Location
The Khanty are one of the indigenous Uralic people of Northwest Siberia, in the basin of the river Ob and its tributaries. Administratively the territory belongs to the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region (until 1949 Ostyak-Vogul, administrative centre Khanty-Mansijsk) and Yamal Nenets Autonomous Districts of the Tyumen Province; the area on the rivers Konda and Irtysh belongs to the Tomsk Province.

Population
Their self-appellations are Khanti, Khande, Kantek; before the early 20th century, the Russians called the Khanty Ostyaki. Jointly with the Mansi, the Khanty language comprises the West-Siberian group of the Uralic languages. The first mention of the Khants, under the name of Ostyaki, was in 1572. The self-appellation was officially introduced in the Soviet Union from the 1930's. The Khanty are divided into three groups (northern, southern and eastern), which differ in the dialects, native names, features of economy and culture, and also endogamy. In their turn, each of them divides into territorial subgroups, distinguished by the names of the rivers in whose basins they live. The Khanty language has three dialect groups: the northern, southern, and eastern. The Khanty vocabulary reflects its close links with the neighbors: the Nenets, Tatars and Komi-Zyran.

The Khanty have probably never been a numerous people, having remained stable at around 20,000 people. Great decreases in numbers occurred in 1926-1939 and 1970-1979. The first decrease was a result of the Stalinist repression, as large numbers of adult men were killed in the 1930s. Since the 1970s the number of Khanty speaking their native language has decreased due to Russification.

Turning Points in the History of the Khanty

13th c - the Khanty become tributaries to Novgorod;

14th c - military expeditions to Khanty territories begin;

16th c - conversion of the Khanty to Russian Orthodoxy begins;

19th c - the Khanty are economically subjugated with the help of a combined system of debts and liquor by the Russian merchants and officials; Russian colonists grab the best lands for themselves; quick extinction of the Khanty people is predicted quite consciously, thus forming the public opinion that it is an inescapable process;

1930 - formation of the Khanty-Mansi National District;

1930s - open Russification of the Khanty. In the name of collectivisation, the most prosperous Khanty and shamans are annihilated, the sacred groves of worship and the graves are desecrated and an attempt is made to eliminate all ethnic customs. The Khanty children are forced into boarding schools. The rebellion of the people, known as the Kazym revolt (1933), is crushed by the army, the more distant villages are bombed by the air forces;

1960s - oil and gas storage facilities are built in the Khanty settlement areas.

Ethnogenesis
The formation of the Khanty is based on the culture of ancient indigenous Uralic tribes, which were engaged in hunting and fishery. Subsequently, they were influenced by the Andronovo livestock-raising tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian culture. In the course of the merger of these ethnic elements, by the middle of the first millennium B. C., the Ob-Ugric tribes were established. By the end of the first millennium B. C., from the east and south-east, northwestern Siberia was settled by Samoyedic tribes, another Uralic group. The subsequent stage of ethnic interactions, which resulted in some of the Ob Ugrians assuming some elements of the Samoyedic culture, continued as late as the first ages of the second millennium. By the end of the first millennium B.C., the migration flow led to the establishment of the Ust-Polui culture in the Lower Cis-Ob Region, and later gave rise to the Potchevash culture in the northern Cis-Irtysh Region. Both these cultures are thought to be proto-Khanty. On the whole, archeological evidence indicates the complexity of the proto-Khanty cultures, containing different ethnic elements. Later, during the Middle Ages, they were substantially influenced by the Turkic ethnic component. In addition, some traces of the Tungus and Ket influence are found. Subsequently some of the western Khanty moved over to the East and North. In the North, the Khanty contacted the Nenets and partly were assimilated by the latter. In the southern region some intensive processes of Turkization, and, since the 18th century, Russification were underway. By the 20th century, the Khanty were almost completely assimilated by the Siberian Tatars and Russians.

Contact with Russia
The Russian hunters and merchants were familiar with the Yugra state as early as the 11th century. However, the annexation of this territory to the Russian state began as late as the defeat of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. By the advent of the Russians, the Khanty had numerous tribes. Every tribe had a dialect of its own, its own center and its own chiefs. Every tribe had two exogamic phratries: mon’t’ and por. All the phratry members were considered blood relatives. Later, the phratry exogamy was replaced by the clan one. The Russian rulers relied on the clan leaders (knyaztsy). Striving to strengthen its influence on the Khanty, Russia introduced Christianity. But it was exceptionally formal, and almost did not affect traditional religious beliefs. In the course of the 17th - 19th c. the Khanty lifestyle did not undergo any changes. For tactical reasons, the government did not strive to totally disrupt their social life. By the year 1917, their main legal distinction from Russian peasants was exemption from conscription. In the course of the three centuries (17th-19th) of their being part of the state, the Khanty number rose from 6.3 thousand to 16.2 thousand. The number increase continued as late as the 20th century. The Khanty is one of the few indigenous minorities of Siberia with an autonomy in the form of the autonomous okrug. This autonomy has played a considerable role in the consolidation of the ethnic group. That process particularly intensified in the 1980s - 1990s due to the Khanty movement to protect their territory from the industrial expansion of various ministries and agencies. The autonomy also has a great role to play in the retaining of the traditional culture and language, which have been preserved in the Okrug to a much greater extent than in the Khanty of the Tomsk Region, where the traditional lifestyle has been lost.

