From whom did the Adygs originate? Circassians (Adygs)

Circassians (Adygs). What are they? (Brief information from history and current status.)

Circassians (the self-name of the Adygs) are the oldest inhabitants of the North-West Caucasus, whose history, according to many Russian and foreign researchers, goes back centuries, to the Age of Stone.

As Gleason's Illustrated Magazine noted in January 1854, “Their history is so long that, with the exception of China, Egypt and Persia, the history of any other country is but a tale of yesterday. The Circassians have a striking feature: they have never lived under external domination. The Adygs were defeated, they were driven into the mountains, suppressed by superior force. But they never, even for a short time, obeyed anyone other than their own laws. And now they live under the rule of their leaders according to their own customs.

The Circassians are also interesting because they represent the only people on the surface of the globe who can trace an independent national history so far into the past. They are few in number, but their region is so important and their character so striking that the Circassians are well known to ancient civilizations. Mention of them is found in abundance in Geradotus, Varius Flaccus, Pomponius Mela, Strabo, Plutarch and other great writers. Their stories, legends, epics are a heroic tale of freedom, which they have maintained for at least the last 2,300 years in the face of the most powerful rulers in human memory.”

The history of the Circassians (Adygs) is the history of their multilateral ethnocultural and political ties with the countries of the Northern Black Sea region, Anatolia and the Middle East. This vast space was their single civilizational space, interconnected within itself by millions of threads. At the same time, the bulk of this population, according to the results of research by Z.V. Anchabadze, I.M. Dyakonov, S.A. Starostin and other authoritative researchers of ancient history, for a long period was focused on the Western Caucasus.

The language of the Circassians (Adyghe) belongs to the Western Caucasian (Adyghe-Abkhazian) group of the North Caucasian language family, whose representatives are recognized by linguists as the most ancient inhabitants of the Caucasus. Close connections of this language with the languages ​​of Asia Minor and Western Asia were discovered, in particular with the now dead Huttian, whose speakers lived in this region 4-5 thousand years ago.

The most ancient archaeological realities of the Circassians (Adygs) in the North Caucasus are the Dolmen and Maikop cultures (3rd millennium BC), which took an active part in the formation of the Adyghe-Abkhaz tribes. According to the famous scientist Sh.D. Inal-ipa, the distribution area of ​​dolmens, is basically the “original” homeland of the Circassians and Abkhazians. An interesting fact is that dolmens are found even on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula (mainly in the western part), the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. In this regard, archaeologist V.I. Markovin put forward a hypothesis about the fate of newcomers from the Western Mediterranean in the early ethnogenesis of the Circassians (Adygs) by merging with the Western Caucasian ancient population. He also considers the Basques (Spain, France) to be mediators of linguistic ties between the Caucasus and the Pyrenees.

Along with the Dolmen culture, the Maykop Early Bronze Culture was also widespread. It occupied the territory of the Kuban region and the Central Caucasus, i.e. region of settlement of the Circassians (Adygs) that has remained unchanged for thousands of years. Sh.D.Inal-ipa and Z.V. Anchabadze indicate that the collapse of the Adyghe-Abkhaz community began in the 2nd millennium BC. and ended by the end of the ancient era.

In the 3rd millennium BC, the Hittite civilization developed dynamically in Asia Minor, where the Adyghe-Abkhazians (North-Eastern part) were called Hattians. Already in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Hatti existed as a single Adyghe-Abkhaz state. Subsequently, part of the Hutts, who did not submit to the powerful Hittite Empire, formed the state of Kasku in the upper reaches of the Galis River (Kyzyl-Irmak in Turkey), the inhabitants of which retained their language and went down in history under the name Kaskov (Kashkov). Scientists compare the name Kaskov with the word that later various peoples called the Circassians - Kashags, Kasogs, Kasags, Kasakhs, etc. Throughout the existence of the Hittite Empire (1650-1500 to 1200 BC), the kingdom of Kasku was its an implacable enemy. It is mentioned in written sources until the 8th century. b.c.e.

According to L.I. Lavrov, there was also a close connection between the Northwestern Caucasus and Southern Ukraine and Crimea, which goes back to the pre-Scythian era. This territory was inhabited by a people called the Cimmerians, who, according to the version of famous archaeologists V.D. Balavadsky and M.I. Artamonov, are the ancestors of the Circassians. V.P. Shilov included the Meotians, who were Adyghe-speaking, among the remnants of the Cimmerians. Taking into account the close interactions of the Circassians (Adygs) with the Iranian and Frankish peoples in the Northern Black Sea region, many scientists suggest that the Cimmerians were a heterogeneous union of tribes, which was based on the Adyghe-speaking substrate - the Cimmer tribe. The formation of the Cimmerian Union dates back to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.

In the 7th century b.c.e. Numerous hordes of Scythians poured from Central Asia and attacked Cimmeria. The Scythians drove the Cimmerians west of the Don and into the Crimean steppes. They survived in the southern part of the Crimea under the name Tauri, and to the east of the Don and in the North-Western Caucasus under the collective name Meotians. In particular, these included the Sinds, Kerkets, Achaeans, Heniokhs, Sanigs, Zikhs, Psessians, Fateis, Tarpits, Doskhs, Dandarii, etc.

In the 6th century B.C. The ancient Adyghe state of Sindika was formed, which entered the 4th century. b.c.e. to the Bosporan kingdom. The Bosporan kings always relied in their policies on the Sindo-Maeotians, involved them in military campaigns, and married off their daughters to their rulers. The Maeotian region was the main producer of bread. According to foreign observers, the Sindo-Meotian era in the history of the Caucasus coincides with the era of antiquity in the 6th century. BC. – V century AD According to V.P. Shilov, the western border of the Meotian tribes was the Black Sea, the Kerch Peninsula and the Sea of ​​Azov, from the south the Caucasus Range. In the north, along the Don, they bordered on Iranian tribes. They also lived on the coast of the Azov Sea (Sindian Scythia). Their eastern border was the Laba River. Along the Sea of ​​Azov, a narrow strip was inhabited by the Meotians; nomads lived to the east. In the 3rd century. BC. According to a number of scientists, part of the Sindo-Meotian tribes entered the alliance of the Sarmatians (Siraks) and related Alans. In addition to the Sarmatians, the Iranian-speaking Scythians had a great influence on their ethnogenesis and culture, but this did not lead to the loss of the ethnic identity of the ancestors of the Circassians (Adygs). And the linguist O.N. Trubachev, based on his analysis of ancient toponyms, ethnonyms and personal names (anthroponyms) from the territory of distribution of the Sinds and other Meotians, expressed the opinion that they belong to the Indo-Aryans (proto-Indians), who allegedly remained in the North Caucasus after the departure of the bulk of them to the south. east in the second millennium BC.

Scientist N.Ya. Marr writes: “The Adygs, Abkhazians and a number of other Caucasian peoples belong to the Mediterranean “Japhetic” race, to which belonged the Elamites, Kassites, Chaldians, Sumerians, Urartians, Basques, Pelasgians, Etruscans and other dead languages ​​of the Mediterranean basin.” .

Researcher Robert Eisberg, having studied ancient Greek myths, came to the conclusion that the cycle of ancient tales about the Trojan War arose under the influence of Hittite tales about the struggle between their own and foreign gods. The mythology and religion of the Greeks were formed under the influence of the Pelasgians, related to the Khatts. To this day, historians are amazed by the related plots of ancient Greek and Adyghe myths, in particular, the similarity with the Nart epic draws attention.

Invasion of Alan nomads in the 1st-2nd centuries. forced the Meotians to leave for the Trans-Kuban region, where they, together with other Meotian tribes and tribes of the Black Sea coast who lived here, laid the foundations for the formation of the future Circassian (Adyghe) people. During the same period, the main elements of men’s costume, which later became common in the Caucasus, arose: Circassian coat, beshmet, leggings, and belt. Despite all the difficulties and dangers, the Meotians retained their ethnic independence, their language and the characteristics of their ancient culture.

In the IV - V centuries. The Meotians, like the Bosporus as a whole, experienced the onslaught of Turkic nomadic tribes, in particular the Huns. The Huns defeated the Alans and drove them to the mountains and foothills of the Central Caucasus, and then destroyed part of the cities and villages of the Bosporan kingdom. The political role of the Meotians in the North-West Caucasus came to naught, and their ethnic name disappeared in the 5th century. As well as the ethnonyms of the Sinds, Kerkets, Heniokhs, Achaeans and a number of other tribes. They are being replaced by one big name - Zikhia (zihi), the rise of which began in the 1st century AD. It is they, according to domestic and foreign scientists, who are beginning to play the main role in the unification process of the ancient Circassian (Adyghe) tribes. Over time, their territory expanded significantly.

Until the end of the 8th century AD. (early Middle Ages) the history of the Circassians (Adygs) is not deeply reflected in written sources and is studied by researchers based on the results of archaeological excavations that confirm the habitats of the Zikhs.

In the VI-X centuries. The Byzantine Empire, and from the beginning of the 15th century, the Genoese (Italian) colonies, had a serious political and cultural influence on the course of Circassian (Adyghe) history. However, as written sources of that time testify, the introduction of Christianity among the Circassians (Adygs) was not successful. The ancestors of the Circassians (Adygs) acted as a major political force in the North Caucasus. The Greeks, who occupied the eastern shore of the Black Sea long before the birth of Christ, passed on information about our ancestors, whom they generally call Zyugs, and sometimes Kerkets. Georgian chroniclers call them jikhs, and the region is called Dzhikheti. Both of these names vividly resemble the word tsug, which in today’s language means man, since it is known that all peoples originally called themselves people, and gave their neighbors nicknames based on some quality or locality, and so did our ancestors who lived on the shores of the Black Sea. became known to their neighbors under the name of people: tsig, jik, tsuh.

The word kerket, according to experts from different times, is probably the name given to it by neighboring peoples, and perhaps by the Greeks themselves. But the real generic name of the Circassian (Adyghe) people is the one that has survived in poetry and legends, i.e. ant, which changed over time in Adyghe or Adykh, and, by the nature of the language, the letter t changed into di, with the addition of the syllable he, which served as an increase in the plural in names. In support of this thesis, scientists say that until recently there lived elders in Kabarda who pronounced this word similar to its previous pronunciation - antihe; in some dialects they simply say atikhe. To further support this opinion, we can give an example from the ancient poetry of the Circassians (Circassians), in which the people are always called ant, for example: antynokopyesh - an ant princely son, antigishao - an ant youth, antigiwork - an ant nobleman, antigishu - an ant horseman. The knights or famous leaders were called nart, this word is shortened to narant and means “eye of the ants.” According to Yu.N. The Voronov border of Zikhia and the Abkhazian kingdom in the 9th-10th centuries passed in the northwest near the modern village of Tsandripsh (Abkhazia).

To the north of the Zikhs, an ethnically related Kasog tribal union developed, which was first mentioned in the 8th century. Khazar sources say that “all those living in the country of Kesa” pay tribute to the Khazars for the Alans. This suggests that the ethnonym “Zikhi” gradually left the political arena of the North-West Caucasus. The Russians, like the Khazars and Arabs, used the term kashaki in the form kasogi. In X–XI, the collective name Kasogi, Kashaks, Kashki covered the entire Proto-Circassian (Adyghe) massif of the North-Western Caucasus. The Svans also called them Kashag. By the 10th century, the ethnic territory of the Kasogs ran in the west along the Black Sea coast, in the east along the Laba River. By this time they had a common territory, a common language and culture. Subsequently, for various reasons, the formation and isolation of ethnic groups occurred as a result of their movement to new territories. Thus, for example, in the XIII-XIV centuries. A Kabardian sub-ethnic group was formed and migrated to their current habitats. A number of small ethnic groups were absorbed by larger ones.

The defeat of the Alans by the Tatar-Mongols allowed the ancestors of the Circassians (Adygs) in the XIII-XV centuries. occupy lands in the foothills of the Central Caucasus, in the basin of the Terek, Baksan, Malka, Cherek rivers.

During the last period of the Middle Ages, they, like many other peoples and countries, were in the zone of military-political influence of the Golden Horde. The ancestors of the Circassians (Adygs) maintained various kinds of contacts with other peoples of the Caucasus, the Crimean Khanate, the Russian state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Ottoman Empire.

According to many scientists, it was during this period, in the conditions of a Turkic-speaking environment, that the Adyghe ethnic name “Circassians” arose. Then this term was adopted by people who visited the North Caucasus, and from them it entered European and Eastern literature. According to T.V. Polovinkina, this point of view is official today. Although a number of scientists refer to the connection between the ethnonym Circassians and the term Kerkets (a Black Sea tribe of ancient times). The first known written source that recorded the ethnonym Circassian in the form Serkesut is the Mongolian chronicle “The Secret Legend. 1240." Then this name appears in various variations in all historical sources: Arabic, Persian, Western European and Russian. In the 15th century, the geographical concept “Circassia” emerged from the ethnic name.

