Land and water arrangement among the indigenous peoples in Yenisei region in the early XX century

• Published in: VESTNIK ARHEOLOGII, ANTROPOLOGII I ETNOGRAFII
• Main Author: Khomenko D.Yu.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RA 2018
• Subjects: land arrangement; water arrangement; Yenisei governorate; the Khakass; Northern Yenisei region; fishing industry; capitalist economy; Archaeology; CC1-960; Yenisei River; Evenks; nenets; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2018-40-1-118-125; https://doaj.org/article/a37da800c2624fc1a64f2d6b97b9728c

This paper examines the process of land arrangement among the Khakas and water arrangement in the lower reaches of the Yenisei River in the early XX century, which affected the Kets, Dolgans, Selkups, Nenets, Enets and Evenks. The author considers water arrangement and land arrangement as parts of a single process. Land arrangement and water arrangement had different immediate causes, but they were of the same essence: the government secured its rights for natural resources: lands in the south of Yenisei region and fishing areas in the north of the region. During the land arrangement resettlement, the officials withdrew the land from the use of the Khakas people. The author argues that the withdrawn land was more than 744 500 dessiatins (more then 800 000 hectares). But it wasn’t ethnicity-based discrimination, because the land was taken away from the Russian people too. On the contrary, the officials responsible for relocation tried to give the Khakas people land above the limit. Fishing areas in the north of Yenisei region were withdrawn from the use of the indigenous peoples and the Russian people. It had been planned to lease fishing areas. So, there was no ethnicity-based discrimination in the north of Yenisei region. The author also argues that the goal of land and water arrangement was to create legal conditions so that big business could enter Siberia. For example, a large capitalist sheep farm «Vladimir Alekseev» was created in the south of Yenisei region. It was built on the lands that had been taken away from the Khakas people. It had been planned to lease fishing areas to big business in order to organize high-yield fisheries in the north of Yenisei region. «Enisejskaya kompaniya parohodstva» (Yenisei steam navigation company) received a lease. But that enterprise didn’t organize high-yield fisheries. It subleased the fishing areas to the local population. The goal wasn’t reached. Thus, we can conclude that government's activity in the south of Yenisei region was successful, and in the north it was a ...