Northeastern Bashkirs as subethnos

Subethnos stand out almost in every nation, monolithic ethnic formations almost do not exist, especially if the ethnos is numerous and settled in large spaces. The Bashkirs are no exception. The Bashkirs currently occupy the fourth place among the peoples of the Russian Federation in their number. At the present level of the ethnological and historical studies, the following ethnographic groups are clearly recorded in the composition of this ethnos: a) southeastern; b) northeastern; c) southwestern; d) northwestern. This article is devoted to the ethnocultural features of the northeastern group of the Bashkir ethnos that have been formed over several centuries. The author considers a number of reasons for the appearance of these features. The article contains a review of Bashkir’s material culture, namely traditional dwelling and national clothes, both male and female. The author also focuses on the specifics of traditional customs and rituals, and reveals the dialect of the studied group of Bashkirs. Attention is also paid to historical events which took part of the north-eastern region of the Bashkir territory. The author mentions the subethnos’ relatively late joining the Russian state in the sixteenth century; the active uprisings in the northeast of the region in the 17th - 18th centuries; the rapid factory construction in the region in the 19th century. She concludes that the specifics of the studied subethnos are partly survived nowadays. It is connected primarily with some peculiarity of cultural and economic development of the northeast edge of the region in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods.