Mount Qaf, or Qaf-Kuh, also spelled Cafcuh and Kafkuh (), or Jabal Qaf, also spelled Djebel Qaf (), or Koh-i-Qaf, also spelled "Koh-Qaf" and "Kuh-i-Qaf" or "Kuh-e Qaf" () is a legendary mountain in the popular mythology of the Middle East. In Islamic tradition, Mount Qaf is said to be the homeland of the jinn and was made out of shining emerald by God.


Historically Iranian power never extended over all of the Northern Caucasus and ancient lore shrouded these high mountains in mystery.


In Iranian tradition this mountain could be any of the following:


The Peri and Deev kingdoms of Qaf include are Shad-u-kam (Pleasure and Delight), with its magnificent capital Juherabad (Jewel-city), Amberabad (Amber-city), and Ahermanabad (Aherman’s city).


Mount Qaf in Arabic tradition is a mysterious mountain renowned as the "farthest point of the earth" owing to its location at the far side of the ocean encircling the earth. Because of its remoteness, the North Pole is sometimes identified with this mountain. According to Hatim Tai’s account, the Qaf Mountains were said


to be composed of green emerald, peridot or chrysolite, whose reflection gave


Zakariya al-Qazwini published ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt ("The Wonders of Creation", literally "Marvels of things created and miraculous aspects of things existing") in the 13th century, a book that was influential in early modern Islamic society. According to Qazwini's cosmology, the sky is held by God so that it does not fall on Earth. The Earth is considered flat (later Islamic scholars believed that it was round) and surrounded by a series of mountains —including Mount Qaf— that hold it in its place like pegs; the Earth is supported by the Kuyuthan that stands on Bahamut, a giant fish ( "Bahamūt") dwelling in a cosmic ocean; the ocean is inside a bowl that sits on top of an angel or jinn.


According to certain authors, the "Jabal Qaf" of Muslim cosmology is a version of Rupes Nigra, a mountain whose ascent —such as Dante's climbing of the Mountain of Purgatory, represents the pilgrim's progress through spiritual states.


In some Sufistic oral traditions, as conceived by Abd al-Rahman and Attar, Mount Qaf was considered as a realm of consciousness and the goal of a "murid". Hadda Sahib (d. 1903) is said to have visited Mount Qaf in one night and was greeted by the king of peris.


"Mount Qaf" (original Turkish title "Kafdağı") is also the title of a novel by Turkish author Müge İplikçi.


Mount Qaf is frequently referenced in the 1001 Nights as a home of jinn.


The Treaty of Zuhab (, "Ahadnāmah Zuhab"), also called Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin (), was an accord signed between the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire on May 17, 1639. The accord ended the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1623–1639 and was the last conflict in almost 150 years of intermittent wars between the two states over territorial disputes. It can roughly be seen as a confirmation of the previous Peace of Amasya from 1555.


The treaty confirmed the dividing of territories in West Asia priorly held by the Safavids, such as the permanent parting of the Caucasus between the two powers, in which East Armenia, eastern Georgia, Dagestan, and Azerbaijan stayed under the control of the Safavid Empire, while western Georgia and most of Western Armenia came fully under Ottoman rule. It also included all of Mesopotamia (including Baghdad) being irreversibly ceded to the Ottomans, as well as Safavid-controlled eastern Samtskhe (Meskheti), making Samtskhe in its entirety an Ottoman possession. With the Treaty of Zuhab, Eastern Armenia remained for more than eight decades under Safavid Rule, who separated it into two administrative regions: Erivan Province and Karabakh Province.


The Reichskommissariat Kaukasus (), also spelled as Kaukasien, was the theoretical political division and planned civilian occupation regime of Germany in the conquered territories of the Caucasus during World War II. Unlike the other four planned Reichskommissariats, within the borders of the proposed Caucasus "Reichskommissariat" experiments were to be conducted for various forms of autonomy for "indigenous groups".


Reichskommissariat Kaukasus theoretically included all of Transcaucasia and Ciscaucasia (the North Caucasus), as well as parts of Southern Russia as far as the Volga river. Major cities to be included were among others Rostov, Krasnodar and Maykop in the west, Stavropol, Astrakhan, Elista, Makhachkala in the east, and Grozny, Nalchik, Vladikavkaz, Yerevan and Baku in the south. Civil administration of the territory was to be in Tbilisi, Georgia.


Rosenberg eventually suggested that the post of the Commissar/Resident should go to party journalist, and his long-time friend and a fellow Baltic German, "Stabsleiter" Arno Schickedanz, while he recommended Hermann Göring, as the Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, to appoint a head of an "oil commission" to work alongside the Commissar. Dr Hermann Neubacher, the former mayor of Vienna and then a special envoy to the puppet Hellenic State, was to function alongside Schickedanz on the region's economic matters. Schickedanz reportedly spent considerable time examining sketches of his future palace in Tbilisi and discussing the number of gates it would need.


Planners theorised about a possible advance to western Kazakhstan to secure the eastern frontiers. German plans to capture western Kazakhstan certainly existed as railway nets and territories in west Central Asian countries lay along lines of advance to the Middle East in order to aid the Afrika Korps in the African Campaign, with the additional purpose of seizing Persia.


There was a power struggle between Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, and Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, ex-Prime Minister of Iraq, for the control and political objectives of Arab units (also known as ""Legion Freier Araber" or "Arabian Korps""). It was sent to the Caucasus region in September 1942 for the planned invasion of the Arab lands and saw action against the Red Army.


This planning did not advance much further than preliminary discussions and paper planning, due to the advance of Red Army forces during the war. Historian Norman Rich asserts that the short duration of the German occupation in the Caucasus means that the policies which the Germans implemented give little indication as to the long-term future of the region if it had been brought under firm Axis control.


The Reichskommissariat Kaukasien was planned to be administratively divided between the following seven "Generalkommissariate". These were sub-divided into a number of "Sonderkommissariaten" ("special districts") and "Kreiskommissariate", and those in turn into "Raions". The overall administrative seat was to be in Tbilisi/Tiflis.


30 Kreiskommissariate (83 Raions) including part of the Rostov region.


Generalkommissariat für die Gebiete der Bergvölker (Berg-Kaukasien).


30 Kreiskommissariate (93 Raions) incl. the Kizlyar region.


Sonderkommissariat Nord-Ossetien - Capital: Ordschonikidse - 3 Kreiskommissariate (10 Raions)


Sonderkommissariat Dagestan - Capital: Machatschkala - 10 Kreiskommissariate (32 Raions)


Sonderkommissariat Kabardino-Balkarien - 5 Kreiskommissariate (15 Raions)


Sonderkommissariat Karatschai - 2 Kreiskommissariate (6 Raions)


Sonderkommissariat Tscherkessien - 1 Kreiskommissariat (4 Raions)


Included the Kalmyk ASSR, the Astrakhan region and the southeastern part of the Rostov region.


The Treaty of Finckenstein, often spelled Finkenstein, was a treaty concluded between France and Persia (modern-day Iran) in the Finckenstein Palace (now Kamieniec, Poland) on 4 May 1807 and formalised the Franco-Persian alliance.


At the time the war commenced, the Safavid Empire was in a chaotic state under its weak ruler, Mohammad Khodabanda. In the resulting fighting, the Ottomans had managed to take most of the Safavid provinces of Azerbaijan (including the former capital Tabriz), Georgia (Kartli, Kakheti, eastern Samtskhe-Meskheti), Karabagh, Erivan, Shirvan and Khuzestan, despite Mohammad Khodabanda's initially successful counterattack. When Abbas I succeeded to the throne in 1588, the Safavid realm was still plagued by domestic issues, and thus the Ottomans managed to push further, taking Baghdad during that year and Ganja shortly after. Confronted by even more problems (i.e. civil wars, uprisings, and the war against the Uzbeks in the northeastern part of the realm), Abbas I agreed to sign a humiliating treaty with disadvantageous terms.


This treaty was a success for the Ottoman Empire, as vast areas had been annexed. However, the new status quo did not last for long. Abbas I would use the time and resources which resulted from the peace on the main front with the Ottomans, to successfully deal with the other issues (including the Uzbeks and other revolts), while waiting for a suitable moment to regain his possessions. When the Ottoman Empire during the reign of young sultan Ahmet I was engaged with the Celali revolts, he was able to regain most of his losses, which the Ottoman Empire had to accept in the Treaty of Nasuh Pasha, 22 years after this treaty.


The Caucasian-Mohammedan Legion (German: "Kaukasisch-Mohammedanische Legion") was a volunteer unit of the German Army. The Legion was created on January 13, 1942 by order of General Infantria Olbricht. The Legion consisted of Abkhazians, Circassians, Balkars, Karachais, Chechens, Ingushes, and the peoples of Daghestan. The Kurds, Talyshs and Ossetians appeared later. In accordance with the decree of February 19, 1942, volunteers from the peoples of the North Caucasus were August 2, 1942 allocated on a national-territorial basis separately to the North Caucasian Legion / Mountain-Caucasian Legion. The initial placement of the Legion was Wesel.


In October 1941, one for each of the Turkestan and Caucasian prisoners of war (the operation of the Abwehr "Tiger B") was created for the special purposes of Abwehr and controlled by the Stab Walli (in June of 1941, it consisted of 21 Abwehr commandos, at least 70 Abwehrgroups and many sabotage-intelligence schools) and subordinated to the two officers of the Abwehr, Major Andreas Meier Mader and Theodor Oberländer. Professor Oberleutnant Oberländer was the Head of the Department of Social Sciences department in Königsberg, Greifswald and Prague before the war. Oberleutnant Oberländer was also the political leader of the Nachtigall Battalion.


In 1943 the headquarters of the North Caucasian Legion was created in the town of Mirgorod of Poltava region under command of Lt. Col. Ristov. In the summer of 1944, the formation of the North Caucasian and Caucasian SS regiments began on the basis of 70 and 71 police battalions. At the end of the war in Northern Italy, the North Caucasian combat group joined the Caucasian Unity of the SS troops. The commander of the Standard Army of the SS, a former officer of the White Army Kuchuk Ulagay, joined the regiment as a regiment.


In addition to the reinforced 9 field battalions,1 battalion of the "Sonderverband "Bergmann"" (Special Unit "Miner") of the and one combat group of the Caucasian Waffen-SS unit, the natives of the North Caucasus were part of a separate Sonderkommando Schamil consisting of three groups of forces up to a platoon, three sapper, railway and road-building companies, as well as two serf regiments. According to the researcher Traho R. "The total number of North Caucasian volunteers since the beginning of the war against the USSR and until 1945 amounted to 28-30 thousand people".


