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This page is, part of a section concerning
Reindeer.
Important please note:
The
following section of articles concerning reindeer is for interest only. I do not condone
the domestication of reindeer under any circumstances,
particularly the slaughter of reindeer for meat. References to
reindeer husbandry, the traditional reindeer herding and
their use as meat, clothing transport and similar issues
are of course included here as part of the information
concerning reindeer. I and many others of a similar
persuasion would like to see the exploitation of
reindeer for meat, skins, entertainment and as other
resources and uses consigned to history forever with a
future where reindeer and other domesticated animals are left to
live out the course of their lives unmolested. In short
this website supports the abolition of the exploitation of all
animals in all circumstances. Please see:
Animal Rights
Click the links below to access pages on the following
topics
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For ease of reading all quotations appear in a purple
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Domestication
: A History
Most people think of reindeer as a wild animal so It may
come as a surprise to know that reindeer are
domesticated.
The Reindeer is in fact the only domesticated deer in the world
and was the last animal to be domesticated,
though it may be more accurate to consider reindeer as semi
domesticated for many reindeer remain completely wild,
such as the large herds of caribou which continue to
freely roam parts of Alaska.
Although there is archaeological
evidence from cave sites such as Combe
Grenal and Vergisson, France that
reindeer were hunted at least 45,000
years ago it is unlikely that this
animal was in anyway domesticated until
about 3,000 years ago, although some
estimates indicate domestication took
place in Eurasia 7,000 years ago.
However the exact time, and by whom is
of course not known and domestication
may have began at different times and
places.
The problem with exact dating is a result
of the lack of archaeological evidence that could
pinpoint a more definite time. The shorter period can
only be corroborated by ethnographic observation, such
as the development about 3,000 years ago of certain implements used by the
nomadic pastoral people, for example the Sayan, Sami
and Tungus of the Eurasian arctic and
subarctic, such as saddles and sleds. In addition
evidence concerning the dating of domestication may also
be ascertained by anthropological studies and drawings in caves and upon
rocks depicting domestication. Caves near the river Lena in Russia contain paintings believed to be about
3,000 years old depicting humans walking beside reindeer
without weapons, which suggests the early beginnings of
domestication. Large groups of reindeer in enclosures
have been found on drawings and engravings on
Rocks in
the Alta Fjord in Norway.
Concerning the people of the Sayan Mountains', a mountain range in
southern Siberia in Russia, herding traditions are
believed to be ancient and it is considered by some
experts that the domestication of reindeer may have
begun in this region.
The oldest written recorded reference to reindeer
domestication was recorded by a Chinese monk in 449 AD*1) In fact it was the Chinese who wrote the earliest
accounts concerning Reindeer domestication. Other
references include that of
Yao Silian, a Chinese official of the Sui and Tang
Dynasties. In his Chronicles of the Liang Dynasty,
written between 629 to 636, he wrote about tame reindeer
kept by people living in the northern forests who
exploited reindeer like cattle, and used them to
pull carriages. Carriages meant sleds, at the time the
Chinese had no word for sledges. Also a tribe called the Ju
who lived North of lake Bialkel are mentioned in the New Book of Tang Dynasty
written by Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi between 1044 and
1060 wherein they are described as
“not having sheep
nor horses, but deer,”
and using the deer to pull a
carriage.
Reindeer domestication however may not have occurred at the
one time of course. It is thought that the Sami
people may have domesticated reindeer independently from
the other indigenous cultures
2*)
Other historical reference to the domestication of
reindeer include
that of the Roman Historian
Tacitus who in 98 AD, wrote about a people in
Thule who
hunted reindeer and wore fur as clothing and travelled
on the snow with skis. Norwegian chief Ottar visited
King Alfred and the English court in the 9th century and
gave account to the King about the Sami, who
domesticated reindeer, managing them in herds.
At the present time there is so little tangible
data, with the result that the domestication of reindeer is a complex issue.
Although the precise time and origin of domestication
cannot be established we know that the
Arctic and subarctic people, including the Sami, along with other
indigenous people, the Nenets, Sayan and Tungus, have for generations exploited,
and continue to exploit, reindeer for their meat, milk,
hides, and antlers, to provide clothing, shelter, thread or
rope, tools, weapons, ornaments and also as a means of
transport. The few reindeer used for this last purpose
were not initially used as meat and in the beginning of
domestication wild reindeer continued to be exploited
for their meet and hides. As a means of transport the
domestication of this marvellously adapted animal opened
vast tracts of hostile terrain which otherwise would not
be accessible to man. Reindeer were so important to
nomadic peoples such as the Sami that in their language
there are many words that describe reindeer, words that
described the variation of colours, sizes, textures of
fur, antler spreads, the efficiency of ability to pull a
sledge and the degree of tameness. There are even words
to describe a bull reindeer in each year of his life.
