What peoples live in the Urals. Historical view of the population of the southern Urals

Mansi are the people who make up the indigenous population. These are Finno-Ugric people, they are direct descendants of the Hungarians (belong to Ugric group: Hungarians, Mansi, Khanty).

Initially, the Mansi people lived in the Urals and its western slopes, but the Komi and Russians forced them out into the Trans-Urals in the 11th-14th centuries. The earliest contacts with Russians, primarily with Novgorodians, date back to the 11th century. With the annexation of Siberia to the Russian state at the end of the 16th century, Russian colonization intensified, and already at the end of the 17th century the number of Russians exceeded the number of the indigenous population. The Mansi were gradually forced out to the north and east, partially assimilated, and in the 18th century they were formally converted to Christianity. On ethnic formation The Mansi were influenced by various peoples. In scientific literature, the Mansi people and the Khanty people are united common name Ob Ugrians.

In the Sverdlovsk region, Mansi live in forest settlements - yurts, in which there are from one to 8 families. The most famous of them: Yurta Anyamova (Treskolye village), Yurta Bakhtiyarova, Yurta Pakina (village of Poma), Yurta Samindalova (village of Suevatpaul), Yurta Kurikova, etc. The rest of the Ivdel Mansi live dispersed in the villages of Vizhay (now burned down), Burmantovo, Khorpiya , on the territory of the city of Ivdel, as well as in the village of Umsha (see photo).

Mansi dwelling, Treskolye village

Preparation of birch bark

Nyankur - oven for baking bread

Labaz, or Sumyakh for storing food

Sumyakh of the Pakin family, Poma River. From the archive of the research expedition "Mansi - Forest People" of the travel company "Team of Adventurers"

This film is based on the materials of the expedition "Mansi - Forest People" of the Adventure Seekers Team (Ekaterinburg). The authors - Vladislav Petrov and Alexey Slepukhin, with great love, talk about the difficult life of the Mansi in the ever-changing modern world.

There is no consensus among scientists about the exact time of formation of the Mansi people in the Urals. It is believed that the Mansi and their related Khanty arose from the merger of the ancient Ugric people and indigenous Ural tribes about three thousand years ago. The Ugrians inhabiting the south of Western Siberia and the north of Kazakhstan, due to climate change on earth, were forced to migrate north and further to the northwest, to the area of ​​modern Hungary, Kuban, and the Black Sea region. Over several millennia, tribes of Ugric herders came to the Urals and mixed with the indigenous tribes of hunters and fishermen.

The ancient people were divided into two groups, the so-called phratries. One was made up of the Ugric newcomers "Mos phratry", the other - the Ural aborigines "Por phratry". According to a custom that has survived to this day, marriages should be concluded between people from different phratries. There was a constant mixing of people to prevent the extinction of the nation. Each phratry was personified by its own idol-beast. Por's ancestor was a bear, and Mos was the Kaltash woman, manifesting herself in the form of a goose, butterfly, and hare. We have received information about the veneration of ancestral animals and the prohibition of hunting them. Judging by archaeological finds, which will be discussed below, the Mansi people actively participated in hostilities along with neighboring peoples, they knew tactics. They also distinguished the classes of princes (voevoda), heroes, and warriors. All this is reflected in folklore. Each phratry has had its own central place of worship for a long time, one of which is the sanctuary on the Lyapin River. People from many Pauls along Sosva, Lyapin, and Ob gathered there.

One of the most ancient sanctuaries that has survived to this day is the Written Stone on Vishera. It functioned for a long time- 5-6 thousand years in the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Middle Ages. On almost vertical cliffs, hunters painted images of spirits and gods with ocher. Nearby, on numerous natural “shelves,” offerings were placed: silver plates, copper plaques, flint tools. Archaeologists suggest that part of the ancient map of the Urals is encrypted in the drawings. By the way, scientists suggest that many names of rivers and mountains (for example, Vishera, Lozva) are pre-Mansi, that is, they have much more ancient roots than is commonly believed.

In the Chanvenskaya (Vogulskaya) cave, located near the village of Vsevolodo-Vilva in the Perm region, traces of the presence of Voguls were discovered. According to local historians, the cave was a temple (pagan sanctuary) of the Mansi, where ritual ceremonies were held. In the cave, bear skulls with traces of blows from stone axes and spears, shards of ceramic vessels, bone and iron arrowheads, bronze plaques of the Perm animal style with an image of a moose man standing on a lizard, silver and bronze jewelry were found.

The Mansi language belongs to the Ob-Ugric group of the Ural (according to another classification - Ural-Yukaghir) language family. Dialects: Sosvinsky, Upper Lozvinsky, Tavdinsky, Odin-Kondinsky, Pelymsky, Vagilsky, Middle Lozvinsky, Lower Lozvinsky. Mansi writing has existed since 1931. The Russian word "mammoth" presumably comes from the Mansi "mang ont" - "earthen horn". Through Russian, this Mansi word entered most European languages ​​(in English: Mammoth).

Sources: 12, 13 and 14 photos taken from the series “Suivatpaul, spring 1958”, belong to the family of Yuri Mikhailovich Krivonosov, the most famous Soviet photographer. He worked for many years at the magazine "Soviet Photo".

Websites: ilya-abramov-84.livejournal.com, mustagclub.ru, www.adventurteam.ru

The history of the Southern Urals is the history of all the peoples who have inhabited its territory since ancient times. Ethnographers note the ethnic complexity and heterogeneity of the population of the South Ural region. This is due to the fact that the Southern Urals from ancient times served as a kind of corridor along which in the distant past the “great migration of peoples” took place, and subsequently waves of migration rolled in. Historically, three powerful layers formed, coexisted and developed on this vast territory - Slavic, Turkic-speaking and Finno-Ugric. Since time immemorial, its territory has been an arena of interaction between two branches of civilizations - sedentary farmers and nomadic pastoralists. The consequence of their interaction over thousands of years was the heterogeneous ethnographic and anthropological composition of the local population. There is one important aspect of the population problem. In strict accordance with the definition of the concept “aboriginal” (“indigenous people”), there is no reason to consider any people in the region as indigenous. All peoples currently living in the Southern Urals are newcomers. The peoples who settled here at the earliest different time, chose the Urals as their permanent place of residence. Today it is impossible to divide peoples into indigenous and non-indigenous.

The first written information about the peoples of the Southern Urals dates back to ancient times. Parking lots ancient man A lot has been discovered in the Southern Urals. Only near 15 lakes, about 100 of them were discovered. And there are more than three thousand lakes in our region. This is a parking lot at Lake Elovoe in the Chebarkul district, parking at Lake Itkul in the Kaslinsky district, at Lake Smolino near Chelyabinsk and many others.

People settled in the Urals gradually. They most likely came from the south, moving along river banks following the animals they hunted.

Around 15-12 millennia BC. e. the ice age is over. The Quaternary glacier gradually retreated, local Ural ice melted. The climate became warmer, the flora and fauna acquired a more or less modern appearance. The number of primitive people increased. More or less significant groups of them wandered, moving along rivers and lakes in search of hunting prey. The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) came.

Around the fourth millennium BC, copper came to serve man. The Southern Urals is one of those places in our country where man first began to use metal. The presence of native pieces of pure copper and fairly large deposits of tin created favorable conditions receiving bronze. Bronze tools, being stronger and sharper, quickly replaced stone ones. In II-I millennium BC. The ancient inhabitants of the Urals not only mined copper and tin and made tools, but also exchanged these tools and bronze with other tribes. Thus, the products of ancient Ural craftsmen found distribution in the Lower Volga region and Western Siberia.

