View source for Mingrelians

{{Short description|Ethnographic group of Georgians}}
{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Mingrelians<br />{{langx|xmf|მარგალეფი}}<br />{{lang-ka|მეგრელები}}
| image            = Kartvelian languages.svg
| image_caption    = Distribution of Mingrelian in relation to the other Kartvelian languages
| population       = {{circa|400,000}}
| popplace         = Georgia 400,000{{efn|Including [[Abkhazia]], where [[Demographics of Abkhazia|46,000 Mingrelians and other Georgians]] live.}}
| languages        = [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]]
| religions        = Predominantly [[Eastern Orthodox Christianity]] ([[Georgian Orthodox Church]])
}}
[[Image:Mingrelian.jpg|thumb|A Mingrelian ({{circa|1900}})]]
{{Georgians}}
The '''Mingrelians'''{{efn|Also called ''Megrelians'', ''Mingrels'' or ''Megrels''}} ({{langx|xmf|მარგალეფი|margalepi}}; {{lang-ka|მეგრელები|tr}}) are an indigenous [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]]-speaking [[Ethnic subgroups|ethnic subgroup]]  of [[Georgians]]<ref>Stuart J. Kaufman [https://books.google.com/books?id=2Plw98pTk5wC&q=Modern+Hatreds%3A+The+Symbolic+Politics+of+Ethnic+War%2C+by+Stuart+J.+Kaufman Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War] ::Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War''], p 86: "Additionally, the Georgian category includes an array of politically important subgroups especially Mingrelians, Svans and Ajarians"
</ref><ref>[[Kevin Tuite]] [http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/caucasus/Dal.htm "The Meaning of Dæl. Symbolic and Spatial Associations of the South Caucasian Goddess of Game Animals"]. [[Université de Montréal]].</ref><ref>Tunç Aybak [https://books.google.com/books?hl=ru&id=8OYeAAAAMAAJ&q=Mingrelians ''Politics of the Black Sea: Dynamics of Cooperation and Conflict''], p 185: "...&nbsp;Georgians (Megrels)&nbsp;..."</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?hl=ru&id=8OYeAAAAMAAJ&q=Mingrelians Andropov, New Challenge to the West, by Arnold Beichman, Mikhail S. Bernstam], p 116: "Georgia consists of three ethnics tribes: Imeretians, Kartvels, and Mingrelians."</ref><ref>''Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict'', by Svante E. Cornell, p 142</ref><ref>''Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet World'', by Pål Kolstø, p. 8</ref> that mostly live in the [[Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti]] ({{langx|xmf|სამარგალო|samargalo}}; {{lang-ka|სამეგრელო|tr}}) region of [[Georgia (country)|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.<ref>R. Wixman. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WKrN10g4whAC ''The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook''] (p.134)</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_26.php?reg=5|title=Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей.|website=www.demoscope.ru}}</ref>

The Mingrelians speak the [[Mingrelian language]], and are typically bilingual also in [[Georgian language|Georgian]]. Both these languages belong to the [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian language family]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sorosoro.org/en/south-caucasian-language-family/|title=South Caucasian Languages « Sorosoro}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/iso639-5/ccs.html|title=LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)|first=The Library of|last=Congress|website=id.loc.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/group?id=1059 |title=SOUTH CAUCASIAN - LanguageServer - University of Graz |access-date=2011-03-18 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191020/http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/group?id=1059 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== History ==
In the 13th century [[Common Era|BC]], the Kingdom of [[Colchis]] was formed as a result of the increasing consolidation of the tribes inhabiting the region, which covered modern western Georgia. The endonym ''margalepi'' (მარგალეფი) is presumably reflected in the Greek ''Manraloi'' (Μάνραλοι), recorded as a people of Colchis by [[Ptolemy]] in the 2nd century CE.

By the mid-3rd century, the Lazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom of Lazica (or [[Lazica|Egrisi]] in Georgian sources). In the 5th century, the first Christian king [[Gubazes I of Lazica|Gubazes I]] declared [[Christianity]] as a [[state religion]] of Lazica. Locals began to have closer contact with the Greeks and acquired various [[Culture of Greece|Hellenic]] cultural traits, including in some cases the language. From 542 to 562, Lazica was a scene of the protracted rivalry between the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman]] and [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid]] empires, culminating in the [[Lazic War]]. Emperor [[Heraclius]]'s offensive in 628 AD brought victory over the Persians and ensured Roman predominance in Lazica until the invasion and conquest of the Caucasus by the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Arabs]] in the second half of the 7th century.

In the 7th century Lazica fell to the [[Arab rule in Georgia|Muslim conquest]]; however, in the 8th century combined Lazic and [[Abasgoi|Abasgian]] forces successfully repelled the Arab occupation. In 780 Lazica was incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Abkhazia]] as a result of dynastic succession, the latter led the [[unification of the Georgian monarchy]] in the 11th century. The nobility and clergy of Lazica switched from the Hellenic ecclesiastic tradition to the Georgian, and Georgian became the language of culture and education. After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Mingrelia was an autonomous principality within the [[Kingdom of Imereti]], until being annexed by the [[Russian Empire]] in the 19th century.

