The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym Ewenkī(l)) are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognised as one of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 38,396 (2010 census). In China, the Evenki form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the People’s Republic of China, with a population of 30,875 (2010 census). There are 537 Evenks in Mongolia (2015 census), called Khamnigan in the Mongolian language. The Evenks or Ewenki are sometimes conjectured to be connected to the Shiwei people who inhabited the Greater Khingan Range in the 5th to 9th centuries, although the native land of the majority of Evenki people is in the vast regions of Siberia between Lake Baikal and the Amur River. The Ewenki language forms the northern branch of the Manchu-Tungusic language group and is closely related to Even and Negidal in Siberia. By 1600 the Evenks or Ewenki of the Lena and Yenisey river valleys were successful reindeer herders. By contrast the Solons (ancestors of the Evenkis in China) and the Khamnigans (Ewenkis of Transbaikalia) had picked up horse breeding and the Mongolian deel from the Mongols. The Solons nomadized along the Amur River. They were closely related to the Daur people. To the west the Khamnigan were another group of horse-breeding Evenks in the Transbaikalia area. Also in the Amur valley a body of Siberian Evenki-speaking people were called Orochen by the Manchus.
Evenk, also called Evenki, Evenki also spelled Evenky or Ewenki, formerly Tungus, the most numerous and widely scattered of the many small ethnic groups of northern Siberia (Asian Russia). The Evenk numbered about 70,000 in the early 21st century. A few thousand live in Mongolia, and the remainder are almost equally divided between Russia and China. They are separable into two distinct cultures: hunters and reindeer breeders are scattered in the vast area of the taiga (boreal forest) from the Ob–Irtysh watershed eastward to the Sea of Okhotsk coast and Sakhalin, and from the Amur River basin in the south northward to the Arctic Ocean; horse and cattle pastoralists or sedentary farmers reside in Transbaikalia and northeastern China and Mongolia. Many of the Evenk are bilingual, and the Evenk language is not the native language of more than half of the ethnic Evenk. The Evenk traditionally were organized in clans tracing their descent along paternal lines. The members of a clan had a communal fire and invoked common ancestor spirits in their prayers. Each clan was led by an assembly of elders, including the clan shaman (whose duties included healing the sick, traveling in the spirit world, and prophesying). Notably, the word shaman is itself an Evenk word.
The Evenki are an indigenous people of central and eastern Siberia, Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia. Although there has been a great deal of controversy among scholars regarding their original homeland, the most reliable anthropological, linguistic, and archaeological evidence indicates that the Evenki were formed to the east of Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia around 1000 bc. They then spread throughout eastern and northern Siberia, mixing and intermarrying with other native Siberian peoples. In addition to the general name Evenki (which means simply “person” or “people”), they identify themselves by the names of their clans or tribes: Birat, Ile, Manegir, Mata, Orochen, and so on. Although the word Evenki is a singular term in the Evenki language itself, it is used as a plural in Russian, the Russian singular being Evenk for a male and Evenkiika for a female. In recent decades, the use of Evenki as both singular and plural has become common among most non-Russian writers, although one occasionally encounters the form Evenk/Evenks. In older Russian and Western ethno-graphic literature, the Evenki were formerly referred to by the term Tungus, which is derived from Tongus, the Yakut word for “Evenki.” The Evenki have long been known for their skill at hunting reindeer, bear, moose, sable, squirrel, and other animals, and they rely on hunting for most of their food. The Evenki are divided into two main groups based on the economic activities they perform in addition to hunting. Those of central and northeastern Siberia, herd reindeer, and those of southeastern Siberia, Mongolia, and China, raise horses and cattle. A smaller, eastern group along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk-often called the “sitting Evenki” because they own no reindeer-has traditionally lived exclusively by hunting forest animals and seals and fishing.
The Evenki (also Ewenki, Evenk or Tungus people) are an indigenous group with roots in central and northeast Russia, as well as northern China and Mongolia. Evenki means ‘people’ or ‘person’ in the Evenki language, and there are many more localised names e.g. clan names that they identify themselves by. Whilst there is an Evenki Autonomous Okrug (i.e district) in Russia, only around 10% of their Russian population live there. Historically in the areas around them, mostly Taiga forest, people did horse breeding. However, the Evenki have been both a hunting and a nomadic reindeer herding people at least since the 1600s. As part of the mobile lifestyle required for herding reindeer, who are migratory animals, Evenki have used teepee-like housing which can easily be dismantled and reconstructed in a new location. Domesticated reindeer have been milked and used for carrying things, whilst wild reindeer were hunted for meat. For this reason, large herds of hundreds or even thousands, as owned by other reindeer herding groups who use them for meat, are not necessary for the Evenki, and so families often have herds of only 20 or 30 animals.