Economy
The traditional occupations of the Khanty are fishery, taiga hunting and reindeer herding. In the southern regions and along the Ob River, the Khanty have been engaged in livestock husbandry and vegetable growing. Gathering is very important in the life of the people. In the majority of Khanty, the most reliable means of subsistence was dam fishery. Over 200 techniques of fishery, using various dams are known. The Khanty hunted for the reindeer, moose, squirrel, fox, sable and other furbearers, and also for ducks and geese. Active methods were used (chasing the prey with dogs) and passive methods (various traps, shooting sets). In spring, geese and ducks were captured with pereves, i. e., by nets stretched in a clearing specially cut between water bodies. Flying from one water body to another, the birds got entangled in the nets. Reindeer herding is widespread in the bulk of the Khanty territory. On the tundra and forest-tundra, the types of harness, the techniques of harnessing, and type of sleds give grounds to attribute the reindeer herding to the Samoyedic type. In the forest zone, reindeer herding is local, used mostly for transportation. Free or semi-free grazing is practiced. When natural forage is lacking, the deer are provided supplemental forage.

Material Culture
The majority of Khanty led a semi-sedentary mode of life, migrating from constant winter settlements to seasonal, located on their hunting grounds. Traditional winter houses are frame pole subterranean and semi-subterranean dwellings with entry by way of roof hole. In the 18th - early 19th century, log semi-subterranean houses and ground log houses appeared. Reindeer-herding Khanty lived in Samoyedic type tents (chums) covered with reindeer skin (in winter), or birch bark. The chum was also widely used as a seasonal dwelling on hunting grounds. The Khanty built pile board barns and log barns with double-pitch or flat roofs and also shed platforms. A special feature of the Khanty settlements were some special poles installed in front of each house to tie up horses and reindeer. Occasionally, they were adorned with dents bearing human, animal, or bird designs. The Khanty reindeer herders use for outerwear a shirt-like (without a slit on the front) garment with a hood, which they derived from the Nenets. In other groups, such clothes (malitsa, gus) were used for traveling. A common outerwear was a fur coat of reindeer fur, squirrel or fox feet. Serving as winter footwear were the Nenets pimy of kamus (reindeer leg skin) and socks. The male and female garments were decorated. Formerly, the main staple food of the Khanty was fish, meat of wild reindeer and other mammals, including fur-bearing (squirrel, otter). In autumn, the meat of wild reindeer was stored. Regarded as a delicacy was the smoke-cured reindeer fat. The meat was eaten fresh, sun-dried or frozen. From the entrails, the fish oil was extracted to cook cakes or varka (minced fish boiled in fish oil), which was consumed by travelers and hunters. Fish heads and fragments were used to produce meal, or boil batter. Baked bread was known as early as the 17th century, but it became widely used fairly recently. In summer, the Khanty used various types of boats. In tributaries, they used dugout canoes. On the Ob River, some more sophisticated boats were used with a bottom of the Siberian pine wood, and spruce boards. For long trips, they used birch bark covered ilimka boats with a straight seal mast. In winter, the main means of transportation were skis, and also reindeer and dog sleds. The northern Khanty used the reindeer-driven sled throughout the year. The Khanty also kept horses, and horse sleds.

Spiritual culture
In the spiritual culture of the Khanty, of great importance is the bear cult and associated set of rites. Originally, the bear festival was conducted only by the phratry members: it was thought that the phratry originated from the bear. With time the festival became national. In addition to the phratry totems, clan totems are also worshipped. Before the beginning of the hunting and fishing season, these totems are offered sacrifices. Shamanism was also present. The shamans wore no special clothes except a cap. The older Khanty people have retained numerous beliefs and cults . The Khanty have various myths, epics, folk tales, riddles, and historical legends. They tell about the origin of phratries, totem ancestors, inter-clan battles and other historical events. In applied art, of particular interest is embroidery in beads, metal plaques and applique. String instruments were very common: five-string zither 9- or 13-string harp, and also a single- or double-string instrument. The strings for all the instruments were produced from moose tendons. During the recent decades the Khanty have developed professional painting and literature. Among popular Khanty authors are A. Tarkhanov. E. Aipin, R. Rugin, the artists G. Raishev, V. Igoshev and others.

Current Situation
The Khanty have become an insignificant minority in their own historical settlement areas: 9.2% in 1959, 1.8% in 1989. The Khanty have been forced to leave the quickly expanding industrial areas. The environment is on the verge of catastrophe.

In the 1960s, the natives were forced against their will from their scattered settlements into large villages, which meant the change from a nomadic life-style to a resident one. That kind of policy is not compatible with the traditional management of the Arctic regions. In May 1991 the assembly of delegates of the Nordic, Siberian and Far Eastern small peoples protested to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union against the decision to start the exploitation of the oil deposits at Tyanovsk in the Khanty-Mansi territory. In response 35 Khanty families (211 persons) were deported from their homes. The most open-minded of the Khanty intellectuals are working towards the formation of autonomous national regions at the rivers Kazym and Sosva, where the exploitation of oil and gas deposits would be banned.