Komi

The Komi are an indigenous Arctic people. Of the 497,000 Komi (1989 census), the majority (292,000) live in the Komi Republic, which extends to the Arctic Circle, and in the contiguous Permian Komi Autonomous okrug within the Perm oblast (Komi population 95,000). Their language belongs to the Finno-Ugric family and is mutually semi-intelligible with Udmurt, farther south. In the 1300s the Komi were the merchants of the Far North and had a unique alphabet. Most Komis have Caucasian features. Distinguished U.S. sociologist Pitrim Sorokin (1889 - 1968) was a Komi cultural activist in his youth.

The northern Komi partly converted to Greek Orthodoxy in the late 1300s, prior to the Novgorod conquest, and maintained Komi-language liturgies up to 1700. The Permian Komi Duchy of Great Perm converted under duress just before Novgorod was seized (1472) by Moscow, which allowed the duke to stay as a vassal but dismissed his son. Cultural renaissance was strong by 1900.

Despite Komi pleas, Moscow excluded the Permian Komi from the Komi Autonomous oblast, formed in 1921 and upgraded to Autonomous Republic in 1936. The Permian Komi National okrug (district), formed in 1925, remains a "periphery of a periphery" within the Perm oblast. Two separate literary languages were developed. Numerous slave labor camps were located in Komi lands. Russian immigration has reduced the Komi from 92 percent of the population in 1926 to 23 percent in 1989. In the okrug the drop has been from 77 percent to 60 percent.

The huge and flat Komi Republic (population 1.3 million) produces 10 percent of Russia's paper, 7 percent of its coal, and also oil and gas. Indigenous Komi live mainly in the southern agricultural zone. Those who have shifted to Russian as their main language (25%) participate actively in the economic life. The Permian Komi okrug is a depressed area where the only resource, lumber, has been depleted.

In 1989 the First Komi National Congress established a Komi National Revival Committee, which succeeded in having Komi and Russian declared coequal state languages in the Republic. The impact has been real but limited, leading to the creation of a more activist organization, Doriam Asnõmös (Let's Defend Ourselves).

Bibliography

Lallukka, Seppo. (1995). "Territorial and Demographic Foundations of Komi-Permiak Nationality." Nationalities Papers 23:353 - 371.

Taagepera, Rein. (1999). The Finno-Ugric Republics and the Russian State. London: Hurst.

—REIN TAAGEPERA

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: a member of a Finnish people living in the northwestern Urals in Russia

Meaning #2: the Finnic language spoken by the Komi people
  Synonym: Zyrian

The name Komi may refer to:

• Komi Republic, a republic in Russia
  • Komi peoples
  • Komi language, languages of the Komi peoples (Komi-Zyrian language and Komi-Permyak language)
• Komi, a short name for komidashi, a rule used in the board game Go
• Komi (restaurant) in Washington, D.C.
• Komi, a synonym of Kenkey, a West African dish

Cyprus

• Komi Kebir, a village in Famagusta District

Greece

• Komi, Arcadia, a village in Arcadia, part of the municipality Levidi
• Komi, Cyclades, a village on the island of Tinos, part of the municipality Exomvourgo
• Komi, Ilia, a settlement in the municipality of Vouprasia
• Komi, Lesbos, a village on the island of Lesbos, part of the municipality Loutropoli Thermis

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