41
after Bering, who had the rank of Captain Commander. Stepan Krasheninnikov, who compiled in 1737-1741 a detailed ‘Description of the Land of Kamchatka’, and the outstanding naturalist Georg Steller took part in Bering’s second expedition to Kamchatka.
The question about Bering was probably not a casual one. Indeed, why was the strait through which Semyon Dezhnev had passed 80 years before Bering named after him? Because Dezhnev’s report about his voyage was for many years kept in the archive of the Lena ostrog and was discoverd only in the 1730s when the brave seafarer was no longer alive (he died in Moscow in 1673) and was forgotten even in Yakutia.
Speak about the geographical names connected with the names of the explorers of the Russian Far East.
The history of this eastern area is a part of the Russian history and a part of the history of the aboriginal people who live here. The way of living of eastern ancient people has been greatly influenced by the peculiarities of climate and geographical position of the Far East. For many years scientists have been making excavations in this area trying to clear up the past of the indigenous people of the Far East and to penetrate into the very source of their unique culture.
Numerous relics and archeological finds testify to the fact that this particular territory had been populated since ancient times and that a man appeared here 200-150 thousand years ago and had gone the way from a stone age to a metal age. Scrappers, cutters, sharing knives found in this area prove the origin of the settlements in the Far East in paleolithic era, in other words, in the old stone age.
The most important discovery – a bow and an arrow - was made in the transitional period from paleolithic to mesolithic which was a step forward in the development of the primitive society. Methods of stone treatment flourished in the neolithic era.
Man learnt to polish, to saw and to drill stones. Instruments of labour became more perfect and consequently more productive. These old instruments give us an idea about the way of life of ancient fishermen and hunters. Those who lived in the south were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.
In the neolithic period a man invented a ceramic and ancient vessels were decorated with rich and delicate (тонкий) ornaments of spiral design. SikachiAlyan petroglyphs is a living museum of the primitive arts of the ancient Amur tribes.
Acquaintance with metal (bronze and iron) led to the real revolution in all spheres of economy and man’s life. Agriculture, cattle-breeding, home crafts developed rapidly, social relations were changing. Matriarchy gave way to
42
patriarchy. There appeared class inequality, the first large tribal unions and the first states.
The basis of the local population of the Russian Far East are the Mokhe people who lived in taiga and mountains, who bred cattle and were engaged in hunting. The Mokhe people were real warriors, their ancient towns were often surrounded by ramparts and ditches. The source of the manpower for the Mokhe’s well - developed economy were slaves and prisoners-of-war. The ammunition found in the archeological excavations – swords, knives, spears, armoured plates – was well made and richly decorated. Gradually the Mokhe tribes formed an early state feudal system and participated in the formation of the Bokhai and Chzurchzen enthnic groups, after they lost the war in the 7th century against the Chinese Emperess U-KHOU and founded a settlement Chzen which later got the name of Bokhai.
The state of Bokhai grew rapidly and occupied a part of the present Maritime and Khabarovsk Territories. Various crafts and agriculture flourished, the Bokhai people had a written language and they did not allow their young men who could not read, write and shoot to get married. The Bokhai people also knew how to manufacture porcelain and iron nails. The favourite sports of Bokhai people were archery and horse-a-back polo.
Chzurchzen enthnic group was finally formed by the 11th century. Their economy was diverse, they were engaged in agriculture, horse-breeding, hunting and fishing. Chzen people were highly qualified craftsmen, farmers and soldiers. The lodgings of Chzen people remind us of those of the Ulchi and Nanai people at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. There existed the same heating system with a special khan-stove.
Luxurious temples with tiled roofs and faced with the images of rooster and Phoenix were erected in the state of Chzurchzen.
Coins and decorations were moulded from bronze. In 1154 banknotes appeared and three years later coined money came into life. But in the 13th century Chengis Khan struck a crushing blow to the powerful Golden Empire of the Chzen people. Their towns were burnt to ashes, but the defeat of the Empire did not mean the extinction of the ethnic group. The period from the 13th to the 17th century is described as the period of economic depression.
Answer the questions:
1.When did a man appear in the Far East?
2.When was the most important discovery made in the history of the aboriginal people?
3.What instruments of labour did the aboriginal people use?
4.What kinds of economy were the indigenous people engaged in?
5.What was the basis of the local population of the Far East?
43
6.What part of the Far East did the state of Chzurchzen occupy?
7.What did happen to the powerful Empire of the Chzen people in the 13th century?
The indigenous population of the Russian Far East is divided into two groups: the Far North Paleoasiatic (Nivkhi, Koryaki, Itelmeni) and the Tungusso-Manchurian (Oroki, Orochi, Eveni, Evenki, Nanai, Ulchi, Ude, Negidaltsi). The history of the origin and development of the local tribes goes back to the remote past. A number of different theories were suggested by the scientists but it is still difficult to draw a genuine picture of the process of populating of this area. According to scientist Shrenk the local minority people were assimilated by two ethnic waves – by Paleoasians who moved from Central Asia and by the Tunguss people who used to settle in the East of the Yenissey river. The combination of those two cultures had a great effect upon the local people who later on in their turn established close links with the Asian and North American cultures.
Diversity of cultures can be still traced in the varieties of dialects and languages of the Far Eastern indigenous people. Widely spread geographically, different ethnic communities appeared in the second and first millennium B.C. or in the early iron age in the southern part of the present-day Russian Far East. The taiga and rivers fed the local people but anyway they lived a very primitive, semi-barbarian, misery life, using simple tools and implements. But people fought with all their might for their living.
