A Dolgan people developed in the territory of Taimyr after the Eastern Siberia merged with Russia, Elizaveta Alexandrova, an analyst of the news agency Vestnik Kavkaza said during a live broadcast of the Peoples of Russia program on Vesti.FM.
She stressed that the emergence of Dolgans as a people is interesting due to two things: first, this process was very late, and the second, a Russian element was almost basic in this process.
Peoples of Russia is a weekly program on Vesti.FM, during which a host Georgy Saralidze and his guests talk about various aspects of life of peoples inhabiting our country.
According to the expert, one of the earliest descriptions of this people is found in the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron. "In the dictionary, Dolgans were described as a small Tungus tribe that inhabited the Turukhansk region of the Yenisei province even before Yakuts inhabited it. Later, the life of Dolgans fell under strong influence of Yakuts," the analyst said.
She also drew attention to the fact that scientists for a long time argued about the origin of the word ‘dolgos’, since this people did not have a common self-name, but called themselves by a name of the genus. "The ethnonym ‘Dolgan’ comes from the name of one of the Evenki genus - ‘Dolgan’/ ‘Dulgan’ - which translates as ‘middle’,’ internal’. Now it is generally accepted that the Dolgan people were formed in the 19th - early 20th centuries as a result of the merger of the people, resettled from the rivers Lena and Olenek of Evenks, Yakuts, as well as the individual families of Enets, "the expert said.
In addition, she pointed out that an important role in the emergence of this small people, inhabiting the northernmost peninsula of Eurasia, was played by another ethnic element - peasants of Tundra. "They are ethnic Russians who settled in Taimyr in the 16th and 17th centuries, after Siberia was annexed by Ivan the Terrible, " the analyst said.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the Russian population of Taimyr, peasants living in Tundra, began to assimilate quickly, adopting the features of Evenks and Yakuts, who were more adapted to life in the harsh climate, she explained. "Some researchers consider the Russian peasants, living in Tundra, as an integral part or even the backbone of the Dolgan people," the expert added.
