Shiwei Culture ID

The Shiwei were a Mongolic-speaking people of the forests and steppes of northeastern Asia, dwelling in the lands around the upper Amur. They are counted among the ancestral peoples of the later Mongols.

Shiwei life combined herding with hunting and fishing in a northern land of forest and grassland, their communities scattered and organised around kin and tribe.

Living beyond the great settled states, the Shiwei followed the traditions of the northern peoples, with a religious life centred on spirits and the natural world.

As one of the early Mongolic peoples of the northeast, the Shiwei belong to the deep background of the steppe world.