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• History of Christianization of Europe
• Soviet Union, Communist influence
• Map of European ethnic groups
• Map of Fascism in Europe (1922-75)
• History of Islamic conquest in Europe
• Religions & ethnic groups in Russia
• Detailed map of French colonization
• Detailed map of British colonization
• Napoleon's conquests & legacy

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Muhammad cartoon crisis in pictures
• Stalin's private summer home
• Ravenna: capital of Gothic empire
• Czar Nicholas II's Ukrainian palace
• European traditional costumes/dress
• Inside the Vatican, house of all wealth

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Spain & El Cid
• Poland-Lithuania vs. Teutonic Order
• Nevskiy's Russia vs. German Crusaders
• Mussolini vs. Libyan Islamic fighters
• Qadafi: Europe will soon be Islamic
• Ivan the Terrible vs. Muslim Tatars 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• The Gypsies in history and today, Europe's public enemy
• History of Jihad in Chechnya
& Caucasus vs. Russians
• History of the Muslim Tatars in Russia
• Ethnic & religious history of Serbs, Croats, & Bosnians
• Breakaway states and independence movements in Europe
• The ancient Germanic Runic alphabet and Runestones
• Inside Bulgaria, 1st Slavic nation,
land of Thracian masters of gold
• Visual history of Yugoslavia
• 4,000-year-old white mummies of China, bringers of Buddhism 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

Map of ethnic republics, languages, & religions in Russia
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print 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 live in Russia today. 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, Slav, etc.). It is also the best way to understand the conflict of Islam in Russia and the southern Jihad against the Russian government. 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 expelling their Turkish and Mongol Islamic rulers and conquerers in 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 brutal Slavic, Orthodox Christian elite would gain authority over the millions of animist, Islamic, Buddhist, Mongol, Turkic, Iranian, and Finnish, and Inuit subjects they conquered. Ethnic tension and hatred was already intense, and the conquered non-Slavs saw no franchise nor protection as second-class citizens. Muslim regions responded to the Russian presence with Islamic Jihad, especially in Dagestan, Ingushia, and Chechnya, which today seek independence via the revived Jihad. The Russian empire at its height included (both before the Soviet Union and during) the modern nations of Georgia, Armenia, Muslim Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland (never part of USSR), Muslim Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. This dominion remained during the Soviet Union period, where a move toward "Russification" initiated almost exclusively in reference to language under the guise of equality. Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and other Muslims in Russia use the Cyrillic alphabet instead of the Arabic script of their Islamic heritage. There was even a tiny state developed for the Jewish community in the desolate and freezing border with China and the Alaskan sea called the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, a home for Jews expelled by the Soviet Union to keep them from interfering with public life. Hebrew or Yiddish is also used in this borderland.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the outer states -- ethnically Slavic, Mongol, 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 Islamic uprising by Chechnyan Muslims against the Russian Christian government, leading to hundreds of thousands dead on both sides. In response to the modern US-inspired global call for self-determination and liberalism, Russia has vassalized a series of "ethnic republics" in little more than name primarily to quell rebellion and organize sparse tribes and administrations to pay taxes to the national government. The ethnic republic system is largely one of passive segregation and pacification.

The large purple-colored Turkish/Circassian belt on the southern marches of Russia is the heart of the Islamic struggle and Jihad against the Russians. Chechnya, Inguishia, and Dagestan have led the holy war, though the surrounding ethnic republics have frequently supported the Jihad, along with many foreign fighters of Arab, Uzbek, Turkish, and Iranian blood. Two bloody "Chechnya Wars" between Russia and Islamic Mujahidin have effectively converted Chechnya and its capital, Grozniy, to ash and blood; the conflict is still unresolved, and remains a clash of cultures, between Slav and Turk, and between Christians and the blade of Islam.

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 related Scandinavian groups speaking related languages and living a semi-nomadic and animal husbandry lifestyle. The majority of the Finns living in Russia are a result of either the brief Russian rule of Finland, and the effort of Catherine the Great to hire Germanic and Finnic workers to stimulate the Russian economy. Unlike in Finland, where Finns are Lutheran like the rest of Scandinavia, these Finns in Russia are Orthodox Christian, having been distanced from Germanic culture, though they remain homogeneously segregated from the Slavs. Turkic/Circassian in purple refers to two related cultural groups almost exclusively following the Islamic faith. Adygeans, Ingush, Chechnyans, Karachais, Cherkesh, Kabards, Tatars, Dagestanis, and Balkars are all Muslim groups in Russia. However, some Turks in Russia, like the Chuvash of Chuvashia, are largely Christian. They are largely indistinguishable in all regards except for the very distinct Circassian language family for the Circassians.

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 relatively 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 the owner and Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I am working for a doctorate in history, with a specific emphasis on Islamic and European histories. I am well versed in all world cultures, ethnicities, religions, languages, politics, and historical evolution in relation to and against each other.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

The image used as the basis for the maps is widely redistributed and is not protected.