The etymology of the ethnonym Circassian has not been established with sufficient certainty. Tebu de Marigny, in his book “Travel to Circassia,” published in Brussels in 1821, cites one of the most widespread versions in pre-revolutionary literature, which boils down to the fact that this name is Tatar and means from the Tatar Cher “road” and Kes “cut off ”, but completely “cutting off the path”. He wrote: “In Europe we knew these peoples under the name Cirkassiens. The Russians call them Circassians; some suggest that the name is Tatar, since Tsher means "road" and Kes "to cut off", giving the Circassian name the meaning of "cutting off the path." It’s interesting that the Circassians call themselves only “Adyghe” (Adiqheu).” The author of the work “The History of Unfortunate Chirakes”, published in 1841, Prince A. Misostov, considers this term to be a translation from Persian (Farsi) and meaning “thug”.

This is how J. Interiano talks about the Circassians (Adygs) in his book “The Life and Country of the Zikhs, Called Circassians,” published in 1502: “The Zikhs are so called in the languages: common, Greek and Latin, and are called Circassians by the Tatars and Turks, They call themselves “Adiga”. They live in the space from the Tana River to Asia along the entire sea coast that lies towards the Cimmerian Bosphorus, now called Vospero, the Strait of St. John and the Strait of the Zabak Sea, otherwise the Sea of ​​Tana, in ancient times called the Maeotian Swamp, and further beyond the strait along the seashore up to Cape Bussi and the Phasis River, and here it borders on Abkhazia, that is, part of Colchis.

On the landward side they border with the Scythians, that is, with the Tatars. Their language is difficult - different from the language of neighboring peoples and very guttural. They profess the Christian religion and have priests according to the Greek rite.”

The famous Orientalist Heinrich Julius Klaproth (1783 – 1835) in his work “A Journey through the Caucasus and Georgia, undertaken in 1807 – 1808.” writes: “The name “Circassian” is of Tatar origin and is composed of the words “cher” - road and “kefsmek” to cut off. Cherkesan or Cherkes-ji has the same meaning as the word Iol-Kesedj, which is used in Turkic and means the one who “cuts off the path.”

“The origin of the name Kabarda is difficult to establish,” he writes, since Raineggs’ etymology – from the Kabar River in Crimea and from the word “da” - village – can hardly be called correct. Many Circassians, in his opinion, are called “Kabarda”, namely Uzdeni (nobles) from the Tambi clan near the Kishbek River, which flows into Baksan; in their language, “Kabardzhi” means Kabardian Circassian.

...Reineggs and Pallas are of the opinion that this nation, which originally inhabited the Crimea, was expelled from there to the places of their present settlement. In fact, there are the ruins of a castle there, which the Tatars call Cherkess-Kerman, and the area between the rivers Kacha and Belbek, whose upper half, also called Kabarda, is called Cherkess-Tuz, i.e. Circassian plain. However, I see no reason to believe that the Circassians came from Crimea. It seems to me more likely to believe that they simultaneously lived both in the valley north of the Caucasus and in the Crimea, from where they were probably expelled by the Tatars under the leadership of Khan Batu. One day, an old Tatar mullah explained to me quite seriously that the name “Circassian” is made up of the Persian “chekhar” (four) and the Tatar “kes” (man), because the nation comes from four brothers.”

In his travel notes, the Hungarian scientist Jean-Charles De Besse (1799 - 1838), published in Paris under the title “Travel to the Crimea, the Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia, Asia Minor and Constantinople in 1929 and 1830,” says that , that “...Circassians are a numerous, brave, reserved, courageous people, but little known in Europe...My predecessors, writers and travelers, argued that the word “Circassian” comes from the Tatar language and is composed of “cher” (“road” ) and “kesmek” (“to cut”); but it did not occur to them to give this word a more natural and more suitable meaning to the character of this people. It should be noted that “cher” in Persian means “warrior”, “courageous”, and “kes” means “personality”, “individual”. From this we can conclude that it was the Persians who gave the name that this people now bears.”

Then, most likely, during the Caucasian War, other peoples who did not belong to the Circassian (Adyghe) people began to be called the word “Circassian”. “I don’t know why,” wrote L.Ya. Lyulye, one of the best experts on the Circassians in the first half of the 19th century, among whom he lived for many years, “but we are accustomed to calling all the tribes inhabiting the northern slope of the Caucasus Mountains Circassians, while they They call themselves Adyge." The transformation of the ethnic term “Circassian” into an essentially collective one, as was the case with the terms “Scythian” and “Alan”, led to the fact that the most diverse peoples of the Caucasus were hidden behind it. In the first half of the 19th century. It has become customary to call “Circassians not only the Abazas or Ubykhs, who are close to them in spirit and way of life, but also the inhabitants of Dagestan, Checheno-Ingushetia, Ossetia, Balkaria, and Karachay, who are completely different from them in language.”

In the first half of the 19th century. The Ubykhs, who, as a rule, spoke the Adyghe (Circassian) language along with their native language, became very close to the Black Sea Circassians in cultural, everyday and political relations. F.F. Tornau notes in this regard: “... the Ubykhs with whom I met spoke Circassian” (F.F. Tornau, Memoirs of a Caucasian officer. - “Russian Bulletin”, vol. 53, 1864, No. 10, p. 428). The Abazas also by the beginning of the 19th century. were under the strong political and cultural influence of the Circassians and in everyday life they differed little from them (ibid., pp. 425 - 426).

N.F. Dubrovin, in the preface to his famous work “The History of War and Dominion, Russians in the Caucasus,” also noted the presence of the above-mentioned misconception in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century regarding the attribution of the North Caucasian peoples to the Circassians (Adygs). In it, he notes: “From many articles and books of that time, one can draw the conclusion that there are only two peoples with whom we fought, for example, on the Caucasian line: these are the highlanders and the Circassians. On the right flank we waged war with the Circassians and highlanders, and on the left flank, or in Dagestan, with the highlanders and Circassians...” He himself derives the ethnonym “Circassian” from the Turkic expression “sarkyas”.

Karl Koch, the author of one of the best books about the Caucasus published at that time in Western Europe, noted with some surprise the confusion that existed around the name of the Circassians in modern Western European literature. “The idea of ​​the Circassians still remains uncertain, despite new descriptions of the travels of Dubois de Montpere, Bell, Longworth and others; sometimes by this name they mean the Caucasians living on the shores of the Black Sea, sometimes all inhabitants of the northern slope of the Caucasus are considered Circassians, they even indicate that Kakheti, the eastern part of the region of Georgia lying on the other side of the Caucasus, is inhabited by Circassians.”

Not only French, but also, equally, many German, English, and American publications that reported certain information about the Caucasus were guilty of spreading such misconceptions about the Circassians (Adygs). It is enough to point out that Shamil very often appeared on the pages of the European and American press as the “leader of the Circassians,” which thus included numerous tribes of Dagestan.

Due to this completely incorrect use of the term “Circassians,” it is necessary to treat the sources of the first half of the 19th century with special caution. In each individual case, even when using the data of the most knowledgeable authors in Caucasian ethnography of that time, one should first figure out which “Circassians” are being discussed, and whether by Circassians, in addition to the Circassians, the author means other neighboring mountainous peoples of the Caucasus. It is especially important to make sure of this when the information concerns the territory and number of the Circassians, because in such cases non-Circassians were very often classified as Circassians.”

The expanded interpretation of the word “Circassian”, adopted in Russian and foreign literature of the first half of the 19th century, had the real basis that the Circassians were indeed at that time a significant ethnic group in the North Caucasus, exerting a great and comprehensive influence on the peoples surrounding them. Sometimes small tribes of a different ethnic origin were, as it were, interspersed into the Adyghe environment, which contributed to the transfer of the term “Circassian” to them.

The ethnonym Adygs, which later entered European literature, was not as widespread as the term Circassians. There are several versions regarding the etymology of the word “Adyghe”. One comes from the astral (solar) hypothesis and translates this word as “children of the sun” (from the term “tyge”, “dyge”-sun), the other is the so-called “ant” about the topographical origin of this term (“glades”), “ Marinista" ("Pomeranians").

As numerous written sources testify, the history of the Circassians (Adygs) of the 16th-19th centuries. is closely connected with the history of Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and all Middle Eastern countries, about which not only modern residents of the Caucasus, but also the Circassians (Adygs) themselves have a very vague idea today.

As is known, the emigration of Circassians to Egypt took place throughout the Middle Ages and modern times, and was associated with the developed institution of recruitment for service in Circassian society. Gradually, the Circassians, thanks to their qualities, occupied an increasingly privileged position in this country.

There are still surnames Sharkasi in this country, which means “Circassian”. The problem of the formation of the Circassian ruling stratum in Egypt is of certain interest not only in the context of the history of Egypt, but also in terms of studying the history of the Circassian people. The increasing power of the Mamluk institution in Egypt dates back to the Ayyubid era. After the death of the famous Saladin, his former Mamluks, mainly of Circassian, Abkhaz and Georgian origin, became extremely stronger. According to the research of the Arab scholar Rashid ad-Din, the commander-in-chief of the army, Emir Fakhr ad-Din Circassian, carried out a coup d'etat in 1199.

The Circassian origin of the Egyptian sultans Bibars I and Qalaun is considered proven. The ethnic map of Mamluk Egypt during this period consisted of three layers: 1) Arab-Muslim; 2) ethnic Turks; 3) ethnic Circassians (Adygs) - the elite of the Mamluk army already in the period from 1240. (see the work of D. Ayalon “Circassians in the Mamluk Kingdom”, the article by A. Polyak “The Colonial Character of the Mamluk State”, the monograph by V. Popper “Egypt and Syria under the Circassian Sultans” and others).

In 1293, the Circassian Mamluks, led by their emir Tugji, opposed the Turkic rebels and defeated them, killing Beydar and several other high-ranking Turkic emirs from his entourage. Following this, the Circassians placed Qalaun's 9th son, Nasir Muhammad, on the throne. During both invasions of the Mongol emperor of Iran Mahmud Ghazan (1299, 1303), the Circassian Mamluks played a decisive role in their defeat, as noted in the chronicle of Makrizi, as well as in modern studies by J. Glubb, A. Hakim, A. Khasanov. These military achievements greatly increased the authority of the Circassian community. So one of its representatives, Emir Bibars Jashnakir, took the post of vizier.

According to existing sources, the establishment of Circassian power in Egypt was associated with a native of the coastal regions of Zihia Barkuk. Many people wrote about his Zikh-Circassian origin, including the Italian diplomat Bertrando de Mizhnaveli, who knew him personally. The Mamluk chronicler Ibn Tagri Birdi reports that Barquq came from the Circassian Kasa tribe. Kassa here apparently means kasag-kashek - a common name for zikhs among Arabs and Persians. Barquk found himself in Egypt in 1363, and four years later, with the support of the Circassian governor in Damascus, he became an emir and began to intensively recruit, buy and lure Circassian Mamluks into his service. In 1376, he became regent for the next young Qalaunid. Concentrating actual power in his hands, Barquk was elected sultan in 1382. The country was waiting for a strong personality to come to power: “The best order was established in the state,” wrote Barquk’s contemporary, the founder of the sociological school, Ibn Khaldun, “people were glad that they were under the citizenship of the Sultan, who knew how to correctly assess and manage affairs.”

The leading Mamluk scholar D. Aalon (Tel Aviv) called Barquq a statesman who organized the largest ethnic revolution in the entire history of Egypt. The Turks of Egypt and Syria reacted extremely hostilely to the accession of the Circassian to the throne. So the Tatar emir Altunbuga al-Sultani, the governor of Abulustan, fled after an unsuccessful rebellion to the Chagatai of Tamerlane, finally declaring: “I will not live in a country where the ruler is Circassian.” Ibn Tagri Birdi wrote that Barkuk had the Circassian nickname “Malikhuk”, which means “son of a shepherd”. The policy of squeezing out the Turks led to the fact that by 1395 all emir positions in the sultanate were occupied by Circassians. In addition, all high and middle administrative posts were concentrated in the hands of the Circassians.

Power in Circassia and the Circassian Sultanate was held by one group of aristocratic families of Circassia. For 135 years, they managed to maintain their dominance over Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Hijaz with its holy cities - Mecca and Medina, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine (and the meaning of Palestine was determined by Jerusalem), the southeastern regions of Anatolia, and part of Mesopotamia. This territory, with a population of at least 5 million people, was subject to the Circassian community of Cairo of 50-100 thousand people, which at any time could field from 2 to 10-12 thousand excellent heavily armed horsemen. The memory of these times of greatness of greatest military-political power was preserved in generations of Circassians until the 19th century.

