The Izhma Komi (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: ''коми-ижемцы, komi-izhemtsy'';

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

: изьватаc, ''iźvatas''; Nenets: нысма, ''nysma'') is a sub-group of the much larger

Komi people The Komi ( kv, комияс, ' also ', also called Komi-Zyryans or Zyryans, are an indigenous Permian ethnic group whose homeland is in the northeast of European Russia around the basins of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama rivers. They mostly ...

, who traditionally reside in the north of the

Komi Republic The Komi Republic (russian: Республика Коми; kv, Коми Республика), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. The population of the ...

, primarily in the

Izhemsky District Izhemsky District (russian: Иже́мский райо́н; kv, Изьва район, ''Iźva rajon'') is an administrative district (raion), one of the twelve in the Komi Republic, Russia.Law #13-RZ It is located in the north of the republic. ...

, but also in the

Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (russian: Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг; Nenets languages, Nenets: Ненёцие автономной ӈокрук, ''Nenjocije awtonomnoj ŋokruk'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal su ...

& the

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YaNAO; russian: Яма́ло-Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг (ЯНАО), ; yrk, Ямалы-Ненёцие автономной ӈокрук, ) or Yamalia (russian: Ямалия) is a fed ...

around the borders with the Komi Republic. Choir in Lovozero cultural centre, Kola Peninsula

The beginning of the formation of the Izhma Komi ethnic group is traced to the second half of the 16th century when a group of Komi founded the Izhma ''

sloboda A sloboda ( rus, слобода́, p=sləbɐˈda) was a kind of settlement in the history of the Old Russian regions Povolzhye, Central Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "freedom" and may be loosely ...

'' by the

Izhma River The Izhma (russian: И́жма) is a river in the Komi Republic of Russia. It is a left tributary of the Pechora. It is long, with a drainage basin of . At a point from its mouth, it has an average discharge of . The river freezes over in Novemb ...

. The formation of the separate ethnicity finalized during the 17th and 18th centuries. During the 19th century they expanded their area of settlement by settling along the middle

Pechora River ; Komi: Печӧра; Nenets: Санэроˮ яха , name_etymology = The Russian name of the river is a combination of two words in an old local Nenets dialect, "pe" & "chora". Literally it means "forest dweller". , image ...

, by the Usa River, in Bolshezemelskaya and

Kanin Peninsula The Kanin Peninsula () is a large peninsula in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is surrounded by the White Sea to the west and by the Barents Sea to the north and east. Shoyna is one of the few communities on the peninsula. Fauna For cetacea ...

tundras. They also crossed the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

and settled by the

Ob River } The Ob ( rus, Обь, p=opʲ: Ob') is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia; and together with Irtysh forms the world's List of rivers by length, seventh-longest river system, at . It forms at the confluence of the Biya (river), Biya ...

. A group of Izhma Komi settled as far as at the

Kola Peninsula sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк , image_name= Kola peninsula.png , image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast , image_size= 300px , image_alt= , map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg , map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...

, where 1,128 were recorded to live in the 2002 census.Yuri Shabayev, Valeri Sharapov,
"The Izhma Komi and the Pomor: Two Models of Cultural Transformation"
''Journal of the Ethnology and Folkloristics'' vol. 5 no 1, 2011, pp.97-122 (retrieved March 22, 2014)David G. Anderson (ed.), "The 1926/27 Soviet Polar Census Expeditions", 2013, , Chapter 6: Igor Semenov, "Statistical Surveys of the Kanin Peninsula and the Samoed Question"
pp.133-179
/ref> Their primary subsistence was based on

reindeer herding Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belongs to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Rus ...

, showing similarities between the lifestyles of the Nenets & the Izhma Komi. More cultural interactions and adaptations can be seen in the traditional residences of the Izhma Komi, the chum, which the Nenets & other Samoyedic ethnic groups traditionally reside in.

References

{{authority control Komi peoples Indigenous peoples of Europe Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East