The Karbis, with a population of 965,380 people in the Karbi Anglong District of central Assam, are a part of the vast Sino-Tibetan (more specifically Tibeto-Burman) peoples from the Himalaya Mountains. They are the first known human inhabitants of their dense mountain forests, now covering a region of 10,434 sq.k.m. They know very well how to live simply in the mountain forests, in a life of subsistence rather exploitation. They call themselves Arleng, which means human being.