The New International Encyclopædia/Koriaks

KO′RIAKS (reindeer people). One of the northeastern members of the Siberian section of the Mongolian race. They inhabit the country (coast and interior) between the Tchuktchis and the Kamtchadales, and are in part fishermen and in part wandering or semi-settled herdsmen, whose possession of the reindeer has raised them above the condition of some of the neighboring tribes, both physically and mentally. The Koriaks number some 5000, and are divided into several tribes. They are said to bear a striking resemblance to some of the natives of Arctic North America. Some ethnologists include them in the ‘Paleasiatic’ group, which consists of races once of more southern range, but now driven to the northeast by advancing peoples from the Asiatic interior. The languages of the Koriaks, Tehuktchis, and Kamtchadales seem to be related. Consult: Winkler, Uralaltaische Völker und Sprachen (Berlin, 1884); Kennan, Tent Life in Siberia (New York, 1870-79).