Vepsian
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Veps, or Vepsians (), are a Baltic Finnic people who speak the
Veps language Veps, also known as Vepsian (, or ), is an endangered Finnic languages, Finnic language from the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, that is spoken by Vepsians. The language is written in the Latin script, and is closely related to Finnish ...
, which belongs to the Finnic branch of the
Uralic languages The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...
. According to the
2002 Russian census The 2002 Russian census () was the first census of the Russian Federation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics (Rossta ...
, there were 8,240 Veps in Russia. Of the 281 Veps in
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, 11 spoke Vepsian according to the
2001 Ukrainian census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...
) ''lüdinik'' and ''lüdilaine''. Almost all Vepsians are fluent in
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
. The younger generation, in general, does not speak Vepsian; however, many have an understanding of the language.


Geography

In modern times, they live in the area between
Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...
, Lake Onega and Lake Beloye – in the Russian
Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala (; ) is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the Northwest Russia, northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of ...
in the former Veps National Volost, in
Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...
along the
Oyat River The Oyat () is a river in Babayevsky District of Vologda Oblast and Podporozhsky and Lodeynopolsky Districts of Leningrad Oblast of Russia, a major left tributary of the Svir (Lake Ladoga basin). The length of the Oyat is , and the area of its d ...
in the Podporozhsky and
Lodeynopolsky District Lodeynopolsky District () is an administrativeOblast Law #32-oz and municipalLaw #63-oz district (raion), one of the seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northeast of the oblast and borders with Olonetsky District of the Re ...
s and further south in the Tikhvinsky and Boksitogorsky Districts, and in
Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The oblast has a population of 1,202,444 (Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census). The largest city is Cherepovets, t ...
in the Vytegorsky and Babayevsky Districts.


History


Prehistory

Archeological and linguistic studies suggest that Vepsians lived in the valleys of the Sheksna, the
Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...
, and the Syas rivers, developing, according to Kalevi Wiik, from the proto-Vepsian
Kargopol Kargopol () is a town and the administrative center of Kargopolsky District in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Onega River, several miles north of Lake Lacha, in the southwestern corner of the oblast. Population: ...
culture to the east of
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego; , ; ; Livvi-Karelian language, Livvi: ''Oniegujärvi''; ) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic ...
. They probably also lived in East Karelia and on the northern coast of Lake Onega. It is possible that the earliest mention of the Veps dates to the sixth century CE, when the Gothic historian
Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...
mentioned a people called ''Vasina broncas,'' which may have indicated the Vepsians. One of the eastern routes on which the
Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9 ...
went through their area, and the ''bjarm'' people mentioned by the Vikings as inhabiting the coast of the
White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...
may have referred to the Veps. Evidence from tombs proves that they had contact with
Staraya Ladoga Staraya Ladoga ( rus, Ста́рая Ла́дога, p=ˈstarəjə ˈladəɡə, r=Stáraya Ládoga, t=Old Ladoga), known as Ladoga until 1704, is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
and
Meryans The Meryans () or Merya people () were an ancient Finnic people that lived in the Upper Volga region. The '' Primary Chronicle'' places them around the Nero and Pleshcheyevo lakes. They were assimilated by the Russians by the 17th century, but ...
, other Volga Finnic tribes and later with the Principality of Novgorod and other Russian states. Later Vepsians also inhabited the western and eastern shores of Onega.


