Rytkuchi

The village is named after the nearby eponymous river and is translated as shooter,^[12] so called because the area was the site of a battle between Chukchi and strangers on horseback.^[3] Initially the village was established as the Chaunsky Cultural Base (Russian: Чаунская культбаза)^[3] at the mouth of the Chaun River, but it was transferred to the mouth of the Rytkuchi River in 1954.^[3] A census was first conducted in Rytkuchi in 1939,^[13] with the first kolkhoz in the village being established the following year.^[13] A year later, cultural amenities in the village were enhanced with the arrival of a dedicated teacher and the establishment of a cultural centre and a clinic.^[13] The first sovkhoz in the village was established in 1957 for the purpose of reindeer herding.^[13] Two years later, the 1959 census revealed that most of the 80 inhabitants of the village were Russian.^[13] The collective nature of the reindeer herding was reinforced by the establishment of twelve brigades in 1965,^[13] supplied with motorised transport to improve their work. In 1980 an official industry for the production of Chukchi handicrafts was established in the village,^[13] and a museum was opened in the village six years later.^[13]

Rytkuchi is a maritime village on the southern shore of Chaunskaya Bay only 15 km from the Ust-Chaun wetland.^[14] The wetland is a flat, alluvial plain, consisting of a large number of small lakes, generally less than 70 cm deep,^[14] and is a delta area resulting from the confluence of the Chaun (Russian: Чаун), Palyavaam (Russian: Паляваам), Pucheveyem River (Russian: Пучувеем), Lelyuveyem (Russian: лелувеем) and Olvergyrgyvaam (Russian: Oлвеpгэргырваам) Rivers.^[14] The flat nature of the delta causes high tides to travel deep into the delta, creating salt meadows up to 10 km upstream from Rytkuchi.^[14]

The economy is centred on reindeer husbandry,^[15] and Rytkuchi, along with Ayon, is the main location for reindeer husbandry in Chaunsky District.^[16] The men of the village spend most of their time out on the tundra, with many of the women and children spending up to nine months a year in the village so that the children can get an education.^[15] The village has both a high school and a pre-school.^[17] The weapons used by the herders are often late nineteenth or early twentieth century Winchester rifles traded to them in pre-Soviet times by American traders in search of furs.^[13],[15]

The population of Rytkuchi has fluctuated slightly between the 1990s and the present day but has remained around 500. The population according to the 2010 census was 517,^[5] of whom 284 were male and 233 female.^[6] It was estimated at 494 in January 2009,^[3] a slight increase on the figure of 482 estimated in 2005 according to an environmental impact report produced for the Kupol Gold Project,^[18] a reduction from an estimate of 509 as of 2002,^[2] (of which 323 were Chukchi)^[13] but an overall increase from 493 estimated in 1993.^[13]

Rytkuchi suffers from a severe Arctic climate,^[14] with a mean annual temperature of −12.8 °C,^[14] mean January temperatures of −31.4 °C^[14] and mean July temperatures of just +9.5 °C.^[14] Snow is a possibility throughout the year^[14] and the mean winter wind speed is 5–7 m/s,^[14] gusting to 20–40 m/s during strong snowstorms.^[14] Mean annual precipitation is 251 mm,^[14] and 30–40 cm of snow in places is not uncommon by the beginning of spring.^[14]

Rytkuchi has a Tundra climate (ET)^[19] because the warmest month has an average temperature between 0 °C (32 °F) and 10 °C (50 °F) according to the Köppen climate classification.

• Klavdia Geutval, Chukchi folklorist.^[21]

• List of inhabited localities in Chaunsky District