Reindeer were the last animal to be domesticated. To
begin with reindeer were domesticated to a lesser
extent than that which we normally consider as
domestication of an animal because reindeer in the main
freely roamed on pasture lands.
Originally
reindeer were herded and the annual migration was
closely followed by nomadic herders who tended the herd.
Furthermore with some small differences domesticated
reindeer, unlike other domesticated animals such as
sheep, pigs and cattle, retain their intrinsic similarity
to their wild counterparts. Minor differences between
domestic and wild may include a slightly smaller body
and stature with a shorter muzzle in the domesticated
animals. The fur colouring of domesticated reindeer
however compared with wild reindeer has a substantial
amount of variation in colour which is most obvious in
newly born calves whose fur may vary in range from jet
black to pure white. Because reindeer are so well
adapted to their environment little selective breeding
has taken place and domesticated reindeer can breed
successfully with their wild counterparts and would soon
return to their original natural state.
Reindeer it seems were easy to domesticate, being docile
with a trusting disposition they seemed to like people
allowing themselves to be groomed, petted, milked,
dehorned, even castrated! and keen to work pulling sleds
cooperating willingly with experienced drivers.
Considering the fact that humans have hunted reindeer
for 40,000 years, reindeer
compared with other domesticate animals were
domesticated quite late: sheep, the earliest
domesticated animal, between 9-11000 BC, cattle 8000 BC,
pigs 9000 BC, and Chickens 6000 BC. Some experts
speculate that this delay in domestication may be due to
the docility of reindeer who formed a symbiotic
relationship with humans remaining close to human
settlements and allowing themselves to be used in
the ways previously mentioned but retaining a good deal
of independence.
Reindeer were and are an important part of the life of arctic
nomadic peoples, such as the Sami who will be the main
focus with regard to the issue of the domestication of
reindeer. The role of reindeer however in the lives of
the Sami people has changed as they, the Sami have been
forced to adapt to a modern way of life.
So what has
changed?
The Sami people who were originally nomads, are
people without a nation and are the indigenous people
occupying areas which are now included in the nations of
Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola peninsula of
Russia. The Sami adopted a nomadic lifestyle during the 16th century when
they became reindeer herders.
Nowadays traditional Reindeer herding is only practiced by
about 10 percent of Sami who have gone from hunting only
wild reindeer for subsistence to herding their animals
with snowmobiles and helicopters for considerable
profit! This has been a progressive process involving
three stages of development. The first of these is the
hunter gather phase when the Sami subsisted by living on
nuts and berries and hunting animals, such as fish,
beers, moose, elk and of course reindeer by setting traps.
A small number of Reindeer were tamed and sometimes used
as draft animals and as decoys to trap
others. With this system reindeer and man lived in a
state of equilibrium. The second stage was one of pastoralism
mostly referred to as reindeer herding or
intensive herding. Reindeer herding involved a nomadic
life style following the the reindeer as they made their
annual
migration. A
symbiotic relationship was developed as the nomads
protected the reindeer herds from predators and
in return subsisted on reindeer for the provision of meat, milk,
clothing and shelter, the herd was maximised by the control of reproductive
increase.
The third and final phase of sami reindeer domestication
is extensive reindeer herding. Extensive reindeer
herding in contrast to intensive reindeer herding
differs in the following ways.
In intensive herding wealth was considered by the number
of reindeer in a herder's possession which were mostly
utilized at subsistence levels, for the requirements of the herder,
although shared with others who had not produced
sufficient meat and other requirements for their needs.
While extensive reindeer herding is more akin to
capitalism and is characterised by the maximization of
profits which are produced from selling bull reindeer
for slaughter. Intensive herding was the beginnings of
the transition from hunter gathers to the more modern
capitalist extensive herding which today is overwhelming
prevalent. Extensive herding however is of considerable
detriment to reindeer who have become nothing more than
commodities, rather in the same way as more familiar
domesticated animals such as pigs, cows, and sheep.
