10 Facts About Laz people

Ancestors of the Laz people are cited by many classical authors from Scylax to Procopius and Agathias, but the word Lazi in Latin language themselves are firstly cited by Pliny around the 2nd century BC.

Warlike tribes of the Chaldia, called Tzanni, the ancestors of modern Laz people lived in Tzanica, the area located between the Byzantine and the Lazica.

The Laz people population was sent to exile in Siberia and Central Asia.

The number of the Laz people speakers is decreasing, and is limited chiefly to some areas in Rize and Artvin.

Total population of the Laz people today is only estimated, with numbers ranging widely.

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The traditional Laz people economy was based on agriculture—carried out with some difficulty in the steep mountain regions and on the breeding of sheep, goats, and cattle.

The Laz people are good sailors and practise agriculture rice, maize, tobacco and fruit-trees.

Laz people are noted for their folk dances, called the Horon dance of the Black Sea, originally of pagan worship which was to become a sacred ritual dance.

Laz people men crafted excellent homemade rifles and even while at the plow were usually seen bristling with arms: rifle, pistol, powder horn, cartridge belts across the chest, a dagger at the hip, and a coil of rope for trussing captives.

Cultural assimilation into the Turkish culture has been high, and Laz people identity was oppressed during the days of Ottoman and Soviet Rule.