During the Copper-Bronze Age, several tribes lived in the Southern Urals, which differed significantly in culture and origin. Historians N.A. talk about them. Mazhitov and A.I. Alexandrov.

Most large group were tribes that went down in history under the name “Andronovo”. They are named after the place where the remains of their life were first found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory back in the 19th century.

The forests at that time were inhabited by the “Cherkaskul people,” who are called so because the remains of their culture were first found on Lake Cherkaskul in the north of the Chelyabinsk region.

In the Southern Urals, an idea of ​​the time of the Bronze Age is given by mounds and settlements related to the Andronovo culture (Salnikov K-V. Bronze Age of the Southern Trans-Urals. Andronovo Culture, MIA, No. 21, 1951, pp. 94-151). This culture, which existed on a vast territory from the Yenisei to the Ural ridge and the western borders of Kazakhstan, in the XIV-X centuries. BC e. extended to the territory of the Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions. Its characteristic features are burial mounds in wooden frames and stone boxes with crumpled bones laid on their sides and the head facing west.

The development of the Early Iron Age in the Southern Urals covers the time from the 6th century. BC e. according to the 5th century n. e. Savromatian, Sarmatian and Alanian burial mounds and settlements give an idea of ​​it. The Sauromatians and Sarmatians lived in the Southern Urals at a time when the Scythians dominated the Black Sea region. Sarmatian culture is the culture of the period of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of a class society, developed nomadic cattle breeding, agriculture and crafts. All finds indicate that the Sarmatians had metalworking, ceramics, weaving and other industries. (Salnikov K.V. Sarmatian burials in the Magnitogorsk region: Brief messages Institute material culture, XXXIV, M.-L., 1950)

The Late Iron Age of the Urals coincides in time with the Early Middle Ages of Europe. During the Iron Age, in the vast steppe expanses of the Southern Urals, the ancient sedentary pastoral and agricultural population began to switch to nomadic cattle breeding, and for more than two thousand years this territory became a place of nomadic tribes.

It was the time of the “great migration of peoples.” The formation of the Bashkir people and the spread of the Turkic language in the region are associated with the movement of nomads.

Anticipating the upcoming narrative about the history of peoples, I will make a reservation in advance. I'll start it with the history of the Bashkir people. And that's why. Among modern peoples living in the Southern Urals, the first inhabitants of the region were the Bashkirs. Therefore, the beginning of the story with the Bashkirs in no way distorts the historical truth or diminishes the role of other peoples. At the same time, the historicism of the presentation of the material is observed.

The first historical information about the Bashkirs dates back to the 10th century. The traveler Ibn Fadlan reported that he visited the country of the Turkish people, called al-Bash-tird (Ibn Fadlan's Travel to the Volga. M.-L., 1939, p. 66).

Another Arabic writer Abu-Zand-al-Balkhi (who visited Bulgaria and Bashkiria in the first half of the 10th century) wrote: “From the internal Bashjars to Burgaria there are 25 days of travel... The Bashjars are divided into two tribes, one tribe lives on the border of Georgia (the country of Kuman) near the Bulgars. They say that it consists of 2000 people who are so well protected by their forests that no one can conquer them. They are subject to the Bulgars. Other Bashjars border on the Pechenegs. They and the Pechenegs are Turks” (Abu-Zand-al-Balkhi. Book of Land Views, 1870, p. 176).

Bashkirs have lived on the lands since ancient times modern Bashkiria, occupying territory on both sides of the Ural ridge, between the Volga and Kama rivers and the upper reaches of the Ural River. They were nomadic pastoralists; They also engaged in hunting, fishing, and beekeeping. In the western part of Bashkiria, agriculture developed, destroyed by the Tatar-Mongol conquerors and restored with the appearance of the Russian population in Bashkiria.

The craft of the Bashkirs was poorly developed. But still, as evidenced written sources, already in the 10th century. The Bashkirs knew how to extract iron and copper ores using artisanal methods and process them. They tanned leather, made pikes and arrowheads from iron, and decorated horse harnesses from copper.

Western part of Bashkiria in the 9th-13th centuries. was subordinated to the Bulgarian kingdom, to which the Bashkirs paid tribute in furs, wax, honey and horses. According to Ibn Rust (around 912), each of the subjects who married the Bulgar khan had to give a riding horse.

In the pre-Mongol period, the population of Bashkiria traded with neighboring peoples and with Russian merchants in wax and honey. Bashkiria was divided into clans and tribes, headed by ancestors and collectors.

The most powerful of the bays subjugated other clan associations and sometimes became khans. However, the power of such khans was fragile, and not one of them managed to subjugate all the Bashkir tribes. Particularly important issues were resolved at public assemblies and at the council of elders (kurultai). People's meetings of the Bashkirs ended with festivities at which competitions were held in wrestling, horse racing, horse riding, and archery.

The decomposition of the clan system and the transition of the Bashkirs to a class society falls in the X-XII centuries, and the end of the XII and XIII centuries. characterized by the emergence of feudal relations. In the XII-XVI centuries. The Bashkir people formed. The tribes of Alans, Huns, Hungarians and especially Bulgars played a major role in the formation of the Bashkir people. In 1236, the Tatar-Mongols conquered the Bulgarian kingdom and with it the southwestern part of Bashkiria. Following this, all of Bashkiria was conquered, becoming part of the Golden Horde formed in the Volga region. The Golden Horde khans imposed a tribute on the Bashkirs in the form of expensive furs, and possibly a tax in the form of one tenth of their herds.

The intensification of the struggle of the peoples conquered by the Tatar-Mongols for their liberation and, especially, the remarkable victory of the Russian united army on the Kulikovo field in 1380 weakened the Golden Horde. In the 15th century she began to fall apart.

With the collapse of the Golden Horde, a significant part of the population of Bashkiria fell under the rule of the Nogai Horde, which wandered between the middle and lower reaches of the Volga in the west and the river. Yaik in the east. The Trans-Ural Bashkirs recognized their dependence on the Siberian Khanate, and the western regions of Bashkiria - on the Kazan Khanate. Bashkiria was dismembered.

In addition to the Bashkirs, the territory of the Southern Urals was inhabited by Tatars, Mari, Udmurts, Kazakhs, Kalmyks and other peoples. They, like the Bashkirs, were initially subordinate to the khans of the Golden Horde, and with the collapse of the latter - to the Kazan, Siberian and Nogai khans.

The severity of the Tatar-Mongol oppression was aggravated by the fact that the Bashkirs, being part of different khanates, were divided and used by khans and other feudal lords in the fight against each other. Civil strife was detrimental to the working masses. Often the khan or murza himself, when defeated, fled from the enemy, leaving his subjects to the mercy of fate. The latter were subjugated by another khan or Murza and established an even more cruel regime for them.

The Bashkirs waged a long and persistent struggle against the Tatar-Mongol yoke. In Bashkir folklore and genealogies, echoes of the actions of the Bashkir people against their oppressors have been preserved. In the 16th century, the struggle in the Nogai part of Bashkiria between the Nogai Murzas and the Bashkir elders, who sought to free themselves from foreign rule, especially intensified. But the Bashkirs could not do this on their own.

