book chapter
An account of a geographical and astronomical expedition to the northern parts of Russia by Commodore Joseph Billings, in the years 1785-1794
T. Cadell, jun. and W. Davies • London • Published In 1802 • Pages:
By: Sauer, Martin.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Commodore Joseph Billings headed a geographical and astronomical expedition to the northern parts of Russia for the purpose of ascertaining the degrees of latitude and longitude of various places. Between 1785-1794 Billings had the opportunity of first-hand observations of the country and the people of Siberia and Arctic Russia. The author has included in his material on the Yakut two native origin myths. There is information provided in this account of the religion of the Yakut, their festivals, their marriage and burial customs, and their superstitions which they had in abundance. Specific accounts of the shamans and their activities are included here also. Of special interest is a description of the punishment for and means of control of thefts among these people. The author attributes the declining population and the increasing poverty of the Yakut to the influence of the Russian settlers and the excessive tributes exacted from the natives by these Russians. This is a primary source for the treatment of the Yakut culture, based on first-hand observations and containing material not dealt with elsewhere.
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Yakut
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1997
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- North Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Government Official
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- RCH ; 1950-1956
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1785-94
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1785-94
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Sakha Republic, Russian Federation
- NotesAdditional notes
- Martin Sauer
- This document consists of excerpts
- Plates which do not concern the Yakut are not included.
- Appendix I giving a vocabulary of the Yukaghir, Yakut, and Tungu languages is not included
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- unk80002149
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Yakut (Turkic people)