Young Nenet woman with a baby on a plastic sled at the Reindeer Herders Festival in Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomus Okrug, Russia.
The Nenets, also known as Samoyed, are a Samoyedic ethnic group native to northern arctic Russia, so called Russian Far North. According to the latest census in 2010, there were 44,857 Nenets in the Russian Federation, most of them living in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District stretching along the coastline of the Arctic Ocean near the so called Arctic Circle between Kola and Taymyr peninsulas. The Nenets people speak either the Tundra or Forest Nenets languages, which are mutually unintelligible. In the Russian Federation they have a status of indigenous small-numbered peoples. There are two distinct groups of Nenets sensu stricto, based on their economy: the Tundra Nenets (living far to the north) and the Khandeyar or Forest Nenets. A distinct third group of Nenets (Yaran people) has emerged as a result of intermarriages between Nenets and Izhma Komi people. The Samoyedic languages form a branch of the Uralic language family. They moved from farther south in Siberia to the northernmost part of what later became Russia sometime before the 12th century. They ended up between the Kanin and Taymyr peninsulas, around the Ob and Yenisey rivers, with only a few of them settling into small communities like Kolva. Their main subsistence comes from hunting and reindeer herding. Using reindeer as a draft animal throughout the year enables them to cover great distances. Large-scale reindeer herding emerged in the 18th century. They bred the Samoyed dog to help herd their reindeer and pull their sleds, and European explorers later used these dogs for polar expeditions, because they were well adapted to the arctic conditions. Tundra wolves can cause considerable economic loss, as they prey on the reindeer herds which are the livelihood of some Nenets families.[7] Along with reindeer meat, fish is a major component in the Nenets' diet. Nenets housing is conical yurt (mya).
Size: 6016px × 4016px
Location: Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Photo credit: © Roberto Cornacchia / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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