The Finno-Ugric peoples are any of several peoples of Eurasia who speak
languages of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, such as the
Khanty, Mansi, Hungarians, Maris, Mordvins, Sámi, Estonians, Karelians,
Finns, Udmurts and Komis. Peoples
Existing Peoples Extinct Peoples
Merya people Meshchera people
Muromian people Zavoloshka Chudes
Volkhov Chudes The four largest Finno-Ugric peoples are
the Hungarians, Finns, Estonians and Mordvins. The first three of these have
their own independent states – Hungary, Finland, and Estonia.
The traditional area of the indigenous Sami people is in Northern
Fenno-Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula in Northwest Russia and is known as
Sápmi. Some other Finno-Ugric peoples have
autonomous republics in Russia: Karelians, Komi, Udmurts, Mari, and
Mordvins. Khanty and Mansi peoples live in
Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug of Russia. Komi subgroup Komi-Permyaks used to live
in Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug, but today this area is a territory with
special status within Perm Krai. Finno-Ugric identity
In Finnic- and Ugric-speaking countries such as Finland, Estonia and Hungary
that find themselves surrounded by unrelated tongues, language origins and
language history have long been relevant to national identity.
Vladimir Lenin may have had Mordvin ancestry.
Boris Yeltsin had Mansi ancestry. Some Estonians and Finns believed that
Vladimir Putin is potentially of Finno-Ugric ancestry, however some
Russians may take it as an offense to be accused of being of Finno-Ugric descent.
Mythology Shamanism has had a historically
important influence on the mythologies of Siberian peoples, including the
Finnic, Ugric, Yeniseian, Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and other northern
Eurasia and Central Asian peoples. A central concept in their cosmologies is
the myth that the world was created from an egg. There are also myths about the
Milky Way, ideas about the existence of the World tree or pillar, and the idea
that asterisms represent animal spirits. A myth about a bird floating on the
primary ocean that dives for the ground is a central Uralic cosmogonic myth.
International Finno-Ugric societies Established in Syktyvkar in 1992, the
World Congress of Finno-Ugrian Peoples is convoked at least once in four years.
The members of the Finno-Ugric Peoples' Consultative Committee include the
Erzyas, Estonians, Finns, Hungarians, Ingrian Finns, Ingrians, Karelians,
Khants, Komis, Mansis, Maris, Mokshas, Nenetses, Permian Komis, Saamis, Tver
Karelians, Udmurts, Vepsians; Observers: Livonians, Setos.
The first Festival of the Finno-Ugric Peoples was held in Yoshkar-Ola in 1990.
The tradition continued covering turn by turn all regions of the Finno-Ugric
world: the Republic Mari El, Mordovia, Hanty-Mansijsk, Estonia, Udmurtia,
Hungary. In 2007 the festival was hosted by the President of Russia and visited
by the leaders of Finland and Hungary, Finnish President Tarja Halonen and
Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány.
Population genetics A study of Population Genetics of
Finno-Ugric speaking humans in North Eurasia carried out between 2002–2008 in
the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Helsinki showed that
most of the Finno-Ugric speaking populations possess an amalgamation of
West and East Eurasian gene pools, genetic drift, and recurrent founder
effects. North Eurasian Finno-Ugric-speaking populations were
found to be genetically a heterogeneous group showing lower haplotype
diversities compared to more southern populations. North Eurasian
Finno-Ugric-speaking populations possess unique genetic features due to complex
genetic changes shaped by molecular and population genetics and adaptation to
the areas of Boreal and Arctic North Eurasia.
The proposal of a Finno-Ugric language family has led to the postulation not
just of an ancient Proto–Finno-Ugric people, but that the modern
Finno-Ugric–speaking peoples are genetically related. Such hypotheses are
based on the assumption that heredity can be traced though linguistic
relatedness. However, Finno-Ugric has not been reconstructed linguistically;
attempts to do so have been indistinguishable from Proto-Uralic.
Like in any other human population, individual groups within the Finno-Ugric
language family have a diverse array of cultural, environmental, and genetic
influences. However, modern genetic studies have shown that the Y-chromosome
haplogroup N3, and sometimes N2, having branched from haplogroup N, which,
itself, probably spread north, then west and east from Northern China about
12,000–14,000 years ago from father haplogroup NO, is almost a specific
trait, though certainly not restricted, to Uralic- or Finno-Ugric-speaking
populations, especially as high frequency or primary paternal
haplogroup. A recent study has found that haplogroup
NO of the Finno-Ugric peoples and their descendants probably spread north, then
west and east from Northern China about 12,000–14,000 years ago from its father
lineage and today is found in Eastern Europe. The Department of Forensic
Medicine at the University of Helsinki showed that most of the Finno-Ugric
speaking populations possess an amalgamation of West and East Eurasian
gene pools, supporting the idea of mixed origins in these modern populations.
R1a1a7-M458 R1a1a7-M458 frequency peaks among Slavic
and Finno-Ugric peoples. R1a1a1i
This group seems to have connection with among others the Finno-ugric peoples. It
is the North-East European subclade of R1a1a1 and spread from the Baltic to the
Ural Mountains as well as the Carpathian Basin. The majority of the Steppe
Magyars likely belonged to this haplogroup, carrying the Ugric Hungarian
language. Archaeology
Ananyino culture Comb Ceramic culture
Dyakovo culture Gallery
See also Samoyedic peoples
Finno-Ugrian suicide hypothesis References and notes
Sinor, Denis. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. Cambridge University
Press. pp. 229–252. ISBN 0-521-24304-1. Further reading
Mile Nedeljković, Leksikon naroda sveta, Beograd, 2001.
People of Volga and Uralic regions. Komi-Zyrians. Komi-Permyaks. Mari.
Mordvins. Udmurts. Moscow, 2000. Petrukhin, Vladimir. Myths of
Finno-Ugric Peoples. Moscow, 2005. 463 p.
World Outlook of Finno-Ugric People. Moscow, 1990.
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