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Peoples of the Caucasus
Ethno-Linguistic groups in the Caucasus region 
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]
Peoples speaking Caucasian languagesPeoples of Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Caucasian language family are divided into two groups ? North Caucasian and South Caucasian.
The largest peoples of the Caucasian language family are Georgians (4,600,000), Chechens (800,000), and Avars (500,000). Georgians are the only Caucasian people that have their own independent state ? Georgia, while some other of those 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. Abkhazians live in Abkhazia, which is de facto independent, but de jure is autonomous republic within Georgia. <gallery> Image:Traditional dress, mtshketoba.jpg|Georgians in their traditional costumes Image:TL019520.jpg|Georgian prima ballerina Nino Ananiashvili Image:Pyotr Bagration portrait.jpg | Pyotr Bagration, a famous Russian?Georgian general Image:Georgischer Priester.jpg|Georgian orthodox priest in Mtskheta, Georgia Image:Circassian Warrior.jpg | Circassian warrior Image:Lakian girl 1883.jpg | Lak girl (1883 photograph) Image:Prokudin-Gorskii-44.jpg | Dagestani couple in traditional dress (circa 1907 to 1915) Image:Chechenchildren.jpg|Chechen children in Pankisi </gallery> Peoples speaking Altaic languagesPeoples of Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Altaic language family. The largest of the Altaic-speaking peoples on Caucasus are Azeris (8,700,000), who live primarily in Iran and Azerbaijan, but also in Georgia, Dagestan and Armenia (before 1991). 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. <gallery> Image:Azeri 7.jpg | Performing Azeri musicians Image:1403-84.jpg | An Azeri woman from Baku (19th century) Image:Gfdfgd.jpg | Karachay patriarchs in the 19th century Image:Kalmyk Brides and Grooms.jpg | Kalmyks Image:Az girl karabakh.jpg | Late nineteenth to early twentieth-century Azeri girl from Shusha Image:132 610 taghiyev.jpg | Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, a leading Azeri industrialist and philanthropist Image:Sattar Khan.jpg | Sattar Khan was a major Azeri revolutionary figure in Iran. Image:Emin bey.jpg | Mammed Amin Rasulzade was a Azeri politician and founding father of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic </gallery> Peoples speaking Indo-European languagesPeoples of Caucasus that speak languages that belong to the Indo-European language family.
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, 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. <gallery> Image:Yeprem khan.jpg|Yeprem Khan, an Armenian leader during Iran's Constitutional movement. Image:Armenian girl.jpg | Armenian girls Image:Musicians.jpg | Armenian folk musicians Image:Armenian children.jpg | Armenian children at the UN Cup Chess Tournament in 2005 Image:Armenian-clergyman.jpg | An Armenian Apostolic clergyman Image:Cosacos de Terek.jpg| Modern Terek Cossacks Image:CAEIPDS0.jpg |Yazidi Kurds Image:Kukul.jpg | A Greek (Pontian) man in traditional clothes from Trebizond Image:Ossetian girl 1883.jpg | Ossetian girl (1883 photograph) </gallery> Connection to Caucasian raceThe 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. 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[6] 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[7]? [these] white races? had their first settlement in the Caucasus."[7] The Caucasus was historically an area of fascination for Europeans. Myths of the Caucasus featured Prometheus and Jason and the Argonauts.[8] Greek mythology considered women from the Caucasus to have magical powers.[3], 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. The Greeks considered them barbaric.[9] References
NotesSee also
fr:Peuples du Caucase hr:Kavkaski narodi hu:Kaukázusi népek sv:Kaukasier zh:????? Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
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