Whether Samogitians are considered to be a distinct ethnic group or merely a subset of Lithuanians varies. However, 2,169 people declared their ethnicity as Samogitian during the Lithuanian census of 2011, of whom 53.9% live in Telšiai County.[2] The political recognition and cultural understanding of the Samogitian ethnicity has, however, changed drastically throughout the last few centuries as 448,022 people declared themselves Samogitians, not Lithuanians, in the 1897 Russian Empire census.[3]
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. Samogitians lived in the Duchy of Samogitia within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1857, there were 418,824 people of Samogitian roots and 444,921 persons declared the Samogitian language as their mother tongue in 1897 in Kovno Governorate.[5] Currently Lithuania does not allow for declaration of Samogitian nationality in passports as it is not a recognized ethnicity.[6] In list of ethnic groups of Russia there is one person who declared himself with "Zhemaijty".[7]
Exonyms
Samogitians call themselves žemaitē, although exonyms are used in different languages.
^Ivinskis, Zenonas (1978). Lietuvos istorija iki Vytauto Didžiojo mirties (in Lithuanian). Rome: Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademija. pp. 184–188. LCCN79346776.
.jpg)
