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According to the last census, the territory of the Leningrad Region is home to more than 80 nationalities: Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Finns, Tatars, Veps, as well as Gypsies, Jews, Carnelians, Cheats, Estonians, Poles, Azerbaijani, and Uzbeks.
Besides Russians, the indigenous peoples of the Northwest of Russia who now live on the territory of Leningrad region are primarily descendants of the Finno-Ugric language group - Veps, Izhors and Finns-Ingermanlandians.
The ancient nation - Veps – has been known since the 9-10th centuries under the name "Ves", "Chukhar", and "Kaivan". Between the 11-15th centuries the Ves nation converted to Orthodoxy. The historical homeland of the Veps - Mezhozerje - is the territory between Ladoga, Onega and White lakes. Over time this nation has essentially been assimilated into the larger Russian population and Vep culture and a life does not differ substantially from that of the Russian rural population. Major Vep population centers are Podporozhsky, Boxitogorsk, Tikhvin and Lodejnopolsky districts. Veps also live in Yaroslavl, Kurbinskaja, Shustruchejskaya, Vinnitskaya, Ozerskaya, Radogoshchinskaya, Sidorovskaya, Khmelezerskaya, Alekseevskaya and Pashozerskaya districts.
Izhora: an ancient nation which, as well as the Veps, is known from the first ancient Russian annals. Historically they occupied the southern part of Karelian Isthmus, the grounds along the coasts of the rivers Neva, Izhora, Oredezh, Luga, Narova, and also the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. From the 11th to the 15th centuries they were part of the Vodskaya Pyatina of the Novgorod republic. From the end of the 19th century the traditional homeland of the nation was drastically reduced as their assimilation with the general Russian population proceeded. The Izhora are Orthodox, a fact that facilitated their assimilation. At present Izhora live only in the Kingisepp district of the Leningrad Region, as well as in the Soikinskaya, Ust-Luga and Kuzemkinskaya districts.
Unlike Veps and Izhora the Finns-Ingermanlandians are a relatively young ethnic group, which appeared in the 17th century after Finnish colonists populated the territory received by Sweden as a result of the to the Stolbov peace treaty (1617). They consist of two ethnographic groups - Savvokot and Evermeiset, and up until the middle of the 19th century represented the majority of the rural population of the modern territory of Vsevolozhsky, Kingiseppsky, Lomonosovsky, Volosovsky, Gatchinsky, Tosnensky and Kirovsky districts of Leningrad region. In the 1940’s Finns-Ingermanlandians were subjected to repression by the Soviet authorities and until the middle of 1950’s they were forbidden to return to their former dwellings. As a result of the repression, a significant part of the Finns-Ingermanlandians population either disappeared or was assimilated.
It is necessary to note that Finns-Ingermanlandians are Lutherans, and this for a long time was a major factor constraining their assimilation into the broader Russian population.
Now Finns-Ingermanlandians reside in their remaining ethnic strongholds of Volosovsky, Vsevolozhsky, Gatchinsky, Kingiseppsky, and the Kirishsky and Lomonosovsky districts.
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