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. 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. == Ethnic groups ==