Selkup people

Not to be confused with the Selk'nam people.
Selkup
чумэлӷу́ла, тюйкула, шё̄шӄула, сӱ̄ссыӷӯла, шöйӄумыт
Flag
Selkup man from Obdorsk, Ob river
Regions with significant populations
Russia 4,249 (2002)[1]
Languages
Selkup languages
Religion
Shamanism, Russian Orthodoxy
Related ethnic groups
Nganasans, Nenets, Enets, Kets

The Selkup (Russian: селькупы, romanized: sel'kupy) are an Indigenous people of Siberia traditionally settling in the northern parts of Tomsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tyumen Oblast (with Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug).[2] Their original language belongs to the Samoyedic branch of the Uralic family.

The Selkups are included in the list of so-called Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East of Russia.

Ethnonyms

Southern Selkup man

The name Selkup (Russian sel'kupy (plural)) was originally a self-designation of one group of Northern Selkups in the Taz River basin, but came to be applied to all the other local groups between the 1930s and 1980s.[3]

In Russian, the Selkup used to call themselves Ostyak. This name is originally an exonym originating from the 17th century, when it was used to denote the Ob-Ugrian and Samoyed population of the Middle Ob region. By the end of the 20th century the name had been adopted by the Selkup as an endonym.[4]

In the scientific literature from 1850s until the 1930s, the Selkup were exclusively called Ostyak-Samoyeds (остяко-самоеды, ostyako-samoyedy). This ethnonym has never been widely used.[citation needed]

Language

Main article: Selkup languages

Traditionally, all Selkups spoke a variant of the Selkup language, which belongs to the Samoyedic branch of the Uralic language family. Selkup is an endangered language today because as a result of linguistic marginalization and language shift only some 600 people out of the general Selkup population still use the native language. It is also not included in basic education.

History

The Selkups originated in the middle basin of the Ob River, from interactions between the aboriginal Yeniseian population and Samoyedic peoples that came to the region from the Sayan Mountains during the early part of the first millennium CE.[5] In the 13th century, the Selkups came under the sway of the Mongols. Around 1628, the Russians conquered the area and the Selkups were subjugated. The Selkups joined an uprising against Russian rule but were gunned down and defeated.[6]

In the 17th century, some of the Selkups relocated up north to live along the Taz River and Turukhan River. They were engaged mainly in hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding. The arrival of Russian settlers to the area in the 18th century led to the Russians hunting down the reindeers of the Selkups which made breeding reindeer much more difficult.[6] During the same period, the Russians attempted to Russify and Christianize the Selkups.[6] However, many retained some of their ancient religious beliefs and customs.

During the Soviet period, the Selkups were forced to adopt a settled lifestyle and their traditional culture witnessed a severe decline. The Selkups have been facing cultural extinction and assimilation from Russian culture. They also suffer from racial discrimination, unemployment and alcoholism.[6]

According to a recent genetic study, subclade Q1a2a1-L54 was mainly found in Yeniseian (Ket) and Samoyedic (Enets and Selkup) speakers. Genetic evidence showed that ancestors of the sampled Yeniseian and Samoyedic speakers had genetic affinities to northern Altaians with high frequencies of haplogroup Q-M242 (xL54), while southern Altaians had many L54 samples and showed similarities with Turkic-speaking populations (Dulik et al. 2012b; Battaglia et al. 2013; Flegontov et al. 2016). However, Yeniseian and Samoyedic samples in the latest study belonged to L54, which was different from the results of previous studies (xL54). In view of the time estimates the researchers postulated that Q1a2a1-L54 had migrated from the southern Altai region and was assimilated into Yeniseian and Samoyedic speaking populations during a recent historical period.[7] They live in the northern parts of Tomsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tyumen Oblast (with Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug).[8]

Population and ethnic groups

Southern Selkup woman from Tomsk Oblast
Selkups in the taiga

According to the 2002 Census, there were 4,249 Selkups in Russia (4,300 in 1970). There were 62 Selkups in Ukraine, only one of whom is a native speaker of the Selkup language (Ukrainian Census 2001).

The modern Selkup form two geographically isolated groups, the Southern and Northern Selkups. The Southern Selkups, also called Narym Selkups, live mostly within the Tomsk Oblast.[3] The Northern Selkup moved north when Russians started colonizing Siberia. Movement towards north happened in several waves.[9]

The main Selkup settlements in Siberia are Krasnoselkup and Kargasok.