The Stavropol Governorate was a governorate (province) of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day Stavropol Krai. It was created in 1847 out of the territories of Caucasian peoples and disbanded in Russian SFSR in 1924.


As of 1897, 873,301 people populated the oblast. Russians constituted the majority of the population. Significant minorities consisted of Ukrainians. Total Slavic population was 804,153 (92%)


The Sittaceni were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among others (xi. 2. 11). Sittaceni is one of the Maeotae tribes, who lived in the 1st millennium BC on the east and the south-eastern coast of the Azov sea. In the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia", they were concluded to have been one of the ancestors to the Circassians. In the 4th–3rd centuries BC many of the Maeotae tribes were included into the Bosporan Kingdom.


The Caucasian War (; "Kavkazskaya vojna") of 1817–1864 was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which resulted in Russia's annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus, and the ethnic cleansing of Circassians. It consisted of a series of military actions waged by the Empire against the native peoples of the Caucasus including the Chechens, Adyghe, Abkhaz–Abaza, Ubykhs, Kumyks and Dagestanians as Russia sought to expand. Among the Muslims, resistance to the Russians was described as jihad.


Russian control of the Georgian Military Highway in the center divided the Caucasian War into the Russo-Circassian War in the west and the Murid War in the east. Other territories of the Caucasus (comprising contemporary eastern Georgia, southern Dagestan, Armenia and Azerbaijan) were incorporated into the Russian empire at various times in the 19th century as a result of Russian wars with Persia. The remaining part, western Georgia, was taken by the Russians from the Ottomans during the same period.


The Russian invasion encountered fierce resistance. The first period of the invasion ended coincidentally with the death of Alexander I and the Decembrist Revolt in 1825. It achieved surprisingly little success, especially compared with the then recent Russian victory over the "Grande Armée" of Napoleon in 1812.


Between 1825 and 1833, little military activity took place in the Caucasus against the native North Caucasians as wars with Turkey (1828/1829) and with Persia (1826–1828) occupied the Russians. After considerable successes in both wars, Russia resumed fighting in the Caucasus against the various rebelling native ethnic groups in the North Caucasus, and that was the start of the Caucasian genocide committed by Russians, most of the terminated people were from the Circassian nation.


Russian units again met resistance, notably led by Ghazi Mollah, Gamzat-bek, and Hadji Murad. Imam Shamil followed them. He led the mountaineers from 1834 until his capture by Dmitry Milyutin in 1859. In 1843, Shamil launched a sweeping offensive aimed at the Russian outposts in Avaria. On 28 August 1843, 10,000 men converged, from three different directions, on a Russian column in Untsukul, killing 486 men. In the next four weeks, Shamil captured every Russian outpost in Avaria except one, exacting over 2,000 casualties on the Russian defenders. He feigned an invasion north to capture a key chokepoint at the convergence of the Avar and Kazi-Kumukh rivers. In 1845, Shamil's forces achieved their most dramatic success when they withstood a major Russian offensive led by Prince Vorontsov.


During the Crimean War of 1853–1856, the Russians brokered a truce with Shamil, but hostilities resumed in 1855. Warfare in the Caucasus finally ended between 1856 and 1859, when a 250,000 strong army under General Baryatinsky broke the mountaineers' resistance.


The war in the Eastern part of the North Caucasus ended in 1859; the Russians captured Shamil, forced him to surrender, to swear allegiance to the Tsar, and then exiled him to Central Russia. However, the war in the Western part of the North Caucasus resumed with the Circassians (i.e. Adyghe, but the term is often used to include their Abkhaz–Abaza kin as well) resuming the fight. A manifesto of Tsar Alexander II declared hostilities at an end on June 2 (May 21 OS), 1864. Among post-war events, a tragic page in the history of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus (especially the Circassians), was Muhajirism, or population transfer of the Muslim population to the Ottoman Empire.


According to one source, the population in Greater and Lesser Kabarda decreased from 350,000, before the war, to 50,000 by 1818. According to another version, in 1790 the population was 200,000 people and in 1830 30,000 people. As a percentage of the total population of the North Caucasus, the number of the remaining Circassian Circassians was 40% (1795), 30% (1835) and 25% (1858). Similarly: Chechens 9%, 10% and 8.5%; Avars 11%, 7% and 2%; Dargins 9.5%, 7.3% and 5.8%; Lezghins 4.4%, 3.6% and 3.9% .


The Arrechi (Greek: ) were an ancient tribe of the Maeotae, on the east coast of the Palus Maeotis. (Strabo xi. 2. 11; Steph. B. "s. v."; Plin. vi. 7.) Strabo places them among the Maeotae, Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among others. (Strab. "l.c.")


They are probably the same as the Arichi (Greek: ) of Ptolemy (v. 9. § 18).


The Arrechi is one of the Maeotae tribes, who lived in the 1st millennium BC on the east and the south-eastern coast of the Azov sea.


Russian scientists, archeologists, historians and ethnographers in the Soviet period it was concluded - Maeotae this is one of the names of the tribes Adyghe people (Circassians).


In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, in the article about the Adyghe people, it is written,"Living in the basin of the river Kuban part of the tribes ([[Adyghe people]]), as a rule, be indicated (names) of ancient historians under the collective name 'Maeotae'."


In the article about the Maeotae), it says,"Maeotae were engaged in farming and fishing. Part of the Maeotae by the language was akin to the Adygs (Circassians), the part of the Iranians. In the 4th-3rd centuries BC many of Maeotae included in the composition of the [[Bosporan kingdom]]."


The Cimmerians (also Kimmerians; Greek: , "Kimmérioi") were a nomadic Indo-European people, who appeared about 1000 BC and are mentioned later in 8th century BC in Assyrian records. While the Cimmerians were often described by contemporaries as culturally "Scythian", they evidently differed ethnically from the Scythians proper, who also displaced and replaced the Cimmerians.


Probably originating in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, the Cimmerians subsequently migrated both into Western Europe and to the south, by way of the North Caucasus.


Some of them likely comprised a force that, c. 714 BC, invaded Urartu, a state subject to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This foray was defeated by Assyrian forces under Sargon II in 705, after which the same, southern branch of Cimmerians turned west towards Anatolia and conquered Phrygia in 696/5. They reached the height of their power in 652 after taking Sardis, the capital of Lydia; however, an invasion of Assyrian-controlled Anshan was thwarted. Soon after 619, Alyattes of Lydia defeated them. There are no further mentions of them in historical sources, but it is likely that they settled in Cappadocia.


The origin of the Cimmerians is unclear. They are possibly related to either Iranian or Thracian speaking groups which migrated under pressure of the Scythian expansion of the 9th to 8th century BC.


According to Herodotus, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC (i.e. what is now Ukraine and Russia), although they have not been identified with any specific archaeological culture in the region.


The origin of the culture is associated with the Belozerskaya culture (12th to 10th centuries) and the later and more certain Novocerkassk (10th to 7th centuries BC) between the Danube and the Volga.


The use of the name "Cimmerian" in this context is due to Paul Reinecke, who in 1925 postulated a "North-Thracian-Cimmerian cultural sphere" ("nordthrakisch-kimmerischer Kulturkreis") overlapping with the younger Hallstatt culture of the Eastern Alps.


The term Thraco-Cimmerian ("thrako-kimmerisch") was first introduced by I. Nestor in the 1930s. Nestor intended to suggest that there was a historical migration of Cimmerians into Eastern Europe from the area of the former Srubnaya culture, perhaps triggered by the Scythian expansion, at the beginning of the European Iron Age. In the 1980s and 1990s, more systematic studies of the artifacts revealed a more gradual development over the period covering the 9th to 7th centuries BC, so that the term "Thraco-Cimmerian" is now rather used by convention and does not necessarily imply a direct connection with either the Thracians or the Cimmerians.


Austen Henry Layard's discoveries in the royal archives at Nineveh and Calah included Assyrian primary records of the Cimmerian invasion.


These records appear to place the Cimmerian homeland, "Gamir", south (rather than north) of the Black Sea.


The first record of the Cimmerians appears in Assyrian annals in the year 714 BC. These describe how a people termed the "Gimirri" helped the forces of Sargon II to defeat the kingdom of Urartu. Their original homeland, called "Gamir" or "Uishdish", seems to have been located within the buffer state of Mannae. The later geographer Ptolemy placed the Cimmerian city of "Gomara" in this region.


The Assyrians recorded the migrations of the Cimmerians, as the former people's king Sargon II was killed in battle against them while driving them from Persia in 705 BC.


The Cimmerians were subsequently recorded as having conquered Phrygia in 696–695 BC, prompting the Phrygian king Midas to take poison rather than face capture. In 679 BC, during the reign of Esarhaddon of Assyria (r. 681–669 BC), they attacked the Assyrian colonies Cilicia and Tabal under their new ruler Teushpa. Esarhaddon defeated them near Hubushna (Hupisna), and they also met defeat at the hands of his successor Ashurbanipal.


A people named "Kimmerioi" is described in Homer's "Odyssey" 11.14 (c. late 8th century BC), as living beyond the Oceanus, in a land of fog and darkness, at the edge of the world and the entrance of Hades.


According to Herodotus (c. 440 BC), the Cimmerians had been expelled from their homeland between the Tyras (Dniester) and Tanais (Don) rivers by the Scythians. Unreconciled to Scythian advances, to ensure burial in their ancestral homeland, the men of the Cimmerian royal family divided into groups and fought each other to the death. The Cimmerian commoners buried the bodies along the river Tyras and fled across the Caucasus and into Anatolia. Herodotus also names a number of Cimmerian kings, including Tugdamme ("Lygdamis" in Greek; mid-7th century BC), and Sandakhshatra (late-7th century).


In 654 BC or 652 BC – the exact date is unclear – the Cimmerians attacked the kingdom of Lydia, killing the Lydian king Gyges and causing great destruction to the Lydian capital of Sardis. They returned ten years later during the reign of Gyges' son Ardys; this time they captured the city, with the exception of the citadel. The fall of Sardis was a major shock to the powers of the region; the Greek poets Callinus and Archilochus recorded the fear that it inspired in the Greek colonies of Ionia, some of which were attacked by Cimmerian and Treres raiders.


The Cimmerian occupation of Lydia was brief, however, possibly due to an outbreak of disease. They were beaten back by Alyattes. This defeat marked the effective end of Cimmerian power.


The term "Gimirri" was used about a century later in the Behistun inscription (c. 515 BC) as an Assyro-Babylonian equivalent of Iranian Saka (Scythians). Otherwise, Cimmerians disappeared from the historical record.


