Total population | |
---|---|
99+ | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Russia | 99 (2020)[1] |
Estonia | 4 (2011)[2] |
Languages | |
Votic, Russian, Ingrian, Estonian | |
Religion | |
Eastern Orthodox Lutheran Poluverniki | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Baltic Finns Especially Estonians, Livonians, Setos, and Võros |
Votians, also referred to as Votes, Vots and Vods (Votic: ва́ддялайзыд, vađđalaizõd; Russian: водь; Estonian: vadjalased; Finnish: vatjalaiset) are a Finnic ethnic group native to historical Ingria, the part of modern-day northwestern Russia that is roughly southwest of Saint Petersburg and east of the Estonian border-town of Narva. The Finnic Votic language spoken by Votians is close to extinction. The language is still spoken in three villages of historical Votia and by an unknown number of speakers in the countryside. The villages are Jõgõperä (Krakolye), Liivcülä (Peski), and Luuditsa (Luzhitsy).[3] In the Russian 2020 census, 99 people identified as Votian.[4]
Votians were one of the founding people of Veliky Novgorod.