Dezevaunis
dezevauni | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| ~350 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Dezevau | 290 million |
| Lavana | 30 million |
| Mabifia | 6 million |
| Languages | |
| Ziba | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly irreligion, Badi and Sotirianity (Solarian Catholic Church) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Gowsa | |
Dezevaunis (or, as a collective noun, Dezevauni) are an ethnic group or group of related ethnic groups, numbering about 350 million people. If counted as one, they are the second largest ethnic group in the world (after Shangeans). Dezevaunis are primarily located in Dezevau and neighbouring areas in Southeast Coius (especially Lavana) and Bahia, though there are up to twenty million in the international diaspora in Euclea and the Asterias.
Definition of Dezevauni ethnicity is complex, owing to the varying subdivisions and conceptions (or lacks thereof) that have arisen since the medieval period. Dezevauni ethnogenesis is generally considered to have occurred just prior to or during the early Aguda Empire, albeit largely from a population of already related Zibaic-speaking peoples (themselves largely descended from the Dhebinhejo Culture and immigrants thereto). From the beginning, however, the class-influenced subgroups of juni ("city people"), geguoni ("rural people") and domoni ("boat people"; or jaujeni, "river people") have been primary categories of self-identification and association. The disruption caused by colonisation partially collapsed these distinctions, even as they were maintained in law and administration, leading to a nascent Dezevauni nationalism, as well as significant regionalisms (or "tribes"). The socialist Republic of Dezevau, however, came to take a consistently hard line against nationalism, known as ethnothanasia. The efficacy and meaning of this policy have been debated, while outside of Dezevau, there have been various ethnic identifications closely related to or part of Dezevauni, such as the Dhavonis in Lavana or the gowsas in the Arucian.
The Dezevauni ethnicity is closely associated with the Ziba language and the Badi religion, which originated with them in antiquity. However, the relationship is complicated by the use of Ziba as a koine since the medieval period, with the widespread collapse of diglossia and Dezevauni use of Ziba as a mother tongue only occurring in the early modern period. Ziba's regional dialects may also be understood as separate languages associated with separate ethnic subgroups. Badi, also, is practiced by large non-Dezevauni populations in Southeast Coius, Bahia and beyond, although it has still been identified as a form of ethnic religion by some. Moreover, under colonisation and socialism, large portions of the Dezevauni population became Solarian Catholic Sotirian and irreligious respectively, especially in present-day Dezevau, though Badist philosophies or customs still often remain relevant. Dezevaunis are also associated with other cultural practices including the art form of goaboabanga and cuisine such as xxx.
History
Dhebinhejo Culture
Migration catalysis theory
Medieval Dezevauni city-states period
Aguda Empire
Colonial period
Ethnothanasia
Distribution
The majority of Dezevaunis (between two thirds and