Kumandins

The Kumandins (natively, Kumandy, Kuvandy(g)) are a Turkic Indigenous people of Siberia. They reside mainly in the Altai Krai and Altai Republic of the Russian Federation.[2] They speak the Northern Altai Kumandin language.[3][4]

Kumandins
Къуманды, Къуванды(г)
Kumandy, Kuvandy(g)
Total population
2,892
Regions with significant populations
 Russia 2,892[1][2]
Languages
Northern Altai (Kumandin dialect)
Religion
Orthodox Christianity,[2] also Shamanism, Burkhanism
Related ethnic groups
Altaians, Siberian Tatars, Khakas, Shors, Teleuts, Tofalar
Primarily region of the Kumandins in Siberia.

According to the 1926 census, 6,335 Kumandins lived within the territory of Russia. In the 2010 census, the number was only 2,892, but possibly the 1926 census included some related peoples. Some Kumandins, living on the banks of the Biya River, from the Kuu River downstream, almost to the city of Biysk, and along the lower course of the Katun River, by 1969 were conflated with the Russians population.[5]

In the Soviet years and until 2000, the authorities considered the Kumandins to be part of the Altai people. Currently, according to the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 255 dated March 24, 2000, as well as the Russian Census (2002), they are recognized as a separate ethnic group within indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.[3] For ethnic rights protection was established the "Association of the Kumandin People Revival".[4]

Origins
See also: Seok (clan), Cumans § Origins, and Kipchaks § History

Omeljan Pritsak claimed that kuman- in the name of the Kumandins is identical in meaning to the names given to the Turkic people, Cumans-Kipchaks and Polovets (a Slavic term for Cumans).[6][7]

However, the seoks (tribes) of the Kumandins have varying origin myths; L. Potapov proposed that they were originally a federation of peoples from different backgrounds: nomadic steppe pastoralists (such as the Cumans), taiga hunters (Chuvash), deer pastoralists (Nenets), and fishers (Tatars).[8]

[The] Kumans belonged to the Kuman-Kipchak confederation (Polevetses of the Rus annals, Comans of Byzantine sources, Folban of German annals) [and] during the period from the end of the 800s to 1230s CE spread their political influence in the broad steppes from Altai to Crimea and Danube. Irtysh with its adjoining steppes (at least below the lake Zaisan) was in the sphere of that confederation. Members of the confederation undoubtedly also were the ancestors of the present Kumandy and Teleuts, which is evidenced by their language that like the language of the Tobol-Irtysh and Baraba Tatars belongs to the Kypchak group.[9]

By the 17th century, the Kumandins lived along the river Charysh, near its confluence with the river Ob. A subsequent relocation to the Altai was driven by their unwillingness to pay yasak (financial tribute) to the Russian sovereign.[10] N. Aristov linked the Kumandins – and the Chelkans – to the ancient Turks, "who in the 6th-8th CC AD created in Central Asia a powerful nomadic state, which received ... the name Turkic Kaganate".[11]

[12]

Potapov regarded the Kumandins as being related anthropologically to the peoples of the Urals, and suggested that they were less East Asian than the Altaians proper.[13] This subjective impression has been borne out to an extent by genetic research (see below).

Six seoks have been identified:[14]

Kumandin seok namesProposed ethnolinguistic linksPeriodNote
Soo (So)possibly a proto-Turkic people; tribal names similar to Soo – the Sogo, Soko, Soo, and Soky – have been recorded among the Khakas and Yakutsbefore 4th century[7][15]
Kubandypossibly part of the Kangar confederation and/or Cumans7th century[16]
Tastarpossibly also part of the Kangar confederation, Cumans and/or Ases7th century[17]
Diuty (Chooty)possibly Tele/Teleuts (part of the Türkic Kaganate)6th to 8th centuries[18]
Chabash (Chabat)possibly Chuvashunknown[8]
Ton (Ton-Kubandy)possibly a Nenets tribe, Tongjoan (Altays) and/or Tongak (Tuvinians)12th century
(The Secret History of the Mongols) [17]

An ancient Turkic legend recorded in the Chinese annal (Book of Zhou 周書, 636 CE) mentions the origin of the Göktürks' ancestors from a possession or state named Suǒ (索國; MC: *sak̚-kwək̚), located "north of the Xiongnu country" (which, in this case, apparently meant Mongolia).[16][19][20][21]

The name of the seok Ton is explained as an ethnonym that reflects their economic specialization, as a word meaning "deer" and "reindeer breeder".Potapov (1969), pp. 60, 61 The remote ancestors of this Kumandy seok Ton were reindeer breeders, reflected in Kumandy hunting legends and fairy tales, for example about milking deer (which is attributed to the Kumandy's mountain spirits). The memory about breeding and milking reindeer belongs to some remote historical ancestors of a part of Kumandy; they can be explained by participation in the Kumandy ethnogenesis of the southern Nenets tribes, who cultivated riding deer, typically used not only for transport but also for food and dress.

