Mingrelians
The Mingrelians (Mingrelian: მარგალეფი, romanized: margalepi; Georgian: მეგრელები, romanized: megrelebi) are an indigenous Kartvelian-speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians 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.
Distribution of Mingrelian in relation to the other Kartvelian languages | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 400,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Mingrelian, Georgian | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Georgian Orthodox Church) |
| Part of a series on |
| Georgians ქართველები |
|---|
| Nation |
| Georgia |
| Ancient Kartvelian people |
| Subgroups |
| Culture |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Symbols |
| History of Georgia |
The Mingrelians speak the Mingrelian language, and are typically bilingual also in Georgian. Both these languages belong to the Kartvelian language family.
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