The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma (Myanmar). The group is named after its most widely spoken members, Burmese (over 32 million speakers) and the Tibetan languages (over 8 million). Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail. A widely cited taxonomy divides Sino-Tibetan into Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman branches, but other scholars deny that Tibeto-Burman comprises a monophyletic group.

During the 18th century, several scholars noticed parallels between Tibetan and Burmese, both languages with extensive literary traditions. Early in the following century, Brian Houghton Hodgson collected a wealth of data on the non-literary languages of the Himalayas and northeast India, noting that many of these were related to Tibetan and Burmese. Others identified related languages in the highlands of Southeast Asia and southwest China. The name "Tibeto-Burman" was first applied to this group in 1856 by James Richardson Logan, who added Karen in 1858. Logan viewed the family as uniting the Gangetic and Lohitic branches of Max Müller's Turanian, a huge family consisting of all the Eurasian languages except the Semitic, Aryan (Indo-European) and Chinese languages. (Later writers would include Chinese within Turanian.) The third volume of the Linguistic Survey of India was devoted to the Tibeto-Burman languages of British India.

The Ao are a Naga people of Nagaland in north-east India. Their main territory is from Tsula (Dikhu) Valley (in the east) to Tsurang (Disai) Valley (in the west) in Mokokchung District. They are well known for multiple harvest festivals held each year.

According to the 2010 census of India, Ao Nagas number 824,000. They are believed to have migrated from Mongolia through south-east Asia to Nagaland.

Ao Nagas are found in the north-eastern part of Nagaland, mostly in the central Mokokchung District and also few are found in the adjacent Assam state. Mokokchung, one of the districts in Nagaland, is considered as the home of the Ao Naga tribe. It covers an area of 1,615 km² and is bounded by Assam to its north, Wokha to its west, Tuensang to its east, and Zunheboto to its south. The physiography of the district shows six distinct hill ranges which are more or less parallel to each other and run in the south-east direction.

Tzurangkong Range: These are actually pimples of hillocks thrown at random. They lay adjoining the plains of Assam mostly along the valley of Dissai and Jhanzi rivers just before they flow into the plains of Assam. These hillocks are densely covered with bamboos and the climate of the entire range is warm.

The Angamis are one of the major Naga tribes of Nagaland, India. They are known for the Sekrenyi celebrations that take place every February.

The territory of the Angami's is made up of the present Kohima district, which is divided into four regions:

The former Eastern Angami have separated and are now recognised as Chakhesang.

The Angami Nagas are hill people depending basically on cultivation and livestock-rearing. The Angamis are known for terraced wet-rice cultivation; because of this labor-intensive cultivation, land is the most important form of property among the Angamis. Angamis are one of the only two groups of Nagas out of the seventeen who practice wet-rice cultivation on terraces made on the hill slopes. This allows them to cultivate the same plot year after year. They depend, to a very small extent, on slash-and-burn cultivation. Angamis were traditionally warriors, the Angami men spent majority of their time in warfare with hostile villages and taking heads. Since 1879, when the British succeeded in annexing their territory, the inter-village feuds have come to an end. With the introduction of Christianity in the region several Angamis changed their faith to Christianity.

The Hornbill Festival is a celebration, held every year in the first week of December, in Nagaland, north-east India.

The tribes of Nagaland celebrate their festivals with gusto and fervor. More than 60% of the population of Nagaland depends on agriculture and therefore most of their festivals revolve round agriculture. They consider their festivals sacred and so participation in these festivals is compulsory.

Nagaland is known as the land of festivals, as each tribe celebrates its own festival with dedication and passion. Some of the important festivals celebrated by the Naga people are:

To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December.

Organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments, Hornbill Festival showcases a mélange of cultural displays under one roof. This festival usually takes place between the 1st and the 7th of December every year in Kohima.