In sources beginning with the Royal Frankish Annals, the Merovingian kings of the Franks traditionally traced their lineage through a pre-Frankish tribe called the Sicambri (or Sugambri), mythologized as a group of "Cimmerians" from the mouth of the Danube river, but who instead came from Gelderland in modern Netherlands and are named for the Sieg river.


Early modern historians asserted Cimmerian descent for the Celts or the Germans, arguing from the similarity of "Cimmerii" to "Cimbri" or "Cymry". The etymology of "Cymro" "Welshman" (plural: "Cymry"), connected to the Cimmerians by 17th-century Celticists, is now accepted by Celtic linguists as being derived from a Brythonic word * "kom-brogos", meaning "compatriot". The Cambridge Ancient History classifies the Maeotians as either a people of Cimmerian ancestry or as Caucasian under Iranian overlordship.


The Biblical name "Gomer" has been linked by some to the Cimmerians.


According to Georgian national historiography, the Cimmerians, in Georgian known as "Gimirri", played an influential role in the development of the Colchian and Iberian cultures. The modern Georgian word for "hero", "gmiri", is said to derive from their name.


It has been speculated that the Cimmerians finally settled in Cappadocia, known in Armenian as , "Gamir-kʿ" (the same name as the original Cimmerian homeland in Mannae).


It has also been speculated that the modern Armenian city of Gyumri (Arm.: Գյումրի ), founded as Kumayri (Arm.: Կումայրի), derived its name from the Cimmerians who conquered the region and founded a settlement there.


Only a few personal names in the Cimmerian language have survived in Assyrian inscriptions:


Some researchers have attempted to trace various place names to Cimmerian origins. It has been suggested that "Cimmerium" gave rise to the Turkic toponym "Qırım" (which in turn gave rise to the name "Crimea").


Based on ancient Greek historical sources, a Thracian or a Celtic association is sometimes assumed.


A genetic study published in Science Advances in October 2018 examined the remains of three Cimmerians buried between ca. 1,000 BC and 800 BC. The two samples of Y-DNA extracted belonged to haplogroup R1b1a and Q1a1, while the three samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to haplogroup H9a, C5c and R.


A genetic study published in Current Biology in July 2019 examined the remains of three Cimmerians. The two samples of Y-DNA extracted belonged to haplogroup R1a-Z645 and R1a2c-B111, while the three samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to haplogroup H35, U5a1b1 and U2e2.


Conan the Barbarian, created by Robert E. Howard in a series of fantasy stories published in "Weird Tales" in 1932, was described as a native Cimmerian, though in Howard's fictional world, his Cimmerians dwelt in a mythological Hyborian Age. The Cimmerians of Hyboria are a pre-Celtic people said by Howard to be the ancestors of the Irish and Scots (Gaels).


If on a winter's night a traveler. The novel by Italo Calvino is a framed presentation of a series of incomplete novels, one of them purported to be translated from the Cimmerian. However, in Calvino's novel, Cimmeria is a fictional country.


The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay A novel by Michael Chabon has a chapter that talks about the oldest book in the world "The Book of Lo" created by ancient Cimmerians.


Kabardia () or East Circassia was a historical region in the North Caucasus corresponding partly to the modern Kabardino-Balkaria. It had better political organization than its neighbors and a somewhat "feudal" social structure. It existed as a political community from the fifteenth century or earlier until it came under Russian control in the early nineteenth century.


1600-1753: In 1645 a regiment was moved to Tersk (it has been re-established early in the century). Kabardia split into two factions, the pro-Russian Baksan and pro-Crimean Kashkatau (originally the alliances were opposite, but they switched sides some time after 1722.). One side brought in Russians from Astrakhan. The Nekrasov Cossacks settled on the Kuban about 1711. More Cossacks settled on the Terek and Kizlyar was founded in 1736. In 1739 Kabardia was declared a buffer state between the Russian and Ottoman empires. In 1744 Koltsov and 400 Cossacks arrived to support the Baksan faction. Another force was sent in 1753.


Conquest: Kabardia came under Russian control between about 1769 and 1830. They moved west from the Terek country, southwest from Astrakhan and to a lesser degree southeast from Azov. From 1769 Russia intervened in Georgia south of the mountains. This required them to hold the Georgian Military Highway which passed through Kabardia. Georgia was annexed in 1800.


The word abrek is a North Caucasian term. In Chechen or Ingush the word "abrek" has the meaning of "avenger"; in Circassian or Karachay the word has the meaning of "brave man". In the Caucasus the word has the derogatory meaning of "bandit" only in Ossetian and Russian - but these languages belong to the Indo-European language family, and these people have been enemies of Abrek lifestyle in the past.


The term "abrek" was mostly used for people who struggled against Russian colonialism, mostly a guerrilla fighter during Russian expansion in the Caucasus in the 19th century. The term was also used in the Caucasus for a person who vowed to avoid any pleasures and to be fearless in fighting for the sake of Allah and justice. An abrek renounced any contact with friends and relatives. The abrek lifestyle also included a lonely life in the unexplored wilderness and prayers. Later, the majority of abreks were devoted Muslims.


The word "abrek" was used as a propaganda term for the anti-Soviet guerrillas of the post-war North Caucasus, as well as for all illegals. Those abreks were widely popularized as the defenders of the motherland and as paupers. In their old age, the abreks of the West Caucasus usually devoted themselves to beekeeping. The majority of the East Caucasus abreks were killed in non-stop warfare against the federal army.


After the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus in the 1920s, abreks continued the fight against oppressors, for the most part in Chechnya. The Chechen abreks provoked the rebellions of 1920-21, 1929–31, 1931-1939, and the last in 1940-44, that led to the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush in 1944. The last anti-Soviet Chechen abrek was killed on 28 March 1976 at the age of 70.


Ambazuces () was a "Hunnic" ruler in the North Caucasus in the early 6th century, probably of the Sabirs.


According to the Byzantine historian Procopius, Ambazuces ruled the area of the "Caspian Gates"—most likely referring to the Darial Pass—during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I (). Procopius reports that he was friendly towards Byzantium, and in his old age offered to cede his realm, but Anastasius declined. This was probably during or shortly after the Anastasian War of 502–506 between Byzantium and Sassanid Persia.


After his death, he was succeeded by his sons, who were defeated by the Persian king Kavadh I (), who annexed their territory to Persia.


The Zygii (, "Zygoí") or Zygians were described by Strabo as a nation to the north of Colchis. He wrote:


"And on the sea lies the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, or the Syndic territory. After this latter, one comes to the Achaei and the Zygii and the Heniochi, and also the Cercetae and the Macropogones. And above these are situated the narrow passes of the Phtheirophagi (Phthirophagi); and after the Heniochi the Colchian country, which lies at the foot of the Caucasian, or Moschian, Mountains." (Strabo, "Geographica" 11.2)


William Smith observes that "they were partly nomad shepherds, partly brigands and pirates, for which latter vocation they had ships specially adapted". They inhabited the region known as Zyx, which is on the northern slopes of the Western Caucasus. To the east were the Avars. To the north was Sarmatian territory, and to the south lay the part of Colchis inhabited by the Svans ("Soanes" of Strabo and Pliny the Elder).


Initially, Zyx (Italian: "Sychia", Georgian: "Jiqeti") in Greek literature referred to a people inhabiting the area between Gagra and Tuapse, who later expanded up to the estuary of the Kuban and the neighbouring region of historical Tmutarakan. This tribe also features in several ancient and medieval works, notably in Pliny ("Zichoi"), Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, medieval Georgian chroniclers ("Jikebi"), Marco Polo, and Johannes de Galonifontibus, who, in his "Libellus de notitia orbis", speaks of "Zikia or Circassia" and their language, perhaps the earliest reference to the Northwest Caucasian languages.


Researchers assume that the Zygii spoke a Northwest Caucasian language. Northwest Caucasian hydro- and toponyms, traditional names of rulers and also the seamless transition from the Zygii and the Cercetae, whose designations were subsequently replaced with the names of several Circassian tribes, confirm this.


The North Caucasus Line was a line of Russian forts and Cossack settlements along the north side of the Caucasus Mountains. Originating in the mid 16th century with a few free Cossacks near the Caspian Sea, from the mid 18th century the line was pushed west and used as a base to conquer the mountains to the south and to populate the steppes to the north.


In the east along the Terek the soil is poor and rainfall low. Dense peasant settlement only became possible when the line was pushed west to the Stavropol highland in the center in the late 18th century.


Around 1500 Russia was just beginning to push south from its heartland in Muscovy. Everything south to the Black Sea and Caucasus was controlled by the Nogai nomads. In 1556 Russia moved down the Volga and captured Astrakhan at the north end of the Caspian sea. South of the Terek along the Caspian Sea the land was controlled by various khanates nominally subject to Persia. The northernmost was what later became the Shamkhalate of Tarki.


Free Cossacks were living on the lower Terek by the first half of the 16th century. The usual dates are 1520 and 1563, but the matter is very obscure.


To the west of the Terek Cossacks lived the Greben Cossacks. They were first formally distinguished in 1736. Before that date a distinction between Greben and Terek Cossacks is questionable.


Since the whole point of being a free Cossack was to be out of the reach of the government there are few records. The few records we have from this period usually relate to raiding or warfare.


1711 - 1763: the Russian state gains control of the Cossacks.


1763-1864: Westward expansion, massive peasant colonization and war in the mountains.


By the mid 18th century there were only 1,162 active-duty Cossacks in the north Caucasus. By 1851 there were 86,538.


In 1777 Russia began building a line of forts between Mozdok and Azov. In that year Stavropol and Georgievsk were founded along this line. (Georgievsk was the seat of the Caucasus Governorate from 1802 to 1822.) In the same year the Volga regiment was formed from Volga Cossacks on the eastern part of this line. Each new fort became a magnet for both legal and illegal settlers. 68000 peasants were settled in 1781-84 and 68000 more by the end of the century.


Far to the west, in 1708, the Nekrasov Cossacks settled on the Kuban. They were refugees from the Bulavin Rebellion and lived in Crimean-Nogai territory. They seem to have gradually broken up and merged with other groups. In 1783, the same year that Georgia became a Russian vassal, Russia annexed the Khanate of Crimea and thereby inherited its claim over the Nogai nomads. In 1787 the Black Sea Cossack Host was given the land between Azov and the Kuban. By 1794 25000 people had settled along the Kuban. Krasnodar was founded in 1794. The Kuban line became the base for the Russo-Circassian War. The line was pushed west to the Laba River.


