Chuvash people
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Chuvashia,Russia: 889,200 (2002) | |
| Languages | |
| Chuvash, Russian (i.e. as second language), Tatar (i.e. as second or third language) | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Orthodox Christians including Atheist and Muslim minorities. | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Altaic Turkic Bulgars |
The Chuvash (Chuvash Чǎвашсем; Russian: Чуваши; Template:Lang-tt) are a Turkic-speaking people. According to the Russian census of 2002, the Chuvash population in Russia numbered 1 637 200; 889 268 (67,69% population of the Chuvashia) of these lived in Chuvashia. The remainder 126 500 lived in Tatarstan's Aqsubay, Bua, Nurlat, Täteş, Çirmeşän, Çüpräle rayons (7,7%), 117 300 in Bashkortostan (7,1%), 101 400 in Samara Oblast (6,2%), 111 300 in Ulyanovsk Oblast (6,8%), and also in Tyumen, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Rostov, Volgograd oblasts of Russia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, as well as Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
They are divided into three groups: Hill Chuvashs (вирьял, тури; viryal, turi) in northern and northeastern Chuvashia; Meadow Chuvashs (анат енчи; anat yenči) in central and southwestern Chuvashia; and Downer Chuvashs (анатри; anatri) in southern Chuvashia and outside of Chuvashia.
They speak the Chuvash language and are predominantly Orthodox Christian, with some pre-Christian traditions. In addition to the Chuvash language, many Chuvash people also use the Russian and Tatar languages.
There are rival schools of thought on the origin of the Chuvash. One is that they originated from a mixing between the Suar or Sabir tribe of the Volga Bolgars with local Mari tribes. Another is that the Chuvash are remainders of pre-Volga Bolgar (Hunnic) population of Volga Bulgaria, partly merged with Scythians, Volga Bolgars and Mari.
Some scholars believe a part of the Chuvash people converted to Islam in Middle Ages and merged with the Tatars.
In the 15th-16th centuries, Chuvash lands were incorporated into the Khanate of Kazan, and then in 1550 annexed by Russia. From 1708 to 1920, the Chuvash lands were part of the Kazan Governorate.
Chuvashs are the third largest ethnic group in the city of Kazan (1.2%).