Member of a Finnish people inhabiting the middle Volga Valley in western Asia. They are agriculturalists, known to have lived in the region since the 1st century
AD. Although nominally Christian, their faith also includes non-Christian divinities. There are 1 million speakers of Mordvin scattered throughout western Russia, about one-third of whom live in the Mordvinian republic. Mordvin is a Finno-Ugric language belonging to the Uralic family.
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