In the center the line was pushed south from the Terek to the Sunzha. Grozny was founded in 1818. In 1824 general Aleksey Yermolov created the Mountain Cossack regiment between the Volga and Mozdok regiments. These new "Cossacks" were created by decree, the government declaring that various Cossacks, state peasants and natives were now Cossacks. During the Murid War Chechens were driven north or south of the two rivers. The Sunzha Regiment was founded in 1845.


During the Russo-Circassian War (until 1864) in the west and the Murid War (1830-1859) in the east, the line was the northern base for the conquest of the mountains. When the fighting ended the Cossacks were no longer needed for local fighting, but they remained and remain a rather distinct community.


A proper account of peasant settlement north of the line on the Black Sea-Caspian Steppe would require census figures which do not seem to exist.


The Dandarii or Dandaridae were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis in antiquity. Strabo describes them as living among the Maeotae, Sindi, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among others. The Dandarii were one of the Maeotae tribes, who lived in the 1st millennium BC on the east and the south-eastern coast of the Azov sea. In the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia", they were concluded to have been one of the ancestors to the Circassians. Maeotae were engaged in farming and fishing. In the 4th–3rd centuries BC many of the Maeotae tribes were included into the Bosporan Kingdom.


The Circassians (; ), also known by their endonym Adyghe (Circassian languages: Адыгэхэр, "Adıgəxər" , "Adygi"; ), are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, most of whom were exiled to Turkey and the Middle East during the Circassian genocide in the aftermath of the Russo-Circassian War. The Circassians used to mainly speak the Circassian languages, a Northwest Caucasian dialect continuum with two main dialects and numerous sub-dialects, but the Circassian language has been mostly forgotten over the years and today most Circassians speak Turkish, Russian, English, Arabic and Hebrew, having been exiled by Russia to lands of the Ottoman Empire, where the majority of them live today. The majority of Circassians are Muslim.


The term "Circassian" includes the twelve historic Adyghe tribes of Circassia (three democratic and nine aristocratic); Abdzakh, Besleney, Bzhedugh, Hatuqwai, Qabardey, Mamkhegh, Natukhaj, Shapsugh, Chemguy, Ubykh, Yegeruqwai and Zhaney, each star on the Circassian flag representing one tribe.


Historical Circassia has been divided by Soviet and Russian administrations into the modern-day republics of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and Krasnodar Krai, as well as southwestern parts of Stavropol Krai and Rostov Oblast. Accordingly, Circassians or Adyghe have also been designated as the following: "Adygeans" in Adygea, "Kabardians" in Kabardino-Balkaria, "Cherkess" in Karachay-Cherkessia, and "Shapsug" in Krasnodar Krai, although all four are essentially the same people. About 800,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia, while others live in the Russian Federation outside these republics and "krais". The 2010 Russian Census recorded 718,727 Circassians, of whom 516,826 are Kabardian, 124,835 are other Adyghe in Adygea, 73,184 are Cherkess and 3,882 Shapsug.


The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization estimated in the early 1990s that there are as many as 3.7 million "ethnic Circassian" diaspora (in over 50 countries) outside the titular Circassian republics (meaning that only one in seven "ethnic Circassians" lives in their homeland), and that, of these 3.7 million, more than 2 million live in Turkey, 300,000 in the Levant (mostly in modern-day Jordan and Syria) and Mesopotamia and 50,000 in Western Europe and the United States.


The Circassians refer to themselves as "Adyghe" (also transliterated as "Adyga", "Adyge", "Adygei", "Adyghe", "Attéghéi"). The name is believed to derive from "atté" "height" to signify a mountaineer or a highlander, and "ghéi" "sea", signifying "a people dwelling and inhabiting a mountainous country near the sea coast", or "between two seas".


In languages in the geography close to the Caucasus, the name has been settled as "Cherkes/Circassian". It is the same or similar in many world languages that cite these languages.


In early Russian sources, the Circassians are referred to as "Kasogi", whereas in medieval Arabic sources, "Kasogi" is written as "Jarkas" and "Jahārkas". The spelling "Charkas" may be an abbreviation of Persian "Chahār-kas" ("four people"), denoting four tribes. Though "Jahārkas" was used by Ibn Khaldun (died 1406) and Ali ibn al-Athir (died c. 1232/3), the Persian hypothesis remains uncertain.


With the advent of the Golden Horde in the 13th century, the designation "Cherkess" "came to refer to the Adyghe who remained in the Caucasus". This in turn created terminology "anomalies", and as a result, "Cherkes" became often used alongside other names such as "Adyghe", "Abaza", "Kabardian", and "Abkhaz". In Medieval Oriental and European texts, "the Adyghe people were known by the name Cherkess/Circassians".


The "Encyclopaedia Islamica" adds: "This is because the Cherkess, the Kabardians and the western Adyghe people share a common language, which is spoken by the north-western Caucasian (Abkhazi) people, and belongs to the family known as Abkhazian-Adyghe". In Persian sources, "Charkas/Cherkes" is used to refer to the "actual" Circassians of the northwest Caucasus, and in some occasions as a general designation for Caucasians who live beyond Derbent (Darband).


Despite a common self-designation and a common Russian name, Soviet authorities applied four designations to Circassians remaining in the historic lands of Circassia:


Genetically, the Adyghe have shared ancestry partially with neighboring peoples of the Caucasus, with some influence from the other regions. The Circassian language, also known as Cherkess, is a member of the Northwest Caucasian language family. Archaeological findings, mainly of dolmens in Northwest Caucasus region, indicate a megalithic culture in the Northwest Caucasus.


The ancestors of present-day Circassians are known as the Sind-Maeot tribes. Findings obtained as a result of archaeological research show that these tribes were the indigenous people of the Caucasus. Some researchers have claimed there may be links between Circassians and Indo-European-speaking communities, and some have argued that there are connections between Circassians and Hatti, who are from ancient Anatolian peoples, but these theories have not been addressed further and are not widely accepted. Within the scope of genetic tests performed on Circassians, the closest relatives of Circassians were found to be Ingush, Chechens and Abkhazians.


Some groups of nationalist Turks have claimed that the Circassians are of Turkic origin, but no scientific evidence has been published to support this claim, and has been strongly denied by Circassians, impartial research, linguists and historians around the world. Circassian language is not similar to the Turkish language except for borrowed words. According to various historians, the Circassian origin of the Sind-Meot tribes refutes the claim that the Circassians are of Turkic origin. The community, including Circassians, is today classified as "White Caucasian Peoples". Still, some Turkic groups have persisted in claiming Circassians are of Turkic origin, and argued that no proof is needed.


In 1382, Circassian slaves took the Mamluk throne, the Burji dynasty took over and the Mamluks became a Circassian state. The Mongols, who started invading the Caucasus in 1223, destroyed some of the Circassians and most of the Alans. The Circassians, who lost most of their lands during the ensuing Golden Horde attacks, had to retreat to the back of the Kuban River. In 1395 Circassians fought violent wars against Tamerlane, and although the Circassians won the wars, Tamerlane plundered Circassia.


In the 17th century, under the influence of the Crimean Tatars and of the Ottoman Empire, large numbers of Circassians converted to Islam from Christianity.


In 1708, Circassians paid tribute to the Ottoman sultan in order to prevent Tatar raids, but the sultan did not fulfill the obligation and the Tatars raided all the way to the center of Circassia, robbing everything they could. For this reason, Kabardian Circassians announced that they would never pay tribute to the Crimean Khan and the Ottoman Sultan again. The Ottomans sent their army of at least 20,000 men to Kabardia under the leadership of the Crimean khan Kaplan-Girey to conquer the Circassians and ordered him collect the tribute. The Ottomans expected an easy victory against the Kabardinians, but the Circassians won because of the strategy set up by the Kazaniko Jabagh.


The Crimean army was destroyed in one night on 17 September 1708. The Crimean Khan Kaplan-Giray barely managed to save his life, and was humiliated, all the way to his shoes taken, leaving his brother, son, field tools, tents and personal belongings. In 2013, the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences recognized that the Battle of Kinzhal Mountain with the paramount importance in the national history of Circassians, Balkarians and Ossetians.


In 1714, Peter I established a plan to occupy the Caucasus. Although he was unable to implement this plan, he laid the political and ideological foundation for the occupation to take place. Catherine II started putting this plan into action. The Russian army was deployed on the banks of the Terek River.


Although it is not known exactly how many people are affected, researchers have suggested that at least 75%, 90%, 94%, or 95% -97% of the ethnic Circassian population are affected. Considering these rates, calculations including those taking into account the Russian government's own archival figures, have estimated a loss 600,000-1,500,000. Ivan Drozdov, a Russian officer who witnessed the scene at Qbaada in May 1864 as the other Russians were celebrating their victory remarked:


The Ottoman Empire regarded the Adyghe warriors as courageous and well-experienced. It encouraged them to settle in various near-border settlements of the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen the empire's borders.


"Circassia was a small independent nation on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. For no reason other than ethnic hatred, over the course of hundreds of raids the Russians drove the Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history".


As of 2020, Georgia was the only country to classify the events as genocide, while Russia actively denies the Circassian genocide, and classifies the events as a simple migration of "undeveloped barbaric peoples".


The actions of the Russian military in acquiring Circassian land through expulsion and massacres have given rise to a movement among descendants of the expelled ethnicities for international recognition of the perpetration of genocide.


On 20 May 2011 the Georgian parliament voted in a 95 to 0 declaration that Russia had committed genocide when it engaged in massacres against Circassians in the 19th century.


Adyghe society prior to the Russian invasion was highly stratified. While a few tribes in the mountainous regions of Adygeya were fairly egalitarian, most were broken into strict castes. The highest was the caste of the "princes", followed by a caste of lesser nobility, and then commoners, serfs, and slaves. In the decades before Russian rule, two tribes overthrew their traditional rulers and set up democratic processes, but this social experiment was cut short by the end of Adyghe independence.


Circassians mainly speak the Circassian languages, two mutually intelligible languages of the Northwest Caucasian language family, namely Adyghe (West Circassian) and Kabardian (East Adyghe). Adyghe is based on Temirgoy (Chemirgoy) dialect, while Kabardian is based on the dialect of the same name. Circassians also speak Russian, Turkish, English, Arabic, and Hebrew in large numbers, having been exiled by Russia to lands of the Ottoman Empire, where the majority of them live today, and some to neighboring Persia, to which they came primarily through mass deportations by the Safavids and Qajars or, to a lesser extent, as "muhajirs" in the 19th century.


Linguists divide the Northwest Caucasian languages into three branches, namely Circassian (Adyghe and Kabardian), Ubykh (consisting only of the Ubykh language, which is considered to have diverged from the Circassian languages and is now a dead language), and Abazgi (Abkhaz and Abaza). The Ubykhs lived on the Black Sea coast, around the city of Sochi, the capital of Circassia, north of Abkhazia.


