Ingrians

The name Ingrians is used to designate the various Finnic-speaking peoples, a subgroup of

ILMEN SLAVS location:

Around Lake Ilmen in northwestern Russia

Time period:

Ninth to 10th century c. E.

Ancestry:

Slavic

Language:

East Slavic

INGRIANS

Location:

Near Gulf of Finland in northwestern Russia

Time period:

11th century c. E. to present

Ancestry:

Finno-Ugrian

Language:

Balto-Finnic (Finnic)

INGUSH

Location:

North Caucasus in southwestern Russia

Time period:

Second millenium b. c.e. to present

Ancestry:

Caucasian

Language:

Nakh (Caucasic)

IONIANS

Location:

Central Greece; Asia Minor

Time period:

Eighth to fourth century b. c.e.

Ancestry:

Hellenic

Language:

Ionic and Attic (Greek)

Finno-Ugrians, native to the present-day St. Petersburg region near the Gulf of Finland in northwestern Russia. Their homeland was formerly known as Ingria or Ingermanland, and the name has been used variously: for the Izhorians (also known as the Izhora Ingrians, Ijores, or Lyds); for the Votes (or Vodes); for two smaller tribes known as the Evremeisets and Savakots, whose descendants now live in the city of Leningrad itself; and for the Ingrian Finns, that is, Finns from Finland, especially from the subgroup known as Tavasts, who settled in Ingria. The region of Ingria (the Anglicized form) has been known variously as Vod in Russian, as Ingermanland in Swedish, and as Inkeri in Finnish. It is said to be named after the daughter Ingegard (Ingigerd) of the Swedish king Olof Skotkonung. She married Yaroslav I the Wise, ruler of the Rus, in 1019 C. E.

Ingria became Swedish territory in 1617, after which much of the migration of Finns to Ingria occurred. In 1703 Peter the Great annexed Ingria to the Russian Empire; in 1712 St. Petersburg became Russia’s capital. The selfappellation of the Ingian Finns, inkerin suoma-lainen (Finns of Ingria), came about in the 19th century because of a newfound feeling of unity with the Finns of Finland largely because of shared Lutheranism.

During the existence of the Soviet Union (USSR) in the 20 th century the Ingrian Finns were referred to by Russians as the Leningradskie Finny. The new, accepted pluralism in the Russian Federation has led to increased ethnic awareness among the Ingrian Finns, many of whom have chosen to migrate in recent years.

See also Russians: nationality.