Even, also spelled Evens, also called Lamut, northern Siberian people (12,000 according to the 1979 Soviet census) closely related to the Evenk (q.v.) in origin, language, and culture. They inhabit the territory to the north and northeast of the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, where they have influenced and have in turn been influenced by their neighbours. The Even who settled on Kamchatka learned and practiced Chukchi traits; those who mixed with the Yukaghirs created an Even-Yukaghir population that is bilingual. Other peoples related by similar ties include the Dolgan, who are a nomadic reindeer-breeding group, and the riverine Negidals, who are primarily fishermen and hunters.
Evenki /eɪˈvɛnki/ (Ewenkī), formerly known as Tungus or Solon, is the largest member of the northern group of Tungusic languages, a group which also includes Even, Negidal, and the more closely related Oroqen language. The name is sometimes wrongly given as “Evenks”. It is spoken by Evenks or Ewenkī(s) in Russia and China. In certain areas the influences of the Yakut and the Buryat languages are particularly strong. The influence of Russian in general is overwhelming (in 1979, 75.2% of the Evenkis spoke Russian, rising to 92.7% in 2002). Evenki children were forced to learn Russian at Soviet residential schools, and returned with a “poor ability to speak their mother tongue…”. The Evenki language varies considerably among its dialects, which are divided into three large groups: the northern, the southern and the eastern dialects. These are further divided into minor dialects. A written language was created for Evenkis in the Soviet Union in 1931, first using a Latin alphabet, and from 1937 a Cyrillic one. In China, Evenki is written experimentally in the Mongolian script. The language is generally considered endangered.
The Evenki ethnic minority treasures their name of nationality which means ‘people living in the mountain forests’. With a relatively small population of 30,505 (in the year 2000), the Ewenki ethnic minority mostly live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is favorably bestowed with pastures, forests, farmland, as well as mineral resources like iron, gold, bronze and crystal. Nearly half of the Ewenki ethnic minority lives on stock breeding, with the other half surviving on agriculture and hunting. The Ewenki language belongs to the Tungus-Manchu branch of the Altaic phylum. Interestingly it has no written characters. In the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), the Ewenki group learned to write in Manchu form whilst today they can master Mongolian and Chinese languages. Most of Ewenki people are disciples of Shamanism. Meanwhile, they also believe that there are gods controlling their life. The god of mountain, in their eyes, is a long bearded senior man. When hunters meet with mountains, caves, or odd rocks, they will think these are the domicile of god and their preys are the blessing of god. Rituals are preformed without noise and the meat of prey is given in worship to the gods. They also admire the god of fire. Every 23rd day of the last lunar month, they will worship him after sunset.
Evenki is a Northern Tungusic language spoken mainly in northern China, and also in Russia and Mongolia. In China Evenki was spoken by about 11,000 in 2007 in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang province and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In the Russian Federation Evenki was spoken by about 4,800 people in 2010 in the Sakha and Buryatia republics, and in Amur, Irkutsk, Magadan and Sakhlin provinces. There are also some speakers of Evenki in Selenge province of Mongolia. Approximately 45% of the Evenki people consider Evenki their mother tongue. Most of the speakers are elderly and the younger generation lack a thorough knowledge of the language. This is because until 1980 the Russian government tried to suppress the Evenki language, but since then Evenki has been taught in schools. Evenki, which is also known as Evenk, Avenki, Avenk or Tungus, has much in common with Mongolian and related languages. It has been strongly influenced by Yakut, Buryat and Russian.
Among the Evenk people, several constellations are associated with hunting. The Pleiades and Orion are conceptualized as three hunters pursuing a mountain sheep (Frank 2015:1683). Similarly, the Big Dipper is seen as a hunter or hunters pursuing an “elk,” called Kheglen or Keglun (Anisimov 1963). The hunters are associated with the stars of the dipper handle, and the animal is associated with the stars of the dipper. It is unclear whether this animal is an elk or a moose, the latter of which are called “elk” in Eurasia. Traditionally, the Evenki occupied a vast swath of the Siberian taiga, from the Yenisey River Basin to the Lake Baikal region. Moose, which are a taiga-adapted species, range throughout Evenki territory, while elk are confined to its more southerly regions. Additionally, elk are a gregarious species, whereas moose are solitary like the animal in the constellation (De Bord 2009; Senseman 2002).
Formerly known as the Tungus or Tunguz, the Evenks are an Indigenous People of central and eastern Siberia, Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia. In addition to the general name, the Evenk (or Evenki, which means simply “person” or “people”) also identify themselves by the names of their clans. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of roughly 35,500 people. In China, the Evenki are one of 56 Indigenous Peoples recognized by the People’s Republic of China, with a population of 30,500.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 