10 years after Barquq came to power, the troops of Tamerlane, the second-ranking conqueror after Genghis Khan, appeared on the Syrian border. But, in 1393-1394, the governors of Damascus and Aleppo defeated the advanced detachments of the Mongol-Tatars. A modern researcher of the history of Tamerlane, Tilman Nagel, who paid great attention to the relationship between Barkuk and Tamerlane, in particular, noted: “Timur respected Barkuk... when he learned of his death, he was so happy that he gave the person who reported this news 15,000 dinars.” Sultan Barquq al-Cherkassi died in Cairo in 1399. Power was inherited by his 12-year-old son from the Greek slave Faraj. Faraj's cruelty led to his assassination, organized by the Circassian emirs of Syria.

One of the leading specialists in the history of Mamluk Egypt, P.J. Vatikiotis wrote that “...the Circassian Mamluks...were able to demonstrate the highest qualities in battle, this was especially evident in their confrontation with Tamerlane at the end of the 14th century. Their founding sultan Barkuk, for example, was not only a capable sultan, but also left magnificent monuments (a madrasah and a mosque with a mausoleum), testifying to his taste in art. His successors were able to conquer Cyprus and hold the island as a vassal of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest.”

The new Sultan of Egypt, Muayyad Shah, finally established Circassian dominance on the banks of the Nile. On average, 2,000 natives of Circassia joined his army every year. This sultan easily defeated a number of strong Turkmen princes of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. In memory of his reign, there is a magnificent mosque in Cairo, which Gaston Viet (author of the 4th volume of the History of Egypt) called “the most luxurious mosque in Cairo.”

The accumulation of Circassians in Egypt led to the creation of a powerful and combat-ready fleet. The mountaineers of the Western Caucasus excelled as pirates from ancient times until the 19th century. Ancient, Genoese, Ottoman and Russian sources left us a fairly detailed description of Zikh, Circassian and Abazg piracy. In turn, the Circassian fleet freely penetrated the Black Sea. Unlike the Turkic Mamluks, who did not show themselves in any way at sea, the Circassians controlled the Eastern Mediterranean, plundered Cyprus, Rhodes, the islands of the Aegean Sea, and fought with Portuguese corsairs in the Red Sea and off the coast of India. Unlike the Turks, the Circassians of Egypt had an incomparably more stable supply from their native country.

Throughout the Egyptian epic from the 13th century. Circassians were characterized by national solidarity. In the sources of the Circassian period (1318-1517), the national cohesion and monopoly dominance of the Circassians were expressed in the use of the terms “people”, “people”, “tribe” exclusively to address the Circassians.

The situation in Egypt began to change in 1485, after the outbreak of the first Ottoman-Mamluk war, which lasted several decades. After the death of the experienced Circassian military leader Qaitbay (1468-1496), a period of internecine wars followed in Egypt: in 5 years, four sultans replaced the throne - Qaitbay’s son an-Nasir Muhammad (named after the son of Qalaun), az-zahir Kansav, al- Ashraf Janbulat, al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Tumanbay I. Al-Ghauri, who ascended the throne in 1501, was an experienced politician and an old warrior: he arrived in Cairo at the age of 40 and quickly took a high position thanks to the patronage of his sister, Qaytbay’s wife. And Kansav al-Gauri ascended to the Cairo throne at the age of 60. He showed great activity in the foreign policy sphere due to the increase in Ottoman power and the expected new war.

The decisive battle between the Mamluks and the Ottomans took place on August 24, 1516 on the Dabiq field in Syria, which is considered one of the most ambitious battles in world history. Despite heavy shelling from cannons and arquebuses, the Circassian cavalry inflicted enormous damage on the army of the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. However, at the moment when victory seemed to be in the hands of the Circassians, the governor of Aleppo, Emir Khairbey, and his detachment went over to Selim’s side. This betrayal literally killed the 76-year-old Sultan Kansawa al-Ghauri: he was seized by an apocalyptic blow and died in the arms of his bodyguards. The battle was lost and the Ottomans occupied Syria.

In Cairo, the Mamluks elected the last sultan to the throne - the 38-year-old last nephew of Kansav - Tumanbai. With a large army, he gave four battles to the Ottoman Armada, the number of which ranged from 80 to 250 thousand soldiers of all nationalities and religions. In the end, Tumanbey's army was defeated. Egypt became part of the Ottoman Empire. During the period of the Circassian-Mamluk emirate, there were 15 Circassian (Adyghe) rulers, 2 Bosnians, 2 Georgians and 1 Abkhaz in power in Cairo.

Despite the irreconcilable relations of the Circassian Mamluks with the Ottomans, the history of Circassia was also closely connected with the history of the Ottoman Empire, the most powerful political entity of the Middle Ages and modern times, and numerous political, religious, and family relationships. Circassia was never part of this empire, but its natives in this country made up a significant part of the ruling class, pursuing successful careers in administrative or military service.

This conclusion is also shared by representatives of modern Turkish historiography, who do not consider Circassia a country dependent on the Porte. For example, in the book by Khalil Inalcık “The Ottoman Empire: the classical period, 1300-1600.” a map is provided showing by period all the territorial acquisitions of the Ottomans: the only free country along the perimeter of the Black Sea is Circassia.

There was a significant Circassian contingent in the army of Sultan Selim I (1512-1520), who received the nickname “Yavuz” (Terrible) for his cruelty. While still a prince, Selim was persecuted by his father and was forced, saving his life, to leave his governorship in Trebizond and flee by sea to Circassia. There he met the Circassian prince of Taman Temryuk. The latter became a faithful friend of the disgraced prince and for three and a half years accompanied him on all his travels. After Selim became the sultan, Temryuk was in great honor at the Ottoman court, and at the place of their meeting, by Selim’s decree, a fortress was erected, which received the name Temryuk.

The Circassians formed a special party at the Ottoman court and had a great influence on the Sultan's policies. It was also preserved at the court of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), since he, like his father, Selim I, stayed in Circassia before his sultanate. His mother, a Girey princess, was half Circassian. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Türkiye reached the peak of its power. One of the most brilliant commanders of this era is Circassian Ozdemir Pasha, who in 1545 received the extremely responsible post of commander of the Ottoman expeditionary force in Yemen, and in 1549, “as a reward for perseverance,” was appointed governor of Yemen.

Ozdemir's son, Circassian Ozdemir-oglu Osman Pasha (1527-1585) inherited his father's power and talent as a commander. Beginning in 1572, Osman Pasha's activities were connected with the Caucasus. In 1584, Osman Pasha became the grand vizier of the empire, but continued to personally lead the army in the war with the Persians, during which the Persians were defeated and Circassian Ozdemir Oglu captured their capital Tabriz. On October 29, 1585, Circassian Ozdemir-oglu Osman Pasha died on the battlefield with the Persians. As far as is known, Osman Pasha was the first Grand Vizier from among the Circassians.

In the Ottoman Empire of the 16th century, another major statesman of Circassian origin is known - the governor of Kafa Kasym. He came from the Zhane clan and had the title of Defterdar. In 1853, Kasim Bey submitted to Sultan Suleiman a project to connect the Don and Volga with a canal. Among the figures of the 19th century, Circassian Dervish Mehmed Pasha stood out. In 1651 he was governor of Anatolia. In 1652 he took the post of commander of all naval forces of the empire (kapudan pasha), and in 1563 he became the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire. The residence, built by Dervish Mehmed Pasha, had a high gate, hence the nickname “High Porta”, which Europeans used to designate the Ottoman government.

The next no less colorful figure from among the Circassian mercenaries is Kutfaj Delhi Pasha. The mid-17th century Ottoman author Evliya Çelebi wrote that “he comes from the brave Circassian Bolatkoy tribe.”

Cantemir's information is fully confirmed in Ottoman historical literature. The author, who lived fifty years earlier, Evliya Chelyabi, has very picturesque personalities of military leaders of Circassian origin, information about close ties between immigrants from the Western Caucasus. His message that the Circassians and Abkhazians who lived in Istanbul sent their children to their homeland, where they received military education and knowledge of their native language, seems very important. According to Chelyabi, on the coast of Circassia there were settlements of Mamluks who returned at different times from Egypt and other countries. Chelyabi calls the territory of Bzhedugia the land of the Mamluks in the country of Cherkesstan.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Circassian Osman Pasha, the builder of the Yeni-Kale fortress (modern Yeisk), and commander of all the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire (kapudan pasha), enjoyed great influence on state affairs. His contemporary, Circassian Mehmed Pasha, was the governor of Jerusalem, Aleppo, commanded troops in Greece, and for successful military operations he was granted the rank of three-bunch pasha (the rank of marshal by European standards; only the grand vizier and the sultan are higher).

Much interesting information about prominent military and government figures of Circassian origin in the Ottoman Empire is contained in the fundamental work of the outstanding statesman and public figure D.K. Kantemir (1673-1723) “The History of the Growth and Decline of the Ottoman Empire.” The information is interesting because around 1725 Kantemir visited Kabarda and Dagestan and personally knew many Circassians and Abkhazians from the highest circles of Constantinople at the end of the 17th century. In addition to the Constantinople community, he gives a lot of information about the Cairo Circassians, as well as a detailed outline of the history of Circassia. It covered such problems as the relationship of the Circassians with the Moscow state, the Crimean Khanate, Turkey and Egypt. The campaign of the Ottomans in 1484 in Circassia. The author notes the superiority of the military art of the Circassians, the nobility of their customs, the closeness and kinship of the Abazians (Abkhaz-Abazin), including in language and customs, and gives many examples of the Circassians who held the highest positions at the Ottoman court.

The diaspora historian A. Jureiko points out the abundance of Circassians in the ruling stratum of the Ottoman state: “Already in the 18th century, there were so many Circassian dignitaries and military leaders in the Ottoman Empire that it would be difficult to list them all.” However, an attempt to list all the major statesmen of the Ottoman Empire of Circassian origin was made by another diaspora historian, Hassan Fehmi: he compiled biographies of 400 Circassians. The largest figure in the Circassian community of Istanbul in the second half of the 18th century was Gazi Hasan Pasha Cezairli, who in 1776 became Kapudan Pasha - commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the empire.

In 1789, the Circassian military leader Hasan Pasha Meyyit served as Grand Vizier for a short time. A contemporary of Jezairli and Meyyit, Cherkes Hussein Pasha, nicknamed Kuchuk (“little”), went down in history as the closest associate of the reformer Sultan Selim III (1789-1807), who played an important role in the war with Bonaparte. The closest associate of Kuchuk Hussein Pasha was Mehmed Khosrev Pasha, originally from Abadzekhia. In 1812 he became kapudan pasha and held this post until 1817. Finally, he becomes grand vizier in 1838 and retains this post until 1840.

Interesting information about the Circassians in the Ottoman Empire is reported by Russian general Ya.S. Proskurov, who traveled around Turkey in 1842-1846. and met Hasan Pasha, “a natural Circassian, taken to Constantinople from childhood, where he was raised.”

According to the research of many scientists, the ancestors of the Circassians (Adygs) took an active part in the formation of the Cossacks of Ukraine and Russia. Thus, N.A. Dobrolyubov, analyzing the ethnic composition of the Kuban Cossacks at the end of the 18th century, pointed out that it partly consisted of “1000 male souls who voluntarily left the Kuban Circassians and Tatars” and 500 Cossacks who returned from the Turkish Sultan. In his opinion, the latter circumstance allows us to assume that these Cossacks, after the liquidation of the Sich, went to Turkey because of their common faith, which means we can also assume that these Cossacks are partly of non-Slavic origin. Light is shed on the problem by Semeon Bronevsky, who, referring to historical news, wrote: “In 1282, the Baskak of the Tatar Principality of Kursk, calling Circassians from Beshtau or Pyatigorye, populated a settlement with them under the name of Cossacks. These, having copulated with Russian fugitives, committed robberies everywhere for a long time, hiding from searches above them in the forests and ravines.” These Circassians and fugitive Russians moved “down the Dpepr” in search of a safe place. Here they built a town for themselves and called it Cherkask, due to the fact that most of them were Cherkasy breed, forming a robber republic, which later became famous under the name of the Zaporozhye Cossacks.”

