Tundra Peasants

(Russian, zatundrenskie liudi}, descendants of Russian fishermen and hunters, posadskie liudi (merchants and artisans), and sluzhilye liudi (military service class), who settled in the 17th and the 18th centuries in the lower reaches of the Enisei River and also along the Piasina, Dudypta, Boganida, Khatanga, and Kheta rivers. In the beginning of the 19th century there were approximately 320 tundra peasants. By the 20th century they were engaged chiefly in nomadic reindeer-breeding. The Yakut language became their mother tongue and they were assimilated by the Dolgans and partly by the northern Yakut.