The peoples of the South Caucasus message. How many peoples actually live in the North Caucasus

Caucasus - a mighty mountain range stretching from west to east from the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov to the Caspian. In the southern spurs and valleys settled down Georgia and Azerbaijan , in the western part of its slopes descend to the Black Sea coast of Russia. The peoples that will be discussed in this article live in the mountains and foothills of the northern slopes. Administratively territory North Caucasus divided among seven republics : Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia-Alania, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan.

Appearance many indigenous people of the Caucasus is homogeneous. These are fair-skinned, mostly dark-eyed and dark-haired people with sharp features, with a large (“humped”) nose, and narrow lips. Highlanders are usually more tall compared to the inhabitants of the plains. Among the Adygei blond hair and eyes are common (perhaps as a result of mixing with the peoples of Eastern Europe), and in the inhabitants of the coastal regions of Dagestan and Azerbaijan one feels an admixture, on the one hand, of Iranian blood (narrow faces), and on the other hand, of Central Asian blood (small noses).

It is not for nothing that the Caucasus is called Babylon - almost 40 languages ​​are "mixed" here. Scientists identify Western, Eastern and South Caucasian languages . In West Caucasian, or Abkhazian-Adyghe, they say Abkhazians, Abaza, Shapsugs (they live northwest of Sochi), Adyghes, Circassians, Kabardians . East Caucasian languages include Nakh and Dagestan.To the Nakh refer Ingush and Chechen but Dagestan are divided into several subgroups. The largest of them - Avar-Ando-Tsez. but Avar- the language of not only the Avars themselves. IN Northern Dagestan lives 15 minor nations , each of which inhabits only a few neighboring villages located in isolated high mountain valleys. These peoples speak different languages, and Avar for them is the language of interethnic communication , it is taught in schools. In South Dagestan sound Lezgi languages . Lezgins live not only in Dagestan, but also in the neighboring regions of Azerbaijan . While the Soviet Union was a single state, such a division was not very noticeable, but now, when the state border has passed between close relatives, friends, acquaintances, the people are experiencing it painfully. Lezgi languages ​​are spoken : Tabasarans, Aguls, Rutuls, Tsakhurs and some others . In Central Dagestan dominated Dargin (in particular, it is spoken in the famous village of Kubachi) and Lak languages .

Turkic peoples also live in the North Caucasus - Kumyks, Nogais, Balkars and Karachays . There are mountain Jews-tats (in D Aghestan, Azerbaijan, Kabardino-Balkaria ). Their language tatian , refers to Iranian group of the Indo-European family . To the Iranian group belongs Ossetian .

Until October 1917 almost all the languages ​​of the North Caucasus were unwritten. In the 20s. for the languages ​​of most of the Caucasian peoples, except for the smallest ones, alphabets were developed on the Latin basis; published a large number of books, newspapers and magazines. In the 30s. the Latin alphabet was replaced by Russian-based alphabets, but they turned out to be less adapted to the transmission of Caucasian speech sounds. Nowadays, books, newspapers, and magazines are published in local languages, but more people still read literature in Russian.

In total, in the Caucasus, not counting the settlers (Slavs, Germans, Greeks, etc.), there are more than 50 large and small indigenous peoples. Russians also live here, mainly in cities, but partly in villages and Cossack villages: in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, this is 10-15% of the total population, in Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria - up to 30%, in Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea - up to 40-50%.

By religion, most of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus -Muslims . but Ossetians are mostly Orthodox , but Mountain Jews profess Judaism . Traditional Islam has long coexisted with pre-Muslim, pagan traditions and customs. At the end of the XX century. in some regions of the Caucasus, mainly in Chechnya and Dagestan, the ideas of Wahhabism became popular. This current, which arose on the Arabian Peninsula, requires strict observance of Islamic norms of life, the rejection of music, dances, and opposes the participation of women in public life.

CAUCASIAN TREAT

Traditional occupations of the peoples of the Caucasus - arable farming and transhumance . Many Karachay, Ossetian, Ingush, Dagestan villages specialize in growing certain types of vegetables - cabbage, tomato, onion, garlic, carrot, etc . In the mountainous regions of Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria, transhumance sheep and goat breeding predominate; sweaters, hats, shawls, etc. are knitted from the wool and down of sheep and goats.

The nutrition of different peoples of the Caucasus is very similar. Its basis is cereals, dairy products, meat. The latter is 90% lamb, only Ossetians eat pork. Cattle are rarely slaughtered. True, everywhere, especially on the plains, a lot of birds are bred - chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese. The Adyghe and Kabardians know how to cook poultry well and in a variety of ways. The famous Caucasian kebabs are not cooked very often - lamb is either boiled or stewed. The ram is slaughtered and butchered according to strict rules. While the meat is fresh, from the intestines, stomach, offal they make different types boiled sausage, which can not be stored for a long time. Part of the meat is dried and dried for storage in reserve.

Vegetable dishes are not typical for the North Caucasian cuisine, but vegetables are constantly eaten - fresh, pickled and pickled; they are also used as a filling for pies. In the Caucasus, they love hot dairy dishes - they dilute cheese crumbs and flour in melted sour cream, they drink a chilled fermented milk product - ayran. The well-known kefir is an invention of the Caucasian highlanders; it is fermented with special fungi in wineskins. Among Karachays, this dairy product is called " gypy-airan ".

In a traditional feast, bread is often replaced with other types of flour and cereal dishes. First of all, this various cereals . In the Western Caucasus , for example, with any dishes much more often than bread, they eat cool millet or corn porridge .In the Eastern Caucasus (Chechnya, Dagestan) the most popular flour dish - khinkal (pieces of dough are boiled in meat broth or just in water, and eaten with sauce). Both porridge and khinkal require less fuel for cooking than baking bread, and therefore are common where firewood is in short supply. On the highlands , for shepherds, where there is very little fuel, the main food is oatmeal - fried to brown coarse flour, which is kneaded with meat broth, syrup, butter, milk, in last resort just with water. Balls are molded from the resulting dough, and they are eaten with tea, broth, ayran. Of great everyday and ritual significance in the Caucasian cuisine are all kinds of pies - with meat, with potatoes, with beet tops and, of course, with cheese .Ossetians , for example, such a pie is called " phydia n". On the festive table, there must be three "walbaha"(cheese pies), and arrange them so that they are visible from the sky to St. George, whom the Ossetians especially revere.

In autumn, housewives prepare jams, juices, syrups . Previously, sugar in the manufacture of sweets was replaced with honey, molasses or boiled grape juice. Traditional Caucasian sweetness - halva. It is made from toasted flour or cereal balls fried in oil, adding butter and honey (or sugar syrup). In Dagestan they prepare a kind of liquid halva - urbech. Toasted hemp, flax, sunflower or apricot kernels rubbed with vegetable oil diluted in honey or sugar syrup.

Fine grape wine is made in the North Caucasus .Ossetians long time ago brew barley beer ; among the Adyghes, Kabardians, Circassians and Turkic peoples replaces him booze, or mahsym a, - a kind of light beer made from millet. A stronger buza is obtained by adding honey.

Unlike their Christian neighbors - Russians, Georgians, Armenians, Greeks - mountain peoples of the Caucasus don't eat mushrooms gather wild berries, wild pears, nuts . Hunting, a favorite activity of the highlanders, has now lost its importance, since large sections of the mountains are occupied by nature reserves, and many animals, such as bison, are included in the International Red Book. There are a lot of wild boars in the forests, but they are rarely hunted, because Muslims do not eat pork.

CAUCASUS VILLAGES

Since ancient times, the inhabitants of many villages, in addition to agriculture, were engaged in crafts . Balkars famous as skillful masons; laks manufacture and repair of metal products, and at fairs - original centers of public life - often performed residents of the village of Tsovkra (Dagestan), who mastered the art of tightrope walkers. Folk crafts of the North Caucasus known far beyond its borders: painted ceramics and patterned carpets from the Lak village of Balkhar, wooden items with metal notches from the Avar village of Untsukul, silver jewelry from the village of Kubachi. In many villages from Karachay-Cherkessia to Northern Dagestan , are engaged wool felting - cloaks, felt carpets are made . Burke but- a necessary part of the mountain and Cossack cavalry equipment. It protects from bad weather not only while riding - under a good cloak you can hide from bad weather, like in a small tent; it is absolutely irreplaceable for shepherds. In the villages of South Dagestan, especially among the Lezgins , make magnificent pile carpets highly valued all over the world.

Ancient Caucasian villages are extremely picturesque . Stone houses with flat roofs and open galleries with carved pillars are molded close to each other along the narrow streets. Often such a house is surrounded by defensive walls, and a tower with narrow loopholes rises next to it - earlier, the whole family hid in such towers during enemy raids. Nowadays, the towers are abandoned as unnecessary and are gradually being destroyed, so that the picturesqueness gradually disappears, and new houses are built of concrete or brick, with glazed verandas, often two or even three stories high.

These houses are not so original, but they are comfortable, and their furnishings sometimes do not differ. from urban - modern kitchen, plumbing, heating (however, a toilet and even a washbasin are often located in the yard). New houses often serve only for receiving guests, and the family lives either on the ground floor or in an old house turned into a kind of living kitchen. In some places you can still see the ruins of ancient fortresses, walls and fortifications. In a number of places, cemeteries with old, well-preserved grave crypts have been preserved.

HOLIDAY IN THE MOUNTAIN VILLAGE

High in the mountains lies the Jezek village of Shaitli. At the beginning of February, when the days are getting longer and for the first time in winter, the sun's rays touch the slopes of Mount Hora, which rises above the village, to Shaitli celebrate the holiday igby ". This name comes from the word "ig" - this is the name of the Jezes baked with a ring of bread, similar to a bagel, with a diameter of 20-30 cm. For the Igbi holiday, such breads are baked in all homes, and young people prepare cardboard and leather masks, masquerade costumes.

The morning of the holiday is coming. A squad of “wolves” takes to the streets - guys dressed in sheepskin coats turned inside out with fur, with wolf masks on their faces and wooden swords. Their leader carries a pennant made of a strip of fur, and the two most strong men- long pole "Wolves" go around the village and collect tribute from each yard - holiday bread; they are strung on a pole. There are other mummers in the squad: "goblin" in costumes made of moss and pine branches, "bears", "skeletons" and even modern characters, such as "policemen", "tourists". The mummers play funny siennas, bully the audience, they can even throw them into the snow, but no one is offended. Then a "Quidili" appears on the square, which symbolizes the past year, the passing winter. The guy depicting this character is dressed in a long hoodie made of skins. A pole sticks out of a slit in the hoodie, and on it is a “Quidili” head with a terrible mouth and horns. The actor imperceptibly from the audience controls the mouth with the help of ropes. "Quidili" climbs onto a "tribune" made of snow and ice and makes a speech. He wants everyone kind people good luck in the new year, and then turns to the events of the past year. He names those who committed bad deeds, idled, hooligans, and the "wolves" grab the "guilty" and drag them to the river. More often they are let go halfway, only covered in snow, but some people can be dipped into the water, though only their feet. On the contrary, those who distinguished themselves by good deeds are “quited”, congratulating them and giving them a donut each from a pole.

As soon as the "Quidili" leaves the podium, the mummers pounce on him and drag him onto the bridge across the river. There the leader of the "wolves" "kills" him with a sword. A guy under a hoodie playing "quiddly" opens a hidden bottle of paint, and "blood" pours profusely on the ice. The "killed" is put on a stretcher and solemnly carried away. In a secluded place, the mummers undress, share the remaining bagels among themselves and join the merry people, but without masks and costumes.

TRADITIONAL COSTUME K A B R D I N T E V I C E R K E S O V

Adygs (Kabardians and Circassians) for a long time were considered trendsetters in the North Caucasus, and therefore their traditional costume had a noticeable influence on the clothes of neighboring peoples.

Male costume of Kabardians and Circassians developed at a time when men spent a significant part of their lives in military campaigns. The rider could not do without long cloak : she replaced his house and bed on the way, protected him from cold and heat, rain and snow. Another type of warm clothing - sheepskin coats, they were worn by shepherds and elderly men.

Also served as outerwear. Circassian . She was sewn from cloth, most often black, brown or gray, sometimes white. Before the abolition of serfdom, only princes and nobles had the right to wear white Circassians and cloaks. On both sides of the chest on a Circassian coat they sewed pockets for wooden gas tubes, in which they kept charges for guns . Noble Kabardians, in order to prove their dashing, often wore a tattered Circassian coat.

Under a Circassian coat, over an undershirt, they put on beshmet - caftan with a high stand-up collar, long and narrow sleeves. Representatives of the upper classes sewed beshmets from cotton, silk or thin woolen fabric, the peasants - from home cloth. Beshmet for the peasants was home and work clothes, and the Circassian was festive.

Headdress considered the most important element of men's clothing. It was worn not only for protection from cold and heat, but also for "honor". usually worn fur hat with cloth bottom ; in hot weather wide-brimmed felt hat . In bad weather, they threw over the hat cloth hood . Ceremonial hoods were decorated galloons and gold embroidery .

Princes and nobles wore red morocco shoes, decorated with galloons and gold , and the peasants - coarse shoes made of rawhide. It is no coincidence that in folk songs the struggle of peasants with feudal lords is called the struggle of "rawhide shoes with morocco shoes."

Traditional women's costume of Kabardians and Circassians reflected social differences. The underwear was long silk or cotton shirt of red or orange color . They put on a shirt short caftan trimmed with galloon, with massive silver clasps And. In cut, he looked like a man's beshmet. Over the caftan long dress . He had a slit in front, in which one could see the undershirt and caftan decorations. The costume was complemented belt with silver buckle . Red dresses were allowed to be worn only by women of noble origin..

Elderly wore wadded quilted caftan , but young , according to local custom, not supposed to have warm outerwear. Only a woolen shawl covered them from the cold.