In several censuses under the Russian Empire and the early [[Soviet Union]], Mingrelian were considered a separate group, largely because at the time of the annexation Mingrelia was politically separate from eastern Georgia, the historical political and cultural centers of the Medieval Georgian Kingdoms. They were reclassified under the broader category of Georgian in the 1930s. Currently, most Mingrelians identify themselves as a subgroup of the Georgian nation and have preserved many characteristic cultural features – including the Mingrelian language – that date back to the pre-Christian [[Colchis|Colchian]] era.

[[Lavrentiy Beria]], the Chief of [[Stalin]]'s secret police, was a Mingrelian. (As is well known, Stalin himself was a Georgian.)

The first President of an independent Georgia, [[Zviad Gamsakhurdia]] (1939–1993), was a Mingrelian and also a creator of [[Georgian nationalism]].<ref name="McCauley, Martin 1900. pg. 1">McCauley, Martin. ''Who's who in Russia since 1900''. Psychology Press, 1997: p. 1</ref> Therefore, after the violent coup d'état of December 21, 1991 – January 6, 1992, Mingrelia became the center of a [[Georgian Civil War|civil war]], which ended with the defeat of Gamsakhurdia's supporters.

Approximately 180,000–200,000 Mingrelian and other subgroups of [[Georgians|Georgian people]] have been expelled from Abkhazia as a result of the [[Abkhaz–Georgian conflict]] in the early 1990s and the ensuing [[Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia|ethnic cleansing of Georgians]] in this separatist region.

== Notable Mingrelians ==
* [[Konstantine Gamsakhurdia]] (1893–1975), one of the most influential Georgian writers of the 20th century<ref>Rayfield, Donald. ''Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him''. Random House Digital, Inc., 2005: p. 354</ref>
* [[Zviad Gamsakhurdia]] (1939–1993), the first [[President of Georgia]]<ref name="McCauley, Martin 1900. pg. 1"/> (in office: 1991–1992)
* [[Lavrentiy Beria]] (1899–1953), notorious chief of secret police in [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s USSR,<ref name="McCauley, Martin 1900. pg. 1"/> [[NKVD]] head and former [[First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Merab Kostava]] (1939–1989), Georgian [[dissident]], [[poet]], [[musician]], [[Order of National Hero (Georgia)|National Hero of Georgia]]<ref>Hoiris, Ole. Yurukel, Sefa. ''Contrasts and solutions in the Caucasus''. Aarhus University Press, 1998: p. 187</ref>
* [[Ambrosius of Georgia|Ambrosi Khelaia]] (1861–1927) [[Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia]] 
* [[Tedo Sakhokia]] (1868-1956), Georgian ethnographer, lexicologist, folklore scientist, translator, opinion journalist and educator
* [[Akaki Khoshtaria]] (1868-1956), Georgian entrepreneur, socialite, and philanthropist
*[[Şevkefza Kadın|Şevkefza Sultan]] ({{circa|1825}} – 1889), Ottoman [[Valide sultan]] in 1876
*[[Guram Gabiskiria]] (1947–1993) [[Order of National Hero (Georgia)|National Hero of Georgia]]
*[[Zhiuli Shartava]] (1944–1993) National Hero of Georgia
*[[Geno Adamia]] (1936–1993) National Hero of Georgia
*[[Zaza Damenia]] – Georgian army corporal, National Hero of Georgia
*[[Alexander Berulava]] (1945–1993) was awarded Vakhtang Gorgasali First grade order for his courage and heroism in the fight for the protection of the homeland and its territorial integrity
*[[Meliton Kantaria]] (1920-1993) was a Georgian sergeant of the [[Soviet Army]] credited with having [[Raising a flag over the Reichstag|hoisted a Soviet]] [[Banner of Victory|flag]] over the [[Reichstag (building)|Reichstag]]
*[[Vera Pagava]] (1907-1988) was a Georgian artist
*Dutu Megreli (1867-1938) - Georgian writer, poet and public figure, a member of the society for spreading literacy among Georgians
*Nikoloz Dadiani (1878-1939) - Georgian poet, writer and publicist.
*[[Ilia Topuria]] (born 1997), a professional mixed martial artist
*[[Khvicha Kvaratskhelia]] (born 2001), a football player
*[[Tornike Shengelia]] (born 1991), a basketball player
*[[Zaza Pachulia]] (born 1984), a basketball player
*[[Mamia Alasania]] (1943-1993) National hero of Georgia

== See also ==
* [[Mingrelian affair]]
* [[Laz people]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* [[Stephen F. Jones]]. [http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Mingrelians.html Mingrelians]. ''World Culture Encyclopedia''.
{{Commons category|Mingrelians}}

{{Ethnic groups in Georgia}}
{{Peoples of the Caucasus}}
{{Eastern Christianity footer}}
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Mingrelians| ]]