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Yeniseian peoples

Indigenous peoples of Central Siberia in Russia

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Through Turkic peoples, Mongols and Russia

Based on hydronymic data, the Yeniseians originated from the area around the Sayan Mountains and the southern tip of Lake Baikal. The known historical distribution of the Yeniseians is likely to represent a northward migration, with the modern-day Kets representing the very northernmost expansion of the language family. This migration possibly occurred as a result of the fall of the Xiongnu confederation, which, according to Alexander Vovin, is likely to have been Yeniseian-speaking, with their language being most closely related to Arin. The Jie people, a branch of the Xiongnu who established the Later Zhao state in China, are likely to have spoken a variant of Yeniseian close to Pumpokol.

With the proposal of the Dené–Yeniseian language family, the Yeniseians have been linked to Native Americans, particularly the Athabaskans. It has been suggested that the Yeniseians represent either a back-migration from the Bering land bridge to Central Siberia, or that early Dene-Yeniseian speakers originated in Central Siberia, with Na-Dene speakers expanding into the Americas while Yeniseian speakers remained in Siberia.

According to the toponymic evidence, prior to the 17th century Yeniseians occupied vast territories of Western and Central Siberia, from northern Mongolia in the south to the middle Yenisei river in the north, and from the Irtysh river in the west to Angara river in the east.

History

Not much is known about the history of the Yeniseian peoples. The Yeniseians were likely part of the Xiongnu confederation and were possibly associated with its ruling elite. It has also been suggested that they played an important role in the formation of the Hunnic Empire. The Jie people, possibly having some relation to ancient Yeniseians, created the Later Zhao dynasty of northern China. Based on linguistic records, they are considered to be a Pumpokolic tribe, a theory supported by evidence of long-term Pumpokolic inhabitation in northern Mongolia based on toponyms. After some time, they were defeated and assimilated into the wider Han society. Like the Jie people, most other Yeniseian-speaking groups were assimilated into other ethnicities, most notably Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

By the time of the Russian conquest of Siberia, only six remaining Yeniseian languages could be documented: the northern Ket and Yugh, the southern Kott and Assan, and the central Arin and Pumpokol languages. Edward Vajda has proposed that, based on hydronymic analysis, the distribution of Yeniseians, as recorded by the Russians, represents a recent northward migration of the Yeniseians deep into Siberia, in the process abandoning their original homeland in northern Mongolia and south Siberia close to Lake Baikal. This is based on the observation that while river names in the circumpolar region (the modern distribution of Yeniseians) are of Turkic, Mongolic, Ugric, or Tungusic origin, those in the area south of Lake Baikal clearly have Yeniseian origins. Indeed, Russian sources record that even after the 17th century, the Ket were continuing to expand northward down the Yenisei River, and the modern Ket-speaking area appears to be representative of the northernmost reaches of Yeniseian migration.

Eventually, most of these languages surviving into the 17th century also went extinct, with the Kott-Yugh undergoing a language shift to Khakas, and the Arin-Pumpokol shifting to either Khakas or Chulym Tatar. The last remnants of the Yeniseians are the Ket and Yugh people; the first of them are a recognized minority group in Russia. Many younger Kets are now abandoning their language in favour of Russian.

The term "Yeniseian" was first used by Julius Klaproth in 1823 to collectively describe the Arins, Assans, Kets, Kotts, Pumpokols and Yughs.

It was first proposed by Edward Vajda that Yeniseians are directly related to certain Native Americans. Specifically, the Yeniseians are thought to be closely related to the Na-Dene populations of Canada and Alaska. While some have suggested that the Yeniseians and the Na-Dene may be the result of a radiation out of Beringia, with the Yeniseians representing a back-migration into central Siberia from the Bering land bridge, increasing evidence support a Central-South Siberian origin for both Yeniseians and Na-Dene speakers, possibly as part of the proposed Dené–Yeniseian family.

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