What is Evens?
[[File:Even_women.jpg|alt=Six Even women.|thumb|300x300px|Even women]] The '''Even''' (Even: эвэсэл, Russian: эвены) people are a [[Indigenous peoples|native population]] of [[Siberia]] and the [[Russian Far East]]. They are sometimes called Ewens or Lamuts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Evens|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/evens|access-date=27 February 2022|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> ==Language== Evens are [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]] people. They speak their own language called Even. The Even language was unwritten until the Russians created a written language for them, using the [[Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] alphabet. Some Evens also speak [[Yakut language|Yakut]] or Sakha, and live in the [[Sakha Republic]]. Most Evens live in parts of the [[Magadan Oblast]] and [[Kamchatka Krai]]. They share many things in common with the [[Evenks|Evenki]] people.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire: The Evens|url=https://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/evens.shtml|access-date=28 February 2022|website=www.eki.ee.}}</ref> Evens are [[reindeer]] [[Herding|herders]]. They are [[Nomadic people|nomads]], which means they move from one place to another. [[File:Evens_in_Kamchatka_Peninsula_(from_a_book_Published_in_1931)_P.73.png|alt=An Even person from Kamchatka Peninsula.|thumb|366x366px|An Even person from Kamchatka Peninsula]] ==Contact with Russians== During the [[17th century]], Russians made contact with the Even people. They introduced diseases to the Evens, such as [[smallpox]] and [[influenza]]. Russians also made Evens pay the ''yasak'', which meant they had to pay [[Tax|taxes]] to the Russian government with reindeer furs. Because of the new diseases and the reindeer population decreasing, the population of the Even people went down. {{Ethnic groups of Russia}} == Religion == Evens' [[religion]] is a mixture of [[shamanism]] and [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodoxy]]. Shamanism is a belief that worships animals and natu