will further develop and grow in size in the coming centuries.