Chuvash people

From NativeWiki

The Chuvash (Chuvash Template:IPA; Russian: Чуваши; Tatar: Çuaşlar, Чуашлар) are a Turkic people usually associated with Chuvashia. This name is considered to be related to Turkish yavaş "gentle, mild, docile".<ref>Gove, Philip Babcock (ed.). "Chuvash", Webster's Third International Dictionnary of the English Language, Unabridged. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2002, p. 405.</ref> According to the Soviet census of 1989, the Chuvash population numbered 1,843,300 ; 907,000 of these lived in Chuvashia. The remainder lived in Tatarstan's Aqsubay, Bua, Nurlat, Täteş, Çirmeşän, Çüpräle rayons, Bashkortostan, Samara, Ulyanovsk, Tyumen, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Moscow oblasts of Russia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, as well as Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

They are divided into three groups: Hill Chuvashs (вирьял, тури; viryal, turi) in northern and northeastern Chuvashia; Meadow Chuvashs (анат енчи; anat yenči) in central and southwestern Chuvashia; and Downer Chuvashs (анатри; anatri) in southern Chuvashia and outside of Chuvashia.

They speak the Chuvash language and are predominantly Orthodox Christian, with some pre-Christian traditions. In addition to the Chuvash language, many Chuvash people also use the Russian and Tatar languages.

Some scholars believe a part of the Chuvash people converted to Islam in Middle Ages and merged with the Tatars.

They originate from the Volga Bolgars' Suars or Sabir tribe, mixed with local Mari tribes. In the 15th-16th centuries, Chuvash lands were incorporated into the Khanate of Kazan, and then in 1550 annexed by Russia. From 1708 to 1920, the Chuvash lands were part of the Kazan Governorate.

Another belief is that the Chuvash are remainders of pre-Bolgar (Hunnic) population of Volga Bulgaria, partly merged with Scythians, Bolgars and Mari.

Chuvashs are the third largest ethnic group in the city of Kazan (1.2%).