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The Evenks National area

Evenkia Municipal District Profile

https://youtu.be/H6pGdckOpxs 

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY

Evenkia (Evenki region) refers to the regions of the Far North. It is located in the north-east of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, occupies 32% of its total area, but the share of the population of Evenkia is only 0.53%. This is one of the most sparsely populated territories not only in Russia, but throughout the world. The administrative and territorial status of Evenkia is currently a municipal district in the composition of the united Krasnoyarsk Territory.

99% of Evenkia is covered with pristine, pristine and impassable taiga, cut by many rivers and streams - the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska, Ilimpei, Khatanga flow through its territory. The green canvas of the taiga is generously decorated with lakes, among which are Essei and Vivi, and hills - the famous granite Evenki pillars. But the “crown” of local nature is the Putorana Plateau: a mountainous region of unique animals, unusual flora and waterfalls. Forests are mainly coniferous: spruce, larch, pine, Siberian cedar. There are birch, alder, bird cherry and mountain ash. A tenth of the territory is occupied by the tundra. And permafrost is widespread everywhere. Evenkia is far from the main Siberian cities, there are no year-round roads on its territory, movement along the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska is possible for several weeks a year, and even then during the flood: all villages are on the rivers. The bulk of the cargo is delivered by winter road and aircraft.

The distance from the administrative center to Moscow is 5738 km, to Krasnoyarsk - about 1000 km.

CAPITAL: The administrative center is the village of Tura (founded in 1927, population 5,500 as of 2018)

AREA:  767,600 km2. Length: 1,500 km from north to south and 850 km from west to east.

 POPULATION & NATIONALITIES: 15 733 as of 2020. National composition is presented by: Russians – 61%, Evenks 22%, Yakuts 6%, Ukrainians 3%, Ket 1%.
CLIMATE

The climate of the region is sharply continental, the duration of winter is eight months. December-February is the season of the lowest temperatures, sometimes below -60 ° C. Spring and autumn are so short that are almost invisible. Summer does not last very long: from late June to mid-August. The weather is capricious in summer: from sudden frosts to heat of + 40 ° Ñ. A polar day in summer gradually changes to a polar night in winter.

HISTORY

The earliest information about nomadic reindeer herders, which are now called Evenks, is found in Chinese historical chronicles of the 5th-7th centuries. But in general, until the XX century Evenki were not a single people, but separate tribes, living at a great distance from each other. At the same time, they were connected by a single language, customs and beliefs, which already indicates the common roots of all Evenks. The origin of the people has not yet been precisely established. Perhaps their homeland is Altai, Mongolia or Manchuria. Ethnographers offer dozens of theories.

 Evenkia appeared as an administrative entity in 1930, when Soviet power created the Evenk Autonomous Okrug as part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The residents of the region still celebrate their main holiday, Evenkia Day, on December 10, the day the Evenk Autonomous Region was formed. From 1991 to 2006, the district was an independent subject of the Russian Federation, remaining administratively territorial part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. According to the results of the referendum, since 2007 the Evenki Autonomous Okrug has become the Evenki municipal district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
 
 NATURE PRESERVES / WILDLIFE SANCTURIES

Tunguska Reserve

Area: total area is 296,562 hectares, the area of the protection zone is 20,241 hectares

 Location: village Vanavara, in the central part of the Central Siberian plateau
 
The reserve was created in 1995 in order to study the consequences of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite and the preservation of local biocenoses. It is a conservation area of federal significance. The territory of the reserve can be divided into two parts.  The first, with an area of approximately 215,000 ha, is the main "testing ground" for studying the environmental consequences of the Tunguska meteorite. On June 30, 1908, a natural phenomenon that has not yet been fully deciphered by scientists has occurred on the territory of the reserve. On this day, 70 km northwest of the village of Vanavara, there was a heavy-duty explosion of an object of unknown nature, known as the Tunguska meteorite. As a result of the explosion, the taiga on an area of more than 2 thousand km2 was felled and burned. In the years since the disaster, the taiga in this area has recovered. However, the nature of the Tunguska phenomenon remains unclear to date and its study continues. The documents of the reserve indicate that the site of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite is of exceptional interest as the only region on the globe that makes it possible to directly study the environmental consequences of space catastrophes.
 
 Another part of the territory was not directly affected by the explosion and is of scientific interest from other points of view. First of all, it is a reference area in which studies of natural complexes can be carried out. Larch and pine-larch forests dominate on the territory of the reserve and occupy about 70% of the territory. The fauna of the reserve is quite diverse and is represented by species characteristic of the middle taiga of Central Siberia: a bear, a wolf, a wolverine, a fox, a sable, a squirrel, an elk, and a reindeer. Seasonal bird flight routes pass through the reserve. Among the birds, capercaillie, black grouse, and hazel grouse are characteristic of the protected area. There are species listed in the Red Books of the Russian Federation and the Krasnoyarsk Territory: white-tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, osprey, black stork. About 40 species of fish live in the reservoirs, including sterlet, Siberian sturgeon, taimen, lenok, nelma and Yenisei river whitefish.
 

Also, six sites of an ancient culture were identified on the territory of the reserve. An open-air ethnographic museum is opened on the Yadulikan cordon, which acquaints tourists with the culture of the Evenki people.

 Currently, five ecological and educational routes operate on the territory - foot, water, two mixed and helicopter. Churgimsky waterfall is a landmark of the reserve, you can get on it by choosing one of the two allowed water ecological and educational routes. With rapid streams, it falls from a 10-meter height into a pond with color rocks around, where you can swim. Climbing the slopes along the waterfall, you find yourself in a 150-meter stone canyon. Along the slope there is a path to Mount Kaskadnaya, which offers a magnificent view of the Churgim valley.

Central Siberian Biosphere Reserve

Area: 972,017 hectares

 Location: on the western edge of the central part of the Central Siberian plateau and in the valley of the middle course of the Yenisei
 

The Central Siberian Reserve was created in 1985 to preserve and study various land and water natural complexes of middle taiga Siberia and its central part, landscapes of the floodplain and valley of the Yenisei River and its tributaries - the Podkamennaya Tunguska and Stolbovaya rivers. This is the only place in Russia where both banks of one of the great rivers of Eurasia are reserved at a distance of 60 km. In 1986, the reserve was given the status of a biosphere reserve by decision of UNESCO.

 The main ecosystems of the reserve are the Siberian taiga, rivers, swamps and rocky cliffs. The deepest winters are marked here. Central Siberian is a key reserve for the conservation of sable, elk, taimen, lenok and other valuable commercial species of animals. Capercaillie, whooper swan, marsh and hawk owls, black grouse, musk deer, Altai mole, elk, brown bear, reindeer, wolverine, sable, Siberian sturgeon, sterlet, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, guarded on the territory of the reserve stork. In the Central Siberian Reserve there are species of birds, animals and plants listed in the Red Books of the Russian Federation and Krasnoyarsk Territory. The vegetation of the reserve has a typical mid-taiga appearance. The forest-forming species is Siberian cedar, less often Siberian spruce.
 

On the territory of the state biosphere reserve, any activity is prohibited, except for research and environmental education. Tourists can visit the reserve with the permission of the administration: the reserve has developed walking and rafting routes, routes of flying around the territory by helicopter.

Putoran State Nature Reserve

Area: 1,887,000 hectares

 Location: in the polar zone of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Taimyr municipal district
 

The reserve was established in 1988. The main objectives of its creation are the protection of mountain-lake-taiga landscapes, a peculiar plant world and rare species of animals. In August 2010, the reserve was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

 The Putoransky Nature Reserve is a unique mountain landscape of the Russian Arctic - table mountains, narrow gorges, bottomless elongated lakes that look like fjords, many waterfalls, cascades and rapids.
 
On the territory of the reserve, a diversity of plant and animal species exceptional for these latitudes was recorded, including those listed in the Red Book of Russia. 34 species of mammals, 187 species of birds, about 40 species and subspecies of fish, and one species of amphibians are directly found here. The fauna of Putorana is diverse. Among the most numerous are the Siberian mole, wolf, fox, arctic fox, brown bear, ermine, sable, lynx. In spring and autumn, a large number of migrating reindeers pass through taiga spaces. Also, the Putorana Plateau is inhabited by a unique endemic subspecies of a ram. The area of ​​the Putorana sheep (thick-horned sheep) is located in the central part of the Putorana plateau and is hundreds of kilometers away from the distribution areas of other subspecies of this animal.
 

Here on an isolated mountain range you can observe the perfect combination of subarctic and arctic ecosystems (taiga, forest-tundra, arctic desert). To visit these deserted places, it is required to obtain official permission from the administration of the reserve, and only organized groups registered in the regional department of the Ministry of Emergencies are allowed to enter the territory.

 
 
TOUR SIGHTS OF INTEREST
 

Evenk Museum of Local Lore, located in the village of Tura was founded in 1927, it is the only public repository of historical relics of Evenki culture, Essenes of Yakutia, Keto living in Evenkia. The unique part of the funds consists of a natural science and archaeological collection, an ethnographic collection (national clothes, antique women's jewelry, deer harness jewelry, Evenk calendars, musical instruments made of wood, bone, metal), a collection of religious objects (shamanistic costume, tambourines, amulets) , a collection of numismatics, applied art (objects made of birch bark, bones, fur appliqués, bead embroidery), a collection of fine art, documentary materials and personal belongings of people who contributed to the development of Evenkia.

