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Map of ethnic republics,
languages, & religions in Russia
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)
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this Article About
the Author Bibliography/Sources
This exclusive EHL map shows
the many "ethnic republics" within the Russian Federation
(i.e. the nation of Russia) today, where different ethnic
and racial groups are superficially represented with political
autonomy. This map is a crucial key for understanding the
ethnic, religious, and political conflicts that Russia still
faces today even after shedding itself of its outer territories
following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the largest nation
on earth. Special color codings show to which ethnic/racial
group each ethnic republic's culture belongs (Turkic, Mongol,
Circassian/Caucasian, Slav, etc.). It is also the best way
to understand the conflict of Islam in Russia and the southern
Jihad against the Russian government, as it is apparent that
a great swathe of Russia is not ethnically nor culturally
Russian at all. See below for history and characteristics
of these different cultures and their religions. View
the map at the bottom.
Brief Historical Background:
The modern Russian Federation
-- still by far the largest nation on earth -- is one with
a ruling Slavic elite and a broad array of far poorer, disenfranchised
ethnic groups and cultures still living under Russian Slavic
rule. After finally wresting themselves of the Mongol and
Muslim Tatar yoke by the 16th century, the next 400 years
of Russian history would be one of expansion and conquest
not seen since the life of Timur the Mujahid or Chinggis Khan.
Ivan the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine
the Great, and the Alexanders would lead the tiny state of
Muscovy (Moscow) to rule the world's largest empire from the
Baltic Sea all the way to Washington state and Alaska in the
modern United States, and all the way south to northern Iran
and Afghanistan. The Slavic, Orthodox Christian elite would
gain authority over the millions of animist, Muslim, Buddhist,
Mongol, Turkic, Iranian, and Finnish, and Inuit subjects they
conquered.
With the collapse of the
Soviet Union, the outer states -- ethnically Slavic, Mongol,
Circassian/Caucasian, and Turkic -- gained independence from
Russian Slavic hegemony. But many non-Slavic, non-Russian
ethnic groups remained under the political authority of the
non-Communist Russian Federation of today. The primary reason
was that the cultures today represented nominally in the "ethnic
republics" of Russia failed to historically develop national
consciousness, nationalism, or wherewithal, and Russia was
able to hastily exert authority over the disparate tribes.
Other peoples were not so passive, as seen in the brutal uprising
by Chechen Muslims against the Russian hegemonic government
under Boris Yeltsin, leading to hundreds of thousands dead
on both sides.
EHL Map Details/Clarification:
This EHL map shows the many
ethnic republics of the modern Russian nation. The complicated
political system of Russia causes many maps to be different.
This map only shows the ethnic republics. The provinces
with names and colors are the ethnic republics. The
remainder of the provinces without names that is entirely
in yellow/beige is the remainder of Russia that is not part
of separate ethnic republics; beige/yellow
denotes non-autonomous Russian territory.
The different flags of the ethnic republics have been shown
next to their borders. The numbers and ethnic republics shown
in the LEGEND are those which are simply too small to show
directly on the map. The different ethnic republics have been
shaded in a series of colors to denote their racial/ethnic
group using the colors in the Legend.
Ashkenazim (yellow-brown)
refers to the ethnic Jews living in Eastern Europe (though
most live in Israel and the United States today). They are
either Jewish, atheist, or converted Christians. Mongol
(dark blue) refers to the Mongol race towards the
south and east. They are largely animist/shamanist, but many
are Buddhist, especially in the western dark-blue ethnic republic
of Kalmykia. Note the Soyombo Tibetan Buddhist symbol on the
flag of Buryatiya, also seen on the flag of Mongolia. The
Mongol race also includes the Yakut/Inuit/"Eskimo"
peoples of the far northeast. Alan/Iranian in light-green
refers only to the Ossets of North Ossetia on the border of
Georgia. They are ancient residents of Iranian blood who survived
the Turkish Islamic conquest into Anatolia from western Central
Asia since the 10th century. They are mostly Christian. South
Ossetia, today legally part of Georgia and populated by these
Iranian Ossets, fights an independence struggle against Georgia
that has pushed the nation close to collapse. The Finns/Samoyeds
are two groups speaking related languages and living a semi-nomadic
and animal husbandry lifestyle. Turkic in purple
refers to a cultural group almost exclusively following the
Islamic faith. Red refers to the Circassians
and Caucasians, including Adygeans, Ingush, Chechnyans,
Karachais, Cherkesh, Kabards, Tatars, Dagestanis, and Balkars
are all Muslim groups in Russia. However, some of these groups
are Christian and shamanist.
Note that Finnish, Mongol,
and Turkic populations live in other regions of Russia than
these ethnic republics, though these ethnic republics hold
by far the largest populations of their respective cultures,
and are vehicles for their frequent struggles for self-determination.
Note also that the demographics of these ethnic republics
have changed due to history and economics. For example, the
northern ethnic republics were created for the Finnish tribes
living in desolate and fiscally useless provinces where even
they were a tiny population (but the majority). With the discovery
of oil, many of these "Finnish" ethnic republics
are now almost entirely Russian because of oil worker migration
from Russia proper. This EHL map only charts where these ethnocultural
communities exist and the loci of their ethnic struggles against
the Slavic elite. Therefore, when states like Komi are shown
in light-blue as a Finnish ethnic republic, it does not mean
the majority of the population is Finnish, but that the territory
was created for the tiny Finnic population as a Finnic ethnic
republic.
Click above to expand
the map. Click again to zoom.
If an error has been made,
or if you have any questions, please feel free to reply.
________________________________________
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
James Mayfield is a historian
and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have
a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies
(language and history), am presently working for my Masters
in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate.
I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic
identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles
of native European and immigrant minority identities. See
my staff entry for more information.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES
USED:
The image used as the basis
for the map is widely redistributed and is not protected.
The map was designed by me.
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