Hats changed depending on the age of the woman. Girl went in a scarf or bareheaded . When it was possible to marry her, she put on "golden cap" and wore until the birth of her first child .The hat was decorated with gold and silver galloon ; the bottom was made of cloth or velvet, and the top was crowned with a silver knob. After the birth of a child, a woman changed her hat for a dark scarf. ; above he was usually covered with a shawl to cover his hair . Shoes were sewn from leather and morocco, festive ones were always red.

CAUCASIAN TABLE ETIQUETTE

The peoples of the Caucasus have always attached great importance to the observance of table traditions. The basic prescriptions of traditional etiquette have survived to this day. Writing was supposed to be moderate. Not only gluttony was condemned, but also "polyeating". One of the writers of everyday life of the peoples of the Caucasus noted that the Ossetians are content with such an amount of food, "with which a European can hardly exist for any long time." This was especially true for alcoholic beverages. For example, among the Circassians it was considered dishonorable to get drunk at a party. Drinking alcohol was once a sacred act. "They drink with great solemnity and reverence ... always with their heads bare as a sign of the highest humility," an Italian traveler of the 15th century reported about the Adygs. G. Interiano.

Caucasian feast - a kind of performance, where the behavior of everyone is described in detail: men and women, older and younger, hosts and guests. As a rule, even if the meal was held in the home circle, men and women did not sit at the same table together . The men ate first, followed by the women and children. However, on holidays they were allowed to eat at the same time, but in different rooms or at different tables. Seniors and juniors also did not sit at the same table, and if they sat down, then in the established order - the elders at the "upper", the younger at the "lower" end of the table. In the old days, for example, among the Kabardians, the younger ones only stood at the walls and served the elders; they were called like that - "supporters of the walls" or "standing over their heads."

The manager of the feast was not the owner, but the eldest of those present - "master of ceremonies". This Adyghe-Abkhazian word has become widespread, and now it can be heard outside the Caucasus. He made toasts, gave the floor; assistants relied on the toastmaster at large tables. In general, it is difficult to say what was done more at the Caucasian table: they ate or made toasts. The toasts were pompous. The qualities and merits of the person they spoke about were extolled to the skies. The solemn meal was always interrupted by songs and dances.

When they received a respected and dear guest, they necessarily made a sacrifice: they slaughtered either a cow, or a ram, or a chicken. Such "shedding of blood" was a sign of respect. Scientists see in it an echo of the pagan identification of the guest with God. No wonder the Circassians have a saying "The guest is God's messenger." For Russians, it sounds even more definite: "A guest in the house - God in the house."

Both in the solemn and in the ordinary feast, great importance was attached to the distribution of meat. The best, honorable pieces relied on the guests and the elders. At Abkhazians the main guest was presented with a shoulder blade or thigh, the oldest - half a head; at Kabardians the best pieces were considered the right half of the head and the right shoulder blade, as well as the brisket and navel of the bird; at Balkarian - right scapula, femur, joints of the hind limbs. Others received their shares in order of seniority. The animal carcass was supposed to be divided into 64 pieces.

If the host noticed that his guest, out of decency or embarrassment, stopped eating, he offered him one more share of honor. Refusal was considered indecent, no matter how full he was. The host never stopped eating before the guests.

Table etiquette provided standard invitation and refusal formulas. This is how they sounded, for example, among the Ossetians. They never answered: "I'm full", "I ate". You should have said, "Thank you, I'm not shy, I've treated myself well." Eating all the food served on the table was also considered indecent. The dishes that remained untouched were called by the Ossetians "the share of the one who cleans the table." The famous explorer of the North Caucasus V.F. Muller said that in the poor houses of Ossetians, table etiquette is observed more strictly than in the gilded palaces of the European nobility.

At the feast, they never forgot about God. The meal began with a prayer to the Almighty, and every toast, every well-wishes (to the host, home, toastmaster, those present) - with the pronunciation of his name. The Abkhazians were asked that the Lord bless the person in question; among the Circassians at the festival, say, about the construction of a new house, they said: "May God make this place happy," etc.; Abkhazians often used such a feast wish: "May both God and people bless you" or simply: "May people bless you."

Women in the men's feast, according to tradition, did not participate. They could only serve the feasters in the guest room - "kunatskaya". Among some peoples (mountain Georgians, Abkhazians, etc.), the mistress of the house sometimes still went out to the guests, but only to proclaim a toast in their honor and immediately leave.

THE FESTIVAL OF THE RETURN OF THE PLOWERS

The most important event in the life of a farmer is plowing and sowing. Among the peoples of the Caucasus, the beginning and completion of these works were accompanied by magical rituals: according to popular beliefs, they were supposed to contribute to a bountiful harvest.

Adygs went to the field at the same time - the whole village or, if the village was big, by the street. They elected a "senior plowman", determined a place for the camp, built huts. Here they installed banner" plowmen - a five-seven-meter pole with a piece of yellow matter attached to it. The yellow color symbolized the ripened ears, the length of the pole - the size of the future harvest. Therefore, they tried to make the "banner" as long as possible. He was vigilantly guarded - so that the plowmen from other camps would not steal. Those who lost the "banner" were threatened with crop failure, while the thieves, on the contrary, had more grain.

The first furrow was laid by the most successful grain grower. Before that, arable land, bulls, a plow were doused with water or booze (an intoxicating drink made from cereals). Lili buzu also on the first inverted layer of the earth. The plowmen tore off each other's hats and threw them on the ground so that the plow plowed them. It was believed that the more caps in the first furrow, the better.

All period spring work plowmen lived in the camp. They worked from dawn to dusk, but still there was time for funny jokes and games. So, having secretly visited the village, the guys stole a hat from a girl from a noble family. A few days later, she was solemnly returned, and the family of the "injured" arranged feasts and dances for the whole village. In response to the theft of a hat, peasants who did not go to the field stole a plow belt from the camp. To “rescue the belt”, food and drinks were brought to the house where it was hidden as a ransom. It should be added that a number of prohibitions are associated with the plow. For example, it was impossible to sit on it. The "guilty" was beaten with nettles or tied to the wheel of an arba that had fallen on its side and turned around. If a "stranger" sat on a plow, not from his own camp, they demanded a ransom from him.

The famous game shaming the cooks." They chose a "commission", and she checked the work of the cooks. If she found omissions, relatives had to bring treats to the field.

Especially solemnly the Circassians celebrated the end of the sowing. Women prepared buza and various dishes in advance. Carpenters for shooting competitions made a special target - a tavern ("kabak" in some Turkic languages ​​- a type of pumpkin). The target looked like a gate, only smaller. Wooden figures of animals and birds were hung on the crossbar, and each figure denoted a certain prize. The girls worked on the mask and clothes for the azhegafe ("dancing goat"). Azhegafe was the main character of the holiday. His role was played by a witty, cheerful man. He put on a mask, an inside-out fur coat, tied his tail and a long beard, crowned his head with goat horns, armed himself with a wooden saber and a dagger.

Solemnly, on decorated carts, plowmen returned to the village . A "banner" flaunted on the front arba, and a target was fixed on the last one. Horsemen followed the procession and fired at the tavern at full gallop. To make it harder to hit the figures, the target was specially swung.

Throughout the journey from the field to the village, azhegafe entertained the people. Even the most daring jokes got away with it. The servants of Islam, considering the liberties of azhegafe as blasphemy, cursed him and never participated in the holiday. However, this character was so loved by the Circassians that they did not pay attention to the prohibition of the priests.

Before reaching the village, the procession stopped. The plowmen laid out a platform for a joint meal and games, with a plow they made a deep furrow around it. At this time, azhegafe went around the houses, collecting treats. He was accompanied by his "wife", whose role was played by a man dressed in women's clothes. They acted out funny scenes: for example, azhegafe fell dead, and for his "resurrections, treats were demanded from the owner of the house, etc.

The holiday lasted several days and was accompanied by plentiful refreshments, dancing and fun. On the final day, they arranged horse races and horse riding.

In the 40s. 20th century the holiday of the return of the plowmen disappeared from the life of the Circassians . But one of my favorite characters - agegafe - and now can often be found at weddings and other celebrations.

HANZEGUACHE

Can the most ordinary shovel become a princess? It turns out that this also happens.

The Circassians have a rite of calling rain, called "khanieguashe" . "Khanie" - in Adyghe "shovel", "gua-she" - "princess", "mistress". The ceremony was usually performed on Friday. Young women would gather and use a wooden shovel to win the grain to work for the Princess: they attached a crossbar to the handle, dressed the shovel in women's clothes, covered it with a scarf, and girded it. The "neck" was decorated with a "necklace" - a sooty chain, on which a cauldron is hung over the hearth. They tried to take her in a house where there were cases of death from a lightning strike. If the owners objected, the chain was sometimes even stolen.

Women, always barefoot, took a scarecrow by the "hands" and with the song "God, in Your name we lead Hanieguashe, send us rain" went around all the yards of the village. The hostesses took out treats or money and poured water over the women, saying: "God, accept favorably." Those who made stingy offerings to Hanieguasha were condemned by the neighbors.

Gradually, the procession increased: it was joined by women and children from the yards where Hanieguashe was "brought in". Sometimes they carried with them milk strainers and fresh cheese. They had a magical meaning: as easily as milk passes through a strainer, it should rain from the clouds; cheese symbolized moisture-saturated soil.

Having bypassed the village, the women carried the scarecrow to the river and set it on the bank. It was time for the ritual baths. Participants of the ceremony pushed each other into the river and poured water over them. They especially tried to pour over young married women who had small children.

The Black Sea Shapsugs then threw the scarecrow into the water, and after three days they pulled it out and broke it. The Kabardians, on the other hand, brought the scarecrow to the center of the village, invited musicians and danced around Chanieguashe until dark. The celebrations ended with seven buckets of water dousing the scarecrow. Sometimes, instead of it, a dressed-up frog was carried through the streets, which was then thrown into the river.

After sunset, a feast began, at which they ate the treats collected in the village. magical meaning in the ceremony they had universal fun and laughter.

The image of Khanieguashe goes back to one of the characters in the mythology of the Circassians - the mistress of the Psyhoguashe rivers. She was asked to send down rain. Since Hanieguashe personified the pagan goddess of waters, the day of the week when she "visited" the village was considered sacred. According to popular notions, an unseemly act committed on this day was a particularly grave sin.

The vagaries of the weather are not subject to man; drought, like many years ago, visits the fields of farmers from time to time. And then Khanieguashe walks through the Adyghe villages, giving hope for a quick and plentiful rain, amusing old and small. Of course, at the end of the XX century. this rite is perceived more as entertainment, and mainly children participate in it. Adults, not even believing that it is possible to make rain in this way, give them sweets and money with pleasure.

ATALYCHESTVO

If a modern person were asked where children should be brought up, he would answer with bewilderment: "Where, if not at home?" Meanwhile, in antiquity and the early Middle Ages, it was widespread the custom when a child immediately after birth was given to be raised in a strange family . This custom was recorded among the Scythians, ancient Celts, Germans, Slavs, Turks, Mongols and some other peoples. It existed in the Caucasus until the beginning of the 20th century. all mountain peoples from Abkhazia to Dagestan. Caucasian scholars call it the Turkic word "atalyism" (from "atalyk" - "like a father").

As soon as a son or daughter was born in a respected family, applicants for the position of atalyk hurried to offer their services. The more noble and richer the family was, the more people were willing. To get ahead of everyone, a newborn was sometimes stolen. It was believed that an atalyk should not have more than one pupil or pupil. The breadwinner was his wife (atalychka) or her relative. Sometimes, over time, the child moved from one atalyk to another.

Adopted children were raised in much the same way as relatives. The difference was in one thing: the atalyk (and his whole family) paid much more attention to the adopted child, he was better fed and clothed. When the boy was taught to ride, and then horseback riding, to wield a dagger, a pistol, a gun, to hunt, they looked after him more carefully than their own sons. If there were military skirmishes with neighbors, the atalyk took the teenager with him and covered him up with his own body. The girl was introduced to women's housework, taught to embroider, initiated into the intricacies of complex Caucasian etiquette, inspired by the accepted ideas of female honor and pride. IN parental home an exam was coming, and the young man had to show what he had learned in public. Young men usually returned to their father and mother, having reached the age of majority (at 16 years old) or by the time of marriage (at 18 years old); girls are usually earlier.

All the time while the child lived with the atalyk, he did not see his parents. Therefore, he returned to his native home, as if to a strange family. Years passed before he got used to his father and mother, brothers and sisters. But closeness with the atalyk's family was maintained throughout life, and, according to custom, it was equated to blood.

Returning the pupil, atalyk gave him clothes, weapons, a horse . But he himself and his wife received even more generous gifts from the pupil's father: several heads of cattle, sometimes even land. A close relationship was established between the two families, the so-called artificial relationship, no less strong than blood.

Kinship by atalism was established between people of equal social status. - princes, nobles, rich peasants; sometimes between neighboring peoples (Abkhazians and Mingrelians, Kabardians and Ossetians, etc.). Princely families entered into dynastic unions in this way. In other cases, the superior feudal lord transferred the child to be brought up by a subordinate or a wealthy peasant - a less prosperous one. The father of the pupil not only gave gifts to the atalyk, but also supported him, protected him from enemies, etc. In this way, he expanded the circle of dependent people. Atalik parted with part of his independence, but acquired a patron. It is no coincidence that among the Abkhazians and Circassians adults could become "pupils". In order for milk kinship to be considered recognized, the "pupil" touched his lips to the breast of the atalyk's wife. The Chechens and Ingush, who did not know a pronounced social stratification, did not develop the custom of atalism.

At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists proposed 14 explanations for the origin of atalism. Now any serious explanations two left. According to M. O. Kosven, a prominent Russian Caucasian scholar, atalychestvo - the remnant of the avunculate (from lat. avunculus - "mother's brother"). This custom was known in antiquity. As a relic, it has been preserved among some modern peoples (especially in Central Africa). Avunculate established the closest connection between the child and the uncle on the mother’s side: according to the rules, it was the uncle who raised the child. However, supporters of this hypothesis cannot answer a simple question: why did not the mother's brother, but a stranger, become the atalyk? Another explanation seems more convincing. Education in general and Caucasian atalyism in particular was recorded no earlier than at the time of the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the emergence of classes. Old kinship ties were already torn, but there were no new ones yet. People, in order to acquire supporters, protectors, patrons, etc., established artificial kinship. One of its types was atalism.

