Laz people

The Laz or Lazi (Laz: ლაზეფე (pl.), ლაზი (sing.); Georgian: ლაზები/ჭანები (pl.); ლაზი/ჭანი (sing.); Turkish: Lazlar, Laz;) are a Kartvelian-speaking ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia.

Estimates of the total population of Laz people today ranges drastically, with numbers as low as 45,000 to as high as 1.6 million people, with the majority living in northeast Turkey. The Laz speak the Laz language, a member of the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family along with Georgian, Svan and Mingrelian. The Laz language is classified as endangered by UNESCO, with an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 speakers in 2001.

History

The history of Lazica dates back to at least the 6th century BC when the first South Caucasian state in the west was the Kingdom of Colchis which covered modern western Georgia and modern Turkish provinces of Trabzon and Rize. Between the early 2nd century B.C. and the late 2nd century AD, the Kingdom of Colchis together with the neighbor countries, become an arena of long and devastating conflicts between major local powers Rome, Kingdom of Armenia and the short-lived Kingdom of Pontus. As a result of the brilliant Roman campaigns of generals Pompey and Lucullus, the Kingdom of Pontus was completely destroyed by the Romans and all its territory including Colchis, were incorporated into Roman Empire as her provinces.