The only correct way out of the extremely difficult situation in which the Bashkirs were under the rule of the Tatar-Mongols was to join the then strengthened Russian state. However, the lack of an organization uniting all Bashkirs and the fragmentation of the tribes did not allow them to join the Russian state at the same time.

Ethnographers managed to restore the tribal composition of the Bashkirs in the 17th-19th centuries. They identified the most ancient Bashkir ethnic formations, which consisted of a number of independent tribal groups - the Burzyans, Usergans, Tangaurs, Tamyans, etc. All of them were carriers Bashkir ethnic group, but had their own names, which had large areas of distribution among the Turkic peoples.

Previously, the Bashkirs lived in the steppes and led a nomadic lifestyle. Subsequently, pressed from the south by other nomads, primarily the Kyrgyz, they left the steppes and moved to the mountainous and wooded areas of the Southern Urals. At the end of the 19th century, the Bashkirs lived, in addition to Bashkiria, on a large territory of the Chelyabinsk, Troitsky, Verkhneuralsky, Orsk and Orenburg districts. They switched to a semi-nomadic lifestyle - in the winter they stayed in the villages, and in the spring they went with their family and livestock to the mountains and stayed there until winter, when they returned to the village again.

Over many centuries of fixed history, the Bashkir people have created a unique, inimitable and rich culture, which includes all types of human creativity: art, architecture, language, music, dance, folklore, jewelry, original clothing, etc. Knowledge of the basics and stages of development various fields culture helps to study the history of the people, better understanding specifics and ways of further development national culture Bashkir people.

Ethnically close to the Bashkirs are the Tatars, and their long life in the neighborhood has led to a significant erasure of many national differences. It is interesting to note that a significant part of the Bashkir population of the Urals speaks Tatar and considers the Tatar language to be their native language. In most areas of the modern Southern Urals, Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, and other peoples live interspersed. They work together at enterprises, organizations and institutions of the region, live in peace and harmony.

There is an opinion among historians that the Tatars do not exist as a separate people; the word “Tatars” is a collective name for a whole family of Mongolian peoples, and mainly Turkic origin speaking the Turkic language and professing the Koran. In the 5th century, the name Tata or Tatan (where, apparently, the word “Tatars” comes from) meant a Mongolian tribe.

Where did this name come from anyway? Some authors believe that the word “Tatar” does not at all mean the “name” of some nationality, but rather it is a nickname, the same as the word “German”, that is, a dumb person who cannot speak our language.

Tatars began to appear in the region with the founding of the city of Orenburg in 1743 and the construction of fortified settlements along the Yaik, Samara and Sakmara rivers. This opened up broad prospects for the vigorous settlement and development of sparsely populated and uninhabited lands. The bulk of people arrived here from the Middle Volga region. The settlers were distinguished by complex ethnic composition population, a significant proportion of which were Tatars - immigrants mainly from the Kazan Khanate.

The main reasons that prompted the Tatars, like the peasant masses of other peoples, to move to new places of residence were land shortage, extreme need, and the natural desire of people to improve their material well-being by obtaining land in the Southern Urals, where it could easily be purchased.

For Muslim world moving from one's previous location to another, more distant one, was also associated with the fear of being converted to a different faith. This was a kind of protest against the policy of the tsarist authorities to forcibly impose Christianity on people of other faiths. In turn, tsarism, interested in the development of free lands, not only did not prohibit, but also promoted the resettlement of the population to the Southern Urals. This made it possible to bring new agricultural areas into economic circulation. And finally, the authorities sought to attract individuals Tatar nationality to establish trade relations with the Muslim peoples of Kazakhstan, Central Asia and even distant India. After all, the Tatars were considered good traders.

Arriving from different districts of the Middle Volga region to the lands of the Southern Urals, the Tatars settled near coachman stations. They got a variety of jobs: they sold horses, camels, sheep, became coachmen, artisans, saddlers, shoemakers, tanners, herders, shepherds, and buyers.

After the fall of the Kazan Khanate in the 16th century, a significant part of the Tatar population first settled in the Southern Urals, on the territory of modern Bashkortostan, and then they settled throughout the Urals. A large number of Tatars settled in the Orenburg region. By the end of the 19th century, Tatars lived everywhere - in cities and villages. In cities they were mainly engaged in petty trade, and in villages - farming and cattle breeding. The Tatars, as I. S. Khokhlov testifies, are a sober, hardworking people, capable of hard work. They were engaged in farming, carting, and cattle breeding, but their favorite craft was still trade.

Along with the Tatars, the Teptyars also moved to the Southern Urals in the 16th century. Some researchers, until the end of the 19th century, accepted the Teptya as a separate nationality, an independent group of the population. However, most of them came to the conclusion that there is no reason to consider them as such. Rather, the Teptyars are an estate. It was formed from a mixture of different foreign tribes - Cheremis (since 1918, Mari), Chuvash, Votyaks (Udmurts), Tatars, who fled to the Urals after the conquest of Kazan. Subsequently, the Teptyars also mixed with the Bashkirs, adopted their morals and customs, so that it became even difficult to distinguish them from each other. Most of them spoke a middle dialect Tatar language. Separate groups of Teptyars, living in a dense environment of the Bashkirs, were strongly influenced by the Bashkir language. This is how the Zlatoust dialect appeared. The Chalin Teptyars completely switched to the Bashkir spoken language. According to religion they were divided into separate groups. Some of them were Sunni Muslims, others were pagans (from the Finno-Ugric peoples), and others were Christians.

The Teptyars existed until 1855, when they were included in the “Bashkir army”. At the same time, a second name for the Teptyars appeared - “new Bashkirs,” although it was not possible to completely displace the previous name. At the same time, the Teptyars formed a special community of ethnic character with their own ethnonym and ethnic identity.

Until the second half XVI V. There was no Russian population in the Southern Urals. Russian people appeared here with the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. The conquest of the Kazan Khanate was of great importance both for the peoples of the Volga region and for the Bashkirs, who began the struggle for liberation from the power of the Nogai Horde and the Siberian Khanate.
Immediately after the defeat of the Kazan Khanate, in 1552, an embassy was sent to Moscow offering citizenship from the Bashkirs of the Minsk aimaks. Following the Mints in the winter of 1556-1557, two more embassies from the Bashkir tribes went to Moscow with a request to join. Both embassies reached Moscow on skis.

After 1557 only a small eastern and northeastern part of Bashkiria remained subject to the Siberian Khanate. They submitted to Moscow at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, after the fall of the Siberian Khanate (1598).

Voluntary accession to the Russian state was a deeply progressive event in the history of Bashkiria. It put an end to the cruel rule of the Nogai, Kazan and Siberian khans. Bashkiria, having become part of the strong Russian state, received protection from attacks from neighboring nomadic tribes. The separated Bashkir tribes began to come closer together, forming the Bashkir nation. The trade ties of the Bashkirs also strengthened. They sold cattle, leather, furs of fur-bearing animals, honey, wax, and hops to the peoples of the Volga region and Russian merchants.

Close communication with the Volga tribes and peoples and, mainly, with more developed and advanced culturally Russian people was very fruitful for the Bashkirs. Russian peasants brought with them a relatively high agricultural culture and had a positive impact on the economic and cultural development Bashkir people. A significant part of the Bashkir population, who had almost no knowledge of agriculture in the past, during the 17th-18th centuries. transitions to settled life and farming.

