Chukchi people
Chukchi family and their Siberian Husky, early 20th century | |
| Total population | |
| 16,241 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Russia | 16,200 |
| Chukotka Autonomous Okrug | 13,292 |
| Ukraine | 30 |
| Estonia | 11 |
| Languages | |
| Russian, Chukchi | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism, Russian Orthodoxy | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples | |
The Chukchi, or Chukchee (Chukot: ԓыгъоравэтԓьэт, о'равэтԓьэт, ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, o'ravètḷʹèt), are a Siberian ethnic group native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean all within modern Russia. They speak the Chukchi language. The Chukchi originated from the people living around the Okhotsk Sea.
According to several studies on genomic research conducted from 2014 to 2018, the Chukchi are the closest Asian relatives of the indigenous peoples of the Americas as well as of the Ainu people, being the descendants of settlers who neither crossed the Bering Strait nor settled the Japanese archipelago.