"SENIOR" AND "JUNIOR" IN THE CAUCASUS

Politeness and restraint are highly valued in the Caucasus. No wonder the Adyghe proverb says: "Do not strive for a place of honor - if you deserve it, you will get it." Especially Adyghes, Circassians, Kabardians are known for their strict morals . They attach great importance to their appearance: even in hot weather, a jacket and a hat are indispensable details of clothing. You need to walk sedately, talk slowly, quietly. Standing and sitting are supposed to be decorous, you can’t lean against the wall, cross your legs, all the more carelessly fall apart in a chair. If a person passes by, older in age, albeit a complete stranger, you need to stand up and bow.

Hospitality and respect for elders - the cornerstones of Caucasian ethics. The guest is surrounded by vigilant attention: they will allocate the best room in the house, they will not leave one for a minute - all the time until the guest goes to bed, either the owner himself, or his brother, or another close relative will be with him. The host usually dines with the guest, perhaps older relatives or friends will join, but the hostess and other women will not sit at the table, they will only serve. The younger members of the family may not show up at all, and even making them sit down at the table with the Elders is completely unthinkable. They sit down at the table in the accepted order: at the head is the toastmaster, that is, the manager of the feast (the owner of the house or the eldest among those gathered), to the right of him is the guest of honor, then in seniority.

When two people walk down the street, the youngest usually walks to the left of the oldest. . If a third person joins them, let's say middle-aged, the younger one moves to the right and a little back, and the newly approached person takes his place on the left. In the same order they sit down in an airplane or car. This rule dates back to the Middle Ages, when people went armed, with a shield on their left hand, and the younger was obliged to protect the elder from a possible ambush attack.

Updated version - at www.RANDEVU.nm.ru

PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES OF THE CAUCASUS
If the genetic and typological connections of many languages ​​of the Caucasus are determined, then the question of the relationship of the Adyghe-Abkhazian, Kartvelian and Nakh-Dagestanian languages ​​(and the Basque language living in Spain) still remains open.
Until recently, there were several classifications.
First: considered the relationship of languages ​​at the modern level. She did not find any common features in the Georgian, Adyghe-Abkhazian, Biscay (Basques) and Nakh-Dagestanian languages: they have a different grammatical structure, syntax and morphology. In accordance with this, the following families were distinguished: Biscay, Kartvelian, West Caucasian (Adyghe-Abkhazian) and East Caucasian (Nakh-Dagestan).
The second: established kinship at the grammatical and vocabulary level in the Adyghe-Abkhazian and Nakh-Dagestanian languages, which were united in the North Caucasian family. Phonetically and syntactically, these languages ​​were divided in the 5th millennium BC, having separated from a single Hatto-Hurrian family. The Basques and the Georgian peoples stood out in their own families: Biscay and Kartvelian.
Third: it united the North Caucasian languages ​​with the Kartvelian ones into the Iberian-Caucasian family. The Basque language was considered separately.
Fourth: singled out the North Caucasian (Japhetic) and Iberian families. The second included the Basques and the Kartvelian peoples.
Fifth: united the above groups into the Iberian-Caucasian family based on the relationship:
Basques ~> Kartvelian (Georgian) languages ​​~> Adyghe-Abkhazian ~> Nakh-Dagestan.
Sixth: In accordance with the latest (end of the 20th century) macrofamily theory of academicians S.A. Starostina, A.Yu. Militarev, V.M. Illich-Svitych, H. Peterson, G. Svit, A. Trombetti and many others, the Kartvelian languages ​​are included in the Nostratic macrofamily, along with Indo-European, Altaic, Afroasian, Dravidian, Paleoasian, Eskimo-Aleut and Ural-Yukaghir. This relationship was determined on the basis of 12,000 lexical and grammatical matches.
The same macrofamily includes all the languages ​​of Tropical Africa, with the exception of the Khoisan languages ​​of Botswana and Namibia. Some scholars single out the Afroasian (Semitic-Hamitic) and African languages ​​into a separate macrofamily.
The Adyghe-Abkhazian, Nakh-Dagestanian and Basque languages ​​are combined into the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, along with the Sino-Tibetan, Yenisei, Burushaski, Nakhali, Kusunda and the languages ​​of the North American Indians of the Na-Dene family. All the common features of the North Caucasian and Georgian languages ​​are subjective, they are due to a similar sentence structure and borrowings.
More details about macrofamilies - in a separate work.
The groups considered below are given taking into account the macrofamily. IN general view the ethnographic map looks like this (only the peoples represented in the Caucasus + the Basques of Spain are indicated).

N O S TRA T I C H E N O R O D
ALTAI family
INDO-EUROPEAN family
1. Turkic group
phonetic area "SATEM"
1.1. Kypchak subgroup
1. Armenian group
Nogai
Armenians
Kumyks
2. Iranian group
Karachays
2.1. Northeastern subgroup
Balkars
Ossetians
1.2. Oguz subgroup
2.2. Northwestern subgroup
Meskhetian Turks
tats
Azerbaijanis
Talish
Turks

2. Mongolian group
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kalmyks
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SEMITO-HAMITE family
KARTVEL family
Semitic group
Georgians
Northwestern subgroup
Svans
Assyrians
Mingrelians and vats
Mountain Jews
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

S I N O - K A V K A Z S K I E people
NORTH CAUCASIAN family
1. ADYGO-ABKHAZ group
2. NAKH-DAGESTAN group
1.1. Abkhaz subgroup
1.2. Adyghe subgroup
2.1. Vainakh subgroup
2.2. Dagestan subgroup
Abkhazians
Circassians
Chechens
Avaro-Ando-Tsez peoples
Abaza
Circassians
Ingush
Lezgin peoples
1.3. Ubykh subgroup
Kabardians
Batzians
Dargin peoples
BISCAY family
Basques
KARTWELLIAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
Georgians (Kartvels) is a generalized name for a group of peoples that are divided into two linguistic subgroups:
a) speakers of the Georgian language and its mutually intelligible dialects - the majority:
In Western Georgia - Adjarians, Gurians, Imeretians, Lechkhumians, Rachinians
In Eastern Georgia - Kiziks, Kartlians, Kakhetians, Mokhevs, Mtiuls, Gudamakars, Pshavs, Tushins, Khevsurs
In South Georgia - Javakhs, Meskhi
In Azerbaijan - Ingiloys
In Iran, the Fereydans (relocated by the Iranian Shah in the 17th century)
In Turkey - Imer-Khevtsy (mixed Imeretian-Khevsurian ethnic group)
The Georgian literary language was formed on the basis of the Kakhetian and Kartli dialects.
b) speaking their own languages ​​(based on the method of glottochronology (read "Macrofamilies"), it was established that the separation of these languages ​​​​and Georgian took place as early as the 8th century BC):
Mingrelians (Mingrelians, Margal) (Mingrelian language) - Western Georgia and Abkhazia
Svans (Mushvan) (including dialect groups) - Western mountainous Georgia and Abkhazia
Lazi (Chan language) - Adjara and Turkey
Sometimes the Mingrelian and Chan languages ​​are considered dialects of the Megrel-Chan (Zan) language.
The Svan language retained to a large extent the appearance of the archaic Proto-Kartvelian language.
Some of the Kartvelian peoples have characteristic surname endings. The most common endings are: "-dze", "-shvili" (on "-shvili" - the bulk of Georgian Jews, the so-called Ebraeli), "-eli" (Gverdtsiteli), "-ani" - princely origin (Orbeliani ), "-iya" (Mingrelian suffix), "-ava" (Mingrelian suffix) and some. other.
The surnames of the Abkhazian Greeks with "-go" are often considered Georgian.
The Tush ethnic group is divided into 4 sub-ethnoses: Chagma-Tush and Gometsari-Tush - speak the Tush dialect of the Georgian language, Tsova-Tush and Pirikita-Tush speak the Batsbi language, which belongs to the Nakh-Dagestan family of languages ​​and are part of the Vainakh group.
Kartvels are usually called all the peoples who speak the languages ​​of the Kartvelian family, and Georgians are the same peoples, with the exception of the Svans, Mingrelians and Laz, who in every possible way emphasize their isolation.
Own writing (asomtavruli) was created in the 4th century. BC. based on the Eastern Aramaic alphabet.
The bulk of Georgians are Orthodox Christians of the Georgian Autocephalous Church.
Adjarians, Laz, Meskhi and Ingiloys are adherents of the Sunni branch of Islam.
Fereydans are Shiites.
In anthropological terms, the Georgian peoples belong to various types of the Caucasoid race (see appendix):
Mingrelians, Imeretians and part of the Gurians - mainly the Pontic type
eastern (Kakhetians, Kartlians from Shida-Kartli), mountainous (Svans, Mokhevs, Mtiuls, Gudamakars, Rachins, Pshavs, Tushins, Khevsurs) and Ingiloys - Caucasian type
Adjarians, Fereydans, Kiziks (Caucasian type -?), Imer-Khevs, Lazs, Javas, Meskhi and Kartlians from Kvemo-Kartli, part of the Gurians - the Near East type (Colchis and Khorasan subtypes)
The total number is about 4 million people, of which 30% are Mingrelians.
* * *
History: After the collapse of the Nostratic linguistic macrofamily, in the southern regions of Asia Minor (Turkey) and Palestine, the formation of the Proto-Kartvelian ethnos (belonging to the Middle Asian type) began. This territory in the Bible is called Tubal ("tubal" in Semitic - "blacksmith"). According to scientists Gamkrelidze and Ivanov, Indo-European, Semitic and Kartvelian languages ​​have "similarity up to isomorphism in the scheme of language structures ...". The work of the linguist Paltimaitis (1984) "Five Important Kartvelian-Baltic and Kartvelian-Semitic Similarities" makes it possible to clarify the level of similarity, both of the Old European with the general Kartvelian, and of the general Kartvelian with the ancient Semitic.
Approximately in the 20-19 centuries. BC. There was a division (divergence) of the proto-language (proto-language) into Svan and a single Georgian-Mingrelian-Chan (scientists unite the Megrelian and Chan languages ​​​​under the same name Zan language, using the fact that in the Svan language "myzan" means "megrel"). Displaced by the Semites, the Kartvels (more precisely, their Svan part) broke through the Hurrian-Urartian and Hittite cities, and invaded the swampy Colchis lowland, where racial mixing with the Hurrians (Caucasian type) took place, as a result of which the future Svans took on the appearance of representatives of the Caucasian type. Soon they were pushed into the mountains by a new wave of Kartvelian settlers (Georgian-Zans). In the 8th c. BC. there was a divergence of a single Georgian-Zan language into Georgian proper (including dialects) and Zan (Megrelo-Chan).
In the 1st millennium AD In Western Georgia, the Kartvelian Union of Kulkha was formed, which was founded in the 6th century. BC. state of Colchis. The descendants of the Iberians, who mixed with the Hurrians, formed an Iberian union, and created in the 4th century. BC. the state of Kartli (Iberia, Iveria). The ethnonym "Iber" (Iver) comes from "Tubal" (Tubal): phonetic distortions "Tubal-Tubal-Tabar-Taber-Tibar-Tiber-Tibaren". The name of the Spanish Iberians (hibern) has a different origin and goes back to the Greek name of the Libyan-Berber peoples of North Africa - berberos, i.e. "bearded". The Greeks called the Germanic tribes the same term, from which the term "barbarians" originated. At the end of the 1st millennium AD. under the onslaught of the Arab conquerors, the South Georgian Meskhi (Mtskhe) were forced to retreat to the coast, where the Adyghe-Abkhazian peoples of the Pontic racial type lived; The bulk of the Georgians (Central, Southern and Eastern Georgia) and the Laz retained the features of the Western Asian type.
NORTH CAUCASIAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
1.) Adyghe-Abkhazian group.
Abkhaz subgroup:
- Abkhazians (Apsua)
- Abaza
Ubykh subgroup:
- Ubykhs
Kasog subgroup:
- Adyghe
- Kabardians, Circassians