Settlement mainly occurred from below. Fugitive serfs, schismatics fleeing persecution, and later state peasants, to whom the government allocated free lands in Bashkiria, known as “wild fields,” arrived here from the center of Russia.

Settlement also took place “from above,” by order of the tsarist government. With the construction of military fortresses in the region, a Russian military service class was formed - governors, officials, archers. For their service, they began to receive Bashkir lands as allotments and settle peasants on them (especially many near the city of Ufa). Russian landowners also began to acquire Bashkir lands and resettle their peasants from the central provinces to them. Among the colonizers were, as everywhere else, Russian monasteries, which appeared here quite early, but were then mostly destroyed by the Bashkirs.

In addition to the Russians, settlers from the non-Russian population were sent from the north-west to the Southern Urals: Tatars who did not want to submit to Russian power, Meshcheryaks, Chuvashs, Maris, Teptyars, Mordovians, etc. All of them rented Bashkir lands as “attendants”. The Russian government initially viewed them as almost serf Bashkirs. Among these new settlers there were many people from Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Bukhara, Khiva, Turkmenistan - Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Persians, etc.
In the 17th century colonization began to move south towards our Chelyabinsk region, then known as Isetsky. The Iset region abounded in many small rivers, tributaries of the Miass and Techa, convenient for settlement and rich in fish. Famous traveler and scientist of the 18th century. Peter Simon Pallas, who lived for quite a long time in the Iset province, was delighted with the abundance of its nature. Rich black soil made it possible to engage in farming here. The nature of the region was suitable for gardening, sheep and horse breeding. The region abounded in fish and animals. The indigenous population of the Iset region were mainly Bashkirs, followed by Meshcheryaks, Tatars, Kalmyks and other peoples.

The first Russian settlers here were black-growing peasants and townspeople from various districts of Pomerania, palace peasants of the Sarapul district, peasants and salt workers of the Stroganov estate and people from other places who were seeking salvation from increasing feudal exploitation.

First they settle at the mouth of the Iset River, then move up the river and its large tributaries: Miass, Barnev and Techa. From 1646 to 1651 the Chinese fort was built. In 1650, the Isetsky and Kolchedansky forts were built on the Iset River. The mounted Cossack from Verkhoturye, David Andreev, who gathered hunters in various places of the Kazan province, took an active part in the construction of the Isetsky fort. In 1660, the Mekhonsky fort was built, in 1662 - Shadrinsky, in 1685 - Krutikhinsky, on the right bank of the Iset, downstream of the Krutikha tributary.

There were few settlers, and in order to withstand the raids of nomads, some of them went to Rus', where they recruited peasants, luring them to a distant land with promises of various benefits and natural resources. The peasants of Ukraine, the Don and inner Russia responded to their call. The government at this time provided assistance to the settlers with plots of land and the issuance of money.

The settlement of the Iset region was greatly facilitated by the early emergence of monasteries. The monasteries served as a reliable refuge for the surrounding Russian residents when they were attacked by the neighboring Bashkirs and Kazakhs. They attracted many Russian peasants who had a hard time living in the center of Russia.

The government gave the monasteries land with the right to settle peasants on them, awarded letters of grant, according to which the trial of the monastery peasants was presented to the abbot and the brethren, and in the case of a “local” (joint) trial, the abbot had to judge with the governors and clerks. Due to the fact that the monastic courts were more lenient compared to the courts of the voivodes, peasants willingly settled on the monastic lands. Under the cover of forts and monasteries, the settlement of the region by Russian peasants began. The Iset region attracted them not only for its land wealth, but also because the peasants settled here as free people. They had to bear only a number of duties in favor of the state, among which the sovereign's tithe arable land was very common.

From Iset, Russian colonization moves to the lower reaches of the Sinara, Techa and Miass. The first Russian settlement on these rivers is the Techenskoe monastery settlement (1667), extended far to the west. Following this, the activities of peasant settlements intensified. In 1670, in the lower reaches of the Miass, the Ust-Miassskaya Sloboda was built, then in 1676, the settlement owner Vasily Kachusov founded the Middle Miass or Okunevskaya Sloboda. In 1682, the Beloyarskaya Sloboda (Russkaya Techa) was founded by the settlement dweller Ivashko Sinitsyn. In 1684, Vasily Sokolov built the Upper Miass, or Chumlyak, settlement at the confluence of the Chumlyak and Miass rivers, and in 1687, settlement owner Kirill Suturmin founded the Novopeshchanskaya settlement (on Lake Peschanom in the area between the Techa and Miass rivers). The semicircle of Russian settlements thus formed created the preconditions for the further advance of the Russian peasantry to the west, to the eastern slopes of the South Ural mountains. In 1710, along the lower reaches of the Miass there were already 632 households, in which 3,955 people lived. Most of the households belonged to state peasants (524 households). But there were also farmsteads of peasants (108) that belonged to the Tobolsk bishop's house.

All settlements were located on the left bank of the river. Miass. This is explained by the dangerous proximity of nomadic tribes. The settlers used the Miass River, which flowed from west to east, as a barrier protecting them from sudden attacks by nomads from the south.

As can be seen from the census books of L.M. Poskotin, the population who arrived in the 17th century. to the Isetsky region, came directly from the Verkhoturye and Tobolsk districts, from the Kama region, from the northern Russian Pomeranian districts, the Upper and Middle Volga regions. A small part of this population also came from central Russia.

But in the 17th century. Peasant colonization of the Southern Trans-Urals had not yet developed sufficiently. It was held back by the danger of constant raids by steppe nomads. Intervention from the Russian government was required in order to secure the lives of peasant settlers and create favorable conditions for the development of agriculture, crafts and trade throughout this rich region.

As a result of a powerful migration flow that captured a significant territory of the Southern Urals, by the last quarter of the 17th century this vast region found itself in a dense ring of Russian and Cossack settlements. Populating and developing uninhabited lands, Slavic, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples settled nearby. For many decades, Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Chuvash, Mordovians, Germans and other peoples lived next door and collaborated with each other.

In 1734, the Orenburg expedition began working in the Southern Urals under the leadership of I.K. Kirilov. She lays down the Orenburg fortified line to cover the southeastern borders Russian state from the raids of the Kazakhs and Dzungarian Kalmyks. Strongholds - fortresses - are placed along the Ural (Yaik) and Uy rivers. The first of the fortresses created then was the Verkhneyaitskaya pier, which later became the city of Verkhneuralsk.

On the Orenburg fortified line there were fortresses, redoubts, which much later turned into villages and villages on the territory of the Chelyabinsk region: Spassky, Uvelsky, Gryaznushensky, Kizilsky and others. Stanitsa Magnitnaya became one of the most famous cities in the country - Magnitogorsk. A continuation of the Verkhneyaitskaya line in the east was the Uyskaya fortified line, the key fortress of which was Troitskaya.

The first inhabitants of the newly built fortresses were soldiers and officers, as well as Cossacks. Most of them were Russians; later Ukrainians and Tatars, Mordovians, Germans and Poles appeared among them, as well as representatives of other nationalities who served in the Russian army.

Soldiers, as well as free settlers who became Cossacks, populated the Chelyabinsk, Chebarkul and Miass fortresses, built in 1736 north of the Uyskaya line, on the way from the inhabited Trans-Urals to the Yaik-Urals.
In the second quarter XIX century the border of Russia, which ran along modern territory Chelyabinsk region, is moved east by 100-150 km. The newly formed Novolineiny district was also limited on the east by fortresses, two of which - Nikolaevskaya and Naslednitskaya - were located on the territory of the current region. Brick fences were built around the fortresses, which are still preserved.

