Kamchadals

The Kamchadals (, ) are an ethnic group inhabiting Kamchatka, Russia. The name "Kamchadal" was originally applied to the descendants of the local Siberians and aboriginal peoples (the Itelmens, Ainu, Koryaks and Chuvans) who assimilated with the Russians. These descendants of the Russian settlers that mixed with the indigenous peoples in the 18th-19th century are called Kamchadals today. The Kamchadals speak Russian with a touch of local dialects of the aboriginal languages of Kamchatka. The Kamchadals engage in fur trading, fishing, market gardening and dairy farming, and the majority are of the Russian Orthodox faith. Today, the name 'Kamchadal' may be applied to people who speak, or whose ancestors spoke, one of the Kamchadal languages. This article is about the Kamchadals in the first sense; for the second sense, see Itelmens

==History== thumb|Illustration of a Kamchadal person by Theodore de Pauly, 1862. In 1767 and 1768, a Russian ship brought smallpox to the region for the first time, and it is believed to have killed three fourths of the native population. In the journal of Captain James Cook, "The small pox . . . made its appearance in 1767 and 1768. It was brought into the country by a Russian vessel bound to the Eastern islands, for the purpose of hunting otters, foxes, and other animals. The person who had in his blood the fatal germ was a sailor from Okotsk , where he had taken remedies for the disorder previous to his departure; but the recent marks of it were visible. Scarcely landed, he communicated this cruel malady to the poor Kamchadales, which carried off three-fourths of them." So, Kamchadals as an ethnic group were not numerous after this contact with fur traders.