Ivan Nikolaevich Smirnov
Smirnov, Ivan Nikolaevich
Born Jan. 7(19), 1856, in the village of Arino, in what is now Morki Raion, Mari ASSR; died May 15 (28), 1904, in Kazan. Russian historian and ethnographer.
Smirnov became a professor at the University of Kazan in 1884. He studied the medieval history of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula and the ethnography of the Finnic-speaking peoples of the Volga-Kama region. Of greatest scientific importance are his historical and ethnographic monographs on the Mari, Udmurts, Komi-Permiaks, and Mordvovians: The Cheremis (1889), The Votyaks (1890), The Permiaks (1891), and The Mordovians (1895). [23–1822–]