The settlement of the western and northwestern mountainous parts of the region began somewhat later than the southern regions, only in the 50s XVIII century. Then, in the Southern Urals, the richest iron and copper ores, often lying on the surface, began to be developed, and metallurgical plants were built. Such industrial settlements - now cities - as Sim, Minyar, Katav-Ivanovsk, Ust-Katav, Yuryuzan, Satka, Zlatoust, Kusa, Kyshtym, Kasli, Verkhniy Ufaley and Nyazepetrovsk were founded.

Land for factory dachas was bought from the Bashkirs. Serfs from different provinces of Russia moved to the purchased lands, becoming “working people” of mining factories.

Foreign specialists, mostly Germans, were then invited to the Urals to build factories and debug smelting technologies. Some of them did not want to return to their homeland. Places of their compact residence arose - streets, settlements, and later villages; most of them remained in Zlatoust.

It is worth noting that the Germans were well known in Rus' since ancient times. And, above all, because German and Slavic tribes lived next door.

In the 18th century, the Russian government adopted a Decree authorizing German settlements on the territory of the Russian state. But foreigners, including Germans, also settled in Russian cities XVI-XVII centuries. But the Germans at that time meant not only people of German nationality, but also the Dutch, Austrians, Swiss, and Frisians. In the 18th - early 20th century, German colonies appeared on empty lands in the Volga River region, in Ukraine, and the Urals.

Huge plots of land and rich natural resources attracted settlers here. The indigenous population of Kalmyks, Bashkirs, Russians, Chuvashs, Tatars and others greeted the newcomers friendly, without preventing German settlements from settling here. Moreover, many of the local peoples led a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle.

In the 19th century, entrepreneurial farms based on the use of hired labor and selling their goods on the market gradually developed in Russia. The first of them began to appear, first of all, in those areas where there was no landownership or where it was poorly developed. Free and fertile land attracted settlers. And not only Germans. In the Urals, the German population was a small percentage compared to other nationalities. And only by the time of the First World War the number of German colonists increased to 8.5 thousand people. Where did the Germans move to the territory of the Orenburg region from? Since the First World War, repressions against German settlers began: evictions, arrests and detention of suspicious people of German nationality, restrictions in economic and political activity. In addition, according to wartime laws, a significant part of the German and Austrian population, evicted by the Russian government from settlements and cities in the western provinces of Russia, where fierce battles took place between Russian and German-Austrian troops. The Orenburg governor was obliged to check numerous inquiries about the political reliability of individuals who, even at this Time of Troubles wanted to accept Russian citizenship. The German population adhered to the Protestant religion. It's basically Baptist. The population strives to preserve national customs, culture, and language. The main occupation is agriculture. But at the same time, the Germans were also willing to engage in handicraft production: they produced various painted and carved objects, pottery, and were fond of artistic metalworking, weaving and embroidery. The originality and national traits in the planning of farms, residential and commercial premises, roads. For example, German homes are characterized by the so-called Saxon house, where various living and utility rooms are located together under one roof. The subsequent decades of the Soviet period dramatically affected the life of the German population, as well as the entire country as a whole: there were repressions and dispossession. Many German residents in the Urals were arrested, evicted, and ended up in Siberia, Altai, and Northern Kazakhstan. Part of the population moved to the cities of Orenburg, Orsk, Chelyabinsk, and Perm. Even in some cities, entire districts populated by Germans appeared.

The first World War and the revolution that followed. Large masses of people moved from east to west and vice versa. Some of these people remained in the Urals. The economic difficulties associated with the war were not so severe here.
For example, representatives Belarusian nationality There are quite a few in the Southern Urals.

The appearance of the first Belarusians in the Southern Urals (as well as in the Trans-Urals and Siberia) is associated with the fact that they arrived here as exiled prisoners of war in the 17th century, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, when the Russians conquered Ukraine and pushed back the Lithuanians. Then people who were called Litvins were captured and sent away from the western borders of Russia. These are the Belarusians, they spoke their own language, they were Orthodox. The name “Litvinov” came from the name of these prisoners. At that time, the territory inhabited by Belarusians was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Nowadays, few people know that its state language until the end of the 17th century was Belarusian, since the bulk of the population of this state are Slavs. In the 17th century, captured soldiers of the Lithuanian state were called both “Litvins” and “Lithuanians”. Moreover, these names had nothing to do with nationality. A Ukrainian, a Belarusian, or a Lithuanian himself could be called a Lithuanian (and later a Pole).

In the cities of the Urals and Siberia in the 17th century there were special groups of service people, the so-called “Lithuanian list”. Subsequently, the bulk of them settled in Siberia, and soon nothing except their surname reminded them of their “Lithuanian” or “Polish” origin. In the 18th – early 19th centuries, Belarusians also came to our region more often as exiles; unfortunately, we do not know the statistics of that time.

The beginning of the active resettlement of Belarusians to the east is associated with the abolition of serfdom. Like the population of the central regions of Great Russia, residents of Belarus began to gradually go to the Urals and Siberia in search of a better life.

A sharp intensification of the resettlement movement occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, in connection with the Stolypin agrarian reform. Then the great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers of many of our Belarusians arrived in the Southern Urals, and very often they came with whole families. Belarusians live everywhere in the Urals; according to the census, their number is slightly more than 20 thousand people.

The population of the modern Southern Urals (Chelyabinsk region) represents more than 130 nationalities.

The Russian population is still the largest and makes up 82.3 percent of the total population of the region. This predominance is typical for both urban and rural areas.
In progress historical development in the Urals there was a mixing of many nationalities, as a result of which there was a modern population. Its mechanistic division along national or religious lines is unthinkable today (thanks to the huge number of mixed marriages) and therefore there is no place for chauvinism and interethnic enmity in the Urals.

The Urals are known as a multinational region with rich culture based on ancient traditions. Not only Russians live here (who began to actively populate the Urals since the 17th century), but also Bashkirs, Tatars, Komi, Mansi, Nenets, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovians and others.

The appearance of man in the Urals

The first man appeared in the Urals approximately 100 thousand years ago. It is possible that this happened before, but there are no finds associated with more early period, scientists do not yet have at their disposal. The oldest Paleolithic site primitive man was discovered in the area of ​​Lake Karabalykty, near the village of Tashbulatovo, Abzelilovsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.A. Oborin, famous researchers of the Urals, claim that the Proto-Urals were ordinary Neanderthals. It has been established that people moved to this territory from Central Asia. For example, in Uzbekistan, a complete skeleton of a Neanderthal boy was found, whose life span coincided with the first exploration of the Urals. Anthropologists recreated the appearance of a Neanderthal, which was taken as the appearance of the Urals during the settlement of this territory.

Ancient people were not able to survive alone. Danger awaited them at every step, and the capricious nature of the Urals every now and then showed its obstinate disposition. Only mutual assistance and caring for each other helped primitive man to survive. The main activity of the tribes was the search for food, so absolutely everyone was involved, including children. Hunting, fishing, and gathering are the main ways to obtain food.

A successful hunt meant a lot to the entire tribe, so people sought to appease nature with the help of complex rituals. Rituals were performed before the image of certain animals. Evidence of this is the preserved rock paintings, including a unique monument - the Shulgan-tash cave, located on the banks of the Belaya (Agidel) River in the Burzyansky district of Bashkortostan.