Aboriginal winter dwellings were semi-dug-outs, made of thin poles coated with clay. The interior was presented by various household articles mainly made of a birch bark. The aboriginal people were brilliant at making clothes not even knowing how to weave, primarily using fish and animal skins. For centuries the indigenous people were developing their own unique forms of applied arts which closely tied up with their everyday life.
When Russians came to the Far East they contributed much to the development of the economy and culture of the aboriginal people who learnt from Russians how to weave, to use guns for hunting, to grow vegetables. Some local people learnt reading and writing and even imitated Russian decorative art and patterns.
The most intensive settlement of Russians began in the middle of the 19th century hundreds after the serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861. Sometimes it took Russians from two to three years to get to the Far East where Russian peasants truly hoped to find better life conditions. Despite the intensive settlement the economic development of the area went very slowly, living conditions were awfull. Basically the extractive industries were only flourishing, but natural resources were robbed by the foreign companies. That was the
44
construction of the Transsiberian Railroad which caused a social and economic development of this area. The railroad was under construction for 25 years. The construction was completed in 1916, mainly by convicts as a form of cheap labour. Gold and coal mining, fish and wood processing industries began to develop here but all of them were controlled by foreign companies. The living conditions of the workers were appalling which gave rise to anti-government activities ending up with the 1917 Revolution , followed by the terrible years of the Civil War.
Answer the questions:
1.How many groups does the indigenous population of the Far East consist of?
2.What was Shrenk’s theory of the origin and development of the local tribes of the Far East?
3.When did first ethnic communities appear in the Far East?
4.How did the aboriginal people survive?
5.What forms of arts did the indigenous people develop?
6.How did first Russian settlers contribute to the development of the economy of the aboriginal people?
Mighty Amur
Khabarovskiy cliff and its vicinity, is where the Far Eastern center began its growth, as it was rendered habitable long ago. We know practically nothing about its ancient and the earliest inhabitants. We can assume that many tribes and nations lived there during past millenniums.
There was a Nanayan nomad camp at the place of the future Khabarovsk before Russian explorers came. Aborigines lived on both banks of Amur. Signs on old geographical maps show their settlements. The famous researcher of Siberia and the Far East, Richard Karlovich Maak, who participated in the first Amur floating down this great Far Eastern river in 1855, described the future
Khabarovsk vicinity. “There is an immense area of water, merging with the horizon in front of us. The view is wonderful: the sun is brightly reflected on absolutely calm water, filling it with golden light, there are sea-gulls in the air, our eyes meet only mirrors of water and clear sky”. He also told about cliff Byri with small nearby village. “Rocky ledge Byri”, mentioned by Maak, is the
Khabarovskiy cliff.
Maak was the first Russian and European scientist, who described the Amur, its banks and closest vicinity, the wealth of local nature, the people and their business. Recordings in his diary of July, 1885 are considered the first scientificcognitive reporting about the location of the future town, which would appear a hundred years later on the Amur bank and occupy 50 kilometers.
45
One evening he went back along the bank to cliff Byri to visit the village of natives, located near it. He wrote: “During this trip I was certain that Amur is rich in fish, I shot some sturgeons with my gun; huge sturgeons jumped out of the water and disappeared again, flapping their wide tails. Sturgeons and a lot of other fish were swimming near our feet between the stones, they were playing under the sun, splashing the water and leaving quickly disappearing circles on the surface of the river”.
The scientist observed this pageant near the present-day plant “Daldiesel”.
Read two quotations from the diary of R. K. Maak, traveler-naturalist, geographer and geologist:
“… Перед нами открылась необозримая площадь воды, сливавшаяся с горизонтом. Вид был прекрасный: солнце ярко отражалось в совершенно покойной воде, обливая ее золотистым светом, в воздухе вились чайки, и взоры встречались только с зеркалом воды и с ясным небом”.
“Во время этой прогулки я имел случай убедиться, как обилен Амур рыбою, и убил из ружья несколько осетров; огромные калуги беспрестанно выскакивали из воды и снова скрывались, взмахнувши своим широким хвостом; у наших ног, между каменьями, плавали осетры и множество различной рыбы играло на солнце, беспрестанно всплескивая воду и оставляя на поверхности реки быстро расходившиеся круги”.
Now try to describe your own impressions of Amur in Russian, then translate them in English.
The Amur river runs through 3 different regions: the Chitinskaya and Amurskaya Oblasts and the Khabarovskiy Krai. As one of the greatest rivers of this country the Amur is divided into 3 parts: the upper, the middle and the lower Amur. The total length of the Amur river is 27 hundred miles. The distance from Khabarovsk to the Pacific Ocean is 600 miles and it takes 44 hours to reach the estuary by ship. The Amur with its tributaries Shilka and Onon is the longest river in Russia.
In 1858 the Russian-Chinese Treaty on border was signed and then TransAmur Territories discovered and populated by Russians were annexed to Russia. Navigation on the Amur was opened the same year, 1858. The growth of population in the territory and construction of the Transsiberian Railroad resulted in the intensive development of the Amur fleet.
To date the two countries’ territories, those of Russia and China, have been separated by the Amur for the space of two thousand kilometers. So, Russians and Chinese are currently united not only by trade and friendship, but also by