Mingrelians in the context of "Zan languages"

In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (/ˈkɒlkɪs/; Ancient Greek: Κολχίς) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi (Georgian: ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia also including the region of Abkhazia.

Its population, the Colchians, are generally believed to have been primarily early Zan-speaking tribes, ancestral to the modern Laz and Mingrelian peoples. According to David Marshall Lang: "one of the most important elements in the modern Georgian nation, the Colchians were probably established in the Caucasus by the Middle Bronze Age."

The Mingrelian or Megrelian language (მარგალური ნინა margaluri nina) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. Mingrelian has historically been only a regional language within the boundaries of historical Georgian states and then modern Georgia, and the number of younger people speaking it has decreased substantially, with UNESCO designating it as a "definitely endangered language".

The Zans (Georgian: ზანები, romanized: zanebi) or Chans (Georgian: ჭანები, romanized: ch'anebi) are a subethnic group of the Kartvelian people, speaking the Zan languages.

• Kartvelian peoples
  • Georgians
  • Zans (Mingrelians and Laz people)
  • Svans

Mingrelia or Samegrelo (Georgian: სამეგრელო, romanized: samegrelo [ˈs̪äme̞gɾe̞ɫo̞]; Mingrelian: სამარგალო, romanized: samargalo) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelians, a subgroup of Georgians.