Inside, the cave looks like an amazing palace with huge halls connected by wide corridors. The total length of the first floor is 290 m. The second floor is 20 m above the first and stretches 500 m in length. The corridors lead to a mountain lake.

It is on the walls of the second floor that unique drawings of primitive man, created using ocher, have been preserved. Figures of mammoths, horses and rhinoceroses are depicted here. The pictures indicate that the artist saw all this fauna in close proximity.

The drawings of the Shulgan-tash cave were created about 12-14 thousand years ago. Similar images available in Spain and France.

Indigenous peoples of the Urals

Voguls - Russian Hungarians

The original Uralian - who is he? For example, Bashkirs, Tatars and Mari live in this region just a few centuries. However, even before the arrival of these nations given land was inhabited. The indigenous people were the Mansi, called Voguls before the revolution. On the map of the Urals you can now find rivers and settlements called “Vogulka”.

Mansi belong to the Finno-Ugric people language group. Their dialect is related to the Khanty (Ostyaks) and Hungarians. Ancient times given people inhabited the territory north of the Yaik River (Ural), but later they were forced out by warlike nomadic tribes. Vogulov was even mentioned by Nestor in his “Tale of Bygone Years”, where they are called “Yugra”.

The Voguls actively resisted Russian expansion. Foci of active resistance were suppressed in the 17th century. At the same time, the Christianization of the Voguls took place. The first baptism occurred in 1714, the second in 1732, and later in 1751.

After the conquest of the indigenous inhabitants of the Urals, the Mansi were obliged to pay taxes - yasak - subordinate to the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. They had to pay the treasury one tribute in two foxes, for which they were allowed to use arable and hay lands, as well as forests. They were exempted from conscription until 1874. From 1835 they had to pay a poll tax, and later perform zemstvo duties.

The Voguls were divided into nomadic and sedentary tribes. The first had canonical plagues in the summer, and spent the winter either in huts or in yurts with a fireplace equipped there. The sedentary people built rectangular huts from logs with an earthen floor and a flat roof covered with chopped logs and birch bark.

The main activity of the Mansi was hunting. They lived mainly on what they got with bows and arrows. The most desirable prey was considered elk, from whose skin it was sewn National clothes. The Voguls tried their hand at cattle breeding, but practically did not recognize arable farming. When the factory owners became the new owners of the Urals, the indigenous population had to engage in logging and burning coal.

A hunting dog played an important role in the life of any Vogul, without which, like without an ax, no man would leave the house. Forced conversion to Christianity did not force this people to abandon ancient pagan rituals. Idols were installed in secluded places, and sacrifices were still made to them.

The Mansi are a small people, which includes 5 groups isolated from each other according to their habitat: Verkhoturye (Lozvinskaya), Cherdynskaya (Visherskaya), Kungurskaya (Chusovskaya), Krasnoufimskaya (Klenovsko-Bisertskaya), Irbitskaya.

With the arrival of the Russians, the Voguls largely adopted their orders and customs. Mixed marriages began to form. Living together in villages with Russians did not prevent the Voguls from preserving ancient activities, such as hunting.

Today there are fewer and fewer Mansi left. At the same time, only a couple of dozen people live according to old traditions. Youth is looking for better life and doesn't even know the language. In search of income, young Mansi tend to go to the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug to get an education and earn money.

Komi (Zyryans)

This people lived in the taiga zone. The main occupation was hunting fur-bearing animals and fishing. The first mention of the Zyryans is found in a scroll dating back to the 11th century. Starting from the 13th century, tribes were obliged to pay tribute to Novgorod. In 1478, the Komi territory became part of Russia. The capital of the Komi Republic, Syktyvkar, was founded in 1586 as the Ust-Sysolsk churchyard.

The Komi-Permyaks living in the Perm region appeared towards the end of the first millennium. Since the 12th century, Novgorodians entered this territory, engaged in the exchange and trade of furs. In the 15th century, the Permians formed their own principality, which was soon annexed to Moscow.

Bashkirs

Mentions of the Bashkirs are found in chronicles starting from the 10th century. They were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, and beekeeping. In the 10th century they were annexed to the Volga Bulgaria and during the same period Islam penetrated there. In 1229, Bashkiria was attacked by the Mongol-Tatars.

In 1236, this territory became the inheritance of Khan Batu’s brother. When Golden Horde collapsed, one part of Bashkiria went to the Nogai Horde, the other to the Kazan Khanate, the third to the Siberian Khanate. In 1557, Bashkiria became part of Russia after the Russians captured Kazan.

In the 17th century, Russians began to actively come to Bashkiria, among whom were peasants, artisans, and traders. The Bashkirs began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. The annexation of the Bashkir lands to Russia caused repeated uprisings of the indigenous inhabitants. Each time, pockets of resistance were brutally suppressed by the tsarist troops. In the Pugachev uprising (1773-1775), the Bashkirs accepted the most Active participation. During this period, the national hero of Bashkiria Salavat Yulaev became famous. As punishment for the Yaik Cossacks who took part in the riot, the Yaik River received the name Ural.

The development of these places accelerated significantly with the advent of the Samara-Zlatoust railway, which was built from 1885 to 1890 and passed through the central regions of Russia. An important point in the history of Bashkiria was the discovery of the first oil well, thanks to which the republic became one of the major oil regions of Russia. Bashkiria received powerful economic potential in 1941, when more than 90 large enterprises were relocated here from the west of Russia. The capital of Bashkiria is Ufa.

The Mari or Cheremis are a Finno-Ugric people. Settled in Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Udmurtia. There are Mari villages in the Sverdlovsk region. They were first mentioned in the 6th century by the Gothic historian Jordan. The Tatars called these people “cheremysh,” which meant “obstacle.” Before the revolution began in 1917, the Mari were usually called Cheremis or Cheremis, but then given word was considered offensive and removed from use. Now this name is returning again, especially in the scientific world.

Nagaibaki

There are several versions of the origin of this nation. According to one of them, they may be descendants of Naiman warriors, Turks who were Christians. Nagaibaks are representatives ethnographic group baptized Tatars of the Volga-Ural region. This is indigenous small people RF. Nagaibak Cossacks took part in all large-scale battles of the 18th century. They live in the Chelyabinsk region.

Tatars

The Tatars are the second largest people in the Urals (after the Russians). Most Tatars live in Bashkiria (about 1 million). There are many completely Tatar villages in the Urals.

The Agafurovs were in the past one of the most famous merchants of the Urals among the Tatars

Culture of the peoples of the Urals

The culture of the peoples of the Urals is quite unique and original. Until the Urals ceded to Russia, many local peoples did not have their own written language. However, over time, these same peoples knew not only their own language, but also Russian.

The amazing legends of the peoples of the Urals are full of bright, mysterious plots. As a rule, the action is associated with caves and mountains, various treasures.

It is impossible not to mention the unsurpassed skill and imagination of folk craftsmen. The products of craftsmen made from Ural minerals are widely known. They can be seen in leading museums in Russia.

The region is also famous for wood and bone carvings. The wooden roofs of traditional houses, laid without the use of nails, are decorated with carved “ridges” or “hens”. Among the Komi, it is customary to place wooden figures of birds on separate poles near the house. There is such a thing as “Perm animal style”. Just look at the ancient figurines of mythical creatures cast in bronze, found during excavations.

