The Finno-Ugric Peoples and Their Republics

Finno-Ugoria

The Finno-Ugric peoples... Not very numerous in numbers but with so many distinct subgroups under this broad umbrella term! It is therefore a huge topic and will be very challenging for me as one person to cover everything! So, let's begin from the beginning! First, an overview:

20 out of the 23 Finno-Ugric nations live on the territory of the Russian Federation. 

The other three nations have their own states. The three Finno-Ugric nations that have their own states are Finland, Hungary (the second word "-Ugric" in the name "Finno-Ugric peoples" actually means "Hungarian"), and Estonia. 

There is plenty of information already available online about these three Finno-Ugric countries, so there is no point for me to cover these here; I will focus instead on the other twenty much lesser known Finno-Ugric nations, all of which reside on the present day territory of the Russian Federation. In the West these nations are virtually unheard of, their culture is endangered and disappearing, due to the overwhelming influence of the dominant Russian culture, and the pressure to be a "regular Russian". (And this is the main reason I want to write about these nations, to raise knowledge and awarenes about their interesting culture and traditions!)

The Finno-Ugric people on the territory of Russia have their semi-autonomous republics, which are 

1) Mari-El, home of the Mari people 

2) Mordovia Republic, home for Moksha and Erzya people

3) Udmurtia, home to Udmurt people

4) Komi Republic, home to Komi people

5) Karelia,  home to Veps, and Karelians 

6) Ugra, a.k.a. Khaty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, home to Khanty and Mansi 

7) Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, home to Nenets

to be continued......

But where do Finno-Ugric nations historically reside? 
Look at this map! (Click on it to enlarge!)