History of the Moksha

The Moksha people are a subgroup of the Mordvin ethnic group. The Moksha are located in the mainly in the Mordovia region in western Russia, close to the capital Moscow. The rest of the Moksha are scattered throughout Russian oblasts Samara, Penza, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod, as well as other places in the middle east and Asia. Their history dates back to early 1200 BC, when the Volga Finns split up into different groups of people. The Moksha were identified by the way they buried their people. The Moksha buried their people with their heads facing towards the South. Throughout their history the Moksha culture grew until they had faced enemies, engaging in battles in the 1200's AD. Then a third of their population had perished, leaving another third to head back to their homeland and the last third of them to spread throughout Russia.