Mordvins in the context of "Moksha language"

Mordovia (/mɔːrˈdoʊvɪə/ mor-DOH-vee-ə), officially the Republic of Mordovia, is a republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Saransk. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the republic was 834,755. Ethnic Russians (53.1%) and Mordvins (39.8%) account for the majority of the population.

The Finnic peoples, or simply Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of the Volga River. Currently, the largest Finnic peoples by population are the Finns (6 million), the Estonians (1 million), the Mordvins (800,000), the Mari (570,000), the Udmurts (550,000), the Komis (330,000) and the Sámi (100,000).

The scope of the term "Finnic peoples" (or "Finns") varies by context. It can be as narrow as the Baltic Finns of Finland, Scandinavia, Estonia, and Northwest Russia. In Russian academic literature, the term typically comprises the Baltic Finns and the Volga Finns, the indigenous peoples living near the Volga and Kama Rivers; the Perm Finns are sometimes distinguished as a third group. These eastern groups include the Finnic peoples of the Komi-Permyak Okrug and the four Russian republics of Komi, Mari El, Mordovia and Udmurtia. The broadest sense in the contemporary usage includes the Sámi of northern Fennoscandia as well. In older literature, the term sometimes includes the Ugrian Finns (the Khanty, Mansi and Hungarians), and thus all speakers of Finno-Ugric languages.Based on linguistic connections, the Finnic peoples are sometimes subsumed under Uralic-speaking peoples, uniting them also with the Samoyeds. The linguistic connections to the Hungarians and Samoyeds were discovered between the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

The Mokshas (also Mokshans, Moksha people; Moksha: Мокшет/Mokšet) comprise a Mordvinian ethnic group belonging to the Volgaic branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples. They live in Russia, mostly near the Volga and Moksha rivers, a tributary of the Oka River.

Their native language is Mokshan, one of the two surviving members of the Mordvinic branch of the Uralic language family. According to a 1994 Russian census, 49% of the autochthonal Finnic population in Mordovia identified themselves as Mokshas, totaling more than 180,000 people. Most Mokshas belong to the Russian Orthodox Church; other religions practised by Mokshas include Lutheranism and paganism.

The Volga Finns are a historical group of peoples living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the Moksha (commonly grouped together as Mordvins) as well as speakers of the extinct Merya, Muromian and Meshchera languages.

The modern representatives of Volga Finns live in the basins of the Sura and Moksha rivers, as well as (in smaller numbers) in the interfluve between the Volga and the Belaya rivers. The Mari language has two dialects, the Meadow Mari and the Hill Mari.

Mari mythology is a collection of myths belonging to the Mari folk heritage. It has many similar features and motifs with Maris' neighbouring people, like the Komis, Udmurts and Mordvins. Many of their myths are also distantly related to the myths of other Finno-Ugric peoples.

The biggest literary work on Mari mythology is the Mari epic "Jugorno", written by the Russian Anatoli Spiridonov in 2002. The epic was originally written in Russian, despite Spiridonov being very knowledgeable on the Mari language and Mari folk poetry. However, a Mari translation by Anatoli Mokejev was provided alongside the publication of the original epic. In 2015, the epic was translated into Estonian by Arvo Valton.

The Kazan rebellion or Tatar Rebellion (1552–1556) was an uprising against Tsardom of Russia. It aimed to restore the Kazan Khanate, which the Russians had conquered in October 1552.

The rebel armies mostly consisted of Tatars, Chuvash, Cheremises, Mordvins, and Udmurts. Some Nogais were also involved in the war. Independent rebel governments formed among the Chalem and in Mishatamaq. The khan of the Nogai Horde, Ğäli Äkräm, was invited to head the renewed khanate because Mameshbirde, leader of the rebellion, was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Russian troops under Andrey Kurbsky and Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky opposed the "rebels".