Although related, Abazgi and Circassian are mutually unintelligible. Abazgi is spoken by Abkhazians and the Abazins. The Abkhazians lived on the coast between the Circassians and the Georgians, were organized as the Principality of Abkhazia and were involved with the Georgians to some degree. The Abazins or Abaza, their relatives, lived north of the mountains and were involved with Circassia proper. They extended from the mountain crest northeast onto the steppe and partially separated the Kabardians from the rest. Sadz were either northern Abkhazian or eastern Abaza, depending on the source.


Walter Richmond writes that the Circassian languages in Russia are "gravely threatened." He argues that Russian policy of surrounding small Circassian communities with Slavic populations has created conditions where Circassian languages and nationality will disappear. By the 1990s, Russian had become the standard language for business in the Republic of Adygea, even within communities with Circassian majority populations.


Ancestors of modern Adyghe people gradually went through following various religions: Ancient Polytheists Beliefs, Christianity, and then Islam.


It is the tradition of the early church that Christianity made its first appearance in Circassia in the first century AD via the travels and preaching of the Apostle Andrew. Subsequently, Christianity spread throughout the Caucasus between the 4th century and the 6th century.


A small Muslim presence in Circassia has existed since the Middle Ages, but widespread Islamization occurred after 1717, when Sultan Murad IV ordered the Crimean Khans to spread Islam among the Circassians, with the Ottomans and Crimeans seeing some success in converting members of the aristocracy who would then ultimately spread the religion to their dependents. Moreover, the ever increasing threat of an invasion from Russia helped expedite the already centuries long process of gradual islamization of the region.


Significant Christian and pagan presence remained among some tribes such as the Shapsugs and Natukhai with Islamization pressures implemented by those loyal to the Caucasus Emirate. Sufi orders including the Qadiri and Nakshbandi orders gained prominence and played a role in spreading Islam.


Today, a large majority of Circassians are Muslim, with minorities of Habze, atheists and Christians. Atheist Circassians tend to be of the younger generation (20–35 years old), in which they were found to constitute a quarter of Circassians in Kabardino-Balkaria. Among Christians, Catholicism, originally introduced along the coasts by Venetian and Genoese traders, today constitutes just under 1% of Kabardins. Some Circassians are also Orthodox Christian, notably including those in Mozdok and some of those Kursky district. Among Muslims, Islamic observance varies widely between those who only know a few prayers with a Muslim identity that is more "cultural" than religious, to those who regularly observe all requirements.


Both Islam and the Habze are identified as national characteristics even by those that do not practice. Today, Islam is a central part of life in many Circassian diaspora communities, such as in Israel, while in the Circassian homeland Soviet rule saw an extensive process of secularization, and there is wide influence of many social norms which contradict Islamic law, such as widespread norms like social alcohol consumption; in Israel, meanwhile, such non-Islamic social norms are not present.


In the modern times, it has been reported that they identify primarily as Muslims. There have also been reports of violence and threats against those "reviving" and diffusing the original Circassian pre Islamic faith. The relationship between "habze" and Islam varies between Circassian communities; for some, there is conflict between the two, while for others, such as in Israel, they are seen as complementary philosophies.


Society was organized by "Adyghe khabze", or Circassian custom. Many of these customs had equivalents throughout the mountains. The seemingly disorganized Circassians resisted the Russians just as effectively as the organized theocracy of Imam Shamil. The aristocracy was called "warq". Some aristocratic families held the rank of "Pshi" or prince and the eldest member of this family was the "Pshi-tkhamade" who was the tribal chief. Below the warq was the large class to "tfokotl", roughly yeomen or freemen, who had various duties to the "warq".


They were divided into clans of some sort. Below them were three classes approximating serfs or slaves. Of course, these Circassian social terms do not exactly match their European equivalents. Since everything was a matter custom, much depended on time, place, circumstances and personality. The three 'democratic' tribes, Natukhai, Shapsug, and Abdzakh, managed their affairs by assemblies called "Khase" or larger ones called "Zafes".


Decisions were made by general agreement and there was no formal mechanism to enforce decisions. The democratic tribes, who were perhaps the majority, lived mainly in the mountains where they were relatively protected from the Russians. They seem to have retained their aristocrats, but with diminished powers. In the remaining 'feudal' tribes power was theoretically in the hands of the "Pshi-tkhamade", although his power could be limited by Khases or other influential families.


In addition to the vertical relations of class there were many horizontal relations between unrelated persons. There was a strong tradition of hospitality similar to the Greek "xenia". Many houses would have a "kunakskaya" or guest room. The duty of a host extended even to "abreks" or outlaws. Two men might be sworn brothers or "kunaks". There were brotherhoods of unrelated individuals called "tleuzh" who provided each other mutual support. It was common for a child to be raised by an "atalyk" or foster father. Criminal law was mainly concerned with reconciling the two parties. "Adyghe khabze" is sometimes called "adat" when it is contrasted to the kind of Islamic law advocated by people like Imam Shamil.


The traditional female clothing ( ) was very diverse and highly decorated and mainly depends on the region, class of family, occasions, and tribes. The traditional female costume is composed of a dress ( ), coat ( ), shirt, pant ( ), vest ( ), lamb leather bra ( ), a variety of hats ( ), shoes, and belts ( ).


Holiday dresses are made of expensive fabrics such as silk and velvet. The traditional colors of women's clothing rarely includes blue, green or bright-colored tones, instead mostly white, red, black and brown shades are worn. The Circassian dresses were embroidered with gold and silver threads. These embroideries were handmade and took time to complete as they were very intricate.


The traditional male costume ( ) includes a coat with wide sleeves, shirt, pants, a dagger, sword, and a variety of hats and shoes. Traditionally, young men in the warriors’ times wore coat with short sleeves—in order to feel more comfortable in combat. Different colors of clothing for males were strictly used to distinguish between different social classes, for example white is usually worn by princes, red by nobles, gray, brown, and black by peasants (blue, green and the other colors were rarely worn).


A compulsory item in the traditional male costume is a dagger and a sword. The traditional Adyghean sword is called "shashka". It is a special kind of sabre; a very sharp, single-edged, single-handed, and guardless sword. Although the sword is used by most of Russian and Ukrainian Cossacks, the typically Adyghean form of the sabre is longer than the Cossack type, and in fact the word Shashka came from the Adyghe word "Sashkhwa" () which means "long knife". On the breast of the costume are long ornamental tubes or sticks, once filled with a single charge of gunpowder (called gaziri cartridges) and used to reload muskets.


The Adyghe cuisine is rich with different dishes. In the summer, the traditional dishes consumed by the Adyghe people are mainly dairy products and vegetable dishes. In the winter and spring the traditional dishes are mainly flour and meat dishes. An example of the latter is known as "ficcin".


Circassian cheese is considered one of the more famous types of cheeses in the North Caucasus.


A popular traditional dish is chicken or turkey with sauce, seasoned with crushed garlic and red pepper. Mutton and beef are served boiled, usually with a seasoning of sour milk with crushed garlic and salt.


Variants of pasta are found. A type of ravioli may be encountered, which is filled with potato or beef.


On holidays the Adyghe people traditionally make "haliva" () (fried triangular pastries with mainly Circassian cheese or potato), from toasted millet or wheat flour in syrup, baked cakes and pies. In the Levant there is a famous Circassian dish which is called Tajen Alsharkaseiah.


The Adyghes have been famous for making carpets ( ) or mats worldwide for thousands of years.


Making carpets was very hard work in which collecting raw materials is restricted to a specific period within the year. The raw materials were dried, and based on the intended colours, different methods of drying were applied. For example, when dried in the shade, its colour changed to a beautiful light gold colour. If it were dried in direct sun light then it would have a silver colour, and if they wanted to have a dark colour for the carpets, the raw materials were put in a pool of water and covered by poplar leaves ( ).


The carpets were adorned with images of birds, beloved animals (horses), and plants, and the image of the Sun was widely used.


The carpets were used for different reasons due to their characteristic resistance to humidity and cold, and in retaining heat. Also, there was a tradition in Circassian homes to have two carpets hanging in the guest room, one used to hang over rifles ( ) and pistols (), and the other used to hang over musical instruments.


The carpets were used to pray upon, and it was necessary for every Circassian girl to make three carpets before marriage. These carpets would give the grooms an impression as to the success of their brides in their homes after marriage.


From the late Middle Ages, a number of territorial- and political-based Circassian tribes or ethnic entities began to take shape. They had slightly different dialects.


Dialects came to exist after Circassia was divided into tribes after the death of Inal of Kabardia, who united Circassia for the last time before its short reunion during the Russo-Caucasian War. As the logistics between the tribes became harder, each tribe became slightly isolated from one another, thus the people living under the banner of each tribe developed their own dialects. In time, the dialects they speak were named after their tribes.


At the end of the Caucasian War most Circassians were expelled to the Ottoman Empire, and many of the tribes were destroyed and the people evicted from their historical homeland in 1864.


The twelve stars on the Circassian flag symbolize the individual tribes of the Circassians; the nine stars within the arc symbolize the nine aristocratic tribes of Adygea, and the three horizontal stars symbolize the three democratic tribes. The three democratic tribes or tribes were the Natukhai, Shapsug, and Abdzakh. They managed their affairs by assemblies while the other tribes were controlled by "princes" or "Pshi". The twelve tribes are the Abdzakh, Besleney, Bzhedug, Hatuqwai, Kabardian, Mamkhegh, Natukhai, Shapsug, Temirgoy, Ubykh, Yegeruqwai, and Zhaney.


Adyghe tribes with remnants still in Circassia are: Kabarda (the largest), the Temirgoy and Bzhedug in Adygea, and the Shapsug near Tuapse and to the north of Tuapsiysiy Rayon of Krasnodarskiy Kray. There are also a few Besleney and Natukhai villages, and an Abdzakh village. The majority tribes in diaspora are Kabardian, Abdzakh, and Shapsug.


Small tribes or large clans that are included in one of the twelve Adyghe tribes:


The Circassian tribes can be grouped and compared in various ways:


Much of Adyghe culture was disrupted after the conquest of their homeland by Russia in 1864. The Circassian people were subjected to ethnic cleansing and mass exile mainly to the Ottoman Empire, and to a lesser extent Qajar Iran and the Balkans. This increased the number of Circassians in the region and even created several entirely new Circassian communities in the states that got created after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. However, Adyghe have also lived outside the Caucasus region since the Middle Ages. They were particularly well represented in Turkey and Egypt.


