Veps

From NativeWiki

Veps or Vepsians are a Finnic people that speak the Veps language, which belongs to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. The self-designations of these people in various dialects are vepslaine, bepslaane, and (in northern dialects, southwest of Lake Onega) ludi and ludilaine.

In early Russian chronicles they are called "Весь" (Ves).

Presently, they live in the Republic of Karelia in the area between Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega (Äänisjärv), and White Lake (Valgjärv, Белое Озеро) - Veps National Volost, in Leningrad Oblast by the Oyat River, and in the eastern part of the Leningrad Oblast and a part of the Vologda Oblast.

According to the 2002 census, there were 8240 Veps in Russia. Of the 281 Veps in Ukraine, 11 speak Vepsian. (Ukr. Census 2001)

Vepsians etc. tribes. An approximative map of the non-Varangian cultures in Europe, in the 9th century.

External links

• Vepsian organization
• Effort to vitalise the Vepsian language
• The Peoples of the Red Book: THE VEPS