Update:

• Main Authors: Mike Dravis, Michelle C. Boomgaard
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Sakha; Yakut; Yakutia; Yakuts; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.203.3886; http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/russia/mar00_russia_yakut.pdf

Although the exact origins of the Yakut people (who call themselves Sakha) are not known, they are believed to be descended from Turkic, Mongol, and native Siberian tribes. Yakutia is one of the pivotal territories of the Russian Federation for three reasons: first, numbering 382,000 (1998 estimate of Yakuts in Russia), Yakuts are the most numerous native ethnic group of Siberia; second, at twice the size of Alaska the republic is the largest administrative sub-division of Russia; and third, the region's mines are the country's chief source of gold and diamonds, and also furnish vast quantities of coal and other strategic materials. Although in the post-Soviet era Yakuts have not engaged in high levels of ethnic conflict with Russians or with other groups, the Yakut drive for sovereignty at least carries the potential to disrupt both Russia's territorial integrity and its economy. Historically and today, Yakut-Russian relations have been comparatively lacking in violence. Anti-Russian rebellions did occur in 1634-1642, and in the late 1920s and 1930s Stalin's policies met with fierce resistance. However, the Yakut people have generally not reacted harshly to Russia's influence. By the early 1800s, most Yakuts were at least nominally members of the Russian Orthodox Church. At present, only traces of the old shamanist faith are extant. Interestingly, at a time when other ethnic traditions were under assault by the Communist Party, in the 1920s certain Yakut intellectuals propagated a Pan-Turkish ideology