Turkey has the largest Adyghe population in the world, around half of all Circassians live in Turkey, mainly in the provinces of Samsun and Ordu (in Northern Turkey), Kahramanmaraş (in Southern Turkey), Kayseri (in Central Turkey), Bandırma, and Düzce (in Northwest Turkey), along the shores of the Black Sea; the region near the city of Ankara. All citizens of Turkey are considered Turks by the government, but it is estimated that approximately two million ethnic Circassians live in Turkey. The "Circassians" in question do not always speak the languages of their ancestors, and in some cases some of them may describe themselves as "only Turkish". The reason for this loss of identity is mostly due to Turkey's Government assimilation policies


Circassians had settled n Cyprus during the Memluk period. However these were mainly members of Memluk Army and majority of them left the island during the Venetian period. Even though, Circassians have arrived to the island during the Otttoman Empire from Caucasus by ships and they settled Limasol Circassian Farm (Cerkez Ciftlik) and villages of Larnaca; Arsos (Yiğitler), Vuda, Tremetousa (Erdemli), Paralimni in October, 1864. Cypriot Circassians had joined to Turkish Cypriot Community and some of them to Greek Cypriot Community. Although they lost their languages and cultures, they still express themselves as Circassian.


In Israel, the Adyghe initially settled in three places—in Kfar Kama, Rehaniya, and in the region of Hadera. Due to a malaria epidemic, the Adyghe eventually abandoned the settlement near Hadera. Though Sunni Muslim, Adyghe within Israel are seen as a loyal minority who serve in the Israeli armed forces.


The Adyghe had a major role in the history of the Kingdom of Jordan. Over the years, various Adyghe have served in distinguished roles in the kingdom of Jordan. Adyghes have served as a prime minister (Sa'id al-Mufti), as ministers (commonly at least one minister should represent the Circassians in each cabinet), as high-ranking officers, etc., and due to their important role in the history of Jordan, Adyghe form the Hashemites' honour guard at the royal palaces. They represented Jordan in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2010, joining other honour guards such as the Airborne Ceremonial Unit. Jordanian Circassians cluster around several areas, most notably Sweileh in Amman.


During the 13th century the Mamluks seized power in Cairo. Some 15th-century Circassian converts to Islam became Mamluks and rose through the ranks of the Mamluk dynasty to high positions, some becoming sultans in Egypt such as Qaitbay, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (1468–1496). The majority of the leaders of the Burji Mamluk dynasty in Egypt (1382–1517) had Circassian origins, while also including Abkhaz, Abaza, and Georgian peoples whom the Arab sultans had recruited to serve their kingdoms as a military force. With the rise of Muhammad Ali Pasha (who ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1848), most senior Mamluks were killed by him in order to secure his rule and the remaining Mamluks fled to Sudan.


Most Circassian communities in Egypt were assimilated into the local population. several thousand Adyghe reside in Egypt; in addition to the descendants of Burji Mamluks of Adyghe origin, there are many who descend from royal Circassian consorts or Ottoman pashas of Circassian origin as well as Circassian muhajirs of the 19th century.


Adyghe came to Iraq directly from Circassia. They settled in all parts of Iraq—from north to south—but most of all in Iraq's capital Baghdad. Many Adyghe also settled in Kerkuk, Diyala, Fallujah, and other places. Circassians have played major roles in different periods throughout Iraq's history, and made great contributions to political and military institutions in the country, to the Iraqi Army in particular. Several Iraqi prime ministers have been of Circassian descent.


However, significant communities of Circassians continue to live in particular cities in Iran, like Tabriz and Tehran, and in the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran.


Notable places of traditional Circassian settlement in Iran include Gilan Province, Fars Province, Isfahan, and Tehran (due to contemporary migration). Circassians in Iran are the nation's second largest Caucasus-derived nation after the Georgians.


Significant communities live in Jordan, Syria (see Circassians in Syria), and smaller communities live in Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rehaniya—see Circassians in Israel). Circassians are also present in Iraq. Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah, and Diyala comprise the country's main cities with Circassians, though lesser numbers are spread in other regions and cities as well.


Out of 1,010 Circassians living in Ukraine (473 Kabardian Adyghe (Kabardin), 338 Adygean Adyghe, and 190 Cherkessian Adyghe (Cherkess)—after the existing Soviet division of Circassians into three groups), only 181 (17.9%) declared fluency in the native language; 96 (9.5%) declared Ukrainian as their native language, and 697 (69%) marked "other language" as being their native language. The major Adyghe community in Ukraine is in Odessa.


There is a small community of Circassians in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. A number of Adyghe also settled in Bulgaria in 1864–1865 but most fled after it became separated from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. The small part of the community that settled in Kosovo (the Kosovo Adyghes) moved to the Republic of Adygea in 1998, after the reprisals of the Serbian occupation forces became heavily intensified. The majority of the community, however, remained in Kosovo where they have been well established and integrated into Kosovan society. Many members of this community can be identified as they carry the family name "Çerkezi", or "Qerkezi". This community is also well established in the Republic of North Macedonia, usually mingling with the Albanian Muslim population.


There are Circassians in Germany and a small number in the Netherlands.


Numerous Circassians have also immigrated to the United States and settled in Upstate New York, California, and New Jersey. There is also a small Circassian community in Canada.


The 2014 Winter Olympics facilities in Sochi (once the Circassian capital) were built in areas that were claimed to contain mass graves of Circassians who were killed during genocide by Russia in military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864.


Adyghe organizations in Russia and the Adyghe diaspora around the world requested that construction at the site stop and that the Olympic Games not be held at the site of the Adyghe genocide, to prevent desecration of Adyghe graves. According to Iyad Youghar, who headed the lobby group International Circassian Council: "We want the athletes to know that if they compete here they will be skiing on the bones of our relatives." The year 2014 also marked the 150th anniversary of the Circassian Genocide which angered the Circassians around the world. Many protests were held all over the world to stop the Sochi Olympics, but were not successful.


The insurgency in the North Caucasus () was a low-level armed conflict between Russia and militants associated with the Caucasus Emirate and, since June 2015, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) groups, in the North Caucasus. It followed the official end of the decade-long Second Chechen War on 16 April 2009. It attracted people from the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Central Asia, who then participated in the conflict, but volunteers from the North Caucasus are also fighting in Syria.


The insurgency became relatively dormant in its later years. During its peak, the violence was mostly concentrated in the North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. Occasional incidents happened in surrounding regions, like North Ossetia-Alania, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol Krai and Volgograd Oblast.


The insurgency was officially declared over on 19 December 2017 after more than 8 years when FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov announced the final elimination of the terrorist underground in the North Caucasus.


In late 1999, Russia's Premier, Vladimir Putin, ordered military, police and security forces to enter the breakaway region of Chechnya. By early 2000, these forces occupied most of the region. High levels of fighting


continued for several more years and resulted in thousands of Russian and Chechen casualties and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. In 2005, Chechen rebel leader, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev, decreed the formation of a Caucasus Front against Russia, among Islamic believers in the North Caucasus, in an attempt to widen Chechnya's conflict with Russia. After his death, his successor, Dokka Umarov, declared continuing jihad to establish an Islamic fundamentalist Caucasus Emirate in the North Caucasus and beyond. Russia's pacification policy in Chechnya has involved setting up a pro-Moscow regional government and transferring more local security duties to this government.


In the period from 2010 to 2014, the number of casualties in the North Caucasus insurgency declined each year, with the overall death toll falling by more than half. Reasons suggested for the decline include the deaths of high-ranking insurgency commanders, the increased targeting by security forces of the support infrastructure relied on by the insurgents, and an exodus of insurgents to other conflict zones. A special investigation by "Reuters" claimed that in the lead-up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Russian security services had allowed and encouraged militants to leave Russia to fight in the Syrian Civil War, in order to reduce the risk of domestic attacks.


The insurgency in the North Caucasus is a direct result of the two post-Soviet wars fought between Russia and Chechnya. The First Chechen War was a nationalist struggle, with both secular and Islamist overtones, for independence from Russia and took place between 1994 and 1996. After a vicious struggle between Russian federal forces and Chechen separatist guerrillas, Chechnya was granted "de facto" independence per the terms of the Khasavyurt Accord, signed on 30 August 1996. With a devastated infrastructure and various armed factions, subordinate to specific warlords, the next three years saw Chechnya devolve into a corrupted and criminal state, plagued by armed gangs, an epidemic of kidnappings-for-ransom and the rise of radical Islam in the region as a response to suppression.


In August 1999, an armed incursion of 1,500 Islamic radicals, led by Chechen warlord, Shamil Basayev, and Arab jihadist, Ibn al-Khattab, in support of a Dagestani separatist movement, combined with a series of apartment bombings in Russia, gave Moscow sufficient reasoning for re-invading Chechnya, thus triggering the Second Chechen War, a conflict fought with significant Islamist overtones.


The republic remained a major center of violence for many years. According to Russian figures, between April 2009 (when the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya was officially ended) and April 2010, 97 servicemen were killed in Chechnya; at the same time, government forces killed 189 persons claimed to be militants or their collaborators. Reported casualties declined, with 26 security forces and 24 suspected militants being killed in 2014.


Dagestan is the most religious, populous and complex of all the north Caucasian republics. It is double the size of Chechnya and consists of several dozen ethnic groups, most with their own language. The conflict in Dagestan, however, is not between ethnic groups but between Sufism, a syncretic form of Islam which includes local customs and recognises the state, and Salafism, a more traditional form which rejects secular rule and insists that the Salafist interpretation of Islam should govern all spheres of life.


Dagestan has the highest levels of violence and extremism in the North Caucasus republics. The Russian Interior Ministry stated that of the 399 terrorist crimes committed in the North Caucasus in 2013, 242 were in Dagestan.


By 2017, all subversive and terrorist groups operating in Dagestan were eliminated.


Along with Dagestan, Ingushetia bore the brunt of the violence in the North Caucasus in the Insurgencies early years. The Islamist insurgency in the republic sprang from the wars in neighbouring Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s. In June 2004, Ingush and Chechen fighters launched a large-scale attack on Ingushetia's biggest town, Nazran, killing scores of civilians, policemen and soldiers.


As elsewhere in the North Caucasus, the brutality of state security forces has been a major factor, driving young men to join the Islamists. Under the presidency of the former KGB officer, Murat Zyazikov, teams of masked operatives kidnapped, tortured and killed suspected rebels and members of their families. Zyazikov's successor, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, appointed in 2008, had success in dampening the violence, although he was seriously injured in a suicide bombing by the militants during his first year in office. Human rights violations by Russian commandos decreased, but remained widespread.


