Izhorians

Categories / Population/Ethnic Groups
IZHORIANS, ethnic community, descendants of the ancient population of Ingria. Their language is related to the Finno-Ugric group of Uralic language family. Divided from southern Karelian tribes in the end of the first millennium, the Izhorians settled in the basin of the Izhora and Neva rivers at the start of the second millennium AD, and later to the shore of the Finnish Gulf, in part assimilating with the local Votes population (see the Votes). From the 12th century Izhora land was under the control of the principality of Great Novgorod, and this was followed by their conversion to Orthodoxy. From the beginning of the 17th century until 1702 the Izhorians were under Swedish rule. Their traditional occupations include agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishing. In the 19th and the early 20th centuries they received a variety of seasonal work, acting as go between for traders and craftsmen. In 1989, the number of Izhorians in the USSR consisted of 820 people, of those only 449 living in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the region which approximately covers the territory of the Russian Federation today), from those living in the Leningrad region - 276 people. (Soikin and Ust-Luga Country Councils, Kingisepp District). At Vistino House in the Kingisepp District was established an Izhorian Museum in 1993, its exhibitions demonstrate the tradition clothes, articles, fishing equipment and other items.

References: Мы живем на одной земле: Население Петербурга и Ленингр. обл. / Сост. и науч. ред. К. В. Чистов. СПб., 1992; Рябинин Е. А. Ижора // Природа. 1992. № 9. С. 82-89.

A. Y. Chistyakov. Мы живем на одной земле: Население Петербурга и Ленингр. обл. / Сост. и науч. ред. К. В. Чистов. СПб., 1992
Рябинин Е. А. Ижора // Природа, 1992 Votes