Abkhazians
You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|July 2006|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
| File:DC003054.jpg | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Abkhazia (autonomous republic of Georgia): 83,000 (est)[1] Turkey: 2,000 [4] | |
| Languages | |
| Abkhaz language | |
| Religion | |
| Eastern Orthodox, Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Abazins, other "Circassian" peoples |
The Abkhazians or Abkhaz (Abkhaz: Аҧсуа, Georgian: აფხაზები) are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, de jure an autonomous republic of Georgia.
Origins
The origins of Abkhazians are highly disputed. The language of the Abkhaz belongs to the North Caucasian language group, and scholarly opinion (mostly Western) favors the notion that the indigenous people of Abkhazia were related to the Heniochi tripe, a proto-Georgian group. According to the Professor David Marshall Lang, the proto-Georgian tribe of Henoichi lived near the border of Colchis.[1]
Religion
The main religion of the Abkhazians living in Abkhazia is Orthodox Christianity. According to renowned Caucasian scholar Professor Lang the evangelia by Saint Nino included Western Georgian Kingdoms of Lazica, Colchis and Abkhazia. [1]
Later in the 15th century during the Ottoman invasion of Abkhazia, many people adopted Islam. Many Abkhazians who were Muslim migrated in the 19th c. to Turkey.
History
 | The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
In the early middle ages, there existed an Abkhazian Kingdom, at the same time as the Georgian Kingdom. In the 1860s, Abkhazia was annexed by the Russian Empire. During this period and soon afterward, a significant part of the Abkhazian population (which confesses the mixture of Islamic, Christian and pagan beliefs) was either evicted or freely moved into adjacent Turkey.
Despite this emigration, at the beginning of the twentieth century Abkhazians still composed the majority on their native land. After the 1917 revolution Abkhazia entered into the Soviet Union as a sovereign republic in the composition of what was called the Transcaucasian Federation, and this status was confirmed in 1925 in the new constitution of Abkhazia. But, in 1931, this status was lowered to an Autonomous Republic inside Georgia. During the Soviet period (especially under Stalin), Abkhazia underwent massive "Georgification", and Abkhazians experienced discrimination in many spheres. Lavrenty Beria, the head of the Georgian Communist Party in 1930, played an active role in implementing this policy. As a result, the population of Abkhazians sharply changed during the life of two generations. By 1989, the number of Abkhazians was about 93,000 (18 % of the population of the republic), while the Georgian population numbered 240,000 (45%). The number of Armenians (15% of the entire population) and Russians (14%) also substantially grew. In 1993, the majority of the ethnic Georgian population was expelled from Abkhazia, so after this year, Abkhazians form an ethnic plurality in Abkhazia (45%), with Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and Jews comprising most of the remainder of the population of Abkhazia. There are about 200,000 ethnic Abkhazians total, of which 150,000 live in Abkhazia. The total population of Abkhazia is estimated at 340,000 people.
References
- David Marshall Lang, Caucasian studies, University of London, 1964, Vol.1
- Roger Rosen, Abkhazia, Library of Congress Catalogue, 2004, ISBN: 962-217-748-4