Mari, European people, numbering about 670,000 in the late 20th century, who speak a language of the Finno-Ugric family and live mainly in Mari El, Russia, in the middle Volga River valley. There are also some Mari in adjacent regions and nearly 100,000 in Bashkortostan (Bashkiriya). Mari is their own name for themselves; Cheremis was the name applied to them by Westerners and pre-Soviet Russians.
The Mari and Chuvash have lived in a quasi-symbiotic relationship from about ad 700 to this day, though the period of most intense influence ended in 1236, when Tatar contacts became pressing. Tatar influences lasted until 1552, when the area came increasingly under the influence of Moscow. The process of Mari assimilation to Russian civilization accelerated during the 17th century, and the ever-mounting symptoms of social and economic change may be traced in many forms, including strong nativistic movements, among them Kuga Sorta (q.v.).
The principal source of subsistence among the Mari is agriculture (grain and flax) combined with dairy farming and stock raising. Yoshkar-Ola, the Mari El capital, boasts of training schools in subjects such as animal husbandry, forestry, optics, and papermaking. In handicrafts, the Mari are noted for their wood and stone carving and embroidery.