The capture of Ali Taziev in June 2010, an ethnic Ingush and one of the top leaders of the Caucasus Emirate, dealt a blow to the jihadists in Ingushetia, with the number of attacks falling substantially over the next 5 years. In mid-2015, Ingushetia's president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, stated that the insurgency in the Republic had been 'defeated'.


The insurgency in Kabardino-Balkaria began in the early 2000s and was led by the Yarmuk Jamaat, a militant Islamist jamaat which flourished as a result of persecution of Muslims by police and security forces.


In October 2005, several score of the militants launched a raid on the capital of the republic, Nalchik, which left 142 people dead. The guerrillas have also carried out numerous assassinations of government officials and law enforcement officers.


The republic saw a flare-up of violence in late 2010 and early 2011, in the wake of the death of Anzor Astemirov, a senior figure in the Caucasus Emirate and the head of its United Vilayat of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachay. The new leaders of Kabardino-Balkaria's guerrilla movement, Asker Dzhappuyev and Ratmir Shameyev, preferred a more aggressive approach and the militants murdered several civilians in the republic, including Russian tourists. In response, a vigilante group called the Black Hawks threatened the relatives of some of the Islamists. Dzhappuyev, Shameyev and Khamurzov were killed in a special operation by security forces in April 2011.


Casualties fell in the following years. There was a total of 49 people (militants, security forces and civilians) reported killed in the republic over the whole of 2014.


On 9 September 2010, a car-bomb attack occurred at a crowded marketplace in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, killing 19 adults and children, and injuring over 190. President Medvedev responded, that "we will certainly do everything to catch these monsters, who have committed a terrorist attack against ordinary people. What's more, a barbarous terrorist attack. We will do everything, so that they are found and punished in accordance with the law of our country, or in the case of resistance or other cases, so that they are eliminated."


Vilayat Galgaycho reportedly took responsibility, stating that the attack was aimed against "Ossetian infidels" on "occupied Ingush lands".


The majority of the civilians killed were Russians, but also foreigners from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Austria, United Kingdom and Armenia were killed in terrorist attacks.


North Caucasian Soviet Republic (, "Severo-Kavkazskaya Sovetskaya Respublika") (July 7–December, 1918) was a territory in the North Caucasus established to consolidate Soviet power during the Russian Civil War. A republic of the Russian SFSR, it was created by merging the Kuban-Black Sea Soviet Republic, the Stavropol Soviet Republic, and the Terek Soviet Republic. Its capital was Yekaterinodar; however, on August 17, 1918 Yekaterinodar was taken by Denikin's Volunteer Army, and the capital was moved to Pyatigorsk.


By the end of 1918, when the majority of the republic's territory was captured by the White Army, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee abolished the republic.


The North Caucasus Operation was a strategic offensive conducted by the Caucasian Front of the Red Army against the White Armed Forces of South Russia in the North Caucasus region between 17 January and 7 April 1920. It took place on the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War and was a Soviet attempt to destroy White resistance.


The operation ended with the defeat of the White forces in the North Caucasus and the evacuation of the remnants of the Volunteer Army, reduced to a corps, to Crimea. The Red Army advanced to the borders of Georgia and Azerbaijan by the end of the operation, which was followed by an invasion of Azerbaijan.


The Soviet plan provided for the four armies of the right wing and center to launch a strong frontal attack towards Yekaterinodar along the line from the mouth of the Don to Sadovoe and destroy the White troops, preventing them from retreating towards the Kuban. On the left wing, the 11th Army was to simultaneously launch an offensive against Kizlyar and Svyatoy Krest. Subsequently, the offensive of the front was to be directed towards the center and left wing, using converging attacks to defeat the White troops in the central and southern North Caucasus and capture Stavropol, Mineralnye Vody, the Grozny oilfields, and Dagestan.


At the beginning of February Denikin ordered the subordination of the Separate Volunteer Corps to the Don Army for a counterattack, but the Caucasus Front preempted this by resuming the advance.


The second phase of the offensive, described in Soviet historiography as the Tikhoretsk Operation, ran from 14 February to 2 March. During the operation, the Red attack decisively defeated the AFSR, splitting the White front in the North Caucasus in two and creating the conditions for the final attack. As a result, the strategic initiative in the Caucasus finally passed to the Red Army. To stave off complete defeat, Denikin began a retreat into the Kuban. Simultaneous with the Tikhoretsk Operation, the 11th Army cooperated with pro-Bolshevik partisans at Stavropol to carry out the Stavropol Operation, during which that city was taken on 29 February, and the Kuban Army (the renamed Caucasus Army) pushed back into the Kuban.


In late April, the Caucasus Front advanced to the border of Georgia and Azerbaijan from the Black Sea to the Caspian, preceding the invasion of Azerbaijan. The front had captured an area of 296,000 square kilometers with a population of 6.91 million during the operation.


The operation resulted in the destruction of a large portion of the AFSR, one of the strongest threats to the Bolsheviks; Soviet troops reported the capture of 163,600 White soldiers and officers, 537 guns, 723 machine guns, 23 armored trains, seventeen tanks, thirty armored cars, about 3.4 million artillery shells, and 60 million cartridges, among others. The victory of the operation freed up large forces for the Polish–Soviet War and the Perekop–Chongar Offensive later that year. In Crimea, Denikin gave up command to Pyotr Wrangel on 4 April and went into exile.


For their actions in the operation, three rifle and three cavalry regiments of the Red Army were awarded the Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner along with a single artillery battery, while two regiments of the 21st Rifle Division received the Order of the Red Banner.


The Siraces (, , also "Siraceni" and "Seraci") were a hellenized Sarmatian tribe that inhabited Sarmatia Asiatica; the coast of Achardeus at the Black Sea north of the Caucasus Mountains, Siracena is mentioned by Tacitus as one of their settlements. They were said to be relatively small nation but with great morale. They were neighbours to the later enemy tribe of Aorsi.


They migrated from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea region. By the late 4th century, they had occupied lands between the Caucasus mountains and the Don, becoming masters of the Kuban region. They were the first Sarmatian tribe to have contact with the Hellenic groups on the coast of the Black Sea.


In 310–309 BC, their king Aripharnes took part in the Bosporan Civil War and lost at the battle of the River Thatis (a tributary of the Kuban river).


In the 1st century BC during the rule of Pharnaces II of Pontus, King of Siraces Abeacus organized 20,000 horses after the Roman occupation of the Kingdom of Pontus (63–62 BC).


They and the Aorsi were merchants who traded with goods of Babylonia and India through the Armenians and Medes, with camels. They profited greatly from this, seen in their clothing attributed with much gold.


King Zorsines fought in the Bosporus under Mithridates, the king of Armenia, against the Dandaridae. Their ally Mithridates later turned against the Romans who had put Mithridates on the throne in 41. Mithridates eluded the Romans and recovered his kingdom. In the Bosporan War, The Aorsi under Prince Eunones, sent by Aquila and Cotys is sent after Mithridates and his lands, fights with Zorsines and sieges Uspe in 49 AD (The town offers 10,000 slaves for their capitulation but the assault continues as the Romans decline), Zorsines finally decides to leave Mithridates to rule his paternal lands, after giving hostages to the Romans and thus making peace. He acknowledged Roman superiority before the image of Emperor Claudius and the power of the Siraces is greatly weakened.


They were the most hellenized of the Sarmatians, and maintained good relations with the Bosporans.


Ptolemy mentions their colony in Sinai in the second century. In 193 AD, after another conflict in the Bosporus, the Siraces disappears from the history.


See Marek Jan Olbrycht, Die Aorser, die Oberen Aorser und die Siraker bei Strabon. Zur Geschichte und Eigenart der Völker im nordostpontischen und nordkaukasischen Raum im 2.-1. Jh. v. Chr. [The Aorsians, the Upper Aorsians, and the Sirakians in Strabo. On the History and Characteristics of the Peoples in the Northeastern Pontic and North Caucasian regions in the 2nd -1st century BC.], Klio 83(2001):425-450; DOI:10.1524/klio.2001.83.2.425


Amjad Jaimoukha (Circassian: Жэмыхъуэ Амджэд, ; sometimes quoted as "Амыщ", the Circassian personal name) was a Circassian writer, publicist and historian, who wrote a number of books on North Caucasian – specifically Circassian and Chechen – culture and folklore. According to the "Circassian Encyclopaedia" "Jaimoukha is perhaps the most important writer on Circassian issues". He was considered one of the most influential Circassian writers and publicists in the last decade. In particular, he was active in promoting and assisting a new crop of Circassian and non-Circassian writers working on raising the profile of Caucasian issues at the global level.


Jaimoukha published with the following Western publishing houses: Routledge [RoutledgeCurzon], Curzon, Bennett and Bloom, Palgrave (Macmillan) [St. Martin's Press], L'Harmattan. He also worked with Sanjalay Press and the International Centre for Circassian Studies.


Jaimoukha was director of the International Centre for Circassian Studies (ICCS), an institute specialising in the dissemination of Circassian culture and folklore. The Centre is the brainchild of the famous Circassian writer and film producer and director Mohydeen Quandour. The principal aim of the Centre is the development and dissemination of Circassian literature, culture and folklore. There is a particular emphasis on boosting the status of Circassian and to promote its teaching and use. The Centre publishes a bilingual journal (in Circassian and English) "The Hearth Tree". The publications of the Centre can be accessed via its website.


Jaimoukha devised a Latin orthography for Kabardian (Eastern Circassian) that is characterised by relative simplicity (considering the complexity of the language). An advantage of this system is that it has a one-to-one correspondence with the current Cyrillic orthography used for Kabardian, and already a software has been designed to render one orthography into the other, making it possible to turn works already published in Cyrillic Kabardian into the new orthography, and vice versa, facilitating transition from one system to the other.


Jaimoukha previously held the position of Assistant President of the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) in the period 2003-2007. He published a number of studies and bibliographic tomes during his tenure at RSS, including "Scientific Integrity", "Intellectual Capital Report", and "Bibliography of the Publications of the Royal Scientific Society".


Principal literary collaborations included work with Nicholas Awde, the editor of the Caucasus World series published by Routledge and co-owner of the publishing house Bennett and Bloom, JonArno Lawson, the writer of a number of fantastic books, and Michel Malherbe, the prolific writer and editor of the "Parlons..." series published by the French publishing house L'Harmattan. A work on the Adigean dialect of Circassian was scheduled to be published by L'Harmattan in 2010. Jaimoukha contributed five articles (on the Circassians, Kabardians, Karachai, Dagestanis, and Jordan) in Carl Skutsche's seminal three-volume work "Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities", published by Routledge in 2004 in New York.


