Dolgan - Settlements

Various Dolgan groups, depending on the principal mode of their economy, lived in different types of dwellings. The majority of the Dolgan were nomads and lived in portable, conical, pole-supported dwellings (Russian: chum ) . In the main, only the Russians and the Yakut of the Zatundra had permanent winter or summer dwellings and settlements of one to two wooden houses, which they abandoned during the time of transhumance. A hunting band (cooperative group) was formed by one to two families. A reindeer-breeding band could be larger, depending on the size of the herd. Already in the 1920s, a portable structure was utilized in the tundra and forest tundra regions as a permanent winter dwelling.

At present, the Dolgan reside in relatively large-scale settlements, which in the eastern Taimyr are inhabited almost exclusively by them. Such settlements consist of 300-600 persons. The settlements have four-apartment wooden houses heated by imported coal. Water mains and waste disposal are absent. Small settlements have medical centers, and the larger ones have small hospitals. In each there is an elementary and/or middle school.