East Frisians are, in the wider sense, the inhabitants of East Frisia

East Frisia

East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....

 in the northwest of the German state of Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

. In the narrower sense the East Frisians are the eastern branch of the Frisians

Frisians

The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...

, a Germanic people

Germanic peoples

The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

 and belong, together with the Danes

Danes

Danish people or Danes are the nation and ethnic group that is native to Denmark, and who speak Danish.The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century...

, Sorbs

Sorbs

Sorbs are a Western Slavic people of Central Europe living predominantly in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland. In Germany they live in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony. They speak the Sorbian languages - closely related to Polish and Czech - officially recognized and...

, Sinti

Sinti

Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...

 and Romanies to the recognised minorities in Germany. They are closely related to the Saterland Frisians

Saterland Frisian language

Saterland Frisian, also known as Sater Frisian or Saterlandic , is the last living dialect of the East Frisian language. It is closely related to the other Frisian languages—North Frisian, which, like Saterland Frisian, is spoken in Germany and West Frisian, which is spoken in the Netherlands.- Old...

, who come from East Frisia and moved from the coastal region to the interior. The East Frisians are also related to the North Frisians

North Frisians

North Frisians are, in the wider sense, the inhabitants of the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein. In a narrower sense they are an ethnic sub-group of the Frisians from North Frisia and on Heligoland....

 and the Westlauwers Frisians.

Sometimes all Frisians from the eastern Frisian regions (East Frisians, Saterland Frisians, Oldenburg Frisians

Oldenburg Land

The Oldenburg Land is a region and regional association in the German state of Lower Saxony in the area of the former Grand Duchy of Oldenburg , the later Free State of Oldenburg and administrative district of Oldenburg without its exclaves, along the rivers Hunte and Hase...

, Rüstringen Frisians

Rüstringen

Rüstringen or Rustringen was an old Frisian gau which lay between the modern district Friesland and the Weser river in modern Lower Saxony. Nowadays, only a small part of the original territory remains, namely the Butjadingen peninsula...

, Wurtfrisians

Land Wursten

Land Wursten is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km southwest of Cuxhaven, and 15 km north of Bremerhaven...

) are referred to as East Frisians, because all these Frisians form the eastern branch of the Frisians.

It is likely that the majority of East Frisia is still inhabited by East Frisians. Exact figures are not available because affiliation to an ethnic group is a free choice and censuses do not ask about ethnicity. In the eastern Frisian regions, in contrast to North and West Frisia, the Frisian language was replaced by Low Saxon dialcts very early. But the East Frisians kept their Frisian identity while the people in Groningen lost it with their Frisian language. The local dialect is now East Frisian Low Saxon

East Frisian Low Saxon

East Frisian Low Saxon is a West Low German dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern Lower Saxony. It is used quite frequently in everyday speech there. About half of the East Frisian population in the coastal region uses Platdüütsk. A number of individuals, despite not being...

. Though no Frisian language by liguistic patterns, the East Frisians call their language "East Frisian" ("Oostfreesk").

In the Frisian Council they are included in the East section.