Ethno-Linguistic groups in the Caucasus region 2009

The village of Tindi, in Dagestan, in the late 1890s. The photograph was taken by M. de Déchy

This article deals with the various ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus region. There are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region.^[1]

[edit] Peoples speaking Caucasian languages

Peoples of Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Caucasian language family are divided into two groups — North Caucasian and South Caucasian:

• North Caucasian peoples:
  • Northwest Caucasian peoples:
    • Abkhazians (including Abazins)
    • Adyghe (including Kabardins and modern day Cherkes)
    • Ubykh
  • Northeast Caucasian peoples:
    • Avars
    • Aguls
    • Dargins
    • Khinalug
    • Laks
    • Lezgins
    • Nakh peoples:
      • Bats
      • Kists
      • Chechens
      • Ingush
    • Rutuls
    • Tabasarans
    • Tsakhurs
    • Udins
    • Archins
• South Caucasian peoples:
  • Georgians
    • Adjarians
    • Mingrelians
    • Svans
  • Laz

The largest peoples of the Caucasian language family in Caucasia are Georgians (4,000,000), Chechens (800,000), Kabardins (600,000) and Avars (500,000); however, the largest people of Caucassian language in diaspora in more than 40 countries (such as Jordan, Turkey, the countries of Europe, Syria, United States) - outside Caucasia - are the Circassians with about 3,000,000-4,000,000 speakers.Georgians are the only Caucasian people that have their own independent state — Georgia. Abkhazia was only recognized by Russian Federation^[2], Hamas^[3], Venezuela^[4] and the President of Nicaragua^[5], while Democratic states support territorial integrity of Georgia. Other Caucasian peoples possess their republics within the Russian Federation: Adyghe (Adygea), Cherkess (Karachay-Cherkessia), Kabardins (Kabardino-Balkaria), Ingush (Ingushetia), Chechens (Chechnya), while Northeast Caucasian peoples mostly live in Dagestan.

Georgians in their traditional costumes called chokha	Georgian prima ballerina Nino Ananiashvili	Pyotr Bagration, a famous Russian–Georgian general	Georgian orthodox priest in Mtskheta, Georgia
Circassian warrior	Lak girl (1883 photograph)	Dagestani couple in traditional dress (circa 1907 to 1915)	Chechen children in Pankisi

[edit] Peoples speaking Altaic languages

Azerbaijani girl in Khachmaz.

Peoples of Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Altaic language family:

• Turkic group:
  • Azerbaijanis
  • Balkars
  • Karachays
  • Kumyks
  • Nogais
  • Trukhmens
• Mongolic group:
  • Kalmyks

The largest of the Altaic-speaking peoples on Caucasus are Azerbaijani (8,700,000), who live primarily in Iran and Azerbaijan, but also in Georgia, Dagestan and Armenia (before 1991). The total number of carriers are 29 million. Other Altaic-speakers live in their autonomous republics within Russian Federation: Karachays (Karachay-Cherkessia), Balkars (Kabardino-Balkaria), Kalmyks (Kalmykia), while Kumyks and Nogais live in Dagestan.

Performing Azeri musicians.	An Azeri woman from Baku (19th century).	Karachay patriarchs in the 19th century.	Kalmyks.
Late nineteenth to early twentieth-century Azeri girl from Shusha.	Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, a leading Azeri industrialist and philanthropist.	Sattar Khan was a major Azeri revolutionary figure in Iran.	Mammed Amin Rasulzade was a Azeri politician and founding father of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

[edit] Peoples speaking Indo-European languages

Peoples of Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Indo-European language family:

• Armenian group:
  • Armenians
• Iranian group:
  • Ossetians
  • Talysh
  • Kurds
  • Tats
  • Mountain Jews
• Slavic group:
  • Russians
    • Kuban Cossacks
    • Terek Cossacks
• Hellenic group:
  • Greeks

Armenians number 3,215,800 in their native Armenia, though approximately 8 million live outside the republic, forming the Armenian diaspora. Elsewhere in the region, they reside in Nagorno-Karabakh (which is de facto independent, but de jure is part of Azerbaijan), Georgia (primarily Samtskhe-Javakheti, Adjara, and Abkhazia), and the Russian North Caucasus. The Ossetians live in North Ossetia-Alania (autonomous republic within Russia) and in South Ossetia, which is de facto independent, but de jure is part of Georgia. The Yazidi Kurds reside in the western areas of Armenia, mostly in the Aragatsotn marz. An autonomous Kurdish region was created in 1923 in Soviet Azerbaijan but was later abolished in 1929. Pontic Greeks reside in Armenia (Lori Province, especially in Alaverdi) and Georgia (Kvemo Kartli, Adjara, and Abkhazia). Russians mostly live in the Russian North Caucasus and their largest concentration is in Stavropol Krai, Krasnodar Krai, and in Adygea.

Yeprem Khan, an Armenian leader during Iran's Constitutional movement.	Armenian girls	Armenian folk musicians	Armenian children at the UN Cup Chess Tournament in 2005
An Armenian Apostolic clergyman	Modern Terek Cossacks	Yazidi Kurds	Ossetian girl (1883 photograph)

[edit] Connection to Caucasian race

The indigenous peoples of Caucasus and the region's geographic location — being on the border of Europe and Mideast — lent their name directly to the designation of the white race as "Caucasian".

The famed exemplary Georgian skull Blumenbach discovered in 1795 to hypothesize origination of Europeans from the Caucasus.

The term "Caucasian" originated as one of the racial categories developed in the 19th century by people studying craniology. It was derived from the region of the Caucasus mountains^[6]. The 18th century German philosopher Christoph Meiners first named the concept of the Caucasian race^[7], but the term was more widely popularized in the 19th century under the name "Varietas Caucasia" by the German scientist and naturalist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840) who "borrowed the name Caucasian" from Meiners.^[6] Blumenbach based the classification of the Caucasian race primarily on skull features, which Blumenbach claimed were optimized by the Caucasian peoples,^[8] particularly a single skull from the Caucasia which resembled German skulls.^[9] It was from this similarity that he conjectured Europeans having arisen in the Caucasia.^[9] Blumenbach wrote about the "primeval"^[7] Caucasian race which he believed was "the oldest race of man"^[7] and the "first variety of humankind"^[7].

Caucasian variety — I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (birth place) of mankind^[10]

In 1915, French diplomat and man of letters Arthur de Gobineau popularized ideas about race: "I must say, once and for all, that I understand by white men the members of those races which are also called Caucasian^[11]… [these] white races… had their first settlement in the Caucasus."^[11]

The Caucasus was historically an area of fascination for Europeans. Myths of the Caucasus featured Prometheus and Jason and the Argonauts.^[12] Greek mythology considered women from the Caucasus to have magical powers.^[7], such as Medea of Jason and the Argonauts fame. In Greek mythology, this area was thought of as a kind of hell since Zeus imprisoned many Titans who opposed him (e.g. Prometheus) there. In this sense, these Titans were banished outside the civilized world to an area inhabited by Colchians. ^[13]

[edit] References

• Mile Nedeljković, Leksikon naroda sveta, Belgrade, 2001.

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Caucasian languages
• Peoples of the Caucasus in Turkey
• List of ethnic groups
• European ethnic groups
• Y-DNA haplogroups by ethnic groups