About the further history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, the same Bronevsky reported: “When the Turkish army came to Astrakhan in 1569, then Prince Mikhailo Vishnevetsky was called from the Dnieper from Circassia with 5,000 Zaporozhye Cossacks, who, having combined with the Don Cossacks, won a great victory on the dry route and at sea They defeated the Turks in the boats. Of these Circassian Cossacks, most remained on the Don and built a town for themselves, also calling it Cherkasy, which was the beginning of the settlement of the Don Cossacks, and as it is likely that many of them also returned to their homeland to Beshtau or Pyatigorye, this circumstance could have caused there is a reason to call Kabardians generally Ukrainian residents who fled from Russia, as we find mention of this in our archives.” From Bronevsky’s information we can conclude that the Zaporozhye Sich, formed in the 16th century in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, i.e. “down the Dnieper,” and until 1654, which was a Cossack “republic,” waged a stubborn struggle against the Crimean Tatars and Turks, and thereby played a major role in the liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people in the 16th – 17th centuries. At its core, the Sich consisted of the Zaporozhye Cossacks mentioned by Bronevsky.

Thus, the Zaporozhye Cossacks, which formed the backbone of the Kuban Cossacks, consisted partly of the descendants of the Circassians who were once taken “from the Beshtau or Pyatigorsk region,” not to mention the “Circassians who voluntarily left the Kuban.” It should be especially emphasized that with the resettlement of these Cossacks, namely in 1792, the intensification of the colonialist policy of tsarism in the North Caucasus, and in particular in Kabarda, began.

It should be emphasized that the geographical location of the Circassian (Adyghe) lands, especially Kabardian ones, which had the most important military-political and economic significance, was the reason for their involvement in the orbit of political interests of Turkey and Russia, predetermining to a large extent the course of historical events in this region from the beginning of the 16th century and led to the Caucasian War. From the same period, the influence of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate began to increase, as well as the rapprochement of the Circassians (Adygs) with the Moscow state, which later turned into a military-political alliance. The marriage of Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1561 to the daughter of the senior prince of Kabarda Temryuk Idarov, on the one hand, strengthened the alliance of Kabarda with Russia, and, on the other, further aggravated the relations of the Kabardian princes, the feuds between whom did not subside until the conquest of Kabarda. Its internal political situation and fragmentation were further aggravated by interference in the Kabardian (Circassian) affairs of Russia, the Porte and the Crimean Khanate. In the 17th century, as a result of civil strife, Kabarda split into Greater Kabarda and Lesser Kabarda. The official division occurred in the mid-18th century. In the period from the 15th to the 18th centuries, the troops of the Porte and the Crimean Khanate invaded the territory of the Circassians (Adygs) dozens of times.

In 1739, at the end of the Russian-Turkish War, the Belgrade Peace Treaty was signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, according to which Kabarda was declared a “neutral zone” and “free”, but was never able to use the opportunity provided to unify the country and create own state in its classical sense. Already in the second half of the 18th century, the Russian government developed a plan for the conquest and colonization of the North Caucasus. Those military men who were there were given instructions to “beware most of all of the unification of the highlanders,” for which it is necessary to “try to kindle the fire of internal discord between them.”

According to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace between Russia and the Porte, Kabarda was recognized as part of the Russian state, although Kabarda itself never recognized itself under the rule of the Ottomans and Crimea. In 1779, 1794, 1804 and 1810 there were major uprisings of Kabardians against the seizure of their lands, the construction of Mozdok fortresses and other military fortifications, luring away subjects and for other compelling reasons. They were brutally suppressed by tsarist troops led by generals Jacobi, Tsitsianov, Glazenap, Bulgakov and others. Bulgakov alone in 1809 ruined 200 Kabardian villages to the ground. At the beginning of the 19th century, the whole of Kabarda was engulfed in a plague epidemic.

According to scientists, the Caucasian War began for the Kabardians in the second half of the 18th century, after the construction of the Mozdok fortress by Russian troops in 1763, and for the rest of the Circassians (Adygs) in the western Caucasus in 1800, from the time of the first punitive campaign of the Black Sea Cossacks led by the ataman F.Ya. Bursak, and then M.G. Vlasov, A.A. Velyaminov and other tsarist generals to the Black Sea coast.

By the beginning of the war, the lands of the Circassians (Adygs) began from the northwestern tip of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and covered a vast territory on both sides of the main ridge for about 275 km, after which their lands moved exclusively to the northern slopes of the Caucasus Range, into the Kuban basin, and then Terek, extending to the southeast for about another 350 km.

“The Circassian lands...” wrote Khan-Girey in 1836, “extend over 600 versts in length, starting from the mouth of the Kuban up this river, and then along the Kuma, Malka and Terek to the borders of Malaya Kabarda, which previously extended to the very the confluence of the Sunzha and the Terek River. The width is different and lies from the above-mentioned rivers to the south at noon along the valleys and slopes of mountains in different curvatures, having from 20 to 100 versts in distance, thus forming a long narrow strip, which, starting from the eastern corner formed by the confluence of the Sunzha with the Terek, then expands then shrinks again, following west down the Kuban to the shores of the Black Sea.” It should be added that along the Black Sea coast the Circassians occupied an area of ​​about 250 km. At its widest point, the lands of the Circassians extended from the shores of the Black Sea east to Laba for about 150 km (counting along the Tuapse - Labinskaya line), then, when moving from the Kuban basin to the Terek basin, these lands narrowed greatly in order to expand again in the territory of Greater Kabarda to More than 100 kilometers.

(To be continued)

The information is compiled on the basis of archival documents and scientific works published on the history of the Circassians (Adygs)

"Gleason's Illustrated Magazine". London, January 1854

S.H. Khotko. Essays on the history of the Circassians. St. Petersburg, 2001. p. 178

Jacques-Victor-Edouard Thébout de Marigny. Travel to Circassia. Travels to Circassia in 1817. // V.K. Gardanov. Adygs, Balkars and Karachais in the news of European authors of the 13th – 19th centuries. Nalchik, 1974. P. 292.

Giorgio Interiano. (Second half of the 15th – beginning of the 16th century). Life and country of the Zikhs, called Circassians. Remarkable storytelling. //V.K.Gardanov. Adygs, Balkars and Karachais in the news of European authors of the 12th – 19th centuries. Nalchik. 1974. P.46-47.

Heinrich-Julius Klaproth. Travels around the Caucasus and Georgia, undertaken in 1807 – 1808. //V.K.Gardanov. Adygs, Balkars and Karachais in the news of European authors of the 13th-19th centuries. Nalchik, 1974. P.257-259.

Jean-Charles de Besse. Travel to Crimea, the Caucasus, Georgia. Armenia, Asia Minor and Constantinople in 1829 and 1830. //V.K.Gardanov. Adygs, Balkars and Karachais in the news of European authors of the 12th-19th centuries. Nalchik, 1974.S. 334.

V.K.Gardanov. Social system of the Adyghe peoples (XVIII - first half of the XIX century). M, 1967. S. 16-19.

S.H. Khotko. Essays on the history of the Circassians from the Cimmerian era to the Caucasian War. St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 2001, pp. 148-164.

There, p. 227-234.

Safarbi Beytuganov. Kabarda and Ermolov. Nalchik, 1983. pp. 47-49.

“Notes about Circassia, composed by Khan-Girey, part 1, St. Petersburg, 1836, l. 1-1v.//V.K. Gardanov “The social system of the Adyghe peoples.” Ed. “Science”, Main Editorial Board of Oriental Literature. M., 1967. pp. 19-20.

The Adyghe people are considered one of the most ancient in the world. Many people considered them "aristocrats of the mountains" or "Frenchmen of the Caucasus." Adyghe women have always embodied the ideals of beauty, and men have been the standard of masculinity. In our article we will talk about what religion the Adyghe people have, what the number and history of the people are, what are the characteristics of the traditions and customs of the ethnic group, and much more.

origin of name

Before proceeding to a detailed analysis of the religion of the Adyghe people or their traditions, you should familiarize yourself with where the name itself came from - “Adyghe people”. There are a large number of different controversies and myths surrounding this word. Of course, many of them may be fictitious or exaggerated, but most are based on the real history of the people, which should not be forgotten.

The most common version of the origin of the name of this people is that translated from the ancient language it means “children of the sun,” although there is no official confirmation of this theory. After the October Revolution, the lands of the Adyghe people were divided into several parts, which significantly weakened the power of a single ethnic group. Today, the Adyghe nationality includes the following subethnic groups:

• Circassian-Kabardians, who inhabited mainly Kabardino-Balkaria;
• the Adygs-Besleneevtsy, who were part of Karachay-Cherkessia;
• peoples living on the territory of Maykop and Kuban.

As you can see, the Adyghe people include a lot of ethnic groups, each of which has its own culture. That is why, when it comes to the traditions and customs of the Adyghe people, people cite quite a lot of diverse and interesting facts. In the following sections you will find a lot of detailed information on this matter.

Population and place of residence

Since the founding of the Soviet Union, the Adyghe people began to be considered a separate people along with the Kabardians and Circassians. According to the results of the 2010 population census, about 123 thousand people live on the territory of the Russian Federation who consider themselves Adyghe. Of this number, approximately 110 thousand live on the territory of the Republic of Adygea of ​​the same name, and the remaining 13 thousand live in the Krasnodar Territory (mainly in the coastal region of the Black Sea).

The genocide of the Circassians during the Great Patriotic War led to significant migration of this people beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. Today, a very significant number of representatives of this ethnic group live in various countries. Among the most famous states:

• Türkiye - approximately 3 million people.
• Syria - about 60 thousand Adyghe people.
• Jordan - 40 thousand inhabitants.
• Germany - 30 thousand people.

These were the main data on the number of Adyghe people throughout the world. Also in the USA, Israel, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, according to various estimates, from two to three thousand Adyghe people live, although official data may differ quite greatly from reality. Despite the fact that most of the representatives of the ancient people live in Turkey, the inhabitants of the Adygean Republic are very proud of their roots and honor the traditions and customs of their ancestors.

Appearance and character traits

Have you thought about what the appearance of an Adyghe is like? The photo from this section will allow you to fully answer this question. Of course, today few people wear traditional clothes, but during major holidays you can meet many men and women dressed in the clothes that their grandparents wore. The distinctive features of the appearance of the Adyghe people include those described in the list below.

1. Men have a strong athletic build and fairly broad shoulders.
2. Dense and straight hair of black or dark brown color.
3. Straight nose with a fairly high bridge.
4. Slender female figure with a thin waist.
5. Fairly tall or average height.
6. Very long hair.
7. Dark eye color.

In addition, you can distinguish an Adyghe by certain character traits. Every man is characterized by masculinity from an early age and a very hot temperament. Girls behave quite modestly and rely on men for almost everything. However, in case of danger, they can also show that they are not to be trifled with. Complexity and modesty are not about Adyghe people.

Life and traditional activities

Historically, it so happened that the customs of the Adyghe people are inextricably linked with their way of life, since the people try to do the same things as their ancestors. The most common traditional occupations are agriculture and cattle breeding. Perhaps there is not a single Adyghe who does not know how to handle a plow or herd sheep. Many residents of Adygea keep chickens, geese, turkeys and ducks on their farms. In the mountains, shepherds usually raise sheep, goats, and in some cases yaks and mules. Among agricultural crops, wheat, corn, barley and millet occupy a special place.

Viticulture is also considered one of the traditional activities, since this people has always been famous for its high quality wines. Most of the vineyards are located near the Black Sea coast, since the climate there is considered the most favorable for growing traditional varieties. Among wine tasters, there is a rather interesting version that the famous name “Abrau-Durso” actually has Circassian roots - perhaps this was once the name of a mountain river or lake with the purest water.

As for crafts, they are very poorly developed among the Adyghe people, although this people have succeeded much better in this matter than most of their neighbors. In ancient times, almost every man knew how to process metal and forge various household items and even weapons from it. Today, blacksmithing has become a thing of the past and only real masters engage in such activities, whose secrets are passed down from generation to generation from father to son.

Almost every Adyghe woman masters the art of weaving fabrics. In general, these people have always been famous for their beautiful outfits with beautiful embroidery. Dresses and caftans with gold embroidery on a red background were especially valued. Ornaments in the form of vegetation or geometric shapes on clothing are today considered traditional and are used only on clothing intended for holidays and celebrations.

Religion of the Adyghe people

This people went through three religious periods: from paganism to Christianity, from Christianity to Islam. In ancient times, the religion of the Adyghe people was the worship of various gods, as well as the belief that man is one with the cosmos. People believed that the earth was round and surrounded on all sides by lakes, fields and forests.

For the Adyghe people from ancient times, there were three worlds: the lower (the kingdom of the dead), the middle (the world of people) and the higher (the abode of deities). These three worlds were connected by a sacred tree, which still plays a sacred role. For example, a very well-known tradition is that at the time of the birth of a grandson, the grandfather must plant a tree in the yard, which the child will subsequently care for.

Today, the majority of Adyghe people profess Islam, although there are also Christians who appeared here only at the end of the 16th century. The period of the Caucasian wars had a negative impact on the colonialist policy of the Ottoman sultans and part of the population accepted Christ as God.

