The Nganasans. General Information (Endonyms, Ethnographic Groups, Settlement)

The old Russian names for the Nganasans include Tavgi and Tavgians , which come from the Nenets word Tavs (Tavgi Samoyeds). The Enets' name is Tau , derived from their area of residence. They are called Avam Samoyeds and Vadeyev Nganasans or the Avam and Vadeyev Tavgi . Nganasan is an artificial ethnonym created by the Soviet linguist and ethnographer Georgy N. Prokofiev. It means “a real person” (similar to the Chukchi’s Luoravetlan ). The books written by Andrey A. Popov perfectly illustrate the change in ethnonyms. The 1936 edition was titled  The Tavgi , and the 1948 edition was titled Nganasans .

Their endonym is the Nya (“friend, comrade”).

Numbers

862 according to the 2010 census.

The total number of Nganasans, according to the 2020 All-Russian Population Census, is 687 people. (293 men and 394 women). The main area of settlement is the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Ethnographic Groups:

– Avam (west)

– Vadeyev (east)

Settlement

Before the Sovetization of the 1930s, Nganasans lived in the northern part of the Taymyr Peninsula from the forested areas (wintering in the wooded tundra) to the foothills of the Byrranga Mountains (summers). They roamed westward along the left shore of the Golchikha River that flows into the Yenisei and also in the catchment areas of the nearest rivers flowing into the Pyasina such as the Pura, the Mokhovaya, the Agapa, and the Dudypta. In the east, they lived north of the Khatanga River and roamed nearly as far as the sea coast.

Before Russians came, Nganasans lived in the lower reaches of the Anabar (the area of northwest Yakutia adjacent to the Taymyr Peninsula). The Southeast Taymyr, a long-time Dolgan territory, has some Nganasan toponyms such as Popigay ( fa + bigay , a forest river). This is evidence of Nganasans’ previous area of settlement, although the ethnographic culture known to us reflects life skills typical of living in tundra and wooded tundra.

Various Soviet economic transformations resulted in most Nganasans gradually settling down in three villages in Central Taymyr (Ust-Avam [154 persons in 2017], Volochanka [212 according to the 2014 Census], Novaya [53 according to the 2010 Census]) and the port city of Dudinka (100 persons according to the 2010 Census). The seasonal hunting and fishing grounds they use are located along the rivers Avam, Dudypta (the Pyasina’s catchment area), and Kheta (the Khatanga’s catchment area).