Svanes

The Svanes are people connected with the alive Géorgiens in the mountains of the the Caucasus, for the great majority of them in Svanétie in the North-West of the Georgia.

History

According to the local legends, it is in the valleys of Svanétie that Jason would have found the Golden Fleece. At all events, the first mentions of people Soane come from the Greek geographer Strabon, which rather precisely places them on their current territory.

Until the Years 1930, the people Mingréliens and Svanes were the subject of census separated before being gathered with the géorgiens at the time Soviet.

Habitat

Svanétie is the inhabited area highest of Europe, certain villages inhabited permanently having an altitude higher than 2000 m (Ushguli being even close to 2200 m). The mountain small villages undergo a very important snowing up and are isolated from the rest of the world several months per annum. The villages svanes are known for their turns of defense out of stones to surprising resistance which were worth the classification of the area on the Liste of the world heritage in 1996.

The population density is low, the 132 villages of the district of Mestia (the principal zone of dwelling of Svanes) gathering only 14.248 inhabitants out of 3.044 km ² (according to the census of 2002).

Language

Svanes are generally bilingual even if 15.000 of them would have the Svane like native tongue (and twice more would understand the language). The Géorgien is often used with the writing and tends more and more to replace the language svane, which remains before a a whole oral language without written standard.

Culture

Svanes are particularly famous for their polyphonic songs, an important component of the music géorgienne.

External bonds

Information on Svanétie, in géorgien and Russian

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