ABSTRACT
The Indigenous people of the southern part of the Russian Far East have had a unique history since the mid-nineteenth century. They have experienced the rule of four different types of political powers and systems one after another, i.e., pre-modern East Asian powers, modern empires, a socialist government, and a contemporary capitalist government, with three radical political-economic transitions. Many Soviet, Russian, and Western (European, American, and Japanese) anthropologists have argued the issues on the second and third transitions, while, in many cases, the first one, which is the transition from the pre-modern East Asian system to the modern imperialistic one, was simply mentioned as a case of “modernization” or “encounter with European colonialism.” However, the author considers that contemporary issues on the Indigenous people of this region, e.g., rights on the lands and resources, promotion of original languages and traditional culture, and so on, have a root in the first transition. In this chapter, the author analyzes data on the trade activities of ancestors of the Nivkh and Ul’chi, who are Indigenous people in the Lower Amur basin and Sakhalin, in the nineteenth century, clarifies how they enjoyed an autonomous and affluent life under the pre-modern East Asian political-economic system, and finally discusses how the first transition affected their society.
