Livs, Livlanders or Livonians is the name given to the old Finnish-speaking population of west Livland or Livonia and north Kurland. We hear of them as a warlike and predatory pagan tribe in the middle ages, and it is Livonians. possible that they were a mixed Letto-Finnish race from the beginning. In modern times they have become almost completely absorbed by Letts, and their language is only spoken in a few places on the coast of Kurland. It has indeed been disputed if it still exists. It is known as Livish or Livonian and is allied to Esthonian.
The Votes (not to be confounded with the Votiaks), also called southern Chudes and Vatjalaiset, apparently represent Votes. the original inhabitants of Ingria, the district round St Petersburg, but have decreased before the advance of the Russians and also of Karelians from the north. They are heard of in the 11th century, but now occupy only about thirty parishes in north-west Ingria.
The Vepsas or Vepses, also called Northern Chudes, are another tribe allied to the Esthonians, but are more numerous than the Vepsas. Votes. They are found in the district of Tikhvinsk and other parts of the government of Old Novgorod, and apparently extended farther east into the government of Vologda in former times. Linguistically both the Votes and Vepsas are closely related to the Esthonians.
The Finns proper or Suomi, as they call themselves, are the most important and civilized division of the group. They inhabit at present the grand duchy of Finland and the adjacent governments, especially Olonetz, Tver and Finns. St Petersburg. Formerly a tribe of them called Kainulaiset was also found in Sweden, whence the Swedes call the Finns Qven. At present there are two principal subdivisions of Finns, the Tavastlanders or Hämäläiset, who occupy the southern and western parts of the grand duchy, and the Karelians or Karjalaiset found in the east and north, as far as Lake Onega and towards the White Sea.
The former, and generally speaking, all the inhabitants of the grand duchy have undergone a strong Swedish influence. There is a considerable admixture of Swedish blood; the language is full of Swedish words; Christianity is universal; and the upper classes and townspeople are mainly Swedish in their habits and speech, though of late a persistent attempt has been made to Russify the country. The Finns have much the same mental and moral characteristics as the other allied tribes, but have reached a far higher intellectual and literary stage. Several collections of their popular and mythological poetry have been made, the most celebrated of which is the Kalewala, compiled by Lönnrot about 1835, and there is a copious modern literature. The study of the national languages and antiquities is prosecuted in Helsingfors and other towns with much energy: several learned societies have been formed and considerable results published, partly in Finnish. It is clear that this scientific activity, though animated by a patriotic Finnish spirit, owes much to Swedish training in the past. Besides the literary language there are several dialects, the most important of which is that of Savolaks.
The Karelians are not usually regarded as separate from the Finns, though they are a distinct tribe as much as the Vepsas and Votes. Living farther east they have come less under Swedish and more under Russian influence than Karelians. the inhabitants of West Finland; but, since many of the districts which they inhabit are out of the way and neglected, this influence has not been strong, so that they have adopted less of European civilization, and in places preserved their own customs more than the Westerners. They are of a slighter and better proportioned build than the Finns, more enterprising, lively and friendly, but less persevering and tenacious. They number about 260,000, of whom about 63,000 live in Olonetz and 195,000 in Tver and Novgorod, but in the southern districts are less distinguished from the Russian population. They belong to the Russian Church, whereas the Finns of the grand duchy are Protestants. There also appear to be authentic traces of a Karelian population in Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Vologda and Tambov. It was among them that the Kalewala was collected, chiefly in East Finland and Olonetz.
There is some difference of opinion as to whether the Samoyedes should be included among the Finno-Ugrian tribes or be given the rank of a separate division equivalent to Finno-Ugrian and Turkish. The linguistic question is Samoyedes. discussed below. The Samoyedes are a nomad tribe who wander with their reindeer over the treeless plains which border on the White and Kara seas on either side of the Urals. In culture and habits they resemble the Finno-Ugrian tribes, and there seems to be no adequate reason for separating them.
Various other peoples have been referred to the Finno-Ugrian group, but some doubt must remain as to the propriety Other inclusions. of the classification, either because they are now extinct, or because they are suspected of having changed their language.
The original Bulgarians, who had their home on the Volga before they invaded the country which now bears their name, were probably a tribe similar to the Magyars, though all record of their language is lost. It has been disputed whether the Khazars, who in the middle ages occupied parts of south Russia and the shores of the Caspian, were Finno-Ugrians or Turks, and there is the same doubt about the Avars and Pechenegs, which without linguistic evidence remains insoluble. Nor is the difference ethnographically important. The formation of hordes of warlike bodies, half tribes, half armies, composed of different races, was a characteristic of Central Asia, and it was probably often a matter of chance what language was adopted as the common speech.
At the present day the Bashkirs, Meshchers and Tepters, who speak Tatar languages, are thought to be Finnish in origin, as are also the Chuvashes, whose language is Tatar strongly modified by Finnish influence. The little known Soyots of the head-waters of the Yenisei are also said to be Finno-Ugrians.