Ulchi one of the eight indigenous small peoples of the North living in the Khabarovsk Krai. Self–designation: "manguns" - "Amur people" (old name), "nani" – "local residents". The name "ulchy" appeared in the 30s of the last century. 2375 people the number of Ulchy in the Khabarovsk Krai according to the 2020 All-Russian Population Census.

  Geography of residence

The Ulchi mostly live in the Ulchski municipal district located in the central-eastern part of Khabarovsk Krai. Territory of the district covers a huge area of 39,310 square km. Ulchski district borders Vaninsky and Komsomolsky municipal districts in the south, Polina Osipenko district in the northwest, and Nikolaevsky district in the north. In the east it is washed by the waters of the Tatar Strait. Administrative center is rural settlement of "Selo Bogorodskoye".

  Brief historical background

Archaeologists note the great similarity between the cultures of modern Ulchi and ancient tribes that lived in the Mesolithic on territory of the Lower Amur. Current ethnic group of the Ulchi was also influenced by the Tungusic, Turkic-speaking and Mongolian-speaking peoples who came here from the West and from the North.

Russians on Amur called Ulchi and Nanai people goldy. That's what they called themselves when they talked to Russians. In the early 1930s, when the issue of naming Northern peoples based on their self-names was being resolved, the ethnonym 'Ulchi' was adopted for the former Manguns who called themselves Nani, since the Nanai people were named after the Nani. Over time, the ethnonym Ulchi became self-name of the ethnic group.

First Russian news about the Ulchi dates back to the 17th century. In the "replies" of the Russian Cossack explorers, they are recorded under the names 'Ngatki' and 'Lonki'. The last ethnonym, as it turned out later, was the name of one of the Ulchi clans.

After the Treaty of Nerchinsk with Qing China (1689), when the Russians withdrew from the Amur region, the Chinese government tried to subjugate the Amur peoples, but it did not bring results.

Chinese officials appeared on the Amur River once a year to collect yasak (one sable per hunter), which the local population considered only as payment for the right to trade. The Ulchi sold furs to China, receiving in exchange the goods and products they needed. This trade exchange played an important role in the life of the local population.

Return of the Amur region to the Russian state in the middle of 19th century made the Ulchi subjects of Russia. Active colonization of the Amur basin by Russian Cossacks and migrant peasants begins. The Russian villages of Bogorodskoye, Mikhailovskoye, and Irkutskoye appear on territory of the Ulchi settlement.

Contacts with the Russian agricultural population had a great impact on the culture, economy, and social development of the Ulchi. Their farms are actively involved in the sphere of market relations.

  Language and division into ethnographic groups

The Ulchi language is a language of the southern (Amur) group of Tungusic-Manchurian languages, closely related to Nanai and Orok. According to experts, the ethnic basis of the Ulchi and Nanai is historically common. In the 30s of the last century, the Ulchi language was considered a dialect of Nanai. Amur Evenks, Negidals, Orochi, Oroks, Nivkh, Ainu, and Manchu-Chinese took part in formation of the ethnic group. In XX century, the Russian language had a strong influence.

Anthropologically, Ulchi belong to two different types — the most ancient Amur-Sakhalin and the more recent Baikal. Heterogeneity of anthropological type of the Ulchi, as well as some other peoples of the Amur (Nivkh, Orochi), is evidenced by the research of various anthropologists. According to researcher V. Tsincius, the Ulchi, Nanai and Orok languages originated at least 2 thousand years ago, and the modern Ulchi language contains relics of ancient Altaic languages.

Materials and photos provided by the portal “Many Faces of Khabarovsk Krai”, the compiler:
Kulesh Yelena Vasiliyevna, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology,
Head of the Resource Center in Pacific State University.