As for more ancient times, Tha, the creator of the world and laws, was considered the main supreme deity. In some myths you can also meet Perun, the god of thunder and lightning, who is very similar to the Greek Zeus. It is also impossible to imagine the Adyghe religion without various patron spirits, whom people worshiped before going hunting or before sowing crops.

People's culture

Traditional dance plays a huge role in the culture of the ethnic group, which is considered not only very ancient, but also conveys the soul of the people who perform it. The lyrical event usually involves one man acting as an eagle and two girls who are under his wing. The music is very modest and calm, but at the same time it is distinguished by special pride for the people. This moment is especially noticeable when girls begin to respond to the advances of a gentleman.

As for music and literature, the Adyghe people have always been famous for their unique writers and composers, but only in their own circles. Schools usually study works from Russian classics, so you also have to attend extracurricular classes on the culture of the Adyghe people.

Wedding traditions

The most famous traditions of the Adyghe people are their unique weddings. For example, in most cases, the girl chose the groom, hinting about this to the betrothed’s family with a small gift. After this, negotiations began between relatives about a future alliance and the appointment of a matchmaker: on the man’s side, relatives came to the bride’s house and stood in the place where they usually chop wood. There were usually at least three such visits. If relatives were invited to the table for the third visit, this meant that the bride’s side agreed to the union.

Also, relatives often went to inspect the groom in order to assess his financial well-being. This action was mandatory so that the bride would not marry a man from a dysfunctional family. If what they saw fully satisfied the visitors, then the groom was obliged to give the bride price, which usually consisted of livestock, the number of which was determined by the well-being of the family.

Traditions at birth

Now you know a lot about what the Adyghe people look like (photos were given in previous sections) and what kind of life they lead. However, in order to understand in more detail the peculiarities of the life of this people, it is necessary to thoroughly study their traditions, the most common of which is hanging flags when a boy is born in a family.

Also, many Adyghe people are very wary of preparing a dowry for a baby even before giving birth, as this is considered a bad omen. The cradle is made by the child’s relatives only after he is born. Hawthorn is always used as a building material so that the aroma of the tree soothes the baby.

As soon as the child begins to walk, all relatives gather in the house to perform the “First Step” ritual. The hero of the occasion is given a bunch of gifts, and his legs are tied with a satin ribbon, which is then cut. Adyghe people believe that such actions will give the child agility and the ability to overcome all difficulties without obstacles.

Traditional Adyghe cuisine

Most of the products that Adyghe people eat are nothing special (flour, milk and meat are used as ingredients), but this does not mean that the national dishes of this people are considered tasteless. For example, in everyday life, quite often people eat boiled lamb, and the broth is used to prepare a delicious soup. Also, some dishes are prepared from poultry meat with the addition of a spicy sauce based on hot pepper and garlic.

Adyghe people usually make cottage cheese or cheese from milk, adding hard herbs, herbs and even fruits. After the Moscow Olympics in 1980, the whole world learned about the delicious Adyghe cheese, which was produced in tons especially for foreign guests. This product can be found on the shelves of Russian supermarkets today. According to one legend, the recipe for this product was told to a young girl by the god of cattle breeding Amish because she saved a lost herd of sheep during a storm.

As for traditional drinks, in Adygea, as mentioned earlier, winemaking is quite widespread. Almost every adult man knows how to make real nectar of the gods from homemade grapes and has his own recipe for making this wonderful drink. In the cellars of Adyghe people you can see bottles of red and white wine that are several decades old. However, excessive consumption of alcohol is not encouraged in Adygea, so compotes and fruit teas are a very good alternative to wine.

Video and conclusion

We hope our article helped you better understand the traditions and customs of the Adyghe people. If the information provided seems too little to you or you have any questions, we recommend watching a short video from which you can learn a lot of things that were not mentioned in our article.

As you can see, the life, culture and even faith of the Adyghe people are quite rich and diverse. This people honors their traditions with great pride and lives as their fathers and grandfathers bequeathed. Such an attitude towards one’s life requires enormous will and perseverance, which Adyghe people do not have. In addition, this people is considered one of the most ancient and is proud of it.

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Adygs(or Circassians listen)) - the general name of a single people in Russia and abroad, divided into Kabardins, Circassians, Ubykhs, Adygeis and Shapsugs.

Self-name - Adyghe.

Numbers and diasporas

The total number of Circassians in the Russian Federation according to the 2002 census is 712 thousand people, they live in the territory of six subjects: Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Territory, North Ossetia, Stavropol Territory. In three of them, the Adyghe peoples are one of the “titular” nations, the Circassians in Karachay-Cherkessia, the Adyghe people in Adygea, the Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Abroad, the largest diaspora of Circassians is in Turkey; according to some estimates, the Turkish diaspora numbers from 2.5 to 3 million Circassians. The Israeli Circassian diaspora numbers 4 thousand people. There is a Syrian diaspora, Libyan diaspora, Egyptian diaspora, Jordanian Adyghe diaspora, they also live in Europe, the USA and some other countries in the Middle East, but the statistics of most of these countries do not provide accurate data on the number of Adyghe diasporas. The estimated number of Circassians (Circassians) in Syria is 80 thousand people.

There are some in other CIS countries, in particular in Kazakhstan.

Modern Adyghe languages

At present, the Adyghe language has retained two literary dialects, namely Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian, which are part of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of the North Caucasian family of languages.

Since the 13th century, all these names have been replaced by an exoethnonym - Circassians.

Modern ethnonymy

Currently, in addition to the common self-name, the following names are used in relation to the Adyghe subethnic groups:

• Adygeis, which includes the following subethnonyms: Abadzekhs, Adamians, Besleneevtsy, Bzhedugs, Egerukayevtsy, Mamkhegs, Makhoshevtsy, Temirgoyevtsy (KIemguy), Natukhaytsy, Shapsugs (including Khakuchi), Khatukaytsy, Khegayki, Zhaneevtsy (Zhane), Guaye, Che bsin (Tsopsyne ), adale.

Ethnogenesis

Zikhi - so called in the languages: common Greek and Latin, while the Circassians are called Tatars and Turks, call themselves - “ adiga».

Story

Main article: History of the Circassians

Fight against the Crimean Khanate

Regular Moscow-Adyghe connections began to be established during the period of Genoese trade in the Northern Black Sea region, which took place in the cities of Matrega (now Taman), Kopa (now Slavyansk-on-Kuban) and Kaffa (modern Feodosia), etc., in which significant part of the population were Circassians. At the end of the 15th century, caravans of Russian merchants constantly came along the Don Road to these Genoese cities, where Russian merchants made trade deals not only with the Genoese, but with the mountaineers of the North Caucasus who lived in these cities.

Moscow expansion to the south I could not develop without the support of ethnic groups that considered the basin of the Black and Azov Seas to be their ethnosphere. These were primarily Cossacks, Don and Zaporozhye, whose religious and cultural tradition - Orthodoxy - brought them closer to the Russians. This rapprochement was carried out when it was beneficial to the Cossacks, especially since the prospect of plundering the Crimean and Ottoman possessions as Moscow's allies suited their ethnocentric goals. Some of the Nogais who swore allegiance to the Moscow state could take the side of the Russians. But, of course, first of all, the Russians were interested in supporting the most powerful and powerful Western Caucasian ethnic group, the Circassians.

During the formation of the Moscow principality, the Crimean Khanate caused the Russians and Circassians the same troubles. For example, there was a Crimean campaign against Moscow (1521), as a result of which the khan’s troops burned Moscow and captured more than 100 thousand Russians to be sold into slavery. The khan's troops left Moscow only when Tsar Vasily officially confirmed that he was a tributary of the khan and would continue to pay tribute.

Russian-Adyghe ties were not interrupted. Moreover, they adopted forms of joint military cooperation. So, in 1552, the Circassians, together with the Russians, Cossacks, Mordovians and others, took part in the capture of Kazan. The participation of the Circassians in this operation is quite natural, given the tendencies that emerged by the middle of the 16th century among some of the Circassians towards rapprochement with the young Russian ethnos, which was actively expanding its ethnosphere.

Therefore, the arrival in Moscow in November 1552 of the first embassy from some Adyghe subethnic groups It could not have been more opportune for Ivan the Terrible, whose plans were in the direction of the Russians advancing along the Volga to its mouth, to the Caspian Sea. Union with the most powerful ethnic group N.-W. Moscow needed K. in its fight against the Crimean Khanate.

In total, in the 1550s, three embassies from the North-West visited Moscow. K., in 1552, 1555 and 1557. They consisted of representatives of the Western Circassians (Zhaneevtsev, Besleneevtsy, etc.), eastern Circassians (Kabardians) and Abazinians, who turned to Ivan IV with a request for patronage. They needed patronage primarily to fight the Crimean Khanate. Delegations from North-West K. met with a favorable reception and secured the patronage of the Russian Tsar. From now on, they could count on military and diplomatic assistance from Moscow, and they themselves were obliged to appear in the service of the Grand Duke-Tsar.

Also, under Ivan the Terrible, he had a second Crimean campaign against Moscow (1571), as a result of which the khan’s troops defeated the Russian troops and again burned Moscow and captured more than 60 thousand Russians (for sale into slavery).

Main article: Crimean campaign against Moscow (1572)

The third Crimean campaign against Moscow in 1572, with the financial and military support of the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a result of the Battle of Molodin, ended in the complete physical destruction of the Tatar-Turkish army and the defeat of the Crimean Khanate http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Molody

In the 70s, despite the unsuccessful Astrakhan expedition, the Crimeans and Ottomans managed to restore their influence in the region. Russians were forced out of it for more than 100 years. True, they continued to consider the Western Caucasian highlanders, the Circassians and Abazins, their subjects, but this did not change the essence of the matter. The mountaineers had no idea about this, just as at one time the Asian nomads had no idea that China considered them its subjects.

The Russians left the North Caucasus, but gained a foothold in the Volga region.

Caucasian War

Patriotic War

List of Circassians (Circassians) - Heroes of the Soviet Union

The question of the Circassian genocide

New time

The official registration of most of the modern Adyghe villages dates back to the 2nd half of the 19th century, that is, after the end of the Caucasian War. To improve control of the territories, the new authorities were forced to resettle the Circassians, who founded 12 auls in new places, and in the 20s of the 20th century - 5.

Religions of the Circassians

Culture

Adyghe girl

Adyghe culture is a little-studied phenomenon, the result of a long period of time in the life of the people, during which the culture experienced various internal and external influences, including long-term contacts with the Greeks, Genoese and other peoples, long-term feudal feuds, wars, Mukhadzhirism, social, political and cultural shocks. The culture, while changing, is still fundamentally preserved, and still demonstrates its openness to renewal and development. Doctor of Philosophy S. A. Razdolsky defines it as “a thousand-year worldview of socially significant experience of the Adyghe ethnic group,” having its own empirical knowledge about the world around us and transmitting this knowledge at the level of interpersonal communication in the form of the most significant values.

The moral code, called Adygag'e, acts as the cultural core or main value of the Adyghe culture; it includes humanity, respect, reason, courage and honor.

Adyghe etiquette occupies a special place in culture as a system of connections (or channel of information flows), embodied in a symbolic form, through which the Circassians enter into relationships with each other, store and transmit the experience of their culture. Moreover, the Circassians developed etiquette forms of behavior that helped them exist in the mountain and foothill landscapes.

Respectfulness has the status of a separate value, it is the borderline value of moral self-consciousness and, as such, it manifests itself as the essence of true self-worth.

Folklore

Behind 85 years before, in 1711, Abri de la Motre (French agent of the Swedish king Charles XII) visited the Caucasus, Asia and Africa.

According to his official communications (reports), long before his travels, that is, before 1711, Circassia had the skills to mass inoculate smallpox.

Abri de la Motray left a detailed description of the smallpox vaccination procedure among the Circassians in the village of Degliad:

The girl was referred to a little boy of three years old who was sick with this disease and whose pockmarks and pimples began to fester. The old woman performed the operation, since the oldest members of this sex have a reputation for being the most intelligent and knowledgeable, and they practice medicine as the oldest of the other sex practice the priesthood. This woman took three needles tied together, with which she, firstly, injected the little girl in the stomach, secondly, in the left breast against the heart, thirdly, in the navel, fourthly, in the right palm, fifthly, into the ankle of the left leg until blood began to flow, with which she mixed pus extracted from the patient’s pockmarks. Then she applied dry cowshed leaves to the pricked and bleeding places, tying two skins of newborn lambs with a drill, after which the mother wrapped her in one of the leather blankets that, as I said above, make up the Circassian bed, and thus wrapped she took her to to yourself. I was told that she was to be kept warm, fed only porridge made from cumin flour, with two-thirds water and one-third sheep's milk, given nothing to drink except a cool infusion made from ox tongue (Plant), a little licorice and cowshed (Plant), three things quite common in the country.

