Koryak seal hunters and reindeer herders of the north.

     Koryak people have both a sea mammal hunting and reindeer herding heritage and live in the northern parts of Kamchatka. The Reindeer Koryak, closest to the Chukchi of Chukotka, represented almost half the population of Kamchatka when Russians came. "Koryak" isn't a native word but Russians made the word from the root kor meaning "reindeer." The Koryak people didn't have a global name for themselves. Reindeer Koryak called themselves Chavchuv, and maritime Koryak called themselves Numulu, "the village inhabitants."

     Reindeer Koryak herded on foot, moving seasonally to tundra pastures usually locating camps near fish-loaded rivers.  Fish were important for all the Koryak people. The maritime Koryak hunted seals on ice with dogsleds or from kayaks and umiaks. They also hunted small whales in the ocean, chasing the whale into a large net tied to the shore. Then they attacked and killed the whale with spears and harpoons.

     All Koryak ate reindeer meat as a staple, some raw, some boiled. Trade among the Koryak provided Reindeer Koryak with seal meat and marine mammal products. The Koryak ate many wild plants gathering roots, plants, and berries. The shamans used the strong Amanita muscaria mushroom to induce trances.

     Most of the modern Koryak population lives in the Koryak Autonomous District north of the Kamchatka Region. Until the last 30 years, many Koryak people of northern Kamchatka retained their language and many traditions. While the Koryak have held onto traditions, now many traditions are lost and few people remain who speak the language fluently.

     Itelmen primary inhabitants of southern Kamchatka.

     Contemporary Itelmen only retained their native language and traditions in isolated villages in the south of the Koryak Autonomous District. The formerly large population of Itelmen was almost entirely assimilated into a mix with Russian Cossacks in the 18th century. These people are called Kamchadal.

     Stepan Krasheninnikov, who participated in the 2nd Kamchatka Expedition, wrote about the Itelmen culture, describing their skills as fishermen using hooks and nets of nettle fibers.

     Huge amounts of salmon were caught, dried, and fermented for winter.  Fermented fish heads were a delicacy. They didn't rely much on land mammal hunting and were very knowledgeable about edible and medicinal plants to supplement their diet and for healing. Winter transportation was by dogsleds and they traveled the rivers in dugout canoes. Today, Itelmen people fish, hunt, and are fully assimilated into Russian life.

     Even reindeer herders of the Bystrinsky District.

     The Yakut people named the Evens lamut whereas they call themselves "Even." The Even are mainly settled on the northern coast of the Okhotsk Sea and in northern Kamchatka. They only came to Kamchatka 150 years ago. Their cultural heritage springs from ancient Siberian groups. Even culture is based on reindeer herding and hunting. Unlike the Koryak and Chukchi, the Even raised smaller numbers of reindeer and prized them mostly for transportation. Their large, strong reindeer could be exchanged for two Koryak reindeer. They experimented with saddled reindeer and developed this way of transportation. They didn't tend to slaughter their reindeer for meat but hunted the forests and tundra for wild reindeer, fox, and mountain sheep. They skillfully used dogs in hunting. Even didn't fish large scale as fishing interfered with a nomadic herding life, until they were organized into Soviet collectives.

     Today most of the Even people live in the Bystrinsky District in the villages of Anavgai and Esso but some are returning to live on the west side of the Sredinny Range on traditional lands.