Reindeer intensive herding had its beings in central
Norway during the 11th century when the Sámi abandoned
subsistence hunting of reindeer and began to domesticate
them gathering them into herds. By the 15th century
large scale reindeer herding was in progress when nearly
all taxed Sami possessed reindeer.
Nomadic reindeer intensive herding spread to Finland
from Sweden and Norway.
As time went on though the combination of an increase in
Sami population and incoming settlers who wished to
trade goods for reindeer proved to be an economic
pressure hitherto not experienced which was to have
disastrous consequences. Also the pressure of taxation
played a role in the transition from intensive to
extensive reindeer herding. With the expansion of
territory by the aforementioned nations who vied for
land occupied by the Sami there were times the Sami paid
taxes to more than one country. This had an effect upon
the Sami transition to extensive reindeer herding. Unlike the homeostasis of the
hunter gather phase intensive and extensive herding
created an ecological imbalance exerting pressure on
pastoral resources within the space of only a few
generations. This lead to the intervention of the
Finnish government with the consequence that the use of
land became regulated, resources conserved and limits on
the size of herds. Similar interventions in both Norway
and Sweden resulted in drastic changes in the more
traditional intensive reindeer herding with detrimental
impacts on both the Sami and the reindeer.
As a consequence of the above extensive reindeer herding
has gradually evolved from intensive herding beginning
in the 16th and 17th centuries reaching its peak in the
1960s when the introduction of snowmobiles and the use
of helicopters were introduced as a means of controlling
herds in Finland. This came about as a result of the deterioration of pasture
lands, it radically altered herding techniques with
advantages for man, at least those who could afford the
expense of such an innovation, as a herd could be
driven by one person on a snow mobile, but
disadvantages for the gentle timid reindeer. Now
reindeer could be herded to more distant pasture or
provided with hay to supplement shortages as a result of
the increase in the herds to meet growing demand for
reindeer products. For smaller
less well off herders this change resulted in them either
being forced out of
business and becoming unemployed or having to join a
conglomerate. Now instead of reindeer being slaughtered
to provide meat for subsistence, reindeer are farmed to
provide meat in a more commercial way as demand for reindeer meat and
other reindeer products increased.
In Norway the government constructed fences and corrals
to control reindeer herds, the fences confining them to
designated pasture areas with the result of overgrazing
as the limited confines restricted the reindeers' natural
movement. Also all herds were required to pass through
corrals to allow checks on numbers for taxation purposes,
a process which is traumatic for the nervous reindeer. In Norway as
in Finland innovations were introduced such as snow mobiles, which replaced
skies and sleds and the number of people required;
transport vehicles; boats to take reindeer to summer
pastures on islands and helicopters, the last of which
are used to steer the herds during migration. The resulting impact on reindeer is as
follows: Handling and confinement make the corrals
traumatic for reindeer; the noise of snow mobiles
likewise resulted in increased stress and these machines
also impacted the snow making it difficult for reindeer
to dig for food; transport vehicles which assist in
moving the speed of migration tear up the ground and
are detriment to grazing. In additon to effecting the
Sami's more traditional relationship with reindeer the
above methods of herding result in the destruction of
the natural environment through over grazing and noise
pollution.
Now reindeer for the most part are nothing more than a
commodity having gone from providing a subsistence
resource to monadic people to becoming stock animals for
sale and export with the result that the Sami are now a
part of the modern cash economy with the result of a
change in life style and an abandonment of much of their
traditional way of life. Reindeer herding is now more an
industry than a way of life.
The history of reindeer herding concerning the Sami is a
complex subject more in-depth information concerning the
history of the reindeer people in Finland, Norway and
Sweden can be found by visiting the website below from
which some of the above information was gleaned.
utexas.edu/courses/sami/diehtu/siida/herding.htm
Below are short comments with links concerning some of
the other indigenous people who were and in some cases
continue to herd reindeer.
The Nenets
The Nenets are indigenous reindeer herders who live and
herd reindeer in Yamal Peninsula region of Arctic
Russia. Here more than 10,000 Nomads herd 300,00
reindeer.
Rather like other reindeer herders the Nenets subsisted
on hunting and herding reindeer and using them as draft
animals. In the 18th century large scale herding of
reindeer emerged. During the era of the Soviet Union
their reindeer herding activities were regulated in 1961
when the Soviets collectivised reindeer herds on several
large state farms where the tundra became an open air
meat factory and the nomads became workers with wages
and contracts.
