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Mingrelians

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Mingrelians
Mingrelian:მარგალეფი
Georgian:მეგრელები
Distribution of Mingrelian in relation to the other Kartvelian languages
Total population
c. 400,000
Regions with significant populations
Georgia 400,000[a]
Languages
Mingrelian,Georgian
Religion
PredominantlyEastern Orthodox Christianity(Georgian Orthodox Church)
A Mingrelian (c. 1900)

TheMingrelians[b](Mingrelian:მარგალეფი,romanized:margalepi;Georgian:მეგრელები,romanized:megrelebi) are an indigenousKartvelian-speakingethnic subgroupofGeorgians[1][2][3][4][5][6]that mostly live in theSamegrelo-Zemo Svaneti(Mingrelian:სამარგალო,romanized:samargalo;Georgian:სამეგრელო,romanized:samegrelo) region ofGeorgia.They also live in considerable numbers inAbkhaziaandTbilisi.In the pre-1930 Soviet census, the Mingrelians were afforded their ownethnic groupcategory, alongside many other ethnic subgroups of Georgians.[7][8]

The Mingrelians speak theMingrelian language,and are typically bilingual also inGeorgian.Both these languages belong to theKartvelian language family.[9][10][11]

History

In the 13th centuryBC,the Kingdom ofColchiswas formed as a result of the increasing consolidation of the tribes inhabiting the region, which covered modern western Georgia. The endonymmargalepi(მარგალეფი) is presumably reflected in the GreekManraloi(Μάνραλοι), recorded as a people of Colchis byPtolemyin the 2nd century BC.

By the mid-3rd century, the Lazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom of Lazica (orEgrisiin Georgian sources). In the 5th century, the first Christian kingGubazes IdeclaredChristianityas astate religionof Lazica. Locals began to have closer contact with the Greeks and acquired variousHelleniccultural traits, including in some cases the language. From 542 to 562, Lazica was a scene of the protracted rivalry between theEastern RomanandSassanidempires, culminating in theLazic War.EmperorHeraclius's offensive in 628 AD brought victory over the Persians and ensured Roman predominance in Lazica until the invasion and conquest of the Caucasus by theArabsin the second half of the 7th century.

In the 7th century Lazica fell to theMuslim conquest;however, in the 8th century combined Lazic andAbasgianforces successfully repelled the Arab occupation. In 780 Lazica was incorporated into theKingdom of Abkhaziaas a result of dynastic succession, the latter led theunification of the Georgian monarchyin the 11th century. The nobility and clergy of Lazica switched from the Hellenic ecclesiastic tradition to the Georgian, and Georgian became the language of culture and education. After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Mingrelia was an autonomous principality within theKingdom of Imereti,until being annexed by theRussian Empirein the 19th century.

In several censuses under the Russian Empire and the earlySoviet Union,Mingrelian were considered a separate group, largely because at the time of the annexation Mingrelia was politically separate from eastern Georgia, the historical political and cultural centers of the Medieval Georgian Kingdoms. They were reclassified under the broader category of Georgian in the 1930s. Currently, most Mingrelian identify themselves as a subgroup of the Georgian nation and have preserved many characteristic cultural features – including the Mingrelian language – that date back to the pre-ChristianColchianera.

Lavrentiy Beria,the Chief ofStalin's secret police, was a Mingrelian. (As is well known, Stalin himself was a Georgian.)

The first President of an independent Georgia,Zviad Gamsakhurdia(1939–1993), was a Mingrelian and also a creator ofGeorgian nationalism.[12]Therefore, after the violent coup d'état of December 21, 1991 – January 6, 1992, Mingrelia became the centre of acivil war,which ended with the defeat of Gamsakhurdia's supporters.

Approximately 180,000–200,000 Mingrelian and other subgroups ofGeorgian peoplehave been expelled from Abkhazia as a result of theAbkhaz–Georgian conflictin the early 1990s and the ensuingethnic cleansing of Georgiansin this separatist region.

Notable Mingrelians

See also

Notes

  1. ^IncludingAbkhazia,where46,000 Mingrelians and Georgianslive.
  2. ^Also calledMegrelians,MingrelsorMegrels

References

  1. ^Stuart J. KaufmanModern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War::Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War], p 86: "Additionally, the Georgian category includes an array of politically important subgroups especially Mingrelians, Svans and Ajarians"
  2. ^Kevin Tuite"The Meaning of Dæl. Symbolic and Spatial Associations of the South Caucasian Goddess of Game Animals".Université de Montréal.
  3. ^Tunç AybakPolitics of the Black Sea: Dynamics of Cooperation and Conflict,p 185: "... Georgians (Megrels)..."
  4. ^Andropov, New Challenge to the West, by Arnold Beichman, Mikhail S. Bernstam,p 116: "Georgia consists of three ethnics tribes: Imeretians, Kartvels, and Mingrelians."
  5. ^Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict,by Svante E. Cornell, p 142
  6. ^Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet World,by Pål Kolstø, p. 8
  7. ^R. Wixman.The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook(p.134)
  8. ^"Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей".www.demoscope.ru.
  9. ^"South Caucasian Languages « Sorosoro".
  10. ^Congress, The Library of."LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)".id.loc.gov.
  11. ^"SOUTH CAUCASIAN - LanguageServer - University of Graz".Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-04.Retrieved2011-03-18.
  12. ^abcMcCauley, Martin.Who's who in Russia since 1900.Psychology Press, 1997: p. 1
  13. ^Rayfield, Donald.Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him.Random House Digital, Inc., 2005: p. 354
  14. ^Hoiris, Ole. Yurukel, Sefa.Contrasts and solutions in the Caucasus.Aarhus University Press, 1998: p. 187

Bibliography