Table Of ContentTHE PEOPLES
OF
D
THE
AnEthnographicHandbook
THE PEOPLES
OF
D
THE
An Ethnographic Handbook
Ronald Wixman
M
MACMILLAN PRESS
LONDON
Macmillan Reference Books
© M. E. Sharpe, Inc. 1984
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1984 978-0-333-36981-4
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published in the United Kingdom 1984 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated Companies
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Wixman, Ronald
The peoples of the USSR.
1. Ethnology-Soviet Union
I. Title
947.084'2 DK33
ISBN 978-1-349-07313-9 ISBN 978-1-349-07311-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-07311-5
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Introduction xi
A Note on Sources XVI
List of Abbreviations xviii
The Peoples ofthe USSR 1
List of Maps 229
Map Index 230
About the Author 246
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to a number ofpeople who
helped in the preparation of this book. Without the suggestion of
Paul Goble the book might never have been conceived. It was his
idea that my original research, which centered solely on the North
Caucasus, should be expanded to include all ofthe peoples of the
USSR and be made widely available to scholars.
I would also like to thank Douglas Michael Leander, who helped
in the compilation, alphabetizing, and cross-referencing of all
entries. Very special thanks go to Stephen Reynolds for his
information on the Baltic and Western Finnic peoples and on the
religions of many ofthe peoples ofthe USSR. He also inserted the
diacritical marks in the text by hand. In addition to all this,
his numerous and valuable suggestions regarding style and format
greatly facilitated the actual preparation ofthis work.
I am grateful to Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer for her editorial
comments and for providing me with a great deal of information
on the people of Siberia. Her contribution certainly increased the
value and usefulness of this reference book. I would also like to
express my gratitude to my editor, Patricia Kolb, for her sugges
tions and her patience,and for her help in the eventual publication
ofthe text.
All cartographic work was prepared by my close friend Fred
erick Wilson, and lowe him special thanks for his personal support
during the difficult period during which this book was completed.
Similar thanks go to my very dear friends James L. Hardcastle,
Todd A. Asay, Kenton Kullby, and Norman P. Frantzen. I could
neveroverstatethe importanceoftheirsupportand encouragement.
v11
Acknowledgments vIl1
My deepest appreciation alsogoes to MaryAlice Stander for the
numerous hours of work she put in editing the many copies and
versions of this text. Her constant support and encouragement
were at least as important in the completion of this work as her
technical help.
Most of all I want to thank the one responsible for my becom
ing a professor. No words can express the great debt ofgratitude I
owe to Stephen Lee Glaser, "the best friend of my childhood
years." Without him and his special concern, patience, and en
couragement I would never have gone to college or graduate
school. He was not only my friend, but also my mentor. It is to
him that I dedicate this book.
Preface
While a graduate student at the University of Chicago I was
inspired by professors Alexandre Bennigsen and Chauncy Harris to
work on the ethnic and socialgeography ofthe Islamic peoples of
the USSR. This research culminated in my writing a book on the
North Caucasus region (Language Aspects ofEthnic Patterns and
Processes in the North Caucasus). Whiledoing this research I came
across numerous ethnonyms applied to the peoples of this region
that are no longer in use. I found it extremely difficult to identify
these peoples, to figure out their contemporary names, and in
general to trace ethnic processes. It was frustrating to learn that
there was no simple reference work, or in fact,any singlereference
work, in which to find this information. I began, therefore, to turn
to various ethnographic, historical, and other sources to obtain
such information and to record it in an index file. In this file I
kept and cross-referenced data on self designations, Russian and
other designations, location, language, religion, ethnic processes,
literary language, official status, ethnographic divisions, etc.
Without this file (which has over 200 entries on the North Cau
casus alone) it would have been impossible to keep all these
ethnonyms and groups straight-and the book would never
have been completed.
I found, through this arduous task, that frequent mistakes were
made by Western scholars when writing about numerically small
and seemingly insignificant peoples. For example, sometimes the
North Ossetians were described as Christians and the South
Ossetians as Moslems (neither statement is correct). Frequently
the Abkhaz were identified as being related to the Georgians, and
Ix
Preface x
often they were described as Moslems (again, neither statement is
correct). It was also discovered that the usage of different eth
nonyms, evenby Russian scholars, has been inconsistent. The term
Lezgin, for example, during the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries was used by different writers and at different times to
mean all Moslem North Caucasian Mountaineers, all Dagestanis
and Chechens, allMountaineer Dagestanis, all southern Dagestanis,
or simply the people today referred to as Lezgins.
Having found that no single source existed in which a Western
scholar could find all of these names and groups, I undertook to
expand the file at the urgingofmy good friend and colleague Paul
Goble. This book is the result. In it, I have included all of the
reference data I came across in seven years of research on the
ethnographic groups of the Russian Empire and the USSRduring
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Clearly this work is not exhaustive or complete and I do not
claim that it includes every ethnonym that belongs here. I would
like to apologize for any and all errors made. Since the sources on
many of these peoples are so varied, and often givecontradictory
information, and since so many groups exist, the making oferrors
is inevitable. It would be greatly appreciated if readers knowl
edgeable in this field would inform me ofany groups omitted and
convey any additional information on the peoples listed but not
adequately covered.
RONALD WIXMAN
Introduction
The purpose of this book is to be aquick reference for Western
social scientists doing research on the peoples of the Russian
Empire and the USSR. Basic informationisprovidedon ethnonyms
(self, alternative, Russian, and other), ethnogenesis and ethnic
divisions, ethnic processes (including assimilation, consolidation,
etc.), language (linguistic affiliation, literary status, alphabet
reforms, etc.), population (according to the 1926, 1959, 1970,
and 1979 Soviet censuses or other sources), religious affiliation,
and location. It is not intended to be an encyclopedia and there
fore does not include detailed historical, cultural, literary, or
political information. Fifteen maps based on the Soviet publica
tion Atlas Narodov Mira are provided at the end ofthis book. All
maps were prepared by Frederick Wilson.
It is also beyond the scope of this work to attempt to establish
"standard" spellings or designations for the various groups here
included. Numerous transliteration systems exist, each with
advantages and disadvantages. In addition, various scholars, fields,
journals, etc. have their own preferred systems. One ofthe greatest
problems is that the use of different ethnonyms or spellings
frequently carries political or social significance. It should not be
assumed that the use of a particular spelling or ethnonym in this
book as the "main entry" is an attempt to force this form as a
standard. This issue is further complicated by the facts that: (l)
in general there are no standard English designations for the great
majority of peoples included; (2) when an English designation
does exist it often does not correspond to either the self designa
tion or even the Russian one; (3) most often Western scholars use
xl