Traditional surgery and chiropractic care

About Caucasian surgeons and chiropractors N.I. Pirogov wrote in 1849:

“Asian doctors in the Caucasus cured such external injuries (mainly the consequences of gunshot wounds), which, in the opinion of our doctors, required the removal of members (amputation), this is a fact confirmed by many observations; It is also known throughout the Caucasus that taking away members and cutting out crushed bones is never undertaken by Asian doctors; Of the bloody operations they perform to treat external injuries, only cutting out bullets is known.”

Circassian crafts

Blacksmithing among the Circassians

Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Gadlo A.V., about the history of the Circassians in the 1st millennium AD. e. wrote -

Adyghe blacksmiths in the early Middle Ages, apparently, had not yet severed their connection with the community and had not separated from it, however, within the community they already constituted a separate professional group... Blacksmithing production in this period was focused mainly on meeting the economic needs of the community ( ploughshares, scythes, sickles, axes, knives, chains, skewers, sheep shears, etc.) and its military organization (horse equipment - bits, stirrups, horseshoes, girth buckles; offensive weapons - spears, battle axes, swords, daggers, arrowheads, protective weapons - helmets, chain mail, parts of shields, etc.). It is still difficult to determine what the raw material base of this production was, but, without excluding the presence of our own smelting of metal from local ores, we point out two iron ore regions from where metallurgical raw materials (semi-finished products-kritsy) could also be supplied to Adyghe blacksmiths. These are, firstly, the Kerch Peninsula and, secondly, the upper reaches of the Kuban, Zelenchuk and Urup, where they were discovered obvious traces of ancient cheese-making iron smelting.

Jewelry making among the Circassians

“Adyghe jewelers had the skills of casting non-ferrous metals, soldering, stamping, making wire, engraving, etc. Unlike blacksmithing, their production did not require bulky equipment and large, difficult-to-transport supplies of raw materials. As shown by the burial of a jeweler in a burial ground on the river. Durso, metallurgists and jewelers could use not only ingots obtained from ore, but also scrap metal as raw materials. Together with their tools and raw materials, they moved freely from village to village, increasingly breaking away from their community and turning into otkhodnik artisans.”

Gunsmithing

Blacksmiths are very numerous in the country. They are almost everywhere weapon and silversmiths and are very skilled in their profession. It is almost incomprehensible how they, with their few and insufficient tools, can make excellent weapons. The gold and silver jewelry that is admired by European gun lovers is made with great patience and labor with meager tools. Gunsmiths are highly respected and well paid, rarely in cash, of course, but almost always in kind. A large number of families are engaged exclusively in the manufacture of gunpowder and receive significant profits from it. Gunpowder is the most expensive and most necessary commodity, without which no one here can do. The gunpowder is not particularly good and is inferior even to ordinary cannon powder. It is made in a crude and primitive way, and therefore is of low quality. There is no shortage of saltpeter, as saltpeter plants grow in large quantities in the country; on the contrary, there is little sulfur, which is mostly obtained from outside (from Turkey).

Agriculture among the Circassians, in the 1st millennium AD

Materials obtained during the study of Adyghe settlements and burial grounds of the second half of the 1st millennium characterize the Adyghes as settled farmers who have not lost their Maeotian times plow farming skills. The main agricultural crops cultivated by the Circassians were soft wheat, barley, millet, rye, oats, and industrial crops - hemp and, possibly, flax. Numerous grain pits - repositories of the early medieval era - cut through the strata of early cultural strata at the settlements of the Kuban region, and large red clay pithos - vessels intended mainly for storing grain, constitute the main type of ceramic products that existed in the settlements of the Black Sea coast. Almost all settlements contain fragments of round rotary millstones or entire millstones, which were used for crushing and grinding grain. Fragments of stone crusher mortars and pusher pestles were found. There are known finds of sickles (Sopino, Durso), which could be used both for harvesting grain and for mowing fodder grass for livestock.

Livestock farming among the Circassians, in the 1st millennium AD

Undoubtedly, cattle breeding also played a prominent role in the Adyghe economy. The Adygs raised cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. The burials of war horses or parts of horse equipment repeatedly found in the burial grounds of this era indicate that horse breeding was the most important branch of their economy. The struggle for herds of cattle, herds of horses and rich lowland pastures is a constant motif of heroic deeds in Adyghe folklore.

Animal husbandry in the 19th century

Theophilus Lapinsky, who visited the lands of the Circassians in 1857, wrote the following in his work “The Highlanders of the Caucasus and their liberation struggle against the Russians”:

Goats are numerically the most common domestic animal in the country. The milk and meat of goats, due to excellent pastures, is very good; goat meat, which in some countries is considered almost inedible, is tastier here than lamb. The Adygs keep numerous herds of goats, many families have several thousand of them, and it can be assumed that there are over one and a half million of these useful animals in the country. The goat is only under a roof in winter, but even then it is driven out into the forest during the day and finds some food for itself in the snow. Buffaloes and cows abound in the eastern plains of the country; donkeys and mules are found only in the southern mountains. They used to keep a lot of pigs, but since the introduction of Mohammedanism the pig has disappeared as a domestic animal. Among the birds they keep are chickens, ducks and geese, and turkeys are especially common, but the Adygs very rarely take the trouble to care for poultry, which feeds and breeds at random.

Horse breeding

In the 19th century, about horse breeding of the Circassians (Kabardians, Circassians), Senator Philipson, Grigory Ivanovich reported:

The mountaineers of the western half of the Caucasus then had famous horse studs: Sholok, Tram, Yeseni, Loo, Bechkan. The horses did not have all the beauty of pure breeds, but they were extremely hardy, loyal on their feet, and were never shod, because their hooves, as the Cossacks called them “cup-shaped,” were as strong as bone. Some horses, like their riders, had great fame in the mountains. For example, the white horse of the factory Tram was almost as famous among the mountaineers as his owner Mohammed-Ash-Atajukin, a fugitive Kabardian and famous predator.

Theophilus Lapinsky, who visited the lands of the Circassians in 1857, wrote the following in his work “The Highlanders of the Caucasus and their liberation struggle against the Russians”:

Previously, there were many herds of horses in the possession of wealthy residents in Laba and Malaya Kuban, now there are few families that have more than 12 - 15 horses. But there are also few who have no horses at all. In general, we can assume that on average there are 4 horses per yard, which will amount to about 200,000 horses for the entire country. On the plains the number of horses is twice as large as in the mountains.

Dwellings and settlements of the Circassians in the 1st millennium AD

The intensive settlement of the indigenous Adyghe territory throughout the second half of the 1st millennium is evidenced by numerous settlements, settlements and burial grounds discovered both on the coast and in the plain-foothill part of the Trans-Kuban region. The Adygs who lived on the coast, as a rule, settled in unfortified villages located on elevated plateaus and mountain slopes far from the coast in the upper reaches of rivers and streams flowing into the sea. The market settlements that arose in the ancient period on the seashore did not lose their significance in the early Middle Ages, and some of them even turned into cities protected by fortresses (for example, Nikopsis at the mouth of the Nechepsukho River in the area of ​​the village of Novo-Mikhailovskoye). The Adygs who lived in the Trans-Kuban region, as a rule, settled on elevated capes overhanging the floodplain valley, at the mouths of rivers flowing into the Kuban from the south or at the mouths of their tributaries. Until the beginning of the 8th century. Here, fortified settlements predominated, consisting of a citadel fortification surrounded by a moat and an adjacent settlement, sometimes also fenced on the floor side by a moat. Most of these settlements were located on the sites of old Meotian settlements abandoned in the 3rd or 4th centuries. (for example, near the village of Krasny, near the villages of Gatlukai, Takhtamukai, Novo-Vochepshiy, near the village of Yastrebovsky, near the village of Krasny, etc.). At the beginning of the 8th century. the Kuban Circassians also begin to settle in unfortified open settlements, similar to the settlements of the Circassians of the coast.

Main occupations of the Circassians

Teofil Lapinsky, in 1857, recorded the following:

The primary occupation of the Adyghe is agriculture, which provides him and his family with a means of livelihood. Agricultural implements are still in a primitive state and, since iron is rare, are very expensive. The plow is heavy and clumsy, but this is not only a feature of the Caucasus; I remember that I saw equally clumsy agricultural implements in Silesia, which, however, belongs to the German Confederation; six to eight oxen are harnessed to the plow. The harrow is replaced by several bunches of strong spikes, which somehow serve the same purpose. Their axes and hoes are pretty good. On the plains and on lower mountains, large two-wheeled carts are used to transport hay and grain. In such a cart you will not find a nail or a piece of iron, but nevertheless they last a long time and can carry from eight to ten centners. On the plain there is a cart for every two families, in the mountainous part - for every five families; it is no longer found in high mountains. All teams use only oxen, not horses.

Adyghe literature, languages ​​and writing

The modern Adyghe language belongs to the Caucasian languages ​​of the western group of the Abkhaz-Adyghe subgroup, Russian - to the Indo-European languages ​​of the Slavic group of the eastern subgroup. Despite the different language systems, the influence of Russian on Adyghe is manifested in a fairly large number of borrowed vocabulary.

• 1855 - Adyghe (Abadzekh) educator, linguist, scientist, writer, poet - fabulist, Bersey Umar Khaphalovich - made a significant contribution to the formation of Adyghe literature and writing, compiling and publishing the first Primer of the Circassian language(in Arabic script), this day is considered the “Birthday of modern Adyghe writing” and served as an impetus for Adyghe enlightenment.

• 1918 is the year of the creation of Adyghe writing based on Arabic graphics.
• 1927 - Adyghe writing was translated into Latin.
• 1938 - Adyghe writing was translated into Cyrillic.

Main article: Kabardino-Circassian writing

Links

see also

Notes

1. Maksidov A. A.
2. Türkiyedeki Kürtlerin Sayısı! (Turkish) Milliyet(June 6, 2008). Retrieved June 7, 2008.
3. National composition of the population // Russian Population Census 2002
4. Israeli website IzRus
5. Independent English Studies
6. Russian Caucasus. Book for politicians / Ed. V. A. Tishkova. - M.: FGNU "Rosinformagrotekh", 2007. p. 241
7. A. A. Kamrakov. Features of the development of the Circassian diaspora in the Middle East // Medina Publishing House.
8. Art. Art. Adygs, Meots in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
9. Skilacus of Cariande. Perippus of the inhabited sea. Translation and comments by F.V. Shelova-Kovedyaeva // Bulletin of Ancient History. 1988. No. 1. P. 262; No. 2. pp. 260-261)
10. J. Interiano. Life and country of the Zikhs, called Circassians. Remarkable storytelling
11. K. Yu. Nebezhev Adyghe-Genoa PRINCE ZACHARIAH DE GIZOLFI-LORD OF THE CITY OF MATREGI IN THE 15TH CENTURY
12. Vladimir Gudakov. Russian path to the South (myths and reality
13. Chrono.ru
14. DECISION of the Supreme Council of the KBSR dated 02/07/1992 N 977-XII-B "ON CONDEMNATION OF THE GENOCIDE OF THE ADIGES (CHERKASSIANS) DURING THE YEARS OF THE RUSSIAN-CAUCASIAN WAR (Russian)", RUSOUTH.info.
15. Diana Kommersant-Dadasheva. Adygs are seeking recognition of their genocide (Russian), Newspaper "Kommersant" (13.10.2006).

Adyghe is the common self-name of the ancestors of modern Adyghe, Kabardians and Circassians. The surrounding peoples also called them Zikhs and Kasogs. The origin and meaning of all these names is a controversial issue. The ancient Circassians belonged to the Caucasian race.
The history of the Circassians is endless clashes with hordes of Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Bulgars, Alans, Khazars, Magyars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Mongol-Tatars, Kalmyks, Nogais, Turks.

In 1792, with the creation by Russian troops of a continuous cordon line along the Kuban River, the active development of the western Adyghe lands by Russia began.

At first, the Russians fought, in fact, not with the Circassians, but with the Turks, who at that time owned Adygea. Following the conclusion of the Treaty of Adriapolis in 1829, all Turkish possessions in the Caucasus passed to Russia. But the Circassians refused to transfer to Russian citizenship and continued to launch attacks on Russian settlements.

Only in 1864 did Russia take control of the last independent territories of the Circassians - the Kuban and Sochi lands. A small part of the Adyghe nobility by this time had transferred to the service of the Russian Empire. But most of the Circassians - over 200 thousand people - wanted to move to Turkey.
The Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II settled refugees (Mohajirs) on the desert border of Syria and other border areas to combat Bedouin raids.