The existence of a single Adyghe-Abkhazian proto-language dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. This parent language and the Nakh-Dagestan parent language (which, along with Hattian and Hurrian-Urartian, were part of the so-called Hatto-Hurrian family) separated in the 4th millennium BC.
The ancient Greeks called the population of the Kuban, the Black Sea coast and the north of Asia Minor - geniokhs. Another name for the Adyghes is Kasogi. The Adyghe-Abkhazian peoples are the descendants of the Sino-Caucasians, including a group of Hutts who moved to the Caucasus during the period of the expansion of the macrofamily. The most ancient state of the Hittia (II millennium BC) arose on the ethnic basis of the Hattians, who lived in the east of Asia Minor, and then conquered by the Indo-European peoples of the Anatolian group - the Luvians, Palais and Nesits.
Anthropologically, the Adyghe-Abkhazian peoples belong to the Pontic type of the Balkan-Caucasian branch of the Caucasoid race.
(see Attachment)
In the ethnogenesis of the peoples of the northern subgroup, the tribes of the Cimmerians (the Thracian group of the Indo-European family), who came from the Don, and representatives of the so-called. Maikop Semitic culture - the descendants of an insignificant group of settlers from the Middle East (~ III millennium BC).
Abaza (Abaza):
They came from the ethnic community of the Abazgs, first mentioned in the 2nd century. Then the Abazgs inhabited the northern part of modern Abkhazia, from Sukhum to the Bzyb River; in 3-5 centuries. The Abazgs, forced out by the Kartvels, moved north, to the Psou River and further, pushing back and assimilating another Adyghe-Abkhazian ethnic group, the Sanigs. Since the 8th century, the Abazgs have been politically dominant in the formed Abkhazian kingdom (8th-10th centuries), which is why the entire territory of this state, including modern Abkhazia and Western Georgia (Samegrelo, i.e. Megrelia, distorted - Mingrelia) is called in written sources different countries of that time Abazgia (even in the 12th century in Russian sources Georgia is sometimes called Obezia, i.e. Abazgia). During the period of the collapse of united Georgia (1466), a new movement of the Abazgs began to the north and northeast, to the lands devastated by Tamerlane's campaign in the North Caucasus (1395). Settling in new places, the Abazgs come into close contact with the Adyghe tribes, related to the Abazgs in language. In the course of ethno-historical development, part of the Abazgs became one of the main ethnic components in the ethnogenesis of the Abkhaz people (direct descendants of the Abazgs are the Abkhaz of the Gudauta region of Abkhazia, who speak the Bzyb dialect of the Abkhaz language), the other part became part of some Adyghe ethnic groups (a group of so-called. "Abadze") - Bzhedugs, Natukhaevs, Shapsugs and especially Abadzekhs (16-17 centuries), the third - formed an independent ethnic group - Abazins (Abaza).
The Abaza were forcibly resettled by the tsarist authorities to the plain (1860s), some of them migrated to the Middle East. There are sub-ethnic groups that speak dialects: Tapanta and Ashkaraua.
At present, there are about 45 thousand people. Sunnis.
Abkhazians (Apsua):
According to folk legends, they trace their ancestry from Japhet. They call their country Apsny - "Country of the Soul".
Number - 115 thousand people. The majority of believers are Orthodox.
According to science, there are 2 main versions of origin, which are a reflection of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. The most reasoned and proven is the first version.
The first version (Abkhazian). The Abkhazian people formed by the 8th century. AD The ethnic basis was made up of the Ubykh tribes of the Abeshla, Abazgs, Sanigs and Apsils (the indigenous population of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus). The consolidation of the Ubykh peoples is associated with the adoption in the 6th century. AD Christianity, which replaced the local pagan cults, including the cult of human sacrifice. In the 6th century, on the territory of modern Abkhazia, such formations as Abazgia, Apsilia, Misiminia and Sanigia were formed. The same period (6th - 8th centuries) is also characterized by other significant events:
- The Abkhazian style of the Byzantine architectural direction was formed.
- Under the Iberian mountain (Anakopia) the Arab army was defeated.
- Abkhazia began to provide political asylum for fugitive "politicians" from Armenia and Iran.
Abkhazians are divided into 4 territorial ethnic groups: Samu Rzakan (east of Abkhazia), Bzyb (west of Abkhazia), Gudout (in the Gudauta region), Abzhui (center), who use their own dialects of the Abkhazian language (literary - Abzhui), and have characteristic surname endings:
-ba (Chanba), -ia (Gulia), -aa (Ashkharaa), -ua (Charrua).
The Abkhazian language is subdivided into two dialects: Kodori (it includes dialects - Abzhui, Samu Rzakan, Gum<гудоут>) and bzybsky.
Second version (Georgian). The Georgian historian Otar Ioseliani believes that the current Abkhazians are the North Caucasian Muslim Apsua tribe, which in the 17th century. AD came from the Kuban, and assimilated the local Georgian people of the Abkhazians, who inhabited the territory from Poti to Sukhumi. The newcomers adopted Christianity and the ethnonym "Abkhazians".
However, the word "Abkhaz" represents the Georgian transcription of the ethnonym "Abazg".
Dimitri Gulia's version.
Dimitri Gulia in his book "History of Abkhazia" (1925) developed the Ethiopian hypothesis of the origin of the Abkhazians, emphasizing that "the Abkhazians and their ancestors, the Geniokhs, are the Colchians who came out of Egypt and, mainly, from Abyssinia." These assumptions were based on "the legends of Herodotus about the exit of the Colchians from Egypt, from Africa in general." The conquerors of ancient Egypt, the Hyksos, due to frequent revolts among the Egyptians, "could have evicted part of the Egyptians and Ethiopians to their country and to its outskirts - to the regions adjacent to Transcaucasia ... The descendants of these involuntary migrants could be partly those Colchians whose Egyptian origin, for Herodotus was beyond doubt. The kinship of the Abkhazians was also suspected with the Semites and Hamites, based on "the kinship of the languages ​​of the Semitic and Japhetic (Adyghe-Abkhazian)". In particular, they meant the presence of prefixes in the Abkhazian language as a feature indicating the connection of the Adyghe-Abkhazian languages ​​with the Hamitic (Berber), and the presence of similar phenomena in one of the Hittite languages ​​(the Hittite languages ​​were Indo-Europeanized Adyghe-Abkhazian languages ​​of the Hatt). The theory of kinship with the Hamitic (including Western Chadian) languages ​​was also discussed in relation to the Nakh-Dagestan languages. The opinion was also expressed that the Abkhazian language in its phonetics is similar to the languages ​​of the Khoisan tribes of South Africa - the Bushmen and Hottentots.
However, this version has not been confirmed anthropologically: the Abkhazians belong to the Pontic subtype of the Balkan-Caucasian branch, and the Egyptians belonged to the Cushite branch, although there are certain similarities between these types, in particular in the shape of the nose and the width of the face.
Ubykhs:
Ancestors of the Abkhazians. About 1,000 representatives live in the area of ​​Sochi, the rest - in the Middle East. They are identified with the Abkhazians, but they speak a relic Adyghe-Abkhazian language, intermediate between the Abkhazian subgroup and the Adyghe.
Adyghe (Adyghe):
Direct descendants of the Kasog tribes of the Adyghe-Abkhazian group. In the formation of this, as well as the Kabardian and Circassian ethnic groups, the Cimmerians (Thracian tribes who came from the Balkans through the Don and Danube), Achaeans (Illyrian tribes who came from the Balkans) participated. They speak the Adyghe language, which breaks up into several dialects spoken by sub-ethnic groups: Abadzekhs, Besleneys, Bzhedugs, Jaeger-Ukaevs, Mamkhegs, Makhosheys, Natukhays, Temirgoevs (literary dialect), Shapsugs, Khatukaevs. As a result of tsarist repressions, connected not only with accusations of friendship with Turkey (as was indicated in the article by Georgy Apkhazuri "On the concept of non-traditional aggression: Abkhazian technology", www.newpeople.nm.ru, www.abkhazeti.ru), but also with mass involvement of Caucasians in agricultural work (after the abolition of serfdom, many peasants of the Kuban ransomed and left for the north), 300 thousand Adyghes left for Turkey, and from there to Serbia, to the Kosovo field, where they settled on native Albanian land. At present, the population is ~ 2.2 million, of which 2 million are in Turkey and Kosovo.
From the 10th century AD Christianity dominated the Western Caucasus, which in the 18th century. replaced by the Sunni branch of Islam.
Circassians and Kabardians:
The ancestors of the Kabardians - Zikhs - until the 6th century. AD lived north of the Kuban, from where they were driven out by the Huns. Kabardians in the 14th century moved to the Pyatigorye (Besh-Tau) area, where they pushed the descendants of the Alans - Ossetians.
The Kabardians themselves also call themselves "Adyge", however, in the Middle Ages they towered over other peoples who paid tribute to the Kabardian princes. The ethnos owes its name to Prince Kerbertey. The population is about 1 million people, with 600 thousand outside of Russia.
Most of the Kabardians are Sunnis, the Mozdok are Orthodox.
The Circassian ethnos arose as a result of the mixing of the Besleney Circassians with their kindred Kabardians in the 18th century. AD
"Circassian" is the literary name of the Caucasian peoples in the 18th century. This word, according to the most common version, comes from the Turkic word "cher-kesmek" (robber) or from the Kerket tribe. The number of Circassians is 275 thousand people.
They speak dialects of the Kabardino-Circassian language: the literary dialect of Greater Kabarda, Mozdok, Besleney, Kuban.
A characteristic feature of the Adyghe-Abkhaz languages ​​is a huge number of consonant sounds: in the Ubykh language - 82, in the Bzyb dialect of the Abkhaz language - 67, in Adyghe - 55, in Kabardian - 48. There are very few vowels: in the Abkhaz language - two, in Abaza - two in a stressed and one in an unstressed syllable, in Ubykh - three. In total, there are 299 different sounds in the North Caucasian languages.
* * *
2.) Vainakh group.
- Chechens (Nakhchi, Nakhcho), Akkins (Aukh)
- Ingush (Galgai)
- Batsbi (Tsova- and Pirikita-Tushins)
Anthropologically, the Vainakhs formed at the end of the Bronze Age, during the heyday of the Koban and Kayakent-Kharachoy cultures in the North Caucasus. They are representatives of the Caucasian subtype of the Balkan-Caucasian type of the Caucasian race. (see Attachment). The Caucasian type retained the features of the ancient Caucasoid population of the Upper Paleolithic. According to one version, the ethnonym "Nakh" comes from the name of the Hurrian tribe Nakhs - the descendants of the Dzurdzuks, immigrants from the Urartian province of Shem (near Lake Urmia). After the Phrygians and Thracians (ancestors of the Armenians) defeated the state of Urartu, the Nakhs lived in different time: in Nakhchuvan (modern Nakhichevan autonomy within Azerbaijan), Khalib, Kyzymgan, and then they crossed the Caucasian ridge and settled among the related Hurrian peoples of the North Caucasus. The Vainakhs, as the population of the Terek valley and the mountainous regions, appear in Strabo's "Geography" (I millennium BC) under the name "gargarei" (from the Hurrian "gargara" - "relative"). The same term was then used to refer to the Hurrian population of Karabakh. Gargarei are also known as Gligvas. Until the 8th c. AD pagan beliefs were preserved, similar to the Abkhaz and Adyghe, which were supplanted by Orthodoxy, which came from Georgia. Traces of Christianity are present in the Vainakh language, beliefs and culture. Islam entered Chechnya from the Golden Horde in the 17th century. AD The division of the Vainakhs took place in the 16th century. The history of the Vainakh states is closely intertwined with the history of the Dagestan jamaats. The first states began to appear in the 15th century. AD In February 1944, the Chechen-Ingush autonomy was liquidated, and part of the population was deported to Kazakhstan. In 1956, CHI autonomy was restored. The returning Ingush found that some of their villages were occupied by Ossetians. This situation led to the "explosion" and the Ossetian-Ingush conflict in the early 90s.
Chechens (Nakhcho, Nokhchi):
The self-name of the ethnic group - "Nakhcho" - came from the name of a large Vainakh tribe that lived until the 17th century. in the area of ​​the Argun River and the village of Bolshoi Chenchen. The name of the aul in a modified form began to denote the Vainakhs in many European languages. From the 18th century they began to settle with the Cossacks in the area of ​​the Sunzha River, on the plain. Until now, the tribal structure, the so-called system of teips, has been developed. In total, there are 170 teips, of which 100 are mountainous and 70 are flat. The most notable teips: Gunoy (Sheikh Mansur), Varanda (Hadji Murat), Bekovichi-Cherkasy<иногда ставится под сомнение чеченское происхождение этого тейпа>(Ruslan Khasbulatov), ​​Orstkho<Це Чо>(Dzhokhar Dudayev). Some teips are national in nature: Zhyukti (Jewish teip), Gyurji (Georgian), Gabarto (Kabardian), Gumi (Kumyk). Along with the Cyrillic alphabet, the so-called. Uslar alphabet.
They speak sub-dialects of the Chechen dialect of the Vainakh language: Gorno-Chechen (literary), Cheberloev, Melkhi, Itumkala, Galanchoz (?), Kist, Sharoev, Kildikharov.
There are also Akkin Chechens living in the Khasav-Yurt region. Akkintsy are the descendants of the former inhabitants of the mountain village Aukh, who settled on the plain in the 17th century. The number of Akkins is 20 thousand people. They speak the Akka sub-dialect of the Chechen dialect.
The total number of Chechens around the world is about 2 million people. Large diasporas - in Turkey and Lebanon.
By religion - adherents of the Shafiite trend of Sunnism.
Ingush (Galgai):
The self-name came from the name of the large teip Galgaev. The word "Ingush", which entered European languages, appeared in the 17th century, when large Vainakh teips (Galgai, Tsorinkh, Dzheyrakh, Metskhal, Feppin) moved from the mountains to the plain (in the Tara Valley and the bed of the Kambilevka River) and founded the village of Ingush there (Ongusht, Angush). They speak the Ingush dialect of the Vainakh language. Supporters of the Shafi'i current of Sunnism. Number - 320 thousand people.
Batsby:
By the end of the XVI century. completed the settlement of the tribe of Kists (Batsbi) of Georgia. Fleeing from the raids of the Avar khans, the Batsbi (Vainakh-Kists) moved up to the mountainous Tushetia, where they found protection from the Kakhetian king Leon and began to be called "Tsova-Tushins" and "Chagma-Tushins". They speak the Batsbi language with significant borrowings from the Tush language of the Kartvelian family. The number is about 2000 people, including the Kartvelian Tushians.
3.) Dagestan group.
Avaro-Ando-Tsez subgroup:
a) Avars (maarulal)
b) Andians (Kuannal), Botlikhs (Buikhadi), Godoberi
(gibdidi), carat (kirdi), bagulal (bagwali, gintlel),
chamalal, tindaly (tindi, ideri), ahvah (ashvado),
sydykyilidu, gshahvahal)
c) Tsezi (Didois, Tsuintal), Khvarshi (Khuani), Ginukh
(gyenose), gunzib (khunzalik, enzsby, wiso), Bezhtins
(Kanuchi, Georgian cappuccino, Avar-Khvannal, Beshitl)
Lezgi subgroup:
- Lezgins, Tabasarans, Aguls (Agutakani), Rutuls,
Tsakhurs, Shahdaghs<крыз, будухцы, хиналугцы (ханалыг,
kattiddur)>, Udinians, Archins (arshishtib, rochisel)
Dargin subgroup:
- Dargins
- laks

