The Besermyan, Biserman, Besermans or Besermens are a small numbered Finno-Ugric ethnic group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

 in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

There were 10,000 Besermyans in 1926, but according to the Russian Census (2002)

Russian Census (2002)

Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...

, there were 3,122 of them in Russia. The Russian Empire Census

Russian Empire Census

The Russian Imperial Census of 1897 was the first and the only census carried out in the Russian Empire . It recorded demographic data as of ....

 of 1897 listed 10.8 thousand besermens.

The Besermyan live in the northwest region of Yukamen

Yukamensky District

Yukamensky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the twenty-five in the Udmurt Republic, Russia. Its administrative center is the rural locality of Yukamenskoye. District's population: 11,947 ; Population of Yukamenskoye accounts for 36.2% of the district's population....

, Glazov

Glazovsky District

Glazovsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the twenty-five in the Udmurt Republic, Russia. It is located in the northern portion of the republic. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the city of Glazov...

, Balezino

Balezinsky District

Balezinsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the twenty-five in the Udmurt Republic, Russia. It is located in the northern portion of the republic. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the urban locality of Balezino...

, and Yar

Yarsky District

Yarsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the twenty-five in the Udmurt Republic, Russia. Its administrative center is the rural locality of Yar. District's population: 18,880 ; Population of Yar accounts for 43.1% of the district's population....

 Districts of Udmurtia

Udmurtia

The Udmurt Republic , or Udmurtia is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. Population: -History:...

. There are ten villages of pure Besermyan ethnicity in Russia, and 41 villages with a partial Besermyan population.

The Besermyans' language is a dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 of the Udmurt language

Udmurt language

Udmurt is an Uralic language, part of the Permic subgroup, spoken by the Udmurt natives of the Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia, where it is coofficial with Russian. It is written in the Cyrillic script with five additional characters. Together with Komi and Komi-Permyak languages, it...

 with Tatar

Tatar language

The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...

 influences.

Some Besermyans' traditions differ from other Udmurtian customs due to the Islamic influence during the Volga Bulgaria

Volga Bulgaria

Volga Bulgaria, or Volga–Kama Bolghar, is a historic Bulgar state that existed between the seventh and thirteenth centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers in what is now Russia.-Origin:...

 and Khanate of Kazan

Khanate of Kazan

The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El,...

periods.