Editing Sorbs (section)

==Demography==
Estimates of demographic history of the Sorb population since 1450:<ref name="gebel">{{Cite book|url=https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6353/1/Gebel-Language_and_ethnic_national_identity.pdf|title=Language and ethnic national identity in Europe: the importance of Gaelic and Sorbian to the maintenance of associated cultures and ethno cultural identities.|last=Gebel|first=K.|publisher=Middlesex University|year=2002|location=London|access-date=2018-02-08|archive-date=2019-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501090225/https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6353/1/Gebel-Language_and_ethnic_national_identity.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Víšek |first1=Zdeněk |title=Lužičtí Srbové a česko-lužickosrbské vztahy |url=http://www.listy.cz/archiv.php?cislo=131&clanek=011317 |website=Listy |access-date=29 September 2014 |language=cs |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034335/http://www.listy.cz/archiv.php?cislo=131&clanek=011317 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VzpbDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA157|title=Nationale Minderheiten und staatliche Minderheitenpolitik in Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert|last1=Henning Hahn|first1=Hans|last2=Kunze|first2=Peter|publisher=Akademie Verlag GmbH|year=1999|isbn=978-3-05-003343-3|location=Berlin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.kosmas.cz/knihy/133435/cesi-o-luzickych-srbech|title=Češi o Lužických Srbech|last=Kaleta|first=Petr|publisher=Masarykův ústav AV ČR |year=2006|isbn=9788086495415|location=Prague|pages=15}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|-
!style="background:#f3fff3"|Year
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1450'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1700'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1750'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1790'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1858'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1861'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1880'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1900'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1905'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''1945'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''2006'''
!style="background:#f3fff3"|'''2020'''
|-
!style="background:#f3fff3"|Population
| 160,000
| 250,000
| 200,000
| 250,000
| 164,000
| 165,000
| 166,000
| 146,000
| 157,000
| 145,700
| 40,000-50,000
| 40,000
|}

Sorbian population in the middle of the 19th century:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Counties with large numbers of Sorbs in the middle of the 19th century<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Belzyt |first=Leszek |url=https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/search?isbn |title=Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914 ; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar |date=1998 |publisher=Herder-Inst. |isbn=978-3-87969-267-5 |location=Marburg}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
!Region
!County
!Census year
!Total population
!Sorbian population
!% of Sorbs
|-
|[[Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt]]
|[[Cottbus]]
|1846
|49248
|33522
|68.1%
|-
|Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt
|[[Spremberg]]
|1843
|14092
|9183
|65.2%
|-
|Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt
|[[Lübben (Spreewald)|Lübben]]
|1858
|31566
|12427
|39.4%
|-
|Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt
|[[Calau]]
|1849
|43363
|12143
|28.0%
|-
|Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt
|[[Żary|Sorau]]
|1858
|71826
|10116
|14.1%
|-
|[[Liegnitz (region)|Regierungsbezirk Liegnitz]]
|[[Hoyerswerda]]
|1855
|30068
|17223
|57.3%
|-
|Regierungsbezirk Liegnitz
|[[Rothenburg, Oberlausitz|Rothenburg]]
|1843
|42891
|14267
|33.3%
|-
|[[Saxony]]
|[[Königswartha]]
|1861
|7407
|6385
|86.2%
|-
|Saxony
|[[Weißenberg]]
|1861
|6579
|4777
|72.6%
|-
|Saxony
|[[Bautzen]]
|1861
|37096
|23148
|62.4%
|-
|Saxony
|[[Kamenz]]
|1861
|23564
|7847
|33.3%
|-
|Saxony
|[[Löbau]]
|1861
|27260
|4089
|15.0%
|-
|Saxony
|[[Schirgiswalde]]
|1861
|16636
|2196
|13.2%
|-
|Saxony
|[[Bischofswerda]]
|1861
|21051
|1642
|7.8%
|}
[[File:Sorbs in German Empire.png|thumb|Sorbian population in the German Empire in years 1843-1861]]
Sorbs are divided into two ethnographical groups:
*Upper Sorbs (about 40,000 people).<ref>Petr Kaleta: ''Češi o Lužických Srbech''. Prague,2006. Page 15.</ref>
*Lower Sorbs, who speak [[Lower Sorbian]] (about 15–20,000 people).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sorben.sachsen.de/|title=Sorben|work=sachsen.de|access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="gebel" />

The dialects spoken vary in intelligibility in different areas.

<gallery>
Germany sorbian region.png|Map of approximate Sorb-inhabited area in Germany
Sorben.jpeg|Map of area and towns inhabited by Sorbs
Sorbisches Siedlungsgebiet-dsb.png|Detailed map of Sorb-inhabited area in Germany (in Lower Sorbian)
</gallery>

=== Diaspora ===
During the 1840s, many Sorbian émigrés travelled to Australia, along with many ethnic Germans. The first was Jan Rychtar, a Wendish [[Moravian Brethren]] missionary who settled in [[Sydney]] during 1844.<ref>Nielsen. Georg, R. In Search of a Home,(1977); Birmingham Slavonic Monographs. {{ISBN|0 70440236 X}}.</ref> There were two major migrations of Upper Sorbs and Lower Sorbs to Australia, in 1848 and 1850 respectively. The diaspora settled mainly in [[South Australia]] – especially the [[Barossa Valley]] – as well as [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]] and [[New South Wales]].

Many Wends also migrated from Lusatia to the United States, [[Wends of Texas|especially Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texaswendish.org/Pages/default.aspx|title=Texas Wendish Heritage|access-date=18 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223021350/http://www.texaswendish.org/Pages/default.aspx|archive-date=23 February 2015}}</ref>