Historical period

In early
Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...
chronicles, they are called "Весь" (Ves’); in some Arabic sources, they are called ''Wisu''. It is assumed that Bjarmians were at least partly Vepsians. From the 12th century, their history is connected with first the Principality of Novgorod and then
Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...
. Russian settlement reached the Onega Veps in the 14th or 15th century. Eastern Vepsians in the
Kargopol Kargopol () is a town and the administrative center of Kargopolsky District in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Onega River, several miles north of Lake Lacha, in the southwestern corner of the oblast. Population: ...
area merged linguistically with the Russians before the 20th century. The existence of the Vepsian people was not widely known until the mid-19th century. Despite its close relationship to the Karelian and the Finnish languages, the Vepsian language was thus one of the last
Uralic languages The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...
to be recognized as one. Vepsians numbered 25,607 in 1897. Some 7,300 of them inhabited East Karelia. In the beginning of the 20th century there were some signs of national awakening among Vepsians. Early Soviet nationality politics supported this progress, and 24 administrative units with the status of national village soviets were formed. The alphabet and the written language were developed. Teachers started to instruct in Vepsian in some elementary schools. The Soviet authorities started to oppress the Vepsian culture in 1937. All national activities were stopped and the national districts were abolished. When Finland invaded East Karelia in the
Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...
, some Vepsians joined the so-called Kindred Battalion of the Finnish Army. These troops were relinquished to the Soviet Union after the war. In the postwar period, many Veps moved from their historic villages to larger cities. In 1983, on the initiative of national academics, an inquiry was carried out which showed that there were nearly 13,000 Veps in the Soviet Union, 5,600 of whom lived in Karelia, 4,000 in the Leningrad region and just under a 1,000 in the Vologda region. The new Vepsian primer ''Abekirj'' and other elementary school books were published in
Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...
in 1991. '' Kodima'', a newspaper in Vepsian, has been published since 1993. The Vepsian rural community was formed in East Karelia in 1994, encompassing 8,200 square kilometers of land and 3,373 inhabitants, 42% of them Vepsian. The authorities of the
Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala (; ) is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the Northwest Russia, northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of ...
granted some budgetary autonomy to the Vepsian community in 1996. The language was taught as a subject in two schools, in
Shyoltozero Shyoltozero ( rus, Шёлтозеро, p=ˈʂoltəzʲɪrə; ; ; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a ''village#Russia, selo'') in Prionezhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located close to the shore of La ...
and . However, the cultural revival slowed in the second half of the 1990s and the federal authorities abolished the autonomy in 2006. Nowadays the younger generation in general does not speak the language.


Demographics

Since
1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...
, the Vepsian population has been significantly declining likely due to multiple factors such as Stalin's mass forced deportation and assimilation within the Soviet Union. However, it could also be attributed to other factors such as immigration after the
Collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
or Russia's aging population. As of
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
, 4,534 people identified as Vepsian. However, 16.5 million people refused to declare an ethnicity in the census, leading some to doubt the legitimacy of the most recent census, and whether the population counts of Ethnic minorities in Russia were accurate.


Genetics

Vepsians cluster with
Karelians Karelians (; ; ; ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely ...
and
Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...
. They share most of their autosomal ancestry with Europeans, but about 12% of their ancestry is Nganasan-like. This Siberian-related component is linked to the spread of Uralic languages. Like other Baltic Finnic peoples, Vepsians have a high
Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...
-related admixture. Vepsians share more IBD (identity-by-descent) segments with several Uralic-speaking populations, including geographically distant ones like the Mansis and the Nganasans, than with Russians or other non-Uralic groups near to them. This is consistent with the idea that the Uralic-speaking peoples share some common roots. They have significant IBD segment sharing with the Turkic-speaking Dolgans from
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, too. The most common maternal haplogroups among Vepsians include H (57.6%) and U5 (16.8%), showing similarity with other Baltic Finnic groups. 56.4% of Vepsian men have the haplogroup N, which is of East Eurasian origin and commonly found among Uralic-speaking populations. 38.5% belong to the subclade N1a1a (M178), which is typical for Finno-Ugric groups near them, and 17.9% have the subclade N-P43, common in more eastern Uralic groups. The second most common Y-DNA haplogroup among the Veps is R1a (35.9%). The paternal lineages of the Veps may have been influenced by the Zavoloch
Chuds Chud or Chude (, , ) is a term historically applied in the early Old Russian chronicles, East Slavic annals to several Baltic Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwest Russia, Northwestern Russia. It has also been ...
, who are thought to have possibly mixed with them.


Notable Vepsians

* Nikolay Abramov – Vepsian-language poet, translator and writer * Ivan Golunov —Russian investigative journalist and anti-corruption reporterЖурналист Иван Голунов стал обладателем зайца в Карелии и признался, что он вепс
/ref> * (born 1938) — Veps-born Finnish writer *
Anna Lisitsyna Anna Mikhaylovna Lisitsyna (; Veps language, Veps: Anna Lisicina, Mihailan tütär; 14 February 1922 – 3 August 1942) was a Soviet partisan who was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 25 September 1943 for her resistance ...
(1922-1942) — Soviet partisan,
Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...
* Ryurik Lonin (1930-2009) — collector of Veps folklore and writer * Alexander Svirsky (1448-1533) — Eastern Orthodox saint


Further reading

*


References


External links


Vepsian organization

Effort to vitalise the Vepsian language

The Peoples of the Red Book: The Veps
{{authority control Vepsia Vepsian people Indigenous peoples of Russia Baltic Finns Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East