| Total population | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ca. 8,000[1] to 9,000[2] | ||||||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Languages | ||||||||||||
| Religion | ||||||||||||
| Related ethnic groups | ||||||||||||
|
Lezgins, Tabasarans, Tsakhurs and other Northeast Caucasian peoples |
The Udis (self-name Udi or Uti) are one of the most ancient native peoples of the Caucasus. Currently they live in Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and many other countries. The total number is about 10,000 people. They speak the Udi language. Among them are distributed also Azeri, Russian, Georgian and Armenian languages in part. Their religion is Christianity.
The Udi people is one of the Caucasian Albania tribes and are direct descendants of the linguistic tradition of the Caucasian Albania.[7]
The Udi live mostly in Azerbaijan, in the village of Nij of the region of Kabala, Oguz (former Vartashen) and Baku. There are also small groups in Russia in the Rostov region (Shahty, Taganrog, Rostov-na-Donu, Azov, Aleksandrovka), in the Krasnodar territory (Krasnodar, areas of Dinskoy, Leningrad, Kushchevsky), in the Stavropol Territory (Minvody, Pyatigorsk), in the Volgograd region (Volgograd, Dubovy Ovrag), and also in Sverdlovsk, Ivanovo, Kaluga areas, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan, Georgia, Zinobiani and the outskirts of Tbilisi, Poti, Rustavi, Kazahkstan (city Aktau). Someone is also living in the Ukraine (Kharkiv oblast area).
Contents |
The Udis are considered to be the descendants of the people of Caucasian Albania. According to the classical authors, the Udis inhabited the area of the eastern Caucasus along the coast of the Caspian Sea, in a territory extending to the Kura River in the north, as well as the ancient province of Utik. Today, most Udis belong to the Orthodox Church. Centuries of life in the sphere of Perso-Islamic culture made a relevant impact on the Udi culture and mentality. This trace is noticeable in Udi folk traditions and the material culture.[6]
The Udis are first mentioned in Herodotus' Histories (5th century BC). Describing Battle of Marathon, the Greek Persian war (490 year BC) the author specified that the Udi soldiers also were at war as a part of 9 satrapy of the Persian army. The Udis are mentioned in the Geographica of ancient Greek writer Strabon (1st century BC) in it's description of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasian Albany. The ethnic term "Udi" was mentioned first in the Natural history by ancient roman author Pliny the Elder (1st century CE). Further ancient information about the Udi people can be found in other books by Ptolemy (2 century), Gaius Asinius Quadratus and many other antique authors. Since 5 century BC the Udi people is often mentioned in the Armenian sources. More extensive information is given in "the History of Aluank"[8] by Movses Kagancatvasiy. The Udis were one of predominating Albanian tribes [9] and they were considered as the creators of the Caucasian Albany. Not casually both of the capitals of the Caucasian Albany-Kabalak (also called Kabalaka, Khabala, Khazar, today's Qabala) and Partav (also called Partaw, today's Barda)--were located on the lands of the Udi peoples' historical residence. In the past the Udi people were settled on extensive territories from the bank of the Caspian Sea to the Caucasian Mountains, on the left and right banks of the Kura. One of the areas of the Caucasian Albany was named "Uti". After the conquer of the Caucasian Albany by Arabs, the territory of residing and number of the Udi people has been gradually reduced. According to the opinion of the famous linguist and researcher of the Udi language – Shultz, the Western Udis had to leave Nagorno-Karabakh and settle in the village of Nidzh in order to resist against the Armenization.[10]
Today the only places where Udis compactly live and reside are villages Nidzh and Oğuz (Vartashen) in Azerbaijan, as the village Zinobiani (immigrants from Vartashen in 1922) in Georgia. But in the recent past the Udi people were living in Mirzabeily, Soltan Nuha, Jourlu, Mihlikuvah, Vardanly, Bajan, Kirzan, Yenigkend & etc. Nowadays they have been assimilated with Azerbaijanians.[11]
The Udi language is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Lezgic branch. There are two primary dialects, named Nij and Vartashen. The Azerbaijani, Russian, and Georgian languages are also spoken. Udis are commonly bilingual, and less frequently even trilingual. Udi is used only in daily life, while for official purposes the Udi use the language of the country in which they reside (Azerbaijani and Russian in Azerbaijan and Russia respectively).
The Udi language has 2 dialects: Nidzh and Vartashen. Nidzh dialect has its subdialects which divides into 3 subgroups- bottom, intermediate, top. There is an opinion that these subdialects historically existed as separate dialect corresponding to different group of the Udi people from the Tauz region, the village Kirzan & Artzah (Karabah, v.seysylla, Gasankala) moved to Nidzh and Oguz.[12] Vartashen dialect has 2 subdialects- actually Vartashen & Oktomberry. "Ancient Writing" AS the majority linguists consider in the past the udi language was one of widespread languages of the Caucasian Albany on the basis of which, in the 5th century the Albanian writing[13] was created, having put in pawn the bases of the Udi people literary language. The Alphabet consists of 52 letters. Further this alphabet has received wide application: major Bible texts were translated into the Albanian language. Church service was conducted on it. However subsequently , owing to the historical reasons the Albanian writing stopped being used & gradually had disappeared.
First information about the number of the Udi people, living in the area around Qabala in northern Azerbaijan[14] , dates to the year 1880: 10.000. In the year 1897 the number of the Udi people was given around 4.000, in 1910 around 5.900, the census of 1926 resulted in 2.500, in the census of 1959 3.700, in 1979 7.000 and in 1989 the Udi people of the word numbered 8.652. "The Udi people in Azerbaijan" On census of 1999 in Azerbaijan there are 4152 udis.[15]
On census of 2002 Russia Census there are 3721 inhabitants identifying themselves as the Udis. Most of the Udi people (1573 persons) in Russia has been registered in Rostov region.
