Aleuts
Number: nearly 2,000 in the USA; 700 in Russia
Location: Aleutian Islands (south-west of Alaska, USA, towards Kamchatka); Commander (Komandorski) Islands (Russia: Bering Sea)
Livelihood: residential; hunting sea mammals, fishing
Religion: Shamanism
Language: (Eskimo-)Aleut group
Buryats
Number: 421,000 in Russia; 70,000 in Mongolia; small communities in the north-east of China
Location: around Lake Baikal; Republic of Buryatia; Autonomous Buryat District of Ust’ Orda in Irkutsk Oblast; Autonomous Buryat District of Aga in Chita Oblast
Livelihood: Mongolian-style nomadic rearing (of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, camels) to the east of Lake Baikal; semi-residential rearing to the west
Religion: Buddhism in the east; Shamanism in the west
Language: Mongolian family
Chukchis (The Chukchi people)
Number: 15,000
Location: Autonomous District of the Chukchis; the northern part of the Autonomous District of the Koryaks; the north-east of Yakutia
Livelihood: Ankalynes of the coastal area, residential: hunting of marine mammals; Chaochus of the tundra, nomadic: reindeer-herding
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Chukchi-Koryak-Kamchatka group
Dolgans (The Dolgan people)
Number: 6,945
Location: northern Yakutia, the Taimyr Peninsula
Livelihood: semi-residential; reindeer-herding, hunting, fishing
Religion: Orthodox Christianity; elements of Shamanism
Language: Turkic family
Eveni (The Eveni people; the Lamut)
Number: 17,000
Location: north-eastern Yakutia; Khabarovsk Region; Chukotka; Kamchatka
Livelihood: nomadic in the tundra; reindeer-herding and -hunting semi-residential in coastal areas; fishing, hunting marine mammals
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Tungusic family
Evenki (The Evenki people)
Number: 30,164
Location: Autonomous District of the Evenki (Krasnoyarsk Oblast); Khabarovsk Region; the Republics of Yakutia and Buryatia, in Irkutsk, Chita and Amur Oblasts
Livelihood: nomadic; reindeer-herding and -hunting
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Tungusic family
Kets (The Ket people; ‘Yenisey-Ostyaks’)
Number: 1,113
Location: strip centring on the Yenisey River south of Turukhansk, Baikit Oblast (Krasnoyarsk Region)
Livelihood: residential; hunting and fishing
Religion: Shamanism
Language: apparently unrelated
Khanty (The Khanty people; Ostyaks)
Number: 22,521
Location: Autonomous District of the Khanty-Mansi; Autonomous District of the Yamal-Nenets, Tomsk Oblast
Livelihood: nomadic reindeer-herding in the tundra – hunting and fishing in the taiga; rearing of various animals (goats, sheep, pigs, etc.) in southerly areas and on the Ob River
Religion: Shamanism; bear cults
Language: Finno-Ugric family
Koryaks
Number: 9,000
Location: Autonomous District of the Koryaks; Autonomous District of the Chukchis, Magadan Oblast
Livelihood: nomadic reindeer-herding in the tundra; residential fishing and hunting of marine mammals in coastal areas
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Chukchi-Koryak-Kamchatka group
Mansis (The Mansi people; the Vogul people)
Number: 8,474
Location: Autonomous District of the Khanty-Mansi
Livelihood: hunting and fishing; reindeer-herding now almost died out
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Finno-Ugric family
The Nanai people (The Gold people)
Number: 12,000 in Russia; around 1,000 in China
Location: the extreme east of Russia, in the lower course of the Amur River (The Regions of Khabarovsk and of the Primor’ye); the island of Sakhalin
Livelihood: residential; hunting and fishing
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Tungusic family
The Negidal people
Number: 622
Location: the lower course of the Amur River (Khabarovsk Region)
Livelihood: residential; hunting and fishing
Religion: Shamanism; bear cults
Language: Tungusic family
The Nenets
Number: 34,000
Location: Autonomous Districts of the Nenets (Archangel Oblast), of the Yamal-Nenets, and of the Dolgan-Nenets
Livelihood: nomadic; reindeer-herding in the taiga and the tundra
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Samoyedic family
Nivkhi (The Nivkhi people; Gilyaks)
Number: 4,673
Location: the lower course of the Amur River; the island of Sakhalin
Livelihood: residential; fishing, hunting, hunting of marine mammals; crop-farming, rearing of dogs
Religion: Shamanism; bear cults
Language: apparently unrelated
Olchi (The Olchi people)
Number: 3,200
Location: the extreme east of Russia, in the lower course of the Amur River (Khabarovsk Region)
Livelihood: residential; hunting and fishing
Religion: Shamanism; bear cults
Language: Tungusic family
The Orochon people
Number: 915
Location: Khabarovsk Region, Amur Oblast
Livelihood: residential; hunting and fishing
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Tungusic family
Oroki (The Oroki people)
Number: 190
Location: the island of Sakhalin
Livelihood: semi-residential; fishing and the hunting of marine mammals in coastal areas; hunting in the taiga
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Tungusic family
The Tuva people (Tuvinians; the Uryankhai; the Soyot)
Number: 235,000
Location: Republic of Tuva (south of Siberia on the border with Mongolia, between the Ob and Yenisey Rivers); Mongolia; China
Livelihood: nomadic; horse-, cattle- and camel-breeding
Religion: Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism); Shamanism
Language: Turkic family
Udekhe (The Udekhe people)
Number: 2,011
Location: the Regions of Khabarovsk and of the Primor’ye
Livelihood: residential; hunting and fishing
Religion: Shamanism; tiger cults
Language: Tungusic family
Uit (The Yuit)
Number: (Inuit:) 35,000 in the USA; 26,000 in Canada; 45,000 in Greenland; (Yuit:) 1,700 in Russia
Location: as above – but in Russia: the eastern side of Chukotka; Wrangell Island
Livelihood: residential; hunting marine mammals, shooting and trapping birds, fishing, crop-farming
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Eskimo(-Aleut) group
Yakuts
Number: 382,000
Location: Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Livelihood: residential; rearing of horses and domestic livestock
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Turkic family
Yukaghirs
Number: 1,142
Location: northern Yakutia, Kolyma and Magadan Oblasts
Livelihood: nomadic and residential; hunting, reindeer-herding, breeding hunting-dogs
Religion: Shamanism
Language: Yukaghir-Chuvantsi group