Anthropologically (Caucasian type with a high proportion of humpbacked back of the nose) and historically, the peoples of Dagestan are close to the Vainakhs. The ancestors of the Dagestanis - Leks, lived in the mountains of the Caucasus since ancient times. The names of other Hurrian peoples are also associated with the name of the Leks - the Caspians, Agvans (Caucasian Albanians) and Uti.
The isolation of the Leks left its mark on the development of the languages ​​of this group. There is such a situation that the inhabitants of some village understand without an interpreter, only the inhabitants of neighboring villages, and absolutely do not understand the inhabitants living across the village.
Avaro-Ando-Tsez subgroup.
A large ethnic group is the Avars (self-name - maarulal), there are about 600 thousand people. From the 5th century AD the territory inhabited by the Avars is referred to as the state of Serir. From the 17th century Serir is known as the Avar Khanate. In addition to Serir, there are also the names of other jamaat states: Tindi, Khvarshi, Di-Duri (Dido), Chama-iga, Kos, Andalal, Chamalal, Karah, Kapucha (the state of the people of the Bezhtins, who are sometimes called cappuccinos; please do not confuse these Bezhtins -cappuccinos with the medieval monastic Order of the Capuchins and the famous cappuccino coffee), Guide and Antsukh. Even the king of Georgia paid tribute to the Avar Khan.
During this period, the consolidation of the Khunzakh, Khedalal, Naka-Khindalal, Kuannal-Andal, Baktli, Tlurutli, Technutsal, Sado-Kilidi (Tsunta-Akhvakh) and, in part, Tsezo, Karata, Bagulal tribes, which made up the Avar ethnos, took place. The Avar language is divided into a number of dialects: northern (Salatav, Chadakolob and Khunzakh<литературный>dialects), southern (Anchukh, Karakha, Andalal, Gid, Shulani, Gidatl, Batlukh dialects), intermediate (Keleb, Untib).
Bagulaly - 5 thousand people Dialects: Khushtadin, Tlondodin, Tlisi-Tlibishin, Kvanadin, Gemersoev.
Bezhtintsy - 9 thousand people. Live in Vost. Georgia and the area of ​​the village of Bezhta (Dagestan). Dialects: Khoshar-Khota, Tladal.
Ginuh residents - 600 thousand people.
The Botlikhs speak the Botlikh language, which includes the Miarsuev dialect.
Gunzib - 1.7 thousand people They live on the border of Dagestan and Georgia. Nakhadinsky dialect.
Akhvakhs originated from the Khunzakh Avars. Number - 6.5 thousand people.
Three dialects: northern, ratlubsky and southern (two dialects - tsekobsky and tlyanubsky).
The Godoberi speak the Godoberi language, incl. Siberkhalin dialect.
The Andeans number 25,000 people. They speak 7 dialects, combined into 2 dialects - upper and lower, including Munib and Kvankhidatli.
The Tsezi are considered an Avar sub-ethnos. 6000 people They speak dialects of the Tsez language: Kideroi, Shaitli, Asakh, Shapiga, Sagadayev.
Carats - 6.4 thousand. They speak the Karata language, incl. Tokitaev dialect.
Chamalaly - 9.5 thousand people They live in the Tsumandinsky district of Dagestan and Chechnya. Chamalal language, dialects: Gakvari, Gadyrin and Gigatli.
Khvarshiny - 2,000 people They live in the Kizilyurt and Khasavyurt regions. They speak dialects of the Khvarshi language: Inkhokvarian, Kvantladin, Santladayev, which are sometimes considered separate languages.
Tindal dialects: Angidaevsky, Aknadinsky.
Lezgin subgroup.
Lezgins are direct descendants of the population of Caucasian Albania. From the 10th c. AD have writing, first - Arabic Tanu,
and from the 15th c. - ajame (own graphics). The number of Lezgins is 385 thousand people.
They have 3 dialect groups:
-Kyurinsky (dialects: Güney, Yarka, Kurakh; dialects: Giliyar and Gelkhen)
-Samur (dial: Dokuzparinsky and Akhtynsky; dialects: Fisky, Khlyutsky and Kurushsky)
- Cuban dialect.
In terms of language, they are very close to the Archins, the inhabitants of the village of Archiba, on the Khatir River (1000 people), the Tsakhurs (20 thousand people) who speak two dialects of the Tsakhur language: Tsakh (Mikik) and Helmet, Tabasarans (100 thousand people). ) having a unique language (Northern, including Dubek and Khanag dialects and Southern<литературный>dialects, incl. Kandik dialect), in which > 50 cases (!!!), Aguls and others (see the list).
Aguls are a people that formed in the 7th century. AD based on the Agutakani tribes, who lived in the southeast of the Caucasus Range. Currently, it is divided into 4 groups of tribes: Aguldere, Kurahdere, Khushgander, Khpyukdere. They speak dialects: Kerensky (including the rich dialect), Koshansky (including the Burshan dialect), Gekhunsky, Tpigsky, Burkikhansky, Fite, Kuragsky. 18.7 thousand people
Udinians living on the border of Azerbaijan and Georgia are Orthodox. The language is derived from Aghvan (Caucasian Albanian). Dialects: Nidzhsky and Vartashensky.
Kryz. They speak dialects of the Kryz language: Alik, Dzhek, Kaputli.
Rutulians. Dialects of the Rutul language: Mukhad (including Luchek dialect), Mishlesh, Shinaz, Ihrek, Khnov.
Dargin subgroup.
The large ethnos of the Dargins, who live mainly in Azerbaijan, is divided into 2 tribes: the Kaytags (Haydak) and the Kubachins (Urbugan). They speak dialects of the Dargin language: Mekegin, Akushinsky-Kurkhili (literary), Urakhinsky (Khyurkilinsky), Tsudaharsky, Sirkhinsky, Meklinsky, Muerinsky, Khaidaksky, Kubachinsky, Chiragsky (including Amukhsky dialect), Kadarsky, Megebsky, Gubdensky. The total number of Dargins is 332 thousand people. They belong to the Caucasian type.
The closest in language to them are the Laks (70 thousand people). They speak dialects of the Lak language: Kumukh (literary), Khosrekh, Bartkhy, Vitskhy. The first Lak state formation is mentioned by Arabic sources as early as the 7th century. AD
All Dagestan peoples are Sunnis. However, there are elements of paganism in cults and beliefs.
BISCAYAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
- Basques
- Aquitanians (mixed with the French in the Middle Ages)
Basques (Euskaldunak, Biscay, Biscay, Vascos):
A people of about 1.5 million people (660 thousand - Spain and 80 thousand - France). The Basques live in Spain (the provinces of Gipuzkoa, Biscay, Alava and Navarra), France (the departments of Sula, Labourd and Lower Navarra), as well as in the USA and Latin America.
They speak the Euskara language (dialects: Suletian, Batua, Biscay, Suberoa, and some others), which is close to the Aquitanian language of southern France, which died out in the Middle Ages.
The Basques call the territory of their residence Euskadi, but there are other names: Baskonia, Biscay.
Anthropologically, the Basques belong to a separate type within the Caucasoid race (Basque type), which, based on various estimates of anthropometric indicators, is included either in the Indo-Mediterranean, or in the Berber, or in the Balkan-Caucasian branches. The Basques are characterized by short stature, a protruding nose, a narrow face, dark pigmentation of the eyes and hair. The Basque language is unequivocally included in the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, the closest to it is the language of the Hutts - the most ancient population of Asia Minor, from which the Adyghe-Abkhazian peoples originated. About 9 thousand BC part of the proto-Sino-Caucasians, moved from Asia Minor to the west, laying the foundation for the unique ethnic group of the Basques. The uniqueness lies in the fact that this people has certain psycho-physiological features, consisting in the fact that their oculomotor functions do not meet classical European standards.
In psychology and medicine, it has been noticed that a person (a resident of Europe, North Africa, Middle East) raises his eyes when he remembers (up to the left) any visual image or tries to construct it (up to the right). A person looks sideways, remembering (left sideways) or constructing (right sideways) auditory images. The person looks down when thinking or remembering some physical sensation. This "technology" does not work for the Basques. The succession of the Basques and the Iberians of the Iberian Peninsula raises justifiable doubts. Archaeological and anthropological data indicate that the Iberians of Spain (tah-nu), known to the Greeks, Celts and Romans, came in the 6th-4th centuries. BC. from North Africa and were the people of the Berber group and representatives of the Berber type of the Cushite branch of the Caucasian race. Newcomers, after the Pyrenees, settled the British Isles. According to the descriptions of historians, "the Celts, who settled the British Isles at the end of the 1st millennium BC, encountered tall, long-headed people of the European type," as evidenced by the study of fossil remains. The Berber language is not related to the Basque language, and even stands out in a parallel - Afroasiatic macrofamily. From this follows the conclusion that the Basques already lived in the Iberian Peninsula before the Berbers. Of course, the Berber presence was reflected in the appearance of the Basques, who, nevertheless, retained their primitive language. The anthropological appearance of the Basques was also affected by the Celtic influence, expressed in the Celto-Iberian ethnos, formed as a result of the conquest of the Iberians and Basques (who lived compactly in the territories adjacent to the Bay of Biscay) by the Celts.
Romanization did not affect the Basques, unlike the Celtiberians and "pure Iberians". Based on the mixing of Latin with Celtiberian, Spanish, Galician and Catalan languages ​​were born, and when Lusitanian (the language of the Iberians of the west of the Iberian Peninsula) was mixed with Latin - Portuguese. However, these languages ​​do not contain any elements of the Basque language, in the presence of Iberian (Berber elements).
Characteristics of the Euskara language:
- 24 sounds, 6 complex sounds (ay, oh, ay, rr, ll, ey)
- 24 cases of nouns
- conjugation of verbs is analytical (the semantic verb is in the participial form, and the auxiliary verb - "to be" or "to have" - ​​carries the meanings of mood, tense, person, number and sometimes gender, as well as transitivity and causality). There are a number of verbs that are synthetically conjugated, i.e. by changing the root and adding a suffix.
- person, number, gender, definiteness, indefiniteness, declensions are expressed by adding suffixes and prefixes
- 11 tense verb forms
- there are only two genders: male and female
- three numbers: indefinite, singular and plural
- the stress falls on the second syllable from the beginning
- the sentence structure is ergative.
Ergativity is expressed as follows:
Ni-k irakasle-a ikusten dut [literally: I-there is a teacher-I see him] "I see the teacher"
Irakasle-a-k ni ikusten naw [teacher-he-I sees me] "The teacher sees me"
Ni iracastle nice [I am a teacher I am] "I am a teacher"
Hura iracastle da [he is a teacher he is] "He is a teacher"
Ni ibiltschen nays [I am going I am] "I am going"

