Total population | |
---|---|
c. 9,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Pankisi Gorge, Kakheti and Tusheti (Georgia) | |
Georgia | 5,697 (2014)[1] |
Russia | 707 (2010)[2] |
Languages | |
Chechen (Kist dialect ), Georgian | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Sunni Islam; minority Orthodox Christianity[3] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Nakh peoples |
The Kists (Georgian: ქისტები, kist'ebi; Chechen: P'ängazxuoj; Ingush: P'engisxuoj) are a Chechen sub-ethnic group in Georgia. They primarily live in the Pankisi Gorge, in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, where there are approximately 5,700 Kist people. The modern Kists are not to be confused with the historical term Kists, an ethnonym of Georgian origin, which was used to refer to the Nakh peoples in the Middle Ages.