Veps

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Veps
Flag of Vepsia

Total population
8,500
Regions with significant populations
Russia
Languages
Russian, Vepsian
Religions
Russian Orthodoxy
Related ethnic groups
other Finnic peoples

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) lüdinik and lüdilaine.

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

In modern times, they have lived in the area between Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega (Änine), and White Lake or Lake Beloye (Valged’ärv, Белое Озеро) - in the Russian Republic of Karelia in the former Veps National Volost (the northern Veps dialect area), in Leningrad Oblast along the Oyat River in the Podporozhskii and Lodeinopolskii raions and further south in the Tikhvinskii raion (western parts of the Central Veps dialect area), in the Vytegorskii and Babayevo raions of the Vologda Oblast (eastern parts of the Central Veps dialect area), and in the Boksitogorskii raion of the Leningrad Oblast (southern Veps dialect area) .

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