[2] The languages are spoken in the region between the Urals and the Ob River and the Irtysh in central Russia.

Beginning some 500 years ago the arrival of the Russians pushed the speakers eastward to the Ob and Irtysh.

[6] The term Ob-Ugric was introduced by the Finnish linguist August Ahlqvist who made expeditions to Western Siberia in 1858 and 1877 to study the Khanty and Mansi languages.

[7][8][9] The status of the Ob-Ugric languages as a close areal grouping is clear, with adjacent varieties regularly sharing isoglosses and having loaned vocabulary back and forth (as well as from common external sources, e.g. from eastern dialects of Komi into northern dialects of Mansi and Khanty).

Some areal similarities are also shared with their eastern Samoyedic relatives, in particular between Khanty and Selkup, but also Forest Nenets.