 The Putorana Plateau is the most northern and one of the oldest in the world plateaus of volcanic origin. Formed 10-12 million years ago as a result of a strong earthquake. Exit to the surface of basaltic rocks led to the appearance in the northwest of the plateau of large copper-nickel ore deposits. The rivers, breaking through multilayer rocks on the plateau, formed deep (up to 1280 m) river valleys and picturesque canyons, numerous rapids and waterfalls. Talnikovy waterfall (height from 482 to 600 m in various sources) is considered the highest in Eurasia. Deep and long lakes of predominantly moraine origin formed at the bottom of the valleys. The area of the Putorana Plateau is about a quarter of a million square kilometers and is comparable to the area of Great Britain.
youtu.be/H6pGdckOpxsIn the southwestern part of the Putorana Plateau is Lake Vivi, that is considered the geographical center of Russia. The center is fixed 16 km south of the Arctic Circle, and the lake is so large (88 km long) that it crosses the circle itself. It takes a long time to get here (2 hours by helicopter from the neighboring Turukhansky district), there are no permanent settlements here, no one lives here except a bear, a fox and a deer. Even the exact depth of the lake is unknown: Evenks say that it is about 200 m. The lake is large - more than 30 rivers flow into it, and there is an abundance of fish: taimen, char, grayling, pike, perch, lenok.
 Vivi, as well as lakes Nyakshingda, Agatha, Severnoe – are of tectonic origin. Due to the tectonic movements of the earth's crust, all these lakes deepened. Almost perpendicular to their previous directions, new deep cracks arose, which is why these lakes have angular outlines. At the bottom of Lake Agatha, for example, larch trees standing on the vine are visible - witnesses of the modern deepening of the lake.
 

In the Central Siberian Reserve there is a notable nature monument Sulomai (or Evenki) pillars: a canyon with slopes up to 150 m high, on which vertical stone hexagonal prisms with a diameter of about 10 m and a height of 80 m are located. Pillars are the result of weathering of rocks, which are similar to the figures of people, they are popularly called "Grandmother", "Mother", "Grandfather", "Granddaughter": each of the pillars has its own name.

 In Putoran reserve you can see the famous “crying rocks” - a phenomenon in which heavy snow melts, turning into streams of water, as if falling from the rocks directly into the lakes. Shaitan Mountain is located here, which has always been considered among the locals as the place of Great Power. Evenki shamans lived and turned down at its foot, and various rituals were carried out next to it. On a plateau above the Shaitan Mountain, the ruins of an ancient megalithic structure with the remains of carvings were found. On a slope of the mountain in clear weather you can see the "face of Shaitan" - a human face in a huge half-profile.
 
 
EVENTS
 

Once a year, in March, the village of Surinda becomes the venue for the traditional national holiday - Reindeer Herder Day. Representatives of the reindeer herding brigades, including women and children, compete in races both on reindeer teams and on horseback - a deer intended for riding. Here anyone can get acquainted with the life of Evenki reindeer herders; arrange ice fishing; to take part in the construction of the plague and even arrange a night in it. For local residents, Reindeer herder’s day is not just a holiday, but also an opportunity to attract the attention of fellow countrymen to the problem of preserving the industry in Evenkia: development of the reindeer herding village infrastructure is needed, social facilities and housing are waiting for repairs, other favorable conditions for residents, engaged in reindeer husbandry must be created.

Along with the day of the reindeer herder, Fisherman's Day is celebrated annually. This distinctive holiday is held in late April. Everyone can take part in fishing competitions, compete for prose places and, of course, try a baud from their catch cooked at the stake. For most fishermen, this competition is primarily an opportunity to get out into the nature, relax and chat with each other.

Another big holiday is the Evenki New Year - Muchun, celebrated in June. Since ancient times, Evenks gathered on this day, talked about the past winter and made plans for a new one. During Muchun pagan rites of purification and fumigation of a kurekan - hedge for deer are performed.

The Evenki Dawns festival takes place every three years, alternately in one of the major villages. Within its framework performances of amateur artists, exhibitions and sales of products by masters of decorative and applied arts, sports (national wrestling, throwing a mout on a trochee, jumping over sledges, throwing an ax with a range) are held.

In the administrative center the village of Tura, the annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous People - Aboriginal Day is celebrated. The holiday is held in August and attracts a large number of guests from all over the region, mainly because of its distinctive features. The Path of Atonement is exactly where the Aboriginal Day begins. Passing it is not easy - there are many different obstacles. But only here, according to the traditions of the indigenous peoples of the North, it is possible to get rid of ailments, troubles and problems, and at the same time - from evil spirits that bring them. You can get acquainted with the Evenki culture here. On the site there are patrimonial plagues, where they are ready to share national traditions and food with any guest. This holiday is of great importance for the indigenous peoples of the North. It is here that they can tell about themselves - their culture and traditions, show how they live beyond the Arctic Circle.

 

What do you know about Evenks nation? Find out some facts on their way of life, beliefs and culture by this link.

Read about one of the most unexplainable events – the Tunguska meteorite here

Pick up a map of Russia, point to the center of the enormous country, then drag your finger north to a blank spot in central Siberia not marred by the names of towns or villages. This is the Putorana Plateau. Though its topography is reminiscent of the plateaus and mesas of America's Southwest, Putorana is no desert. It is crisscrossed by scores of unspoiled lakes and streams teeming with arctic grayling, char, and other fish. Its valleys are thick with long-lived larch trees that shelter brown bear, moose, wolverines, and great herds of migrating reindeer. Continue reading the story by the National Geographic here.  

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