Kasli casting is also famous. These are amazing in their sophistication creations made of cast iron. Masters created the most beautiful candelabra, figurines, sculptures and Jewelry. This direction has gained credibility in the European market.

A strong tradition is the desire to have your own family and love for children. For example, the Bashkirs, like other peoples of the Urals, revere their elders, so the main members of families are grandparents. Descendants know by heart the names of the ancestors of seven generations.

The Urals are the northern cradle of humanity, the homeland of the Aryans and Hyperboreans. This is what most researchers now think, and this opinion is completely justified.

In the Kapova Cave, in the Bashkir Shulgan Tash Nature Reserve, well-preserved Paleolithic rock art, about 20 thousand years old, was discovered.
On Vera Island in Lake Turgoyak (Southern Urals), archaeologists discovered ancient megalithic structures– dolmens. Researchers identify them as Stone Age tombs built in the 3rd millennium BC. In terms of age, only later monuments of ancient civilizations - the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico - are able to compete with them. The Ural dolmens are one of the earliest buildings in Russia.
Ancient city Sintashta culture - Arkaim, located in the Chelyabinsk region. This historical monument dates back to the 2nd-3rd millennium BC.

The first written information about the peoples of the Urals dates back to ancient times.
In the 7th century BC, the traveler and poet Aristeas of Proconnesus, the first of the ancient Greeks, visited the Urals. Later he wrote the famous poem “Arimaspeia”, where he talked about his fascinating journey to the northern country where the Issedonians live. Most likely, it was one of the Scythian tribes that lived in these areas. The poet was shocked by the existence of civilization in such remote places. Aristeas wrote that the Isseidons possessed untold wealth, decorated their clothes with furs, gold and precious stones, and lived in big houses from felled trees. According to scientists, timber-frame architecture was brought to these regions by the Scythian culture.
Ancient poets and scientists described with admiration the Riphean Mountains and the people who lived there. According to legends, these places were especially loved by Apollo, the ancient Greek god-healer and soothsayer. He traveled every year to winter time specifically to the Riphean (Hyperborean) mountains.
Modern researchers are not yet ready to answer the question about the ethnicity of the ancient inhabitants of the Urals, therefore the ancient Urals are divided into cultural groups.
The largest group was made up of tribes that went down in history under the name “Andronovo”. They were named after the place where the remains of their life were first found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The forests at that time were inhabited by the “Cherkaskul people,” who are called so because the remains of their culture were first found on Lake Cherkaskul in the north of the Chelyabinsk region.
The Andronovo culture, which existed over a vast territory from the Yenisei to the Ural ridge and the western borders of Kazakhstan, in the 14th–10th centuries. BC e. extended to the territory of the Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions. Its characteristic features are burial mounds in wooden frames and stone boxes with crumpled bones laid on their sides and the head facing west.
In the period from the 6th century. BC e. according to the 5th century n. e. Sauromatian, Sarmatian and Alanian cultures are present in the Urals. The Sauromatians and Sarmatians lived in the Southern Urals at a time when the Scythians dominated the Black Sea region. Numerous finds indicate that the Sarmatians had metalworking, ceramics, weaving and other industries. (Salnikov K.V. Sarmatian burials in the area of ​​Magnitogorsk: Brief communications of the Institute of Material Culture, XXXIV, M.-L., 1950)
During the Copper-Bronze Age, several tribes lived in the Urals, which differed significantly in culture and origin. In the II-I millennium BC. The ancient inhabitants of the Urals mined copper and tin and made tools, and exchanged these tools and bronze with other tribes. Products of ancient Ural craftsmen found distribution in the Lower Volga region and Western Siberia.
During the Middle Ages, in the vast steppe expanses of the Southern Urals, the ancient sedentary pastoral and agricultural population began to switch to nomadic cattle breeding, the Urals became a place of nomadic tribes. During this period, Turkic tribes settled in the territories of the Lower Urals ethnic group, The Upper Urals are inhabited by tribes of the Finno-Ugric group.
The first information about the exploration of the Urals by Russians is found in the outstanding Old Russian chronicler Nestor in “The Tale of Bygone Years,” written at the beginning of the 12th century. It talks about how the Novgorodians overcame the Belt Stone, (so in ancient Rus' called the Ural Mountains), and found great natural resources here. The development of these places by Russians begins in the 13th century. And already in the 15th century, the first Russian settlements appeared in the Urals. The most attractive place for Russians is the sparsely populated Middle Urals, rich in its resources, where numerous metallurgical plants and mining enterprises subsequently grew up. The tribes of the Southern Urals, after the defeat of the Kazan Khanate by the Russians, alternately voluntarily join Russia, freeing themselves from the rule of the Mongol and Tatar khans. In the annexed territories, Russian governors erected defensive fortresses, created a Yaik Cossack army, and strengthened border lines to protect against raids by nomadic tribes.
The tribes of the Upper Urals resisted joining Russia for a long time, but it was impossible from the point of view of the autocrats to remain independent within the Russian kingdom. Until the end of the 16th century, the Mansi princes waged a real war with the Russians, besieged towns near the Urals, and took part in the campaign of the Siberian Khan Mametkul against Chusovaya. But in 1581, the Pelym prince Bekhbeley was defeated, captured and forced to take an oath of allegiance to the Moscow Tsar. The entry of Mansi lands into the Russian state was finally secured by the founding of the cities of Tobolsk, Pelym, Berezov and Surgut at the end of the 16th century.

