No rest for the nomads
The native home of the Evenki, the most widely scattered “nomads of the mountains”, is near Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. Imperial Russia of the 17th century began expanding ruthlessly into this remote area by sending the cossacks — border patrols — of Tsarist governments to impose a fur tax on the Evenki tribes. Although some rebelled, the Evenki generally realised that peaceful…