This tragic page in Russian-Adyghe relations has recently become the subject of historical and political speculation in order to put pressure on Russia. Part of the Adyghe-Circassian diaspora, with the support of certain Western forces, demands a boycott of the Olympics in Sochi if Russia does not recognize the resettlement of the Adygs as an act of genocide. After which, of course, lawsuits for compensation will follow.

Adygea

Today, the bulk of the Circassians live in Turkey (according to various sources, from 3 to 5 million people). In the Russian Federation, the number of Circassians as a whole does not exceed 1 million. There are also considerable diasporas in Syria, Jordan, Israel, the USA, France and other countries. They all retain the consciousness of their cultural unity.

Adygs in Jordan

***
It just so happened that the Circassians and the Russians have long measured their strength. And it all began in ancient times, about which “The Tale of Bygone Years” tells. It is curious that both sides - Russian and mountain - talk about this event in almost the same words.

The chronicler puts it this way. In 1022, the son of St. Vladimir, the Tmutorokan prince Mstislav went on a campaign against the Kasogs - that’s how the Russians called the Circassians at that time. When the opponents lined up opposite each other, the Kasozh prince Rededya said to Mstislav: “Why are we destroying our squad? Go out to the duel: if you win, you will take my property, my wife, my children, and my land. If I win, I’ll take everything you have.” Mstislav replied: “So be it.”

The opponents laid down their weapons and began to fight. And Mstislav began to grow weak, for Rededya was great and strong. But the prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos helped the Russian prince overcome the enemy: he struck Rededya to the ground, and, taking out a knife, stabbed him. The Kasogs submitted to Mstislav.

According to Adyghe legends, Rededya was not a prince, but a mighty hero. One day, the Adyghe prince Idar, having gathered many warriors, went to Tamtarakai (Tmutorokan). The Tamtarakai prince Mstislau led his army to meet the Circassians. When the enemies got closer, Rededya came forward and said to the Russian prince: “In order not to shed blood in vain, defeat me and take everything I have.” The opponents took off their weapons and fought for several hours in a row, not yielding to each other. Finally Rededya fell, and the Tamtarakai prince struck him with a knife.

The death of Rededi is also mourned by the ancient Adyghe funeral song (sagish). True, in it Rededya is defeated not by force, but by deceit:

Grand Duke of the Uruses
When you threw it to the ground,
He longed for life
He took out the knife from his belt,
Under your shoulder blade insidiously
stuck it in and
Oh woe, he took out your soul.

According to Russian legend, Rededi's two sons, taken to Tmutorokan, were baptized under the names of Yuri and Roman, and the latter allegedly married the daughter of Mstislav. Later, some boyar families elevated themselves to them, for example the Beleutovs, Sorokoumovs, Glebovs, Simskys and others.

***
For a long time, Moscow, the capital of the expanding Russian state, has attracted the attention of the Circassians. Quite early, the Adyghe-Circassian nobility became part of the Russian ruling elite.

The basis of the Russian-Adyghe rapprochement was the joint struggle against the Crimean Khanate. In 1557, five Circassian princes, accompanied by a large number of soldiers, arrived in Moscow and entered the service of Ivan the Terrible. Thus, 1557 is the year of the beginning of the formation of the Adyghe diaspora in Moscow.

After the mysterious death of the formidable king’s first wife, Queen Anastasia, it turned out that Ivan was inclined to consolidate his alliance with the Circassians with a dynastic marriage. His chosen one was Princess Kuchenei, daughter of Temryuk, the eldest prince of Kabarda. At baptism she received the name Mary. In Moscow they said a lot of unflattering things about her and even attributed the idea of ​​the oprichnina to her.

Ring of Maria Temryukovna (Kucheney)

For almost two centuries (until 1776), the Cherkasy house with a huge courtyard stood on the territory of the Kremlin. Maryina Roshcha, Ostankino and Troitskoye belonged to the Circassian princes. Bolshoi and Maly Cherkassky lanes still remind us of the time when the Circassian Circassians largely determined the policy of the Russian state.

Bolshoi Cherkassky Lane

***

However, the bravery of the Circassians, their dashing horsemanship, generosity, and hospitality were as famous as the beauty and grace of the Circassian women. However, the position of women was difficult: they carried out the most difficult housework in the field and at home.

The nobles had a custom of giving their children at an early age to be raised by another family, by an experienced teacher. In the teacher's family, the boy went through a harsh school of hardening and acquired the habits of a horseman and warrior, and the girl acquired the knowledge of a housewife and worker. Strong and tender bonds of friendship were established between the pupils and their teachers for the rest of their lives.

Since the 6th century, the Circassians were considered Christians, but made sacrifices to pagan gods. Their funeral rites were also pagan, they adhered to polygamy. The Adygs did not know the written language. They used pieces of cloth as money.

Over the course of one century, Turkish influence made a huge change in the life of the Circassians. In the second half of the 18th century, all Circassians formally converted to Islam. However, their religious practices and views were still a mixture of paganism, Islam and Christianity. They worshiped Shibla, the god of thunder, war and justice, as well as the spirits of water, sea, trees, and elements. Sacred groves were especially respected by them.

The Adyghe language is beautiful in its own way, although it has an abundance of consonants and only three vowels - “a”, “e”, “y”. But for a European to master it is almost unthinkable due to the abundance of sounds unusual for us.

100,000 (estimated)
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Adygs(or Circassians listen)) - the general name of a single people in Russia and abroad, divided into Kabardins, Circassians, Ubykhs, Adygeis and Shapsugs.

Self-name - Adyghe.

Numbers and diasporas

The total number of Circassians in the Russian Federation according to the 2002 census is 712 thousand people, they live in the territory of six subjects: Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Territory, North Ossetia, Stavropol Territory. In three of them, the Adyghe peoples are one of the “titular” nations, the Circassians in Karachay-Cherkessia, the Adyghe people in Adygea, the Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Abroad, the largest diaspora of Circassians is in Turkey; according to some estimates, the Turkish diaspora numbers from 2.5 to 3 million Circassians. The Israeli Circassian diaspora numbers 4 thousand people. There is a Syrian diaspora, Libyan diaspora, Egyptian diaspora, Jordanian Adyghe diaspora, they also live in Europe, the USA and some other countries in the Middle East, but the statistics of most of these countries do not provide accurate data on the number of Adyghe diasporas. The estimated number of Circassians (Circassians) in Syria is 80 thousand people.

There are some in other CIS countries, in particular in Kazakhstan.

Modern Adyghe languages

At present, the Adyghe language has retained two literary dialects, namely Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian, which are part of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of the North Caucasian family of languages.

Since the 13th century, all these names have been replaced by an exoethnonym - Circassians.

Modern ethnonymy

Currently, in addition to the common self-name, the following names are used in relation to the Adyghe subethnic groups:

• Adygeis, which includes the following subethnonyms: Abadzekhs, Adamians, Besleneevtsy, Bzhedugs, Egerukayevtsy, Mamkhegs, Makhoshevtsy, Temirgoyevtsy (KIemguy), Natukhaytsy, Shapsugs (including Khakuchi), Khatukaytsy, Khegayki, Zhaneevtsy (Zhane), Guaye, Che bsin (Tsopsyne ), adale.

Ethnogenesis

Zikhi - so called in the languages: common Greek and Latin, while the Circassians are called Tatars and Turks, call themselves - “ adiga».

Story

Main article: History of the Circassians

Fight against the Crimean Khanate

Regular Moscow-Adyghe connections began to be established during the period of Genoese trade in the Northern Black Sea region, which took place in the cities of Matrega (now Taman), Kopa (now Slavyansk-on-Kuban) and Kaffa (modern Feodosia), etc., in which significant part of the population were Circassians. At the end of the 15th century, caravans of Russian merchants constantly came along the Don Road to these Genoese cities, where Russian merchants made trade deals not only with the Genoese, but with the mountaineers of the North Caucasus who lived in these cities.

Moscow expansion to the south I could not develop without the support of ethnic groups that considered the basin of the Black and Azov Seas to be their ethnosphere. These were primarily Cossacks, Don and Zaporozhye, whose religious and cultural tradition - Orthodoxy - brought them closer to the Russians. This rapprochement was carried out when it was beneficial to the Cossacks, especially since the prospect of plundering the Crimean and Ottoman possessions as Moscow's allies suited their ethnocentric goals. Some of the Nogais who swore allegiance to the Moscow state could take the side of the Russians. But, of course, first of all, the Russians were interested in supporting the most powerful and powerful Western Caucasian ethnic group, the Circassians.

During the formation of the Moscow principality, the Crimean Khanate caused the Russians and Circassians the same troubles. For example, there was a Crimean campaign against Moscow (1521), as a result of which the khan’s troops burned Moscow and captured more than 100 thousand Russians to be sold into slavery. The khan's troops left Moscow only when Tsar Vasily officially confirmed that he was a tributary of the khan and would continue to pay tribute.

Russian-Adyghe ties were not interrupted. Moreover, they adopted forms of joint military cooperation. So, in 1552, the Circassians, together with the Russians, Cossacks, Mordovians and others, took part in the capture of Kazan. The participation of the Circassians in this operation is quite natural, given the tendencies that emerged by the middle of the 16th century among some of the Circassians towards rapprochement with the young Russian ethnos, which was actively expanding its ethnosphere.

Therefore, the arrival in Moscow in November 1552 of the first embassy from some Adyghe subethnic groups It could not have been more opportune for Ivan the Terrible, whose plans were in the direction of the Russians advancing along the Volga to its mouth, to the Caspian Sea. Union with the most powerful ethnic group N.-W. Moscow needed K. in its fight against the Crimean Khanate.

In total, in the 1550s, three embassies from the North-West visited Moscow. K., in 1552, 1555 and 1557. They consisted of representatives of the Western Circassians (Zhaneevtsev, Besleneevtsy, etc.), eastern Circassians (Kabardians) and Abazinians, who turned to Ivan IV with a request for patronage. They needed patronage primarily to fight the Crimean Khanate. Delegations from North-West K. met with a favorable reception and secured the patronage of the Russian Tsar. From now on, they could count on military and diplomatic assistance from Moscow, and they themselves were obliged to appear in the service of the Grand Duke-Tsar.

Also, under Ivan the Terrible, he had a second Crimean campaign against Moscow (1571), as a result of which the khan’s troops defeated the Russian troops and again burned Moscow and captured more than 60 thousand Russians (for sale into slavery).

Main article: Crimean campaign against Moscow (1572)

The third Crimean campaign against Moscow in 1572, with the financial and military support of the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a result of the Battle of Molodin, ended in the complete physical destruction of the Tatar-Turkish army and the defeat of the Crimean Khanate http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Molody

In the 70s, despite the unsuccessful Astrakhan expedition, the Crimeans and Ottomans managed to restore their influence in the region. Russians were forced out of it for more than 100 years. True, they continued to consider the Western Caucasian highlanders, the Circassians and Abazins, their subjects, but this did not change the essence of the matter. The mountaineers had no idea about this, just as at one time the Asian nomads had no idea that China considered them its subjects.

The Russians left the North Caucasus, but gained a foothold in the Volga region.

Caucasian War

Patriotic War

List of Circassians (Circassians) - Heroes of the Soviet Union

The question of the Circassian genocide

New time

The official registration of most of the modern Adyghe villages dates back to the 2nd half of the 19th century, that is, after the end of the Caucasian War. To improve control of the territories, the new authorities were forced to resettle the Circassians, who founded 12 auls in new places, and in the 20s of the 20th century - 5.

Religions of the Circassians

Culture

Adyghe girl

Adyghe culture is a little-studied phenomenon, the result of a long period of time in the life of the people, during which the culture experienced various internal and external influences, including long-term contacts with the Greeks, Genoese and other peoples, long-term feudal feuds, wars, Mukhadzhirism, social, political and cultural shocks. The culture, while changing, is still fundamentally preserved, and still demonstrates its openness to renewal and development. Doctor of Philosophy S. A. Razdolsky defines it as “a thousand-year worldview of socially significant experience of the Adyghe ethnic group,” having its own empirical knowledge about the world around us and transmitting this knowledge at the level of interpersonal communication in the form of the most significant values.

The moral code, called Adygag'e, acts as the cultural core or main value of the Adyghe culture; it includes humanity, respect, reason, courage and honor.

Adyghe etiquette occupies a special place in culture as a system of connections (or channel of information flows), embodied in a symbolic form, through which the Circassians enter into relationships with each other, store and transmit the experience of their culture. Moreover, the Circassians developed etiquette forms of behavior that helped them exist in the mountain and foothill landscapes.

Respectfulness has the status of a separate value, it is the borderline value of moral self-consciousness and, as such, it manifests itself as the essence of true self-worth.