*****Legends and theories about Georgians, Basques, Iberians and others...*****
The kinship of the geographical names of the Caucasus, the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles led scientists to the common origin of the Iberians of the Caucasus and the Iberians of Spain and Britain. Huge linguistic and historiographic work has been done, however, no concrete results have been achieved. At the end of the 20th century, within the framework of the Macrofamily Theory, scientists established the genetic and linguistic kinship of the Basques with the North Caucasian peoples, and the Kartvels were identified as a Nostratic family, an intermediate link between the Afroasian and Indo-European families.
* * *
I theory. This is the most common and yet erroneous theory. According to it, the Iberians, who came from the west, participated in the ethnogenesis of the Georgian peoples. They had a weak influence on the anthropotype of modern Georgians, mainly their role was expressed in the Iberization of local Hurrian, Adyghe-Abkhazian, Indo-European peoples and dialects. The first European researcher who raised the question of the need for a comparative study of the Georgian and Basque languages ​​was the famous philologist Lorenzo Hervas. The information about the Laz dialect given in the works of Ervas is very valuable, which is given in comparison with the Kartli (literary) dialect of the Georgian language in order to show the similarities and differences between them. In the Italian edition of the "Catalogue of Languages" Hervas expressed an opinion about the relationship between the Western (Basques) and Eastern (Georgians) Iberians.
The reasons why the western Iberians moved east are variously cited:
a) According to some ancient writers (names and writings have not been preserved), to whom Strabo refers in his Geography, the European Iberians could have crossed into Asia as a result of an earthquake in the west. Strabo noted that "the western Iberians moved to the areas lying above Pontus and Colchis... separated from Armenia by the Araks River".
b) According to other authors, the ancient Western Iberians moved to the East as a result of the conquest by King Nebuchadnezzar (VI century BC), who, having taken the Iberians captive, took them away and settled them on the Black Sea coast. This was first pointed out by the Greek writer, historian and geographer Megasthenes (IV-III centuries BC) in his essay on India. This work of Megasthenes is known from the works of authors who mentioned Megasthenes and cited excerpts from his work.
Strabo and Josephus mentioned the transfer of Nebuchadnezzar's troops from Iberia to the Caucasus.
Eusebius and Mar-Abbas-Katina pointed out that Nebuchanosodor did not transfer his troops to Pontus, but resettled part of the tribes he conquered in Spain and Africa to settle them on the Black Sea coast.
According to other historical records, Nebuchadnezzar never traveled to the West.
Science finds an explanation for the legend attested in ancient sources, suggesting that Megasthenes' information was based on factual material relating to other military campaigns of Nebuchadnezzar.
The geographer Dionysius Periagetes (I-II centuries AD), speaking in his poetic "Description of the Earth" about the isthmus "between the Caspian and Euxine" seas, indicates that "the eastern people of Ibera live on it, who once came from the Pyrenees to the east "...".
c) Socrates Scholasticus (4th-5th centuries AD) wrote: “It’s time to tell how the Iberians accepted Christianity. One woman, virtuous and immaculate, was captured by the Iberians by the will of divine providence. These Iberians live near Pontus Euxinus, and they come from the Iberians living in Spain."
Eusebius (XII century) in his "Comments" mentioned "a very large and wide isthmus between the Caspian and Euxinian seas", where "... the eastern country of the Iberians, lying between Colchis and Albania" is located. There "the eastern Iberians live," who migrated from the western Iberians, who live near the Pirin, which, as we know, is also curled by the Pyrenees."
Byzantine historian of the 11th century. Mikhail Ataliat wrote: "... Real Iberia and Celtic Iberia itself are located in the western parts of Rome, along the western ocean. Now this region is called Spain. The inhabitants of Iberia, brave and strong, fought against the Romans for a long time ... the Romans hardly conquered them ... The greatest of all sovereigns, Constantine, singled out a considerable part of them, from the western Iberians, and moved them to the east, and from here the name of Iberia was given to the country that received them ... "
The historian Nikita Xanthopoulos, in his multi-volume work "Church History", also expressed the opinion that the Iberians of Georgia are "the resettled part of the Iberians of Spain."
Medieval Georgians repeatedly tried to make voyages to the west in order to "get acquainted with the life of Western Georgians", but these attempts, for various reasons, were unsuccessful. And from the tenth century AD Iberians and Georgians are no longer identified.
The Basque writer Navarro in his novel "Amala" points to the analogy of the names of mountains, rivers and settlements in the Iberian Peninsula and the Caucasus.
II theory. According to her, the Iberians of Spain are descended from the Iberians of the Caucasus. It took place somewhere in the 5th century. BC, when the Iberians began to populate the Iberian Peninsula from the south, where they founded the state of Almeria, leaving for posterity megalithic structures similar to the Stonehenge megaliths in Britain.
The first to express such an opinion was the ancient writer - grammarian Varro (II-I centuries BC). A similar opinion was shared by the Roman writer Priscian (5th-6th centuries AD), who in his work "Grammatical Manual" noted: "Actually," hiberes "is the name of a tribe that was evicted from the Iberians who live beyond Armenia", i.e. expressed the idea of ​​the Caucasian origin of the Western Iberians.
In one of the legends widespread in the Basque Country, it tells about the resettlement of the Basques.
The Basques themselves call themselves "newcomers from the East".
Interesting considerations on this subject are contained in the work of John Marian "The General History of Spain": "The Iberians, who formerly lived on the shores of the Black Sea in the Caucasus Mountains, having come in great numbers to Spain, dispersed and built in this Ibera above Tortosa, and gave the name the river that flows near, and after the whole province.
Baskologist A. Doring, considering the question of the origin of the Basques, connects their self-name - "euskaldunak" with the name of the historical places of Georgia - Dioscuria, Iskuria, Isgaura. From these ports, located in Caucasian Iberia on the Black Sea coast, part of the Iberian tribe went to the West. The Iberians, having moved to the Iberian Peninsula from the region of the highest civilization in the East at that time, brought from Caucasian Iberia the skill of making weapons and the tradition of making objects from copper, iron and steel. The name of the Basque Country is Euskadi (the geographical location suffix "-adi" echoes the Kartvelian suffix "-eti").
Professor R. Gordesiani touches on the important issue of the relationship between the Iberian-Caucasian languages ​​and the ancient languages ​​of the Mediterranean. The researcher notes that at the beginning of our century, the theory of some kind of pre-Indo-European linguistic and cultural unity in the entire Mediterranean basin was very popular, the remnants of which are currently Caucasian tribes in the Caucasus, and Basques in the west. The author notes the presence in the Basque and Aegean (Crete-Mycenaean) languages ​​of separate words and forms that have their own parallels in different groups Caucasian languages, and focuses on those lexical parallels in which a certain pattern can be established. These parallels, in his opinion, can only be explained by the movement of a wave of migrants from the Caucasus to the West.
III theory. "The history of the Iberian kings regarding them says that Torgomos came to the Ararat region with his eight sons, of which three, namely Hayos, Kartlos and Kokasos, having marked themselves with exploits, took possession of the countries that they called by their own names: Hayk, Kartl and Kokos, they ruled [over the countries], from the Pontic Sea (Black Sea) to the Caspian Sea until the time of Mihran and his grandson, Arbok, who brought himself a Parthian wife from Partav, named Sahak-duht. Being barren, she believed in Christ who gave her the son of Vakhtang, nicknamed Gurg-aslan, because he wore on his helmet the image of a wolf and a lion. He had the daughter of the emperor Leo in marriage and kings descend from him to Teumos, whom Abas blinded. After him Bagrat, the son of Gurgen, son of Ashot the Merciful, reigned. This is according to the story of the priest Mkhitar. And on behalf of Gurgen the name Georgia came."
[General history of Vardan the Great, 1861].
This version can be supported by the book "The System of Sonants and Ablaut in the Kartvelian Languages" by T. V. Gamkrelidee and G. I. Machavariani, published in Tbilisi in 1965. "The authors convincingly proved the proximity of the Kartvelian language of the base to the family of Indo-European languages." This means that Torgomos was the leader of the Indo-Europeans, since Hayk is considered the founder of the Armenian kingdom. Some linguists have been more reserved about the main conclusions of the book. One can name a very deep and informative article by A. Chikobava "Relationship between Kartvelian and Indo-European languages". A. Chikobava writes: "Discoveries are not so rare in Kartvelology: the first of them was made by the Frenchman Bopp (Kartvelian languages ​​are related to Indo-European - 1847), the second belongs to N. Ya. Marr (Kartvelian languages ​​are the closest relatives of the Semitic ones - 1888- 1908), the third is given in the study "The System of Sonants...".
In his works, the scientist N. Ya. Marr revealed a number of etymological parallels between Basque and Georgian words, drew attention to a similar counting system, to coincidences in vocabulary, to correspondences between the Basque and Caucasian prefix systems. However, back in the 19th century, the agglutinative principle of morphology gave reason to bring the Kartvelian languages ​​closer to the Altaic ones. The works of the above scientists were also used in the construction of the macrofamily theory.
IV theory. Spanish Iberians (their descendants are Basques) and Caucasian Iberians have nothing in common. Peoples developed autochthonously and autonomously. This theory was put forward by the famous Celtologist Adolf Pictet. The relationship of geographical names is accidental, and all attempts to compare the Georgian and Iberian languages ​​are strained.
V theory. The Iberians of Spain and Georgia are related, but within the framework of this theory, the Basques (and the pre-Celtic population of the British Isles) are considered a people close to the North African Berbers (a Caucasian people). It is believed that at the end of the 1st millennium BC. the Basques were pushed back into the mountains by the Caucasian Iberians who came from the east.
VI theory. The Basques (and the Iberians in general, both Spanish and Caucasian) are considered the descendants of the mythical Atlanteans, the population of Atlantis, which was located in the Azores, and in 8-6 thousand BC. disappeared under water as a result of an earthquake.
VII theory. The rector of the Athos Academy, Evgeny Bulgarsky, having collected information from ancient sources, was of the opinion about the relationship of Georgians and Spaniards: "Their (Spanish) king and princes come from Georgians." Bulgarsky put forward his assumptions on this issue: the Georgians moved to Spain, and then, "after the Spaniards again multiplied, the Spaniards went to Georgia." As a result of this "movement" the tribes of Georgians and Spaniards are called the same. And so the interpreters changed their names. Church leaders Maxim the Confessor (7th century) and George Svyatogorets (Mtazzindeli) (11th century AD) belong to the same direction.
VIII theory. For a long time in Georgian historiography, an opinion was expressed about the kinship of Georgian tribes with the most ancient peoples of Western Asia, the corresponding facts were explained by the "resettlement" of Georgian tribes to the present territory of Georgia. Based on an in-depth analysis of numerous materials, academician S.N. Janashia stated that "the Khetto-Subareas were the ancestors of the Georgians" and that "the ethnicity of the Chaldeans is indisputable: they were part of the Georgian nationality" ("History of the Georgians ...", h, I).
ALTAI LANGUAGE FAMILY
A very common family, includes a wide range of peoples: from Turks to Japanese and Koreans. Consists of several groups. The peoples of the Kypchak and Oguz subgroups of the Turkic group are represented in the Caucasus, as well as the Kalmyks, the people of the Mongolian group.
1.) Turkic group.
* Kypchak peoples of the Caucasus:
- Karachays, Balkars
- Nogai, Nogai, Kumyks
* Oghuz peoples of the Caucasus:
- Azerbaijanis
- Meskhetian Turks

Karachays and Balkars:
The self-name of the Balkars is taulu-mallkyarly, malkar, kyunnyum.
There are local groups of Balkars: the Balkars proper (Malkars, Malkarlyla), Bizingievs (Byzyngychyla), Kholamtsy (Kholamlyla), Chegemians (Chegemlile), Urusbievtsy, or Baksans (Baksanchyla).
The self-name of the Karachays is Karachayla.
Descendants of the local Adyghe-Abkhazian population, anthropologically mixed with the Alans (5th century AD), and linguistically with the Volga Bulgars and Khazars (8th-9th centuries AD). Ethnogenesis ended by the end of the 1st millennium AD.
Karachay-Balkarian language of the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic group.
Religion: Sunni Muslims.
Number: Karachays - 150 thousand people. , Balkars - 80 thousand people.
Mixed (Pontic-Caucasian) type of race.
In March 1944, 40 thousand people - the entire Balkar population - were deported to Siberia. 20 thousand died. Their fate was shared by the Karachais, who died 40 thousand (out of 100).
Nogai and Nogai:
The later Kipchak settlers (17th century). Descendants of the Bulgaro-Khazar Nogai and big Nogai. Ethnos is divided into genera, and those - into cubes. Due to national politics tsarist Russia, many Nogais left their homeland.
Nogai language. Sunni Muslims. Mongoloid Ural type of race. They live in the north of Dagestan.
Kumyks (Kumuk):
Descendants of the Nakh-Dagestan peoples assimilated by the Bulgar Turks and their Khazar branch, with a significant anthropological Iranian element. They took shape as a people in the 13th century. A feature of life is matriarchy (even at the present time). They live in the north of Dagestan.
Religion: adherents of local traditional beliefs, Judaism, Sunnism and Christianity.
The language is included in the Kypchak subgroup Turkic languages, however, it also contains more ancient elements of the language of the Scythians (VIII-III centuries BC), Cimmerians (VIII century BC), Huns (IV century AD), Bulgars, Khazars (V-X centuries) and Oghuz (XI-XII centuries). The Kumyk language in the Middle Ages was international in Dagestan.
Dialects: Buynak, Kaitag, foothill, Khasavyurt and Terek, the latter is also represented in Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia. The literary language developed on the basis of the Khasavyurt and Buynak dialects.
The process of ethnocultural consolidation did not eliminate the division into ethnographic groups (Bragun, Buynak, Kayakent, Mozdok, Khasavyurt Kumyks) and sub-ethnic groups (Bashlyns, Kazanischens, Endireys), who retained some specific features in culture, life, language, folklore.
Anthropologically, they represent a mixture of the Caspian and Caucasian types.
Number - 350 thousand people.
* * *
Azerbaijanis (azeriler, azerbaijanlylar):
History: The original population of the Kuro-Arksinsky lowland were the peoples of the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, who separated in the 5th millennium BC. to a Hurrian family. The Hurrians had close contacts with the Dravidian peoples of Iran (including the Elamites). Neighbors of the Hurrians from the 2nd millennium BC. the linguistically unclassified peoples of the Kassites, Gutians and Lullubes became (anthropologically, judging by the fossil remains and drawings, they were Caucasoids, probably fragments of the Nostrats who migrated to the east). According to the most recent theory, the Gutians were Indo-European Tocharians ousted from Central Asia, and the Kassites are a possible branch of the Kartvelian family, formed in the Iranian Highlands during the collapse of the Nostratic macrofamily.
In the 10th century BC. the first state appears on the territory. Azerbaijan - Zamua, and in the 9th c. BC. in the area of ​​​​Lake Urmia - the state of Manney. The population of these states were the Hurrians (Agvans-Albanians, Caspians, Utians, Kadusei, Miks, etc.). In the 70s of the 8th c. BC. in the Elburs mountains and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, Media arises, a kingdom founded by the Aryan peoples who came from the Black Sea region through Central Asia. In the 6th c. BC. Media was taken over by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. After the campaigns of A. Macedon and the division of his Empire, East Azerbaijan (now a province of Iran) passed into the possession of Atropat, the Macedonian commander. The modern name "Azerbaijan" (the Turkic pronunciation of this word) came from the name of Atropaten ("the possession of Atropat").
At the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. in the northern part of Azerbaijan and the middle reaches of the Kura River, a state arose known as Caucasian Albania with a Hurrian population. In the 8th c. AD Arabs destroyed Albania, which in the 12th century. transformed into the Khachen Principality (Khachkinazi) with a location in Karabakh (the Turkic name of the Armenian province of Artsakh). There was a strong infiltration of the Scythians and Khazars.
In the 9th century AD the state of Shirvan arose with a significant Iranian (Atropatene) element, which left its mark on the anthropological appearance of the population (as a result of the mixing of the Hurrians of the Caucasian type with the Iranians of the Pamir-Fergana type, the so-called Caspian type of the Indo-Mediterranean branch was formed). In the 11th-13th centuries, the Oghuz Turks, who came from Central Asia, also called the Seljuks, began to establish the Oghuz language instead of the Atropaten Indo-Iranian group and the mountain Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​descended from the Hurrian family.
The Qashqai peoples of Central Iran are very close to Azerbaijanis.
Ethnogroups: Karadag, Shahdag (not to be confused with the Lezgi Shahdag), Shahsevens, Karapapahis, Afshars, Padaris, Airums.
Some Azerbaijanis live in Dagestan.
Azerbaijani language. Dialect groups: eastern, western, northern, southern. Dialects: Cuban, Baku, Shemakhi, Salyan, Lankaran, Gazakh, Borchali, Ayrum, Nukhin, Zakatala, Kutkashen, Nakhichevan, Ordubad, Yerevan, Kirovabad, Karabakh.
Religion: Shia Muslims.
Population: 18 million people
Anthropologically, Azerbaijanis living on the plains belong to the Caspian type of the Indo-Pamir (Indo-Mediterranean) branch of the Caucasoid race. Mountain Azerbaijanis belong to the Caucasian type of the Balkan-Caucasian branch. Nakhichevan Azerbaijanis are representatives of the Western Asian type of the Indo-Mediterranean branch.
(see Attachment)
Meskhetian Turks:
Mixed Georgian-Turkish ethnic group. Population of southwestern Georgia in the Chorokh River basin. In 1944, in order to “strengthen the security of the borders”, because of the possibility of Turkey acting on the side of Nazi Germany, 100 thousand Meskhetian Turks and the Turks, Hemshins living with them, part of the Laz, Azerbaijanis and Kurds were deported to Uzbekistan. According to another version, they were deported because of the internal Georgian nationalist policy. The deportees lived there until 1990, when the Uzbek-Meskhetian conflict broke out in the Ferghana Valley, after which they were expelled from Uzbekistan. Georgia refused to accept refugees who rushed to the Don and Kuban. If the Rostov and Voronezh regions accepted refugees without problems, then in the Krasnodar Territory there is an infringement of the Meskhetian Turks in their rights.
They speak a dialect of Turkish.
Believers: Sunni Muslims.
* * *
2.) Mongolian group.
The Mongolian group is represented by the Kalmyks (khalmg). The Kalmyks are the descendants of the Mongols-Oirats who moved in the 15th century. from Center. Asia to the Volga. In Russian written sources, the ethnonym "Kalmyk" appeared at the end of the 16th century, from the end of the 18th century. Kalmyks themselves began to use it. This name first appeared in the Turkic languages, it comes from the Mongolian "khalmg" and means "breakaway", since the Kalmyks originated as a result of the separation of part of the population from the Mongolian tribes.
Kalmyk language of the western subgroup of the Mongolian group of the Altaic family.
Central Asian type of Mongoloid race: large flat face, thin lips, short stature, beard.
Believers are Buddhist Lamaists of the northern branch, some are Orthodox.
Number - 166 thousand people. In 1946 they were deported to eastern Kazakhstan, to their "historical" homeland. In 1953 they were returned.
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY
In the Caucasus, this family is represented by the Armenian and Iranian groups. Russian communities are very numerous.

