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Ethnic groups in the Caucasus facts for kids

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The peoples of the Caucasus are many different ethnic groups living in the Caucasus region. This area is between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. More than 50 different groups call this place home.

Caucasus-ethnic en
Ethnolinguistic groups in the Caucasus region (2007)

Language Groups

The people of the Caucasus speak many different languages. These languages can be grouped into families. Some language families are native to the Caucasus. Others came from different parts of the world.

Native Caucasian Languages

Peoples of the Caucasus
Caucasian peoples: Georgians, Persians (in Azerbaijan), Circassians, Tatars, and Ingush
Shatili fortress, Georgia
The medieval Georgian village of Shatili
Geschichte des Kostüms (1905) (14744198946)
Ethnic groups living in the Caucasus region
Tindi, Daghestan (M. de Déchy, late 1890s)
The village of Tindi, in Dagestan, in the late 1890s
Народы Кавказа 19 век
North Caucasian peoples (from left to right): Ossetians, Circassians, Kabardians, and a Chechen

People who speak languages native to the Caucasus are usually put into three main groups: Kartvelian, Northeast Caucasian, and Northwest Caucasian.

Kartvelian languages

  • Georgians (the largest group)
    • Ingiloys
    • Zans (like Lazs and Mingrelians)
    • Svans

Northeast Caucasian languages

  • Avar–Andic peoples:
    • Avars (a large group)
    • Andis
    • Tindis
  • Dargins
  • Laks
  • Lezgic peoples:
    • Lezgins (a large group)
    • Aguls
    • Rutuls
  • Nakh peoples:

Northwest Caucasian languages

  • Abazins
  • Abkhazians
  • Circassians (a very large group, many live outside the Caucasus)
    • Kabardians (a large group)

The Georgians are the only Caucasian people with their own independent country, Georgia. Other groups like the Chechens, Avars, Lezgins, and Kabardians live in republics within Russia. Many Circassians live in other countries like Turkey and Jordan.

Indo-European Languages

Komaroff. Carte ethnologique du Caucase, dressée. 1887
Ethnolinguistic groups in the Caucasus region in 1887
Gagarin Greben
Terek Cossacks of the North Caucasus

Many Caucasians speak languages from the Indo-European family.

Armenians are a large group, with many living in their home country of Armenia. However, even more Armenians live in other countries around the world. Ossetians live in two main areas: one in Russia and one that is disputed with Georgia. Russians mostly live in the northern parts of the Caucasus.

Semitic Languages

Some Caucasians speak languages from the Semitic family.

  • Assyrians: About 35,000 Assyrians live in the Caucasus. They are Eastern Rite Christians and speak Eastern Aramaic dialects. They originally came from Mesopotamia.
  • Caucasus Jews: These include Mountain Jews and Georgian Jews. Many have moved to Israel or the United States.
  • Arabs in the Caucasus: Some people with Arab roots live here, though many have mixed with other groups.

Mongolic Languages

  • Kalmyks: These are western Mongols who moved to Russia in 1607. Today, they are the main group in Kalmykia, which is a republic on the western side of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is special because it has Europe's only Buddhist government.

Turkic Languages

Many Caucasians speak languages from the Turkic family.

  • Kipchaks:
    • Kumyks
    • Balkars
    • Karachays
    • Nogais
  • Oghuz Turks:
    • Azerbaijanis (the largest Turkic group in the Caucasus)
    • Meskhetian Turks

The Azerbaijanis are the largest Turkic-speaking group in the Caucasus. Most of them live in the country of Azerbaijan. Other Turkic groups like the Karachays and Balkars live in their own republics within Russia.

Genetic History

The different language groups in the Caucasus are often linked to their shared genetic ancestry. This means that people who speak similar languages often have similar genes, showing they came from the same ancestors.

Gallery

  • Nagorno Karabakh guerilla fighter Grigor Tumiants, early 20th century

    Armenian from Shusha, Nagorno-Karabakh, early 20th century

  • Azerbaijani woman from Baku in national costume, circa 1890s

    An Armenian girl from New Julfa, Isfahan, or Azerbaijani woman from Baku, late 19th century

  • "Young noble Tatar", drawing by Vasily Vereshchagin, Shusha, 1865

    Young Azerbaijani from Shusha

  • Chechen, 19th century

    Chechen warrior, 19th century

  • Chechen family from 1920

    Chechen family from 1920

  • Адыгский воин

    Circassian warrior

  • Dagestani man and woman

    Dagestani (1904)

  • Ingush Highlanders

    Ingush people

  • Джекцы (A)

    Jek people

  • Karachay Soldiers

    Karachays

  • Khevsur clansmen, ca. 1910

    Khevsur clansmen in Georgia, c. 1910

  • Kubanskie Kazaki

    Kuban Cossacks, 1915

  • RaidbyKURDS

    A raid by Kurds

  • Group of men from Laza

    Group of Lezgin men, 1880

  • Tipy Mingreltsy. Types of Life The Mingrelians (1865) (A)

    Mingrelians, 1865

  • Caucasusian Jews with chokha

    Mountain Jews, c. 1898

  • Ногайцы 01

    Nogai

  • Ramonov vano ossetin northern caucasia dress 18 century

    Ossetian warrior

  • Russian settlers, possibly Molokans, in the Mugan steppe of Azerbaijan. Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

    Russian settlers in Azerbaijan, c. 1910

  • TerskijeKazaki

    Terek Cossacks

  • Groom wearing a chokha on a Tushetian wedding

    Groom wearing a chokha at a Tushetian wedding

  • Tat people from Adur (Azerbaijan)

    Tat men from Quba, 1880

  • Gorskii 03967u

    Mullahs at the Mosque near Batumi, c. 1910

See also

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