Peoples of the Urals The Urals are known as a multinational region with a rich culture based on ancient traditions. Not only Russians live here (who began to actively populate the Urals since the 17th century), but also Bashkirs, Tatars, Komi, Mansi, Nenets, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovians and others. The appearance of man in the Urals The first man appeared in the Urals approximately 100 thousand years ago. It is possible that this happened earlier, but scientists do not yet have any finds associated with an earlier period. The oldest Paleolithic site of primitive man was discovered in the area of ​​Lake Karabalykty, not far from the village of Tashbulatovo, Abzelilovsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.A. Oborin, famous researchers of the Urals, claim that the Proto-Urals were ordinary Neanderthals. It has been established that people moved to this territory from Central Asia. For example, in Uzbekistan, a complete skeleton of a Neanderthal boy was found, whose life span coincided with the first exploration of the Urals. Anthropologists recreated the appearance of a Neanderthal, which was taken as the appearance of the Urals during the settlement of this territory. Ancient people were not able to survive alone. Danger awaited them at every step, and the capricious nature of the Urals every now and then showed its obstinate disposition. Only mutual assistance and caring for each other helped primitive man to survive. The main activity of the tribes was the search for food, so absolutely everyone was involved, including children. Hunting, fishing, and gathering are the main ways to obtain food. A successful hunt meant a lot to the entire tribe, so people sought to appease nature with the help of complex rituals. Rituals were performed before the image of certain animals. Evidence of this is the preserved rock paintings, including a unique monument - the Shulgan-tash cave, located on the banks of the Belaya (Agidel) River in the Burzyansky district of Bashkortostan. Inside, the cave looks like an amazing palace with huge halls connected by wide corridors. The total length of the first floor is 290 m. The second floor is 20 m above the first and stretches 500 m in length. The corridors lead to a mountain lake. It is on the walls of the second floor that unique drawings of primitive man, created using ocher, have been preserved. Figures of mammoths, horses and rhinoceroses are depicted here. The pictures indicate that the artist saw all this fauna in close proximity. The drawings of the Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash) were created about 12-14 thousand years ago. There are similar images in Spain and France. Indigenous peoples of the Urals Voguls - Russian Hungarians Original Uralian - who is he? For example, the Bashkirs, Tatars and Mari have lived in this region for only a few centuries. However, even before the arrival of these peoples, this land was inhabited. The indigenous people were the Mansi, called Voguls before the revolution. On the map of the Urals you can now find rivers and settlements called “Vogulka”. Mansi belong to the people of the Finno-Ugric language group. Their dialect is related to the Khanty (Ostyaks) and Hungarians. In ancient times, these people inhabited the territory north of the Yaik River (Ural), but later they were forced out by warlike nomadic tribes. Vogulov was even mentioned by Nestor in his “Tale of Bygone Years”, where they are called “Yugra”. The Voguls actively resisted Russian expansion. Foci of active resistance were suppressed in the 17th century. At the same time, the Christianization of the Voguls took place. The first baptism occurred in 1714, the second - in 1732, and later - in 1751. After the conquest of the indigenous inhabitants of the Urals, the Mansi were obliged to pay taxes - yasak - submitting to the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. They had to pay the treasury one tribute in two foxes, for which they were allowed to use arable and hay lands, as well as forests. They were exempted from conscription until 1874. From 1835 they had to pay a poll tax, and later perform zemstvo duties. The Voguls were divided into nomadic and sedentary tribes. The first had canonical plagues in the summer, and spent the winter either in huts or in yurts with a fireplace equipped there. The sedentary people built rectangular huts from logs with an earthen floor and a flat roof covered with chopped logs and birch bark. Mansi The main activity of the Mansi was hunting. They lived mainly on what they got with bows and arrows. The most desirable prey was considered to be elk, from whose skin national clothing was made. The Voguls tried their hand at cattle breeding, but practically did not recognize arable farming. When the factory owners became the new owners of the Urals, the indigenous population had to engage in logging and burning coal. A hunting dog played an important role in the life of any Vogul, without which, like without an ax, no man would leave the house. Forced conversion to Christianity did not force this people to abandon ancient pagan rituals. Idols were installed in secluded places, and sacrifices were still made to them. The Mansi are a small people, which includes 5 groups isolated from each other according to their habitat: Verkhoturye (Lozvinskaya), Cherdynskaya (Visherskaya), Kungurskaya (Chusovskaya), Krasnoufimskaya (Klenovsko-Bisertskaya), Irbitskaya. With the arrival of the Russians, the Voguls largely adopted their orders and customs. Mixed marriages began to form. Living together in villages with Russians did not prevent the Voguls from preserving ancient activities, such as hunting. Today there are fewer and fewer Mansi left. At the same time, only a couple of dozen people live according to old traditions. Young people are looking for a better life and don’t even know the language. In search of income, young Mansi tend to go to the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug to get an education and earn money. Komi (Zyryans) This people lived in the taiga zone. The main occupation was hunting fur-bearing animals and fishing. The first mention of the Zyryans is found in a scroll dating back to the 11th century. Starting from the 13th century, tribes were obliged to pay tribute to Novgorod. In 1478, the Komi territory became part of Russia. The capital of the Komi Republic - Syktyvkar - was founded in 1586 as the Ust-Sysolsk churchyard. Komi-Zyrians Komi-Permyaks Komi-Permyaks living in the Perm region appeared towards the end of the first millennium. Since the 12th century, Novgorodians entered this territory, engaged in the exchange and trade of furs. In the 15th century, the Permians formed their own principality, which was soon annexed to Moscow. Bashkirs Mentions of the Bashkirs are found in chronicles starting from the 10th century. They were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, fishing, hunting, and beekeeping. In the 10th century they were annexed to the Volga Bulgaria and during the same period Islam penetrated there. In 1229, Bashkiria was attacked by the Mongol-Tatars. In 1236, this territory became the inheritance of Khan Batu’s brother. When the Golden Horde disintegrated, one part of Bashkiria went to the Nogai Horde, the other to the Kazan Khanate, and the third to the Siberian Khanate. In 1557, Bashkiria became part of Russia. In the 17th century, Russians began to actively come to Bashkiria, among whom were peasants, artisans, and traders. The Bashkirs began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. The annexation of the Bashkir lands to Russia caused repeated uprisings of the indigenous inhabitants. Each time, pockets of resistance were brutally suppressed by the tsarist troops. The Bashkirs took an active part in the Pugachev uprising (1773-1775). During this period, the national hero of Bashkiria Salavat Yulaev became famous. As punishment for the Yaik Cossacks who took part in the riot, the Yaik River received the name Ural. The development of these places accelerated significantly with the advent of the Samara-Zlatoust railway, which was built from 1885 to 1890 and passed through the central regions of Russia. An important moment in the history of Bashkiria was the discovery of the first oil well, thanks to which the republic became one of the major oil regions of Russia. Bashkiria received powerful economic potential in 1941, when more than 90 large enterprises were relocated here from the west of Russia. The capital of Bashkiria is Ufa. Mari The Mari or Cheremis are a Finno-Ugric people. Settled in Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Udmurtia. There are Mari villages in the Sverdlovsk region. They were first mentioned in the 6th century by the Gothic historian Jordan. The Tatars called these people “cheremysh,” which meant “obstacle.” Before the revolution began in 1917, the Mari were usually called Cheremis or Cheremis, but then this word was considered offensive and was removed from use. Now this name is returning again, especially in the scientific world. Nagaibaki There are several versions of the origin of this nation. According to one of them, they may be descendants of Naiman warriors, Turks who were Christians. The Nagaibaks are representatives of the ethnographic group of baptized Tatars of the Volga-Ural region. These are the indigenous people of the Russian Federation. Nagaibak Cossacks took part in all large-scale battles of the 18th century. They live in the Chelyabinsk region. Tatars Tatars are the second largest people in the Urals (after the Russians). Most Tatars live in Bashkiria (about 1 million). There are many completely Tatar villages in the Urals. The Agafurovs The Agafurovs were in the past one of the most famous merchants of the Urals among the Tatars. The culture of the peoples of the Urals The culture of the peoples of the Urals is quite unique and original. Until the Urals ceded to Russia, many local peoples did not have their own written language. However, over time, these same peoples knew not only their own language, but also Russian. The amazing legends of the peoples of the Urals are full of bright, mysterious plots. As a rule, the action is associated with caves and mountains, various treasures. It is impossible not to mention the unsurpassed skill and imagination of folk craftsmen. The products of craftsmen made from Ural minerals are widely known. They can be seen in leading museums in Russia. The region is also famous for wood and bone carvings. The wooden roofs of traditional houses, laid without the use of nails, are decorated with carved “ridges” or “hens”. Among the Komi, it is customary to place wooden figures of birds on separate poles near the house. There is such a thing as “Perm animal style”. Just look at the ancient figurines of mythical creatures cast in bronze, found during excavations. Kasli casting is also famous. These are amazing in their sophistication creations made of cast iron. Masters created the most beautiful candelabra, figurines, sculptures and jewelry. This direction has gained authority in the European market. A strong tradition is the desire to have your own family and love for children. For example, the Bashkirs, like other peoples of the Urals, revere their elders, so the main members of families are grandparents. Descendants know by heart the names of the ancestors of seven generations.