Genetics

Genetically, the Kumandins are different from the neighboring Altai people, into which they were tried to be included in the Soviet years. They are genetically isolated not only from the southern, but also from the northern Altaians. This is evidenced by the complete absence of the variants of the Y chromosome haplogroups—R1a and Q—which are absolutely dominant in Altai. At the same time, the haplogroup R1b is widespread within them, and except for the Kumandins themselves, no one in Altai has found it in any quantity.[22]

By genetic research suggesting that most Kumandin males belong to Y-DNA haplogroups that are generally found in populations further to the west, such as R1b (although the Kumandins belong to R1b-M73 rather than R1b-M269, the latter being the subclade to which a majority of Europeans belong) and N-P43 have remarked that, in fact, Chelkans and Kumandins have N-P43 Y chromosomes very similar to ones found in the Ugric-speaking Khanty).[23] However, a majority of mitochondrial DNA lines belonged to the North East Asian haplogroups C or D with also a large minority of west Eurasian lineages such as U5a1 (5/52), H8 (3/52), U4b1b (2/52), X2e (2/52), and T1a (1/52).[23]

Culture

The Kumandins were originally hunters and animals living in the taiga were vital to the local subsistence economy.[24] Around the 19th century, Kumandins took up picking cedar nuts as an additional economic activity.[25]

The traditional dwellings of the Kumandins included polygonal yurts made out of bark or log and topped with a conic bark roof. Other types of dwellings also included conic yurts made out of bark or perches.[24]

Traditional Kumandin dress included short breeches, linen shirts, and single-breasted robes.[24]

Religion

Most modern Kumandins are Orthodox Christians,[2] but shamanism and Burkhanism is also practiced by some.[24][26]

References
  1. Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  2. Nazarov, I.I.; Funk, D.A.; Kondratieva, N.M. (2020). "Кумандинцы" [Kumandins]. Большая российская энциклопедия/Great Russian Encyclopedia Online (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  3. "Kumandin". ELP Endangered Languages Project. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  4. Bitkeeva, A.N. "The Kumandin Language". Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia. UNESCO. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  5. Potapov, Leonid P. (1969). Этнический состав и происхождение алтайцев. Историко-этнографический очерк [Ethnic composition and origin of Altaians. Historical ethnographical essay] (in Russian). Leningrad: Nauka. p. 21.
  6. Pritsak O., "Stammesnamen und Titulaturen der altaischen Volker. Ural-Altaische JahrMcher", Bd. 24, 1952, Sect. 1–2, pp. 49–104
  7. Potapov 1969, p. 58.
  8. Potapov 1969, pp. 47, 60, 62, 74.
  9. Potapov 1969, p. 59.
  10. Potapov 1969, pp. 56–69.
  11. Aristov N. A., Notes on ethnic composition of Türkic tribes and nations//Olden Times Alive, 1896, v. 3–4, p. 341
  12. Potapov 1969, pp. 14, 53.
  13. Potapov 1969, p. 19.
  14. W. Radloff "Aus Sibirien", Bd. 1, p. 212
  15. Pritsak О. "Das Abakan- und Čulymtürkische und das Schorische"//Jean Deny et al. (Hrsg.): Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta, Wiesbaden, 1959, p. 600
  16. Potapov 1969, p. 54.
  17. Potapov 1969, p. 60.
  18. Potapov 1969, pp. 14, 59.
  19. N. Aristov asserted: "The tribal possession Suo, lying to the north of the Hun [sic] country, i. e. from the present Mongolia, should be on the northern side of Altai mountains, for its southern slopes were part of the Hun [sic] lands... From that, with sufficient reliability can be concluded that the legendary forefather of the Turks descended from the tribe Suo that lived in the northern Altai, and that the clan So is a small remainder of that, probably not such a small tribe during prehistoric times." Aristov N.A., Notes on ethnic composition of Türkic tribes and nations//Olden Times Alive, 1896, Vol. 3-4, p. 279
  20. Liu Mau-tsai, "Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-Türken", vol. 1, pp. 5–6, vol. 2, pp. 489–490, Wiesbaden, 1958
  21. Potapov 1969, p. 53.
  22. Lavriashina M. B.; et al. "Коренные народы Алтае-Саян: соотношения генофондов по данным о ДНК маркерах — аутосомных и Y хромосомы" [Indigenous peoples of Altai-Sayan: Gene pool ratios according to data on DNA markers—autosomal and Y chromosomes]. genofond.ru (in Russian). Лаборатория геногеографии/Genogeography laboratory. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  23. Dulik, MC; Zhadanov, SI; Osipova, LP; Askapuli, A; Gau, L; Gokcumen, O; Rubinstein, S; Schurr, TG (2012). "Mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome variation provides evidence for a recent common ancestry between Native Americans and Indigenous Altaians". Am. J. Hum. Genet. 90 (2): 229–46. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.12.014. PMC 3276666. PMID 22281367.
  24. Encyclopedia of the world's minorities. Skutsch, Carl., Ryle, Martin (J. Martin). New York: Routledge. 2005. pp. 82–83. ISBN 1-57958-392-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  25. "The Altaics". www.eki.ee. The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  26. Akiner, Shirin (1986). Islamic peoples of the Soviet Union : with an appendix on the non-Muslim Turkic peoples of the Soviet Union : an historical and statistical handbook (2nd ed.). London: KPI. p. 434. ISBN 0-7103-0188-X.
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