Circassians (Circassians). What are they? (Brief information from the history and current state.)

The Circassians (the self-name of the Adygs) are the oldest inhabitants of the North-Western Caucasus, whose history, according to many Russian and foreign researchers, is rooted far back in time, in the era of stone.

As Gleason's Pictorial Journal 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 story of yesterday. The Circassians have a striking feature: they never lived in submission to external domination. The Circassians were defeated, they were forced out into the mountains, suppressed by superior force. But never, even for a short time, did they obey anyone but 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 are 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. They are mentioned in abundance by Geradot, Varius Flaccus, Pomponius Mela, Strabo, Plutarch and other great writers. Their traditions, legends, epics are a heroic tale of freedom, which they have maintained for at least the last 2300 years in the face of the most powerful rulers in human memory.

The history of the Circassians (Circassians) 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, communicating within itself with 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 (Adyghes) belongs to the West 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 ties of this language with the languages ​​of Asia Minor and Western Asia, in particular, with the now dead Hattian, whose speakers lived in this region 4-5 thousand years ago, were found.

The oldest archaeological realities of the Circassians (Circassians) in the North Caucasus are the Dolmen and Maykop cultures (3rd millennium BC), which took an active part in the formation of the Adyghe-Abkhazian tribes. According to the famous scientist Sh.D. Inal-ipa is the distribution area of ​​dolmens and is basically the "original" homeland of the Adyghes 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, the archaeologist V.I. Markovin put forward a hypothesis about the fate of newcomers from the western Mediterranean in the early ethnogenesis of the Circassians (Circassians) by merging with the ancient West Caucasian population. He also considers the Basques (Spain, France) to be mediators of the 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. the region of settlement of the Circassians (Circassians) that has not been replaced for millennia. Sh.D.Inal-ipa and Z.V. Anchabadze indicate that the disintegration of the Adyghe-Abkhazian community began in the 2nd millennium BC. and ended by the end of the ancient era.

In the III millennium BC, in Asia Minor, the Hittite civilization developed dynamically, where the Adyghe-Abkhazians (the North-Eastern part) were called the Hattians. Already in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Hatti existed as a single state of the Adyghe-Abkhazians. Subsequently, part of the Hattians, who did not submit to the powerful Hittite empire, formed the Kasku state in the upper reaches of the Galis River (Kyzyl-Irmak in Turkey), whose inhabitants retained their language and went down in history under the name Kaskov (Kashkov). Scholars compare the name of the Kasks 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 his implacable enemy. It is mentioned in written sources up to the 8th century. d.c.e.

According to L.I. Lavrov, there was also a close connection between the North-Western Caucasus and Southern Ukraine and the 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 attributed the Meots, who were Adyghe-speaking, to the remnants of the Cimmerians. Taking into account the close interactions of the Circassians (Circassians) 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 substratum - the Cimmerian tribe. The formation of the Cimmerian union is attributed to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.

In the 7th century d.c.e. Numerous hordes of Scythians poured in from Central Asia and fell upon Cimmeria. The Scythians drove the Cimmerians west of the Don and into the Crimean steppes. They were preserved in the southern part of the Crimea under the name of the Taurians, and to the east of the Don and in the North-Western Caucasus under the collective name of the Meota. In particular, they included Sinds, Kerkets, Achaeans, Geniokhs, Sanigs, Zikhs, Psesses, Fateis, Tarpits, Doskhs, Dandarias, etc.

