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The Mingrelians (Mingrelian: მარგალი, margali; Georgian: მეგრელები: megrelebi) are a subethnic group of Georgians that mostly live in Samegrelo (Mingrelia) region of Georgia. They also live in considerable numbers in Abkhazia and Tbilisi. Approximately 180,000-200,000 people of Mingrelian provenance have been expelled from Abkhazia as a result of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of Georgians in this separatist region.

Most Mingrelians speak both the Mingrelian and Georgian language which belong to the Kartvelian language family, but use only the Georgian alphabet.

History

The Mingrelians are descendants of several Colchian tribes and constitute one of the building blocks of the unified Georgian nation that emerged after the kingdoms of the west (Colchis) and east (Iberia) were united under Christianity in the middle of the first millennium AD. Early in the Middle Ages, Mingrelian aristocracy and clergy, later followed by laymen, adopted the national Georgian tongue as a language of literacy and culture. After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Mingrelia was an autonomous principality until being annexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century.

In several censuses under the Russian Empire and the early Soviet Union, Mingrelians were mistakenly considered a separate group, largely because at the time of the annexation Mingrelia was politically separate from the eastern Georgian regions, historical political and cultural centers of the Medieval Georgian Kingdoms. They were, however, classified under the broader category of Georgian in the 1930s. Currently, most Mingrelians identify themselves as "Georgian" and have preserved many characteristic cultural features - including the Mingrelian language - that date back to the pre-Christian Colchian era when the modern-day ethnic group of Georgians had yet to come into existence.

The first President of an independent Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1939–1993), was a Mingrelian. Therefore, after the violent Coup d'etat of December 21, 1991 - January 6, 1992, Samegrelo became the centre of a civil war, which ended with the defeat of Gamsakhurdia's supporters.

Notable Mingrelians

• Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, one of the most influential Georgian writers of the 20th century
• Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first president of post-Soviet Georgia
• Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin's chief of secret police
• Merab Kostava, National Hero of Georgia
• Katie Melua, Georgian-British singer singer
• Levan Kenia, Georgian international footballer
• Mircan Kaia, Mingrelian singer songwriter

See also

• Mingrelian Affair
• Laz people
• Macrones

Notes

1. Alternately, Megrelians, Mingrels, or Megrels
2. Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, by Svante E. Cornell, p 142
3. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook, by David Levinson, p 34
4. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War, by Stuart J. Kaufman, p 86
5. Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet World, by Pål Kolstø, p 8
6. Stephen F. Jones. Mingrelians. World Culture Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
7. Kevin Tuite The Meaning of Dæl. Symbolic and Spatial Associations of the South Caucasian Goddess of Game Animals. Université de Montréal.
8. Politics of the Black Sea: Dynamics of Cooperation and Conflict, by Tunç Aybak, p 185
9. Andropov, New Challenge to the West, by Arnold Beichman, Mikhail S. Bernstam, p 116

References

• Stephen F. Jones. Mingrelians. World Culture Encyclopedia.

• Ethnographic groups of Georgian people
• People from Georgia (country)
• Ethnic groups in Europe