ETHNOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS OF THE 

 EURASIAN ARCTIC* 



Waldemar Bogoras 



The recent successes of scientific ethnography are due to a wide 

 application of the comparative method. Instead of a description of 

 separate tribes, a connected study of whole tribal groups and ethno- 

 graphical regions in many parts of the world has brought new and 

 unexpected results. 



Russian ethnographical science now aims to locate and explore 

 more carefully the ethnographical regions within the wide circle of 

 Russian nationalities. One of the most important and clean-cut 

 problems in that field is the problem of the extensive Russian polar 

 regions, that is, properly speaking, of the whole Eurasian Arctic. This 

 belt, geographically and ethnographically, is closely related to the 

 polar regions of America. In discussing its ethnographic problems we 

 will first deal with the native and then with the Russian populations. 



The Native Population 

 Unity and Origin of the Polar Culture 



The Arctic Sea is the common mediterranean sea for the whole 

 polar region, and along its shores, in spite of the severity of the climate, 

 mutual reaction of cultures has taken place, so that there is a special 

 polar culture, quite original and in many respects different from the 

 culture of more southern latitudes, expressing itself in physical condi- 

 tions, in industries, dwellings, clothing, in religious ideas, folklore, 

 and art. 



This polar culture originated in the Arctic region and was accepted 

 and assimilated by peoples coming from the south. Whether it had 

 one or several centers of origin is unknown ; but it is natural to assume 

 that this culture originated in one area and thence spread throughout 

 the polar world. 



♦Condensed translation by Mr. Nicholas George of the American Geographical Society's staff 

 of V. G. Bogoraz: Novye zadachi Rossiiskoi etnografii v polyarnykh oblastyakh (New problems of 

 Russian ethnography in the Polar Regions) , Trudy Severnoi Nauchno-Promyslovoi Ekspeditsii (Pub- 

 lications of the Northern Scientific-Practical Expedition), No. 9, Petrograd, 1921. An English version 

 of the section on the native population was later published by the author under the title "New Prob- 

 lems of Ethnographical Research in Polar Countries" in Proc. 21st Internall. Congr. of Americanists, 

 First Part, Held at The Hague, Aug. 12-16, 1924, The Hague, 1924, pp. 226-246. 



On Siberian ethnography and anthropology in general the reader may wish to consult M. A. Cza- 

 plicka: Aboriginal Siberia: A Study in Social Anthropology, Oxford, 1914, which, for one, has made 

 accessible to the English reader the results of Russian research in this field. — Edit. Note. 



i8q 



