Russia occupies a vast territory from the Arctic and Pacific Oceans to the Black and Caspian Seas. She represents an amazing example of the unity of nations that is displayed on her coat of arms.
Various ethnic groups living in the area bordering Europe and Asia made up the cultural and historical identity of Russia. The foundation of the formation of the Russian state was Finno-Ugric, East Slavic, Baltic and other small peoples, in total, according to the annals, there are more than 20 names. For many centuries, the Russian power expanded its borders at the expense of the border regions, the population of which became part of the Russian people.
As a result of historical events, Russia has become the only state with such a diverse cultural and ethnic composition.
Ethnic groups in Russia
According to the results of the last census of the population of the Russian Federation, conducted in 2010, 195 nationalities live in the territory of the state. The country's population can be classified according to ethnic and linguistic principles. Separation affects the historical roots of peoples, even if the modern indigenous population no longer speaks the language of their ancestors.
Representatives of the Indo-European culture include Slavic nationalities - there are more than 14 million of them living in Russia in numerical terms; this also includes the Baltic, German, Romance, Greek, Armenian, Iranian, Indo-Aryan peoples.
The Yukagir-Ural family gave birth to Finns, Estonians, Karelians, Mordovians, and residents of Komi. Khanty came from here (inhabiting the Russian North in the amount of more than 30 thousand people), Mansi (there are a little more than 12.5 thousand in Russia), Udmurts (552300 people), Chuvans and Yukagirs.
The Altai branch, whose representatives inhabit the Altai Republic and border regions, is divided into five families. These are Koreans and Japanese, Mongols, as well as representatives of the Turkic and Tungus-Manchu nations. It is hard to say how many representatives of these peoples live on the territory of modern Russia today. According to the results of the last census, some of them ranked themselves as “Russians, ” which means they abandoned national self-identification.
The North Caucasian nation gave the country a population that can be divided into 2 camps. These are representatives of the North Caucasian peoples and the Abkhaz-Adyghe inhabitants. The first branch includes: Dagestanis, Chechens, Ingush, Avars, Lysgins, and other small nations. The second branch: Kabardins, Adyghe, Abkhazians and Circassians.
Modern Georgians originate from the Kartvelian nation. From the same place, little-studied endangered peoples, such as the Ingiloys and Mingrelians, came from.
