Negidals are a Manchu-Tungus people. Their territory of residence is the Lower Amur basin in the Khabarovsk Territory. Negidals live mainly in three districts of the Territory: Imeni Poliny Osipenko, Ulchsky and Nikolaevsky. The process of ethnic formation of the Negidals took place in the basin of the Amgun in the 17-19th centuries. In the early sources and ethnographic literature, the Negidals were mentioned under the ethnonym “Tungus”. Their traditional occupations have historically been hunting, fishing, gathering, and (previously) reindeer herding.
Population of the Imeni Poliny Osipenko district of the Khabarovsk Territory, according to Khabarovsk Statistics Service, was 4,256 people as of January 1, 2020. As of October 1, 2020, the number of unemployed citizens registered with the state employment service was 169 people. The main economic activities in the district are gold mining and logging; the district ranks 1st in the Territory in terms of gold mining, 2nd in silver mining. There are also large forest tenants, engaged in timber harvesting. Polymetal UK is engaged in ore gold production at the Albazino deposit.
According to Ivan Gapanovich, the Negidals accepted Christianity only as an external ritual (Gapanovich 1927). The Negidal shamans were both men and women. A special costume was used for the shamanic ritual. The beginner shaman’s costume included a belt, a tambourine, a robe or an apron. The more experienced ones had skirts, shoes, hats and other paraphernalia. The professional shamans had two costumes: one consisted of a cloth wrap robe, decorated with hanging strips made of animal skins, a special leather cap and other attributes: the rattling belt, mirrors, plastron (bib) and mittens.