Mingrelians
Ethnographic group of Georgians / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mingrelians[lower-alpha 1] (Mingrelian: მარგალეფი, romanized: margalepi; Georgian: მეგრელები, romanized: megrelebi) are an indigenous Kartvelian-speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians[3][4][5][6][7][8] that mostly live in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti (Mingrelian: სამარგალო, romanized: samargalo; Georgian: სამეგრელო, romanized: samegrelo) region of Georgia. They also live in considerable numbers in Abkhazia and Tbilisi. In the pre-1930 Soviet census, the Mingrelians were afforded their own ethnic group category, alongside many other ethnic subgroups of Georgians.[9][10]
Total population | |
---|---|
c. 400,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Languages | |
Mingrelian, Georgian | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Georgian Orthodox Church) |
The Mingrelians speak the Mingrelian language, and are typically bilingual also in Georgian. Both these languages belong to the Kartvelian language family.[11][12][13]