Historical data on the area |
The territory of GMFA is the area of permanent living of indigenous peoples of Priamurie (basin of the Amur) - Nanai and Udege. These peoples are descendants of Tungus-Manchurian tribes commonly named “chjhuhr-chjhen”, which formed a civilized State “Bokhai” in the seventh century A.D. Bokhay citizens built towns, remains of which (fossils of sculptures, houses, roads) give evidence of a highly developed economy, culture, and cultural and trading ties with neighboring countries. Numerous tools and instruments for production created by chjhuhr-chjhens in the 12th century are well known and used to this day. Ancient Bokhai craftsmen produced gold, silver, lead, copper and their alloys, and they could cast iron products. Some discoveries of ancient iron casts date back to one thousand years ago. The high-level culture of chjhuhr-chjhen tribes was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century. The Bokhai State fell apart, and chjhuhr-chjhen descendants, Nanai, Udege and other tribes declined back to the patriarchal-tribal system which afterwards transformed into patriarchal families and survived right up to the 18th century when the area began to be developed by Russian peasants. In the 19th century, neighboring patriarchal families united into communes exercising the right for collective ownership and use of natural resources available within their own established areas, and one commune was not entitled to use the area possessed by other commune without consent of the latter. Basic instruments of production (sweep-nets, nets, boats, etc.), working hands and food were socialized, and the output was divided equally among all the working hands of the commune. The communal structure of these peoples is still existing and, for the time, has no alternative. From the second half of the 19th century, Priamurie was intensively developed by Russian settlers. Russian settlements were set up close to those of Nanai, and friendly relations were formed between newcomers and natives, exchanging by their experiences of land and forest use. The town of Troitskoe, current center of the Nanaiski district and headquarters of the GMFA’s Executive Board, was established in 1859. |