Samogitians

Samogitians (Lithuanian: Žemaičiai, Samogitian: Žemaitē, Latvian: Žemaiši, Sl. Zhmud) are a part of the Lithuanian ethnicity inhabiting the region of Samogitia in Lithuania. Many speak the Samogitian dialect of the Lithuanian language.

Even though Samogitians are politically not considered to be an ethnic group, 2,169 people declared their ethnicity as Samogitian during the Lithuanian census of 2011, of whom 53.9% live in Telsiai County.

History

Samogitians lived in western Lithuania and were closely related to Semigallians and Curonians. In 1413, they became the last group of Europeans to convert to Christianity. In 1857, there were 418,824 people of Samogitian roots and 444,921 persons declared the Samogitian dialect as their mother tongue in 1897 in Kovno Governorate. Currently Lithuania does not allow for declaration of Samogitian nationality in passports as it is not a recognized ethnicity. In list of ethnic groups of Russia there is one person who declared himself with "Zhemaijty".

Exonyms

Samogitia in the 17th century

Samogitians call themselves Žemaitē, although exonyms are used in different languages.

Language	Samogitia	Samogitians
Samogitian	Žemaitėjė	žemaitē
Lithuanian	Žemaitija	žemaičiai
Belarusian	Жмудзь	жмудзь
Estonian	Žemaitija	Žemaidid
Dutch	Samogitië	Samogitiërs
French	Samogitie	samogitiens
German	Schameiten	Schameiten
Italian	Samogizia	samogizi
Latvian	Žemaitija	žemaiši
Polish	Żmudź	Żmudzini
Portuguese	Samogícia	samogícios
Russian	Жмудь	жмудь
Spanish	Samogitia	samogitios
Swedish	Samogitien	Samogitier

External links

• Short history of Samogitia
• Samogitian self identification during centuries