Folklore

Behind 85 years before, in 1711, Abri de la Motre (French agent of the Swedish king Charles XII) visited the Caucasus, Asia and Africa.

According to his official communications (reports), long before his travels, that is, before 1711, Circassia had the skills to mass inoculate smallpox.

Abri de la Motray left a detailed description of the smallpox vaccination procedure among the Circassians in the village of Degliad:

The girl was referred to a little boy of three years old who was sick with this disease and whose pockmarks and pimples began to fester. The old woman performed the operation, since the oldest members of this sex have a reputation for being the most intelligent and knowledgeable, and they practice medicine as the oldest of the other sex practice the priesthood. This woman took three needles tied together, with which she, firstly, injected the little girl in the stomach, secondly, in the left breast against the heart, thirdly, in the navel, fourthly, in the right palm, fifthly, into the ankle of the left leg until blood began to flow, with which she mixed pus extracted from the patient’s pockmarks. Then she applied dry cowshed leaves to the pricked and bleeding places, tying two skins of newborn lambs with a drill, after which the mother wrapped her in one of the leather blankets that, as I said above, make up the Circassian bed, and thus wrapped she took her to to yourself. I was told that she was to be kept warm, fed only porridge made from cumin flour, with two-thirds water and one-third sheep's milk, given nothing to drink except a cool infusion made from ox tongue (Plant), a little licorice and cowshed (Plant), three things quite common in the country.

Traditional surgery and chiropractic care

About Caucasian surgeons and chiropractors N.I. Pirogov wrote in 1849:

“Asian doctors in the Caucasus cured such external injuries (mainly the consequences of gunshot wounds), which, in the opinion of our doctors, required the removal of members (amputation), this is a fact confirmed by many observations; It is also known throughout the Caucasus that taking away members and cutting out crushed bones is never undertaken by Asian doctors; Of the bloody operations they perform to treat external injuries, only cutting out bullets is known.”

Circassian crafts

Blacksmithing among the Circassians

Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Gadlo A.V., about the history of the Circassians in the 1st millennium AD. e. wrote -

Adyghe blacksmiths in the early Middle Ages, apparently, had not yet severed their connection with the community and had not separated from it, however, within the community they already constituted a separate professional group... Blacksmithing production in this period was focused mainly on meeting the economic needs of the community ( ploughshares, scythes, sickles, axes, knives, chains, skewers, sheep shears, etc.) and its military organization (horse equipment - bits, stirrups, horseshoes, girth buckles; offensive weapons - spears, battle axes, swords, daggers, arrowheads, protective weapons - helmets, chain mail, parts of shields, etc.). It is still difficult to determine what the raw material base of this production was, but, without excluding the presence of our own smelting of metal from local ores, we point out two iron ore regions from where metallurgical raw materials (semi-finished products-kritsy) could also be supplied to Adyghe blacksmiths. These are, firstly, the Kerch Peninsula and, secondly, the upper reaches of the Kuban, Zelenchuk and Urup, where they were discovered obvious traces of ancient cheese-making iron smelting.

Jewelry making among the Circassians

“Adyghe jewelers had the skills of casting non-ferrous metals, soldering, stamping, making wire, engraving, etc. Unlike blacksmithing, their production did not require bulky equipment and large, difficult-to-transport supplies of raw materials. As shown by the burial of a jeweler in a burial ground on the river. Durso, metallurgists and jewelers could use not only ingots obtained from ore, but also scrap metal as raw materials. Together with their tools and raw materials, they moved freely from village to village, increasingly breaking away from their community and turning into otkhodnik artisans.”

Gunsmithing

Blacksmiths are very numerous in the country. They are almost everywhere weapon and silversmiths and are very skilled in their profession. It is almost incomprehensible how they, with their few and insufficient tools, can make excellent weapons. The gold and silver jewelry that is admired by European gun lovers is made with great patience and labor with meager tools. Gunsmiths are highly respected and well paid, rarely in cash, of course, but almost always in kind. A large number of families are engaged exclusively in the manufacture of gunpowder and receive significant profits from it. Gunpowder is the most expensive and most necessary commodity, without which no one here can do. The gunpowder is not particularly good and is inferior even to ordinary cannon powder. It is made in a crude and primitive way, and therefore is of low quality. There is no shortage of saltpeter, as saltpeter plants grow in large quantities in the country; on the contrary, there is little sulfur, which is mostly obtained from outside (from Turkey).

Agriculture among the Circassians, in the 1st millennium AD

Materials obtained during the study of Adyghe settlements and burial grounds of the second half of the 1st millennium characterize the Adyghes as settled farmers who have not lost their Maeotian times plow farming skills. The main agricultural crops cultivated by the Circassians were soft wheat, barley, millet, rye, oats, and industrial crops - hemp and, possibly, flax. Numerous grain pits - repositories of the early medieval era - cut through the strata of early cultural strata at the settlements of the Kuban region, and large red clay pithos - vessels intended mainly for storing grain, constitute the main type of ceramic products that existed in the settlements of the Black Sea coast. Almost all settlements contain fragments of round rotary millstones or entire millstones, which were used for crushing and grinding grain. Fragments of stone crusher mortars and pusher pestles were found. There are known finds of sickles (Sopino, Durso), which could be used both for harvesting grain and for mowing fodder grass for livestock.

Livestock farming among the Circassians, in the 1st millennium AD

Undoubtedly, cattle breeding also played a prominent role in the Adyghe economy. The Adygs raised cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. The burials of war horses or parts of horse equipment repeatedly found in the burial grounds of this era indicate that horse breeding was the most important branch of their economy. The struggle for herds of cattle, herds of horses and rich lowland pastures is a constant motif of heroic deeds in Adyghe folklore.

Animal husbandry in the 19th century

Theophilus Lapinsky, who visited the lands of the Circassians in 1857, wrote the following in his work “The Highlanders of the Caucasus and their liberation struggle against the Russians”:

Goats are numerically the most common domestic animal in the country. The milk and meat of goats, due to excellent pastures, is very good; goat meat, which in some countries is considered almost inedible, is tastier here than lamb. The Adygs keep numerous herds of goats, many families have several thousand of them, and it can be assumed that there are over one and a half million of these useful animals in the country. The goat is only under a roof in winter, but even then it is driven out into the forest during the day and finds some food for itself in the snow. Buffaloes and cows abound in the eastern plains of the country; donkeys and mules are found only in the southern mountains. They used to keep a lot of pigs, but since the introduction of Mohammedanism the pig has disappeared as a domestic animal. Among the birds they keep are chickens, ducks and geese, and turkeys are especially common, but the Adygs very rarely take the trouble to care for poultry, which feeds and breeds at random.

Horse breeding

In the 19th century, about horse breeding of the Circassians (Kabardians, Circassians), Senator Philipson, Grigory Ivanovich reported:

The mountaineers of the western half of the Caucasus then had famous horse studs: Sholok, Tram, Yeseni, Loo, Bechkan. The horses did not have all the beauty of pure breeds, but they were extremely hardy, loyal on their feet, and were never shod, because their hooves, as the Cossacks called them “cup-shaped,” were as strong as bone. Some horses, like their riders, had great fame in the mountains. For example, the white horse of the factory Tram was almost as famous among the mountaineers as his owner Mohammed-Ash-Atajukin, a fugitive Kabardian and famous predator.

Theophilus Lapinsky, who visited the lands of the Circassians in 1857, wrote the following in his work “The Highlanders of the Caucasus and their liberation struggle against the Russians”:

Previously, there were many herds of horses in the possession of wealthy residents in Laba and Malaya Kuban, now there are few families that have more than 12 - 15 horses. But there are also few who have no horses at all. In general, we can assume that on average there are 4 horses per yard, which will amount to about 200,000 horses for the entire country. On the plains the number of horses is twice as large as in the mountains.

Dwellings and settlements of the Circassians in the 1st millennium AD

The intensive settlement of the indigenous Adyghe territory throughout the second half of the 1st millennium is evidenced by numerous settlements, settlements and burial grounds discovered both on the coast and in the plain-foothill part of the Trans-Kuban region. The Adygs who lived on the coast, as a rule, settled in unfortified villages located on elevated plateaus and mountain slopes far from the coast in the upper reaches of rivers and streams flowing into the sea. The market settlements that arose in the ancient period on the seashore did not lose their significance in the early Middle Ages, and some of them even turned into cities protected by fortresses (for example, Nikopsis at the mouth of the Nechepsukho River in the area of ​​the village of Novo-Mikhailovskoye). The Adygs who lived in the Trans-Kuban region, as a rule, settled on elevated capes overhanging the floodplain valley, at the mouths of rivers flowing into the Kuban from the south or at the mouths of their tributaries. Until the beginning of the 8th century. Here, fortified settlements predominated, consisting of a citadel fortification surrounded by a moat and an adjacent settlement, sometimes also fenced on the floor side by a moat. Most of these settlements were located on the sites of old Meotian settlements abandoned in the 3rd or 4th centuries. (for example, near the village of Krasny, near the villages of Gatlukai, Takhtamukai, Novo-Vochepshiy, near the village of Yastrebovsky, near the village of Krasny, etc.). At the beginning of the 8th century. the Kuban Circassians also begin to settle in unfortified open settlements, similar to the settlements of the Circassians of the coast.

Main occupations of the Circassians

Teofil Lapinsky, in 1857, recorded the following:

The primary occupation of the Adyghe is agriculture, which provides him and his family with a means of livelihood. Agricultural implements are still in a primitive state and, since iron is rare, are very expensive. The plow is heavy and clumsy, but this is not only a feature of the Caucasus; I remember that I saw equally clumsy agricultural implements in Silesia, which, however, belongs to the German Confederation; six to eight oxen are harnessed to the plow. The harrow is replaced by several bunches of strong spikes, which somehow serve the same purpose. Their axes and hoes are pretty good. On the plains and on lower mountains, large two-wheeled carts are used to transport hay and grain. In such a cart you will not find a nail or a piece of iron, but nevertheless they last a long time and can carry from eight to ten centners. On the plain there is a cart for every two families, in the mountainous part - for every five families; it is no longer found in high mountains. All teams use only oxen, not horses.

Adyghe literature, languages ​​and writing

The modern Adyghe language belongs to the Caucasian languages ​​of the western group of the Abkhaz-Adyghe subgroup, Russian - to the Indo-European languages ​​of the Slavic group of the eastern subgroup. Despite the different language systems, the influence of Russian on Adyghe is manifested in a fairly large number of borrowed vocabulary.

• 1855 - Adyghe (Abadzekh) educator, linguist, scientist, writer, poet - fabulist, Bersey Umar Khaphalovich - made a significant contribution to the formation of Adyghe literature and writing, compiling and publishing the first Primer of the Circassian language(in Arabic script), this day is considered the “Birthday of modern Adyghe writing” and served as an impetus for Adyghe enlightenment.

• 1918 is the year of the creation of Adyghe writing based on Arabic graphics.
• 1927 - Adyghe writing was translated into Latin.
• 1938 - Adyghe writing was translated into Cyrillic.

Main article: Kabardino-Circassian writing

Links

see also

Notes

1. Maksidov A. A.
2. Türkiyedeki Kürtlerin Sayısı! (Turkish) Milliyet(June 6, 2008). Retrieved June 7, 2008.
3. National composition of the population // Russian Population Census 2002
4. Israeli website IzRus
5. Independent English Studies
6. Russian Caucasus. Book for politicians / Ed. V. A. Tishkova. - M.: FGNU "Rosinformagrotekh", 2007. p. 241
7. A. A. Kamrakov. Features of the development of the Circassian diaspora in the Middle East // Medina Publishing House.
8. Art. Art. Adygs, Meots in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
9. Skilacus of Cariande. Perippus of the inhabited sea. Translation and comments by F.V. Shelova-Kovedyaeva // Bulletin of Ancient History. 1988. No. 1. P. 262; No. 2. pp. 260-261)
10. J. Interiano. Life and country of the Zikhs, called Circassians. Remarkable storytelling
11. K. Yu. Nebezhev Adyghe-Genoa PRINCE ZACHARIAH DE GIZOLFI-LORD OF THE CITY OF MATREGI IN THE 15TH CENTURY
12. Vladimir Gudakov. Russian path to the South (myths and reality
13. Chrono.ru
14. DECISION of the Supreme Council of the KBSR dated 02/07/1992 N 977-XII-B "ON CONDEMNATION OF THE GENOCIDE OF THE ADIGES (CHERKASSIANS) DURING THE YEARS OF THE RUSSIAN-CAUCASIAN WAR (Russian)", RUSOUTH.info.
15. Diana Kommersant-Dadasheva. Adygs are seeking recognition of their genocide (Russian), Newspaper "Kommersant" (13.10.2006).