1.) Armenian group.
The only representative of this language group are the Armenians. The self-name of the people is haik.
At the end of the III millennium BC. the tribes of southern Transcaucasia began to develop, in the region of lakes Van and Sevan. Already in the 13th century. BC. unions of the Adyghe-Abkhazian, Kartvelian and Hurrian tribes are created here (Diaukhs, Khubushkia, Uruatri, Gilzai, Mana, Musasir, Nairi, Erikuahi, Dzurdzuki, Ganahi, Kahi, Khalibs, Mechelons, Khons, Tsanars, Malkhi, Soda). In the 1st millennium BC the most famous was the association of Nairi. In the middle of the 9th c. BC. the largest tribe from the Nairi union - the Urartians - formed the state of Urartu (the Kingdom of Ararat, Biaini). The capital was the city of Tushpa. By the end of the 1st millennium BC. the Urartians become a national minority in their country: they are forced out by the Indo-European people of the Anatolian group, who came from the Balkans - the Hayas. In 590 BC Urartu perishes under the blows of the Scythians, Cimmerians and Medes. In the 4th c. BC. in the historical region of Arma, to the west of Lake Van, the state of Armatana (Armenia) is created, where, in addition to the Hayases, the Phrygian-Thracian tribes of the Arms entered. In the linguistic classification, the Phrygian-Thracian languages ​​occupy an intermediate position between Greek and Armenian. The formation of the Armenian ethnos was completed by the 3rd century. BC. In the 1st century BC. Armatana was divided into two states: Armenia and Sophena, which by the 1st c. AD united again. In 303 Armenia became the first Christian country. In 396 AD Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet and script. In the following centuries, Armenia was subjected to brutal raids from all sides, especially from the Oghuz Turks. As a result, the Armenian people in terms of the number of diasporas in the world ranks second (after the Jewish one).
Currently, there are two dialect groups of Armenians: Western (Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, USA, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, European countries) and Eastern (Caucasus, Iran). The eastern group also includes Circassogai (Krasnodar Territory), Nor-Nakhichevan (Rostov), ​​Karabakh (Artsakh) dialects. The Amshen dialect (Abkhazia) belongs to the western one.
Classical Armenian surnames have the endings "-yan". Karabakh Armenians have surnames with the prefix "Ter-". There are distorted Armenian surnames with the prefix "M-" and the ending "-yants", which in fact represent the genitive case from the classical surname (M-khitaryan-ts).
By religion they are Monophysite Christians (Armenian-Gregorian Church).
Hemshins Armenians living in the south of Georgia are Sunnis.
Number - 6.5 million people.
Anthropologically, the Armenians of Armenia and representatives of various diasporas belong to the Western Asian (Armenoid, Alaroid, Syrian-Zagros, Khorasanian) type of the Balkan-Caucasian branch. (see Attachment). Karabakh Armenians (the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic of Artsakh) belong to a mixed Western Asian-Caucasian type. In the diasporas, mixing with the local population is observed.

2.) Iranian group.
Talish:
They live in the south-east of Azerbaijan, in the Talysh mountains and in Iran on the Elburs ridge. Descendants of the Iranian tribes of the Indo-European family: the Medes and the Atropatenes. They speak the Talysh language of the northwestern Iranian group, derived from the Atropatene dialect of the Median language. Number - 120 thousand people. Believers are Shiites.

Ossetians (Alans):
The Scythians and Sarmatians belonged to the Iranian-speaking group of Indo-European peoples. They were representatives of the steppe Central European type of the Caucasoid race (this was established using modern computer technology based on the study of ancient skulls): straw-colored hair, blue eyes, medium height, fleshy nose, round face, powerful physique. Iranian tribes have maintained cultural unity for a long time. But at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. their world was shocked by the preaching of Zarathushtra (Zoroast). Those who accepted it, rejecting the pagan gods, became the historical Iranians. Those who retained the old faith (they were mostly nomads) received the nickname Turans and were expelled. Outcasts moved on to the territory. original habitat - the Black Sea and the Don. Although many pagan gods were later rehabilitated, unity was lost forever. The time of the appearance of the Scythians proper is the 8th century. BC. They ousted another branch of the Indo-Europeans, the Cimmerians, from the Black Sea region, and in their footsteps they launched several invasions into Asia Minor. The Scythians destroyed the Urartian kingdom, defeated Phrygia and were defeated only by the Median king Cyaxares. They also penetrated Central Europe and the Volga region. That was the heroic era of the Scythians, the time of the so-called "first kingdom". At the end of the 6th c. BC. Persian king Darius I made a great invasion into their lands, which ended in complete failure. After the victory, the state of the Scythians arose in the Black Sea region - the "second kingdom", called the time of "golden autumn". 4th c. BC. - the period of the reign of King Atey was the era of the highest cultural upsurge. In 339 BC Atey was defeated by the troops of Philip of Macedon and died, and his kingdom fell apart. In the 3rd century BC. there is a less extensive state of the Scythians with a center in the Crimea - the "third kingdom". Its economic basis was the export of grain to the Greek policies. This formation suffered greatly from the invasions of the related ethnic group of the Sarmatians, and in the 3rd century. n. e. it was finally destroyed by the Germanic Goths and Vandals. In the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (4-6 centuries AD), the remnants of the Scythians dissolved among many tribes. In the time of Herodotus, to the east of the Don, no longer the Scythians, but the Sarmatians lived. According to the legend transmitted by Herodotus, they descended from Amazons who married Scythian youths. This legend reflects the high position of women among the Sarmatians. Despite the obvious kinship of these peoples, the Sarmatians always showed hostility towards the Scythians, and they played a decisive role in the defeat of the latter. Gradually, the Alans stood out among the Sarmatian peoples and "pulled all the close tribes under their family name" (by the 2nd century AD). Sarmatians began to be called Alans. They finished off the Scythians and more than once devastated the border regions of the Roman Empire and Sasanian Iran. The Alans (their federation stretched from the Danube to the Aral Sea) were in alliance with the Goths of Germanaric, but at the end of the 4th century. n. e. Newcomers from Central Asia - the Huns - defeated both of them. Part of the Alanian tribes went to the far West and, together with the Vandals, created on the territory of Iberia, and then North Africa, the barbarian kingdom of the Ostrogoths, which died in the 6th century BC. AD under the swords of the Byzantine army of Belisarius. The other one fortified itself in the North Caucasus, building many stone castles. At times they fell under the power of powerful neighbors - the Huns, Savirs (Urals), Khazars, Mongols, but always maintained national and cultural unity. In the middle of the 6th c. n. e. Alans adopted Christianity from Byzantium and since then have traditionally oriented towards the Orthodox world. In the 7th century BC. The Vainakh state of Kobane began to be attacked by the Alans nomads. The Alanian tribe, led by Sar-Oslom (emphasis on the first "o"), conquered Kobane. The Vainakhs adopted the imposed language, however, in the anthropotype they retained their Caucasian features. In the 19th century n. e. their descendants - the Ossetians became part of Russia.
The self-name of the Ossetians is iron, digoron, but there are other names - Alan, oron, ovs, yavs, tulag, husayrag. There are three territorial groups: northern, southern and living on the Kura River in central Georgia.
The language belongs to the northeastern subgroup of the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian zone of the Indo-European family of languages. North Ossetians are divided into 2 dialect groups: Iron (the basis of the literary language) and Digor (western North Ossetia).
Number - 500 thousand people.
For the most part, they profess the pagan cult of the god Uastirdzhi, Orthodoxy and Sunnism are found.
Caucasian type, there are also representatives of the Central European type.
Tats:
Close in origin and language to the Persians. They are divided into 2 groups: northern (Dagestan), speaking the northern dialect, which formed the basis of the literary language, and southern, speaking the southern dialect (Azerbaijan, Iran). The language of the northwestern Iranian group. 325,000 people, 300,000 of them in the Tehran region.
Anthropologically, the Talysh belong (I have opposite data at my disposal) to the Western Asian type of the Balkan-Caucasian branch or the Caspian type of the Indo-Mediterranean branch.

The Caucasus in Russia is perhaps the most distinctive ethno-demographic region. Here and linguistic diversity, and the proximity of different religions and peoples, as well as economic structures.

Population of the North Caucasus

According to modern demographic data, about seventeen million people live in the North Caucasus. The composition of the population of the Caucasus is also very diverse. The people living in this territory represent a wide variety of peoples, cultures and languages, as well as religions. In Dagestan alone, there are more than forty peoples speaking different languages.

The most common language group represented in Dagestan is the Lezgin language, whose languages ​​are spoken by about eight hundred thousand people. However, within the group, a strong difference in the status of languages ​​is noticeable. For example, about 600,000 people speak the Lezgi language, while residents of only one mountain village speak Achinsk.

It is worth noting that many peoples living on the territory of Dagestan have a history of many thousands of years, for example, the Udis, who were one of the state-forming peoples of Caucasian Albania. But such a fantastic variety creates considerable difficulties in studying the classification of languages ​​and nationalities, and opens up scope for all sorts of speculations.

The population of the Caucasus: peoples and languages

Avars, Dargins, Chechens, Circassians, Digoys and Lezgins have been living side by side for more than one century and have developed a complex system of relationships that allowed them to maintain relative calm in the region for a long time, although conflicts caused by the violation of folk customs still happened.

but a complex system checks and balances began to move in the middle of the XlX century, when the Russian Empire began to actively invade the territories of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus. The expansion was caused by the desire of the empire to enter the Transcaucasus and enter into a struggle with Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, in the Christian empire, the Muslims, who were the absolute majority in the newly conquered lands, had a hard time. As a result of the war, the population of the North Caucasus only on the shores of the Black and Azov Seas decreased by almost five hundred thousand.

After the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus, a period of active construction of national autonomies began. It was during the times of the USSR that the following republics were separated from the territory of the RSFSR: Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Ossetia-Alania. Sometimes Kalmykia is also referred to the North Caucasian region.

However, the inter-ethnic peace did not last long, and already after the Great Patriotic War, the population of the Caucasus underwent new tests, the main of which was the deportation of the population living in the territories occupied by the Nazis.

As a result of the deportations, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Nogais and Balkars were resettled. it was announced that they must immediately leave their homes and go to another place of residence. The peoples will be resettled in Central Asia, Siberia, Altai. National autonomies will be eliminated for many years and restored only after the debunking of the personality cult.

In 1991, a special resolution was adopted, which rehabilitated peoples subjected to repression and deportation only on the basis of their origin.

The young Russian state recognized as unconstitutional the resettlement of peoples and the deprivation of their statehood. Under the new law, the peoples could restore the integrity of the borders at the moment preceding their eviction.

Thus, historical justice was restored, but the tests did not end there.

In Russian federation

However, the matter, of course, was not limited to a simple restoration of borders. The Ingush, who returned from deportation, declared territorial claims to neighboring North Ossetia, demanding the return of the Prigorodny district.

In the autumn of 1992, a series of ethnically motivated murders took place on the territory of the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia, the victims of which were several Ingush. The killings provoked a series of clashes with the use of large machine guns, followed by the invasion of the Ingush into the Prigorodny district.

On November 1, Russian troops were brought into the republic in order to prevent further bloodshed, and a committee was created to deal with the salvation of North Ossetia.

Other an important factor, which significantly influenced the culture and demography of the region, was the first Chechen war, which is officially called the Restoration of the constitutional order. More than five thousand people became victims of hostilities and many tens of thousands lost their homes. At the end of the active phase of the conflict, a protracted crisis of statehood began in the republic, which led to another armed conflict in 1999 and, consequently, to a reduction in the population of the Caucasus.

- many peoples who spoke different languages. However, such a systematization did not take shape immediately. Despite the same way of life, each of the local peoples has its own unique origin.

View in full size

Scientists identify a group autochthonous peoples, (translated from Greek - local, indigenous, aboriginal), which have lived in the area since their formation. In the northern and Central Caucasus, these are, which are represented by three peoples

• Kabardians, 386 thousand people, live in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, in the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, North Ossetia. The language belongs to the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of the Iberian-Caucasian language. Believers are Sunni Muslims;
• Adyghe, 123,000, of which 96,000 live in the Republic of Adygea, Sunni Muslims
• Circassians, 51,000 people, more than 40 thousand live in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic.

The descendants of the Adygs live in a number of states: Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia.

The Abkhaz-Adyghe language group includes the people Abaza(self-name abaza), 33,000 people, 27 thousand live in the KChR and the Republic of Adygea (eastern part), Sunnis. The descendants of the Abazins, like the Adygs, live in Turkey and the countries of the Middle East, and linguistically their descendants are the Abkhazians (self-name- absula).

