Selkup people

The name Selkup (Russian ''sel'kupy'' (plural)) was originally a self-designation of one group of Northern Selkups in the Taz River basin, but came to be applied to all the other local groups between the 1930s and 1980s. In Russian, the Selkup used to call themselves Ostyak. This name is originally an exonym originating from the 17th century, when it was used to denote the Ob-Ugrian and Samoyed population of the Middle Ob region. By the end of the 20th century the name had been adopted by the Selkup as an endonym. In the scientific literature from 1850s until the 1930s, the Selkup were exclusively called Ostyak-Samoyeds (остяко-самоеды, ostyako-samoyedy). This ethnonym has never been widely used. == Language ==

Traditionally, all Selkups spoke a variant of the Selkup language, which belongs to the Samoyedic branch of the Uralic language family. Selkup is an endangered language today because as a result of linguistic marginalization and language shift only some 600 people out of the general Selkup population still use the native language. It is also not included in basic education. == History ==

The Selkups originated in the middle basin of the Ob River, from interactions between the aboriginal Yeniseian population and Samoyedic peoples that came to the region from the Sayan Mountains during the early part of the first millennium CE. In the 13th century, the Selkups came under the sway of the Mongols. Around 1628, the Russians conquered the area and the Selkups were subjugated. The Selkups joined an uprising against Russian rule but were gunned down and defeated. In the 17th century, some of the Selkups relocated up north to live along the Taz River and Turukhan River. They were engaged mainly in hunting, fishing, and reindeer breeding. The arrival of Russian settlers to the area in the 18th century led to the Russians hunting down the reindeers of the Selkups which made breeding reindeer much more difficult. They live in the northern parts of Tomsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai and Tyumen Oblast (with Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). == Population and ethnic groups ==

According to the 2002 Census, there were 4,249 Selkups in Russia (4,300 in 1970). There were 62 Selkups in Ukraine, only one of whom is a native speaker of the Selkup language (Ukrainian Census 2001). The modern Selkup form two geographically isolated groups, the Southern and Northern Selkups. The Southern Selkups, also called Narym Selkups, live mostly within the Tomsk Oblast. The Northern Selkup moved north when Russians started colonizing Siberia. Movement towards north happened in several waves. The main Selkup settlements in Siberia are Krasnoselkup and Kargasok. == Culture ==

The Selkups traditionally engaged in hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding as subsistence. The Selkups also utilized dugout canoes to sail on rivers. ==Genetics==

Northern Selkups: Y-DNA haplogroups Q-L56>L53>L54>Q1b1a3-L330 (66,4 %), R1a (19 %), N1a2b-P43 (6,9 %), R1b (6,1 %), C (1,5 %). Southern Selkups with Y-DNA haplogroup R1b belong to the subclade of R1b1b1-M73, which is found mainly in Central Asia and not to the subclade of R1b1b2-M269, which the majority of the population of Western Europe belongs to.. In Southern Selkups have been found the following Y-DNA haplogroups: N1b-A (31,25 %), N1b-E (6,25 %), Q1a3-L330 (25 %), Q1a3-L53* (18,75 %), Q1a2 (6,25 %), R1b-M73 (12,5 %). ==Notable people==

In 1911–1912 and 1914, the expeditions of the Finnish linguist and ethnographer Kai Reinhold Donner (1888–1935) were engaged in studying the language, folklore, everyday culture and the traditional way of life of the Selkups. A famous Selkupologist from Russia was Eugene Helimski. ==Daria Egereva==

A prominent advocate for improving the language situation and reforming school education for the Selkups, including the implementation of Selkup-language instruction, has been Daria Egereva. She is also known as a climate and human rights activist and as Co-Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC), an official caucus representing Indigenous peoples within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN climate negotiations. Egereva was detained on 17 December 2025 and is accused of “participation in a terrorist organization” under Article 205.5, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Russia, a charge carrying a potential sentence of ten to twenty years' imprisonment. ==References==