There was a close co-operation with the Circassian writer Luba Belaghi (Balagova; publications in Circassian and Russian) in the framework of the publications of the International Centre for Circassian Studies.


The Caucasian Imamate, also known as the Caucasus Imamate (), was the state established by the imams in Chechnya and Dagestan during the early-to-mid 19th century in the North Caucasus, to fight against the Russian Empire during the Caucasian War, where Russia sought to conquer the Caucasus in order to secure communications with its new territories south of the mountains.


Previously in the Northeast Caucasus, there had, since recordable history, been a large array of states.


Caucasian Albania had existed in Southern Dagestan, for most of its history being a vassal under the direct rule of the Parthians and later the Sasanid Persians, but eventually, the majority converted to Islam following the Muslim conquest of Persia, as their overlords did. Traveling Arabs proved to be instrumental in this, and after they left, they relinquished the new Muslim states of Lezghia (centered in the Islamic learning center of Derbent), Lakia (centered in another, rival city of Islamic learning, Kumukh) and their less important neighbors. In these areas (Southern and Southeast Dagestan), where interethnic conflict was often present, Islam served a unifying role, and it was often the clerical establishment which mediated disputes.


Islam was far less well-ingrained, but still highly important in Chechnya. This region had always lain far outside the influence of Caucasian Albania and fiercely fought off the Arab invaders. The Georgian chronicles noted the existence of a Dzurdzuketia (Dzurdzuks, the Georgian name for the Vainakhs, the ancestors of Chechens and Ingush), which appears to have been absorbed into Alania at times, constituting an important part of the latter. Sarir was the strongest. Sarir at times adopted Christianity as the nominal, but not in reality, official religion. It was reduced at various times to a puppet state of Alania, Khazaria, or Sarmatia. In this area, kingdoms arose and fell or were subjugated frequently, and the Dido were reduced to their current state.


In Chechnya, Islam was considerably less ingrained than in the Imamate's other claims. Islam only began to make inroads in the 16th century in Chechnya, and even then was not highly important, with the indigenous Vainakh religion still holding strong. It was only at the point of the threat of Russian conquest that people began to turn en masse, to Islam as a way to mobilize a coordinated resistance to Russian encroachment. Islam was spread to the Chechens this way mainly through the work of Sheikh Mansur. Nonetheless, as Shamil and his predecessors discovered, the actual commitment of the Chechens to Islam was disappointingly small. Paganism remained in practice until the early 19th century.


Parts of the Muslim population started to radicalize due to rapacious Russian activity and taxation and were calling for a Gazawat (Holy War) and the enforcement of Sharia. Two imams, Imam Ghazi Muhammad and Imam Shamil, attempted to initiate the Gazawat they called for by trying to seize the capital of Khunzakh from the khan of Pakkou-Bekkhe in 1827. The attack failed and so, disheartened, the imams bided their time, waiting for the various Muslim tribes to agree with one another. In 1828, the two attacked again, this time in Northern Dagestan, and with success.


The Russians, who at the time ruled over Northern Dagestan, were used to fighting on the open battlefields of Europe inlined formation instead of the thick woods of the Caucasus and so were very unprepared for the guerrilla tactics of the two imams, resulting in a victory for Ghazi and Shamil. However, this action would start the Caucasian War , a war between the Imamate and Russia that would eventually lead to the capture of all the Caucasus by the Russian Empire.


Here the Imamate was formed, with Ghazi self-appointed as its first leader. The supreme government body of the Imamate, the State Council (Dīvān) was formed which consisted of Sufi Muslim scholars and students as well as Shamil's military lieutenants, his "Naibs".


During the war the Imamate would see support from other Muslim tribes, eventually amalgamating with Chechnya, parts of Ingushetia and the rest of Dagestan during the Imamship of Imam Shamil. The


western tribes, the Adyghes would fall under the control of the Imamate during Shamil's rule as well, but a problem arose in the form of the Kabardins and Ossetians that sat in between Shamil's east and west tribes, so these tribes were run mainly by Shamil's "naibs" who had traveled to the west instead of the "Dīvān" itself.


The Imamate's first leader was Imam Ghazi Muhammad, who ruled from 1828 until 1832 when he was succeeded by Gamzat-bek four years later. When he was murdered in 1834, by a band which included Hadji Murad, Shamil became the third imam. The Imamate reached its peak under Shamil's rule, spanning all of the Muslim Northern Caucasus.


The Imamate was a highly militaristic country, having been at war since its establishment. Its politics were always concerned with the furthering of Islam or the Caucasian War. As such, the only people that ever sat on its council were Muslim scholars or military "naibs".


The war and the surrender of the Imamate.


Whereas previous enemies of the empire had been imprisoned, killed or exiled, Shamil became a national celebrity [in Russia]. After his surrender, he settled into a comfortable retirement in Kaluga, southeast of Moscow.


In 1859, Shamil wrote to one of his sons: "By the will of the Almighty, the Absolute Governor, I have fallen into the hands of unbelievers... the Great Emperor... has settled me here... in a tall, spacious house with carpets and all the necessities."


After the Russian Revolution of 1917, an attempt to reestablish the Imamate with the help of Turkey, during March–April 1918, was made by the son of one of Shamil's naibs, Najmuddin Hotso. This name stems from the Dagestani settlement of Gotso (when he was awarded nobility by Tsar). He was pronounced the fourth Imam of the North Caucasus and deposed the Soviet power, but was soon defeated by the Soviets. Hotso only had support in Dagestan, and there he carried on his fight (in Chechnya, meanwhile, North Caucasian nationalists of various creeds similarly went into guerrilla war against the Russians). Both were finally quelled in 1925.


Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans (proto-Ossetians) that flourished in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia–Alania, from its independence from the Khazars in the late 9th century until its destruction by the Mongol invasion in 1238–39. Its capital was Maghas, and it controlled a vital trade route through the Darial Pass. The kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century, under the rule of king Durgulel.


The name "Alania" stems from the Old Iranian root *"Aryāna-", a derivative form of the Indo-Iranian root *"arya"- ('Aryan'). It is cognate with the name of Iran ("Ērān"), which stems from the Old Persian "*Aryānām" ('of the Aryans')"."


The Alans (Alani) originated as an Iranian-speaking subdivision of the Sarmatians. They were split by the invasion of the Huns into two parts, the European and the Caucasian. The Caucasian Alans occupied part of the North Caucasian plain and the foothills of the main mountain chain from the headwaters of the Kuban River in the west to the Darial Gorge in the east.


After Leo assumed the imperial title, the land of his mountaineer allies was invaded by Umar II's forces. A Khazar chieftain, Barjik, hastened to their succor and, in 722, the joint Alan-Khazar army inflicted a defeat on the Arab general Tabit al-Nahrani. The Khazars erected Skhimar and several other strongholds in Alania at this period. In 728 Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, having penetrated the Gate of the Alans, devastated the country of the Alans. Eight years later, Marwan ibn Muhammad passed by the Gate in order to ravage the forts in Alania. In 758, as Ibn al-Faqih reports, the Gate was held by another Arab general, Yazid ibn Usayd.


As a result of their united stand against the successive waves of invaders from the south, the Alans of the Caucasus fell under the overlordship of the Khazar Khaganate. They remained staunch allies of the Khazars in the 9th century, supporting them against a Byzantine-led coalition during the reign of the Khazar king Benjamin. According to the anonymous author of the Schechter Letter, many Alans were during this period adherents of Judaism.


In the late 9th century, Alania became independent from the Khazars. In the early 10th century, the Alans fell under the influence of the Byzantine Empire due to King Constantine III of Abkhazia's activities in north Caucasus, the latter sent an army into Alan territory and, with the Byzantine patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, converted the Alans to Christianity. The conversion is documented in the letters of Patriarch Nicholas Mysticus to the local archbishop, Peter, who was appointed here through King George II of Abkhazia's efforts.


When Ibn Rustah visited Alania at some point between 903 and 913, its king was by then Christian. The Persian traveller came to Alania from Sarir, a Christian kingdom immediately to the east:


The Byzantines, who had adopted an anti-Khazar foreign policy, involved the Alans in a war against the Khaganate during the reign of the Khazar ruler Aaron II, probably the early 920s. In this war the Alans were defeated and their king captured. According to Muslim sources such as al-Mas'udi (943/56), the Alans abandoned Christianity and expelled the Byzantine missionaries and clergy roughly contemporaneously with these events. Aaron's son married the daughter of the Alan king and Alania was re-aligned with the Khazars, remaining so until the collapse of the Khaganate in the 960s.


In the late 1230s all three Christian powers - Alania, Georgia, and Vladimir-Suzdal - fell before the Mongol invaders. Bishop Theodore of Alania described the plight of his metropolis in a lengthy epistolary sermon written during the tenure of Patriarch Germanus II (1222–40). The French-Flemish monk and traveler William of Rubruck mentions Alans numerous times in the account of his 1253–1255 journey through Eurasia to the Great Khan, e.g. Alans living as Mongol subjects in Crimea, Old Astrakhan, the Khan's capital Karakoram, and also still as freemen in their Caucasian homeland ("the Alans or Aas, who are Christians and still fight the Tartars").


The wars of Timur in the 14th century inflicted the final blow on Alania and decimated its population. Those who survived being killed or enslaved by the Mongols and Timur's armies, broke up into three groups. One retreated into the foothills and valleys of the central Caucasus and produced the two principal Ossetian groups, Digor and Iron. Another group of Alans migrated with the Kipchaks into Eastern Europe and preserved their language and ethnic identity as the Jassic people until the 15th century. The third group joined the Mongol horde and soon disappeared from history.


The nomenclature used by the rulers of Alania is unknown. Where they are mentioned by historical records, they are variously called "lord", "prince", "king", "tsar", and by the Byzantines, "exousiokrator". Notably, the Byzantines never referred to other foreign rulers by this title, using "arkhon" or "exousiastes" instead.


In the last years of the Soviet Union, as nationalist movements swept throughout the Caucasus, many intellectuals in the North Ossetian ASSR called for the revival of the name "Alania". A leading Ossetian philologist, T.A. Guriev, was the main advocate of this idea, insisting that the Ossetians should accept the name of the Alans as their self-designation and rename North Ossetia into Alania. The term "Alania" quickly became popular in Ossetian daily life through the names of various enterprises, a TV channel, political and civic organizations, a publishing house, a soccer team, an airline company etc. In November 1994, the name of "Alania" was officially added to the republican title (Republic of North Ossetia–Alania).