Culture

The Selkups traditionally engaged in hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding as subsistence. The Selkups also utilized dugout canoes to sail on rivers.[10]

Genetics

Northern Selkups: Y-DNA haplogroups Q-L56>L53>L54>Q1b1a3-L330 (66,4 %), R1a (19 %), N1a2b-P43 (6,9 %), R1b (6,1 %), C (1,5 %). Southern Selkups with Y-DNA haplogroup R1b belong to the subclade of R1b1b1-M73, which is found mainly in Central Asia and not to the subclade of R1b1b2-M269, which the majority of the population of Western Europe belongs to.[11]. In Southern Selkups have been found the following Y-DNA haplogroups: N1b-A (31,25 %), N1b-E (6,25 %), Q1a3-L330 (25 %), Q1a3-L53* (18,75 %), Q1a2 (6,25 %), R1b-M73 (12,5 %).[12]

Notable people

Daria Egereva, a Selkup from Moscow

In 1911–1912 and 1914, the expeditions of the Finnish linguist and ethnographer Kai Reinhold Donner (1888–1935) were engaged in studying the language, folklore, everyday culture and the traditional way of life of the Selkups. A famous Selkupologist from Russia was Eugene Helimski.

A prominent advocate for improving the language situation and reforming school education for the Selkups, including the implementation of Selkup-language instruction, has been Daria Egereva.[13] She is also known as a climate and human rights activist and as Co-Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC),[14] an official caucus representing Indigenous peoples within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN climate negotiations. Egereva was detained on 17 December 2025 and is accused of “participation in a terrorist organization” under Article 205.5, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Russia,[15] a charge carrying a potential sentence of ten to twenty years' imprisonment.[16][17][18]

References

  1. ^ Ethnic groups of Russia in the 2002 census. (in Russian)
  2. ^ "ВПН-2010". www.gks.ru. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  3. ^ a b Napolskikh, Siikala & Hoppál 2007, p. 15.
  4. ^ Napolskikh, Siikala & Hoppál 2007, p. 16.
  5. ^ Flegontov, Pavel; Changmai, Piya; Zidkova, Anastassiya; Logacheva, Maria D.; Altınışık, N. Ezgi; Flegontova, Olga; Gelfand, Mikhail S.; Gerasimov, Evgeny S.; Khrameeva, Ekaterina E. (2016-02-11). "Genomic study of the Ket: a Paleo-Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry". Scientific Reports. 6 20768. arXiv:1508.03097. Bibcode:2016NatSR...620768F. doi:10.1038/srep20768. PMC 4750364. PMID 26865217.
  6. ^ a b c d "The Selkups". www.eki.ee. Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  7. ^ Huang, Y. Z.; Pamjav, H.; Flegontov, P.; Stenzl, V.; Wen, S. Q.; Tong, X. Z.; Wang, C. C.; Wang, L. X.; Wei, L. H.; Gao, J. Y.; Jin, L.; Li, H. (2017). "Dispersals of the Siberian Y-chromosome haplogroup Q in Eurasia". Molecular Genetics and Genomics. 293 (1): 107–117. doi:10.1007/s00438-017-1363-8. PMC 5846874. PMID 28884289.
  8. ^ "ВПН-2010". www.gks.ru. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  9. ^ Napolskikh, Siikala & Hoppál 2007, p. 20.
  10. ^ Forsyth, James (1994). A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-521-47771-0.
  11. ^ Древние миграции самодийцев и енисейцев в свете генетических данных Archived 2018-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, 2013
  12. ^ Генофонд южных селькупов в контексте исторических и археологических данных Archived 2021-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, 2015
  13. ^ Dariya Egereva. "The intervention of Darya Egereva at the 18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues". Indigenous Russia. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  14. ^ "Indigenous Peoples Send Open Letter to Russian President Putin to Release Daria Egereva". International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  15. ^ "Егерёва Дарья Анатольевна". Мемориал. Поддержка политзаключённых (in Russian). Международное общество «Мемориал». Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  16. ^ ""Могут дать до 20 лет". К защитникам прав коренных народов пришли с обысками и арестами" (in Russian). Сибирь.Реалии. 23 December 2025. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  17. ^ "В Москве арестована защитница прав коренных народов Дарья Егерева" (in Russian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 21 December 2025. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
  18. ^ Florian Naumann (31 January 2026). "„Putin baut an einem Fake-Imperium" – warum Russland dafür Indigene ins Visier nimmt". Frankfurter Rundschau. Retrieved 15 February 2026.

Sources

  • Napolskikh, Vladimir; Siikala, Anna-Leena; Hoppál, Mihály, eds. (2007). Selkup Mythology. Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies. Vol. 4. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.

Further reading

allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkup_people