The Nivkhs (also Nivkh or Gilyak; ethnonym: Nivxi; language, нивхгу - Nivxgu) are an indigenous people inhabiting the region of the region of the Amur River estuary and on nearby Sakhalin Island. They numbered about 4,600 in the late 20th century. Most speak Russian, though about 10 percent speak the Nivkh language. Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ... The Amur (Russian: Амур; Simplified Chinese: 黑龙江, Traditional Chinese: 黑龍江, HÄ“ilóng Jiāng, or Black Dragon River; Mongolian: Хара-Мурэн, Khara-Muren or Black River; Manchu: Sahaliyan Ula, literal meaning Black River) is one of the world’s ten longest rivers, located between the Russian Far East and Manchuria of China. ... Sakhalin is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50 and 54° 24 N, in the Russian Far East. ... Nivkh or Gilyak (ethnonym: Nivxi) (language, нивхгу - Nivxgu) is a language spoken in Outer Manchuria, in the basin of the Amgun, a tributary of the Amur, along the lower reaches of the Amur and on the northern half of Sakhalin. ...

For many centuries the Nivkhs were tributary to the Manchu empire. After the Treaty of Nerchinsk, 1689 they functioned as intermediaries between the Russians, Manchu and Japanese, these last via their vassals, the Ainu. Their lands extended along the northern coast of Manchuria from the Russian fortress at Tugur eastward to the mouth of the Amur at Nikolayevsk, then south through the Straits of Tatary as far as De Castries Bay. Jump to: navigation, search The Manchu (Manchu: Manju; Simplified Chinese: 满族; Traditional Chinese: 滿族; pinyin: ) are an ethnic group who originated in the dong bei or North East region consisting of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces, collectively known in English as Manchuria. ... Nerchinsk Treaty was the first treaty between Russia and China. ... Events Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Ainu (pronounced , eye-noo, are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido, the northern part of Honshu in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... Extent of Manchuria according to Definition 1 (dark red), Definition 3 (dark red + medium red) and Definition 4 (dark red + medium red + light red) Manchuria (Manchu: Manju, Simplified Chinese: 满洲; Traditional Chinese: 滿洲; pinyin: ) is name given to a vast territorial region in northeast Asia. ... The Amur (Russian: Амур; Simplified Chinese: 黑龙江, Traditional Chinese: 黑龍江, Hēilóng Jiāng, or Black Dragon River; Mongolian: Хара-Мурэн, Khara-Muren or Black River; Manchu: Sahaliyan Ula, literal meaning Black River) is one of the world’s ten longest rivers, located between the Russian Far East and Manchuria of China. ... Name used from classical times until the twentieth century to designate a great tract of Asia stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean. ...

The Nivkhs suffered severely from the Cossack conquest and imposition of the Tsarist Russian penal policy which turned the whole island of Sakhalin into a penal settlement. There followed two occupations by the Japanese in 1904-5 and 1920-5, plus the Russian Revolution, Stalin's witch-hunts and the collectivizations, with the Nivkh being used as a 'model' nation that had gone directly from the stone age to socialism. Jump to: navigation, search The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey. ... Sakhalin is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50 and 54° 24 N, in the Russian Far East. ... Jump to: navigation, search The phrase Russian Revolution can refer to the following events in the history of Russia. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Collective farming is an organizational unit in agriculture in which peasants are not paid wages, but rather receive a share of the farms net output. ... Jump to: navigation, search The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ...

Despite these vicissitudes, the Nivkhs nation survived. After the Russian revolution, a Gilyak Autonomous Okrug was created during the 1920s straddling the Tatar Strait. Chuner Taksami is the first modern literary figure. In the post-Soviet Russian commonwealth of nations they have fared better than the Ainu or the Kamchadals but nothing like as well as the Chukchi or the Tuvans. Okrug is a term to denote administrative subdivision in some Slavic states. ... Strait of Tartary (Gulf of Tartary, Gulf of Tatary, Tatar Strait, Tartar Strait, Strait of Tartar, also Mamiya Strait and Strait of Nevelskoi) strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia (South-East Russia), connecting the Sea of Okhotsk on the north with the... Jump to: navigation, search State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Socialist republics/ Communist state Area  - Total  - % water Largest on the planet 22,402,200 km² ?% Population  - Total  - Density 3rd before collapse... Kamchadal original inhabitants of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... Chukchi, or Chukchee (Russian: чукчи (plural), chukcha, чукча (singular)) are an indigenous people inhabiting the northeasternmost portion of the Russian Federation on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea. ... Tuvans (or Tuvinians) is a group of Turkic people, make up about two thirds of the population of Tuva. ...

At present, the Nivkhs living in the North of Sakhalin island see their future threatend by the giant offshore oil extraction projects known as Sakhalin I and Sakhalin II. The projects are operated by Exxon and a consortium known as Sakhalin Engergy Ltd., led by Anglo-Dutch corporation Shell. Since January 2005 the Nivkh, led by their elected leader Alexey Limanzo have engaged in non-violent protest actions, demanding an independent ethnological assessment of Shell's and Exxons plans. Solidarity actions have been staged in Moscow, New York and later in Berlin. Sakhalin is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50 and 54° 24 N, in the Russian Far East. ... Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil producer and distributor formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ... Jump to: navigation, search Royal Dutch Shell plc is a major energy company, one of the top four vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas, and gasoline companies in the world (along with BP, ExxonMobil, and Total). ... Jump to: navigation, search Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: listen â–¶(?)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: The Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² or 54,556 square miles (27th)  - Land... Jump to: navigation, search Berlin â–¶(?), IPA: , is the capital of Germany and its largest city; the city is now home to 3. ...

References

• Anton Chekhov: "Ostrov Saxalin" Eng. transl. Brian Reeve, Cambridge 1993.
• Bruce Grant: "In the Soviet House of Culture" , Princeton 1995.
• Lev Shternberg: "The Social Organization of the Gilyak", Seattle 1999.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. ...

External links

• The Nivkhs from The Red Book
• The Nivkh People and Language (Internet Archive, Feb 18, 2004)
• Sound Materials of the Nivkh Language The World's Largest Sound Archive of the Nivkh Language on the Web
• http://www.pacificenvironment.org/russia/sakhalin/index.html Shell Oil on Sakhalin - Putting Profits before People and the Environment