For more information on the history and present day
reindeer herding among the Nenets:
More information
bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/nenets/index.shtml
The Dukha
The Dukha, also called the Tsaatan, are a small
culture of reindeer herders living in northern Khövsgöl
Aimag of Mongolia. Totally they numbering only 200 to 400 hundred
people the Dukha ride, breed, milk, and make their
living from reindeer. However since the 1970s the
reindeer population has declined in numbers from an
estimated 2000 to only 600. Much of the Dukhas income
today comes from people who buy crafts and pay to ride
domesticated Reindeer.
More information:
communitrip.com/magazine/the_disappearing_reindeer_people.html
worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2009/09/02/4376274-mongolias-reindeer-people-jump-into-the-future
The Khanty People
Khanty are an indigenous people calling themselves
Khanti, Khande, Kantek (Khanty), living in Khanty-Mansi
Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra"
in Russia, together with the Mansi another group of
indigenous people.
More information:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanty_people
Their traditional economy was based on reindeer herding,
hunting, fishing and trapping.
Dolgans
Numbering about 7,000 the Dolgans live on the Taymyr
Peninsula in the central Siberian Arctic. In addition to
reindeer herding the
Dolgans continue to hunt wild reindeer
along with trapping and fishing. These nomads follow the
reindeer north in spring and south in the winter during
their annual migrations
Evenks
The Evenks are believed to be descendents of the
ancient Tungus people, considered by some to be the
original domesticators of reindeer. In
Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the largest
Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a
population of 35,527. In China, the Evenki form one of
the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of China, with a population of 30,505,
as per 2000 Census. There is also a small Evenki group
of Manchu-Tungus originating in Mongolia, referred to as Khamnigan.
Unlike other nomadic people the Evenks did not slaughter
their domestic reindeer relying on their herds of
reindeer for a supply of milk and as a means of
transport.
More Information
wikipedia.org/wiki/Evenks
culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/russia/evenki-reindeer-herding-history
culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/china/reminiscences-about-reindeer-herders-china
Yukaghirs
The Yukaghir, or Yukagirs are a people in East Siberia,
living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Once divided
into thirteen tribes of which only three remain, the
Vadul
Odul Chuvan, the
Yukaghirs number only 1,509 people. The Vadul are
mainly invovled in reindeer herding.
More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukaghir_people
Chukchi
The Chukchi, or Chukchee are an indigenous people
numbering about 15,000 who inhabit the Chukchi Peninsula
and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea
region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian
Federation. Like other indigenous people of the arctic
regions the Chukchi were nomadic hunter gathers and
there continue to be some facets of subsistence hunting
of reindeer and other animals in the present day.
Similar to other indigenous peoples living within the
remit of the Soviets union the Chukchi were organised
into state run enterprises. These enterprises included
reindeer herding. Today however only a small number are
reindeer herders and continue their nomadic life style
More information
wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukchi_people
Koryaks
Koryaks (or Koriak) are an indigenous people of
Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, who inhabit the
coastlands of the Bering Sea to the south of the Anadyr
basin and the country to the immediate north of the
Kamchatka Peninsula, the southernmost limit of their
range being Tigilsk.
Of the two divisions of Koryaks, the coastal people are
called the Nemelan and the inland Koryaks called the
Chauchen, the Chauchen are nomadic reindeer herders, the
name Chauchen means "rich in reindeer". As with similar
nomadic reindeer herders their lives centred around
reindeer as a subsistence source of food, clothing, and
shelter - reindeer hides were used to cover their
conical tents called a chum. Reindeer were used for
transport and to pull sleds. Their herds sometimes
numbered thousands of reindeer. the traditional cloths
of the Koryaks included a hood made of wolf fur, which
may have served for keeping the herds of reindeer
together. Today the diet of the Koryaks includes
processed food such as bread and they cloth themselves
in cloth and sell some of their reindeer.
More information:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Koryaks
koryaks.net/history.html
More information about the domestication of reindeer may
be found in the section:
Reindeer the Unlikely Farm Animal: Reindeer
Domestication in Recent Times and the issue of Animal
Rights.
References
1)
Reindeer Husbandry
reindeer-husbandry.uit.no/online/Final_Report/mongolia.pdf
2) Reindeer
Domestication
agro.biodiver.se/2008/05/reindeer-domestication/
In addition to the above references other information was sourced from The Real Rudolph: A
Natural History of the Reindeer by Tilly Smith
Credits:
Banner Photograph
Snow background
feebleminds-gifs.com/christmas-background
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