17世紀のロシア人探検家が見たカムチャツカの先住民族 : アトラソフの『第二の話』に基づいて

北海道大学大学院文学研究院北方研究教育センター

北方人文研究

This paper is focusing on reading the materials compiled by Russian explorers who visited the Kamchatka Peninsula in the 17th century as ethnography while considering the historical background of the time. The main purpose is to focus on how the Kuril people who lived on the southernmost tip of the Kamchatka peninsula and the adjacent islands of the Kuril Islands were described and represented in written works, as well as to consider the meaning and reasons behind one or another way of representation. The Kamchatka Peninsula was “discovered” by the Russian Empireʼs cossacks in the middle of the 17th century and was made Russian territory by Atlasovʼs expedition in 1697. Like other Siberian regions that have become part of Russia, Kamchatka has been the subject of all aspects of study. Of course, the indigenous people of Kamchatka were not an exception, as Russians documented their physical characteristics, language, and lifestyle. One of such indigenous peoples was the ethnic group called “Kurils” who lived in the southern tip of Kamchatka and the islands of the Kuril Islands extending south from the peninsula. This ethnic figure disappeared from Kamchatka at the beginning of the 19th century, but there are some descriptions left by those who explored Kamchatka at the time. Information about the Kuril people in Russia was first mentioned in the report of cossack Vladimir Atlasov in the 17th century. Most of these descriptions have been the subject of historical research; however, they have not been fully studied from an anthropological perspective until now. Their coming to Kamchatka inevitably brought Russians into contact with indigenous peoples, including the Kuril people. Reading the Atlasov records, the author of this paper relied on the criticism of Orientalism, frontier and contact zone theories to analyze the representation of others in the colonial situation. The paper reveals new aspects of the history of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, and the relationship between Russians and indigenous peoples, especially the Kuril people.