Another large group of indigenous peoples that occupies the North Caucasus are representatives Nakh group of languages:

• Chechens(self-name - nokhchiy), 800,000 people, live in the Republic of Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan (Akkin Chechens, 58,000 people), Sunni Muslims. Diasporas of descendants of Chechens live in the Middle East;
• Ingush(self-name - galgai), 215,000 people, most live in the Republic of Ingushetia, the Chechen Republic and North Ossetia, Sunni Muslims;
• cysts(self-name - cysts), in the mountainous regions of the Republic of Chechnya, speak Nakh dialects.

Chechens and Ingush have a common name Vainakhs.

Looks the hardest Dagestan branch of the Ibero-Caucasian languages, it is divided into four groups:

1. Avaro-Ando-Tsez group, which includes 14 languages. The most significant is the language spoken Avars(self-name - maarulal), 544,000 people, the central and mountainous regions of Dagestan, there are Avars settlements in the Stavropol Territory and northern Azerbaijan, Sunni Muslims.
   The other 13 peoples belonging to this group are much inferior in number and have significant differences from the Avar language (for example, andeans- 25 thousand, tindinians or tyndals- 10 thousand people).
2. Dargin language group. The main people Dagrinians(self-name - dargan), 354 thousand people, while more than 280 thousand live in the mountainous regions of Dagestan. Large diasporas of the Dargins live in the Stavropol Territory and Kalmykia. Muslims are Sunnis.
3. Lak language group. The main people Laks (Laki, Kazikumukh), 106 thousand people, in mountainous Dagestan - 92,000, Muslims - Sunnis.
4. Lezgi language group- south of Dagestan with the city of Derbent, people Lezgins(self-name - lezgiar), 257,000, over 200,000 live in Dagestan itself. A large diaspora exists in Azerbaijan. In religious terms: Dagestani Lezgins are Sunni Muslims, and Azerbaijani Lezgins are Shiite Muslims.
   • Tabasarans (Tabasaran), 94,000 people, 80,000 of them live in Dagestan, the rest in Azerbaijan, Sunni Muslims;
   • rutulians (myh abdyr), 20,000 people, of which 15,000 live in Dagestan, Sunni Muslims;
   • tsakhuri (yykhby), 20,000, mostly in Azerbaijan, Sunni Muslims;
   • agul (agul), 18,000 people, 14,000 in Dagestan, Sunni Muslims.
     The Lezgi group includes 5 more languages spoken by minority peoples.

Peoples who later settled in the North Caucasus region

Unlike the autochthonous peoples, the ancestors Ossetian came to the North Caucasus later and for a long time they were known as Alan from the 1st century AD. According to the language, Ossetians belong to Iranian language group and their closest relatives are Iranians (Persians) and Tajiks. Ossetians live on the territory of North Ossetia, numbering 340,000 people. In the Ossetian language itself, three large dialects are distinguished, according to which self-names are derived:

• Iranians (Iron)- Orthodox;
• Digorians (Digoron)- Sunni Muslims
• kudartsy (kudaron)- South Ossetia, Orthodox.

A special group is made up of peoples whose formation and appearance in the North Caucasus is associated with the late Middle Ages (15-17 centuries). Linguistically, they are Turks:

1. Karachays (Karachayly), 150,000 people, of which 129 thousand live in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. There are Karachay diasporas in the Stavropol Territory, Central Asia, Turkey, and Syria. The language belongs to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages ​​(Polovtsy). Sunni Muslims;
2. Balkars (taulu), highlanders, 80,000 people, of which 70,000 live in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. Large diasporas in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Muslims are Sunnis;
3. Kumyks (Kumuk), 278,000 people, mainly live in Northern Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia. Muslims are Sunnis;
4. Nogais (Nogaylar), 75,000, are divided into three groups according to territory and dialect:
   • Kuban Nogais (ak Nagais) living in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic;
   • Achikulak Nogais living in the Neftekumsk region of the Stavropol Territory;
   • Kara Nagai (Nogai steppe), Sunni Muslims.
5. Turkmens (Truhmens), 13.5 thousand people live in the Turkmen region of the Stavropol Territory, but the language belongs to Oguz group of Turkic languages, Sunni Muslims.

Separately, it should be noted that appeared in the North Caucasus in the middle of the 17th century. Kalmyks (halmg), 146,000 people, the language belongs to the Mongolian language group (Mongols and Buryats are related in language). Religiously, they are Buddhists. Those of the Kalmyks who were in the Cossack class of the Don army, professed Orthodoxy, were called buzaavy. Most of them are nomadic Kalmyks - turguts.

©site
created on the basis of personal student records of lectures and seminars

The Caucasus, located between mighty mountain ranges and luxurious valleys, belongs to the most ancient regions with a multinational population. The peoples of the Caucasus, distinguished by their traditions and ethnic characteristics, live together here. Despite the territorial limitations of the region, it has bred about a hundred nationalities in its entire history.

Bearers of ethnic cultures in the region

Now the Caucasian mountain civilization, one of the oldest in the world, has a single type of culture. It consists not only of ethnic rituals, spiritual aspects, traditional features of production, but also of all the material concepts of culture and family, public values proud mountaineers. That is why the modern Southern region of Russia is considered amazing and interesting.

For many centuries, the common Paleo-Caucasian roots have contributed to the unification and close partnership of the bearers of different ethnic cultures, living surrounded by mountain ranges. The peoples living side by side in the Caucasus have similar historical destinies and therefore a very fruitful cultural exchange is observed in this region.

To date, the carriers of ethnic cultures, which are autochthonous for this region, are:

• Adygei, Avars and Akhvakhs.
• Balkars and Ingush.
• Dargins.
• Ossetians and Chechens.
• Circassians and Mingrelians.
• Kumyks, Nogais and others.

The Caucasus is practically an international region. Most of it is inhabited by Russians and Chechens. As the history of the peoples of the Caucasus shows, the Chechens preferred to take root in the lands of Ciscaucasia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, as well as in the region of the Caucasus Range on the territory of Chechnya.

The central part of the region and North Ossetia are home to a very heterogeneous composition of the population. According to statistics, 30% of Russians and Ossetians live here, 5% of Ingush, the rest are:

• Georgians.
• Armenians.
• Ukrainians.
• Greeks, Tatars and other nationalities.

By population within Russian Federation The third place is occupied by the Caucasus. This region has always been considered the region with the most intensive influx of population. And if earlier the main flows of movement were formed by migrants from the city to the suburbs, then recently the situation has changed in the opposite direction.

For five centuries, scientists have carefully studied the history of the peoples of the North Caucasus. And, despite the fact that a huge factual material on this topic has already been accumulated, there is still a lot of unknown in the fertile Caucasian lands.

Formation of an ancient civilization

The formation of a multifaceted mountain civilization was under the yoke of complex processes of the relationship of numerous nations. Traditional beliefs and religious trends also had a special impact on its development. Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism are just some of the religions of the peoples of the North Caucasus, which contributed to the revival of a mighty civilization.

Cultures of the ancient countries of Urartu, Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece and medieval Iran, the Ottoman and Byzantine empires underlie the type of culture that is now relevant in the southern region of Russia. Historians also consider India and China to be other indirect sources of the cultural formation of the mighty mountain civilization.

But the deepest and most lasting connection that was treasured ancient peoples Caucasus, there were relations with nearby: Armenia and Azerbaijan. But the deepening of the North Caucasian culture during the time of the Eastern Slavs also had a strong influence on many other nationalities, making adjustments to their everyday habits and traditions.

The culture of the peoples of the Caucasus has become one of those "highlights" that make the mechanism of Russian culture more diverse. And the main qualities that make historical civilization very valuable for modern humanity are intolerance and tolerance.

Characteristic qualities of mountaineers

Tolerance still helps the North Caucasian nations to cooperate fruitfully with other peoples, loyally overcoming problems and striving to resolve conflicts peacefully. And thanks to intolerance (and in this particular situation it refers to the unacceptability of anything else), the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus were able to avoid excessive pressure from outside and preserve their "author's" identity.

And against the background of the popularization of tolerance to solve the problem of successful contact of the existing peoples, the history and traditions of the North Caucasian highlanders began to attract scientists even more. They think that it is tolerance that contributes to the beneficial adaptation of mountain culture in the modern environment.

The Caucasus is both amazing and difficult region. And this means not only the religious features of this mountainous region, but also ethnic relations, linguistic specifics. The peoples of the North Caucasus are carriers of more than three dozen languages ​​and dialects. Therefore, sometimes historians call this amazing corner of Russia “Russian Babylon”.

Scientists were able to identify three main linguistic directions, which became key for the formation of secondary ones. The languages ​​of the peoples of the Caucasus are classified as follows:

1. East Caucasian. Dagestan came out of them, which are divided into several groups (Avar-Ando-Tsez, Nakh, Dargin, Lezgin and others), as well as Nakh languages. Nakh, in turn, is divided into two branches: Chechen, Ingush.
2. West Caucasian (they are also called Abkhaz-Adyghe). They are spoken by the Shapsug people, who live northwest of the resort town of Sochi. Abaza, Adyghe, Abkhaz, Kabardians, and also Circassians also speak this language.
3. South Caucasian (Kartvelian) - distributed mainly in Georgia, as well as in the western part of Transcaucasia. They are divided into only two types of languages: southern and northern Kartavelian.

Almost all languages ​​used in the North Caucasus remained unwritten until 1917. Only with the beginning of the 1920s did alphabets begin to be developed for the predominant part of the peoples of the region. They were based on the Latin language. In the 30s, it was decided to replace the Latin alphabets with Russian-language ones, but in practice they turned out to be not so adapted to convey all the sound varieties of the highlanders.

One of the features of the southern region and the population living on its territory is the ethnic group of the peoples of the Caucasus. Characteristic for it is that numerous inconsistencies existed not only within the boundaries of a single established community, but also within each individual ethnic group.

Against this background, often in the Caucasus you can find entire villages, towns and communities that have become isolated from each other. As a result, “their own”, local customs, rituals, rituals, and traditions began to be created. Dagestan can be considered a vivid example of this. Here, the established rules and order in everyday life were observed by individual villages and even tukhums.

Such endogamy led to the fact that the concepts of "one's own" and "alien" had clear designations and frameworks. The concepts of “Apsuara” and “Adygage” became characteristic of the Caucasian peoples, with the help of which the highlanders designated a set of moral norms for the behavior of the Abkhazians and Adyghes, respectively.

Such concepts became the personification of all the values ​​of the peoples of the mountains: conceivable virtues, the importance of the family, traditions, etc. All this helped the mountaineers develop ethnocentrism, a sense of dominance and superiority over others (in particular, over other peoples).

Three very famous mountain rites

To date, three traditions of the peoples of the North Caucasus are considered the brightest and most famous:

1. Happy meeting. The concepts of the Caucasus and hospitality have long been considered synonymous. The customs associated with welcoming guests are firmly rooted in the ethnos of the highlanders and have become one of the most important aspects of their life. It is worth noting that the traditions of hospitality are still actively practiced in the modern South of the Caucasus, which is why tourists love to visit this region again and again.
2. Bride kidnapping. This custom can be attributed to the most controversial, but widespread throughout the region. Initially, the staging was supposed to help the groom's relatives avoid paying bride price. But later, the plot of the kidnapping, agreed on by both sides, began to be applied to different situations. For example, when parents do not approve of the feelings of their children, or when the youngest daughter plans to marry before the other ... In such situations, "stealing" the bride - suitable solution, as well as "Ancient and beautiful custom", as one of the main characters of the famous "Prisoner of the Caucasus" said. By the way, now for the implementation of such an undertaking, the heroes of the occasion can be punished by law, because the tradition of kidnapping is pursued by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
3. Tradition of blood feud. The Caucasus is a region where many traditions contradict the secular and moral standards of the state. And the customs of blood feuds are the most striking example. Surprisingly, this tradition has not ceased to exist since the very moment when the history of the North Caucasus began its independent formation. Without a statute of limitations, this tradition is still practiced in some regions of the mountainous region.

There are other traditions of the peoples of the North Caucasus. There are interesting wedding ceremonies that surprise with their beauty and originality. For example, the tradition of "wedding concealment", which implies a separate celebration of marriage. The newlyweds celebrate the event in different houses for the first days after the wedding and do not even see each other.

The culinary traditions that the mountain peoples of the Caucasus still practice are also interesting. No wonder hot Caucasians are recognized as the most skillful cooks. Juicy, fragrant, bright, with harmonious overflows of spices and palatability, the traditional highlander dishes are definitely worth a try. Popular among them are: pilaf, achma, kharcho, satsivi, khachapuri, kebab and everyone's favorite baklava.

Tribute to ancient traditions is also observed within the family in the Caucasus. Recognition of the authority and supremacy of elders is the basic foundation of the organization of families. It is worth noting that many scientists explain the phenomenon of Caucasian longevity by the fact that age and wisdom are still revered in this region.

These and other extraordinary traditions of the highlanders in many ways change their world for the better. Perhaps that is why many representatives of modern humanity are increasingly paying attention to them, trying to apply them in their society.

The epic of the charismatic highlanders

The general epic of the peoples of the Caucasus deserves special attention. Formed on the basis of legends about strong men breaking mountains with swords, demigod heroes fighting giants. It originated over many decades and took material from the 3rd century BC as its legacy.

Ancient legends eventually became cycles that were united by chronology and a common plot. Traditions originating in the Caucasian mountains and valleys formed the Nart epic. It is dominated by a pagan worldview, closely intertwined with the symbols and paraphernalia of monotheistic religions.

The peoples living in the Caucasus have formed a powerful epic, which has certain similarities with the epic works of other peoples. This leads scientists to the idea that all the historical materials of the highlanders are a beneficial product of their interaction with other communities in ancient times.

One can still praise and exalt the peoples of the Caucasus for a long time, who played a far from unimportant role in the formation of the culture of the great Russian State. But even this short review The characteristics of the population of this region testify to the diversity, value and richness of culture.