In the 6th century AD the ancient Adyghe state of Sindika was formed, which entered the 4th century. d.c.e. to the Bosporan kingdom. The Bosporan kings always relied in their policy on the Sindo-Meots, attracted them to military campaigns, passed off their daughters as their rulers. The area of ​​the Meotians 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 c. 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 the Iranian tribes. They also lived on the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov (Sindian Scythia). Their eastern border was the Laba River. A narrow strip was inhabited by the Meots along the Sea of ​​Azov, nomads lived to the east. In the III century. BC. according to a number of scientists, part of the Sindo-Meotian tribes entered the union of the Sarmatians (Siraks) and their kindred Alans. In addition to the Sarmatians, Iranian-speaking Scythians had a great influence on their ethnogenesis and culture, but this did not lead to the loss of the ethnic face of the ancestors of the Circassians (Circassians). And the linguist O.N. Trubachev, on the basis of his analysis of ancient toponyms, ethnonyms and personal names (anthroponyms) from the territory of distribution of the Sinds and other Meots, expressed the opinion that they belonged to the Indo-Aryans (Proto-Indians), who supposedly remained in the North Caucasus after their main mass left for the South east in the second millennium BC

Scientist N.Ya. Marr writes: “Adyghes, Abkhazians and a number of other Caucasian peoples belong to the Mediterranean “Japhetic” race, to which the Elams, Kassites, Khalds, Sumerians, Urartians, Basques, Pelasgians, Etruscans and other dead languages ​​\u200b\u200bof the Mediterranean basin belonged” .

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

The invasion of the Alanian 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. In the same period, the main elements of the men's costume, which later became the all-Caucasian, were born: Circassian coat, beshmet, legs, belt. Despite all the difficulties and dangers, the Meots retained their ethnic independence, their language and the peculiarities of their ancient culture.

In IV - V centuries. The Meotians, like the Bosporus as a whole, experienced the onslaught of the 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-Western Caucasus came to naught, and their ethnic name disappeared in the 5th century. As well as the ethnonyms of Sinds, Kerkets, Geniokhs, Achaeans and a number of other tribes. They are replaced by one big name - Zikhiya (zihi), the rise of which began as early as the 1st century AD. It is they, according to domestic and foreign scientists, who begin to play the main role in the unification process of the ancient Circassian (Adyghe) tribes. Over time, their territory has expanded significantly.

Until the end of the 8th century AD. (Early Middle Ages) the history of the Circassians (Circassians) is not deeply reflected in written sources and is studied by researchers based on the results of archaeological excavations, which 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 the Circassian (Adyghe) history. However, as written sources of that time testify, the planting of Christianity among the Circassians (Circassians) was not successful. The ancestors of the Circassians (Circassians) acted as a major political force in the North Caucasus. The Greeks, who occupied the eastern coast of the Black Sea long before the birth of Christ, transmitted information about our ancestors, whom they generally call zyugs, and sometimes kerkets. Georgian chroniclers call them jihs, and the region is called Djikhetia. Both of these names vividly resemble the word tsug, which in the current language means a person, since it is known that all peoples originally called themselves people, and gave their neighbors a nickname for some quality or locality, then our ancestors, who lived on the Black Sea coast, became known to their neighbors under the name of people: tsig, jik, tsukh.

The word kerket, according to experts of different times, is probably the name given to them by neighboring peoples, and maybe by the Greeks themselves. But, the real generic name of the Circassian (Adyghe) people is the one that survived in poetry and legends, i.e. ant, which changed over time in Adyge or Adykh, and, according to the property of the language, the letter t changed into di, with the addition of the syllable he, which served as a plural in names. In support of this thesis, scientists say that until recently, elders lived in Kabarda, who pronounced this word similar to its previous pronunciation - antihe; in some dialects, they simply say atihe. To further support this opinion, one can give an example from the ancient poetry of the Circassians (Circassians), in which the people are always called Ants, for example: antynokopyesh - Ants princely son, antigishao - Ants youth, antigiwork - Ants nobleman, antigishu - Ants rider. Knights or famous leaders were called narts, this word is an abbreviated narant and means “eye of the ants”. According to Yu.N. The Voronova 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 Kasogian tribal union was formed, which was first mentioned in the 8th century. The Khazar sources say that “everyone living in the country of Kes” pays tribute to the Khazars for the Alans. This suggests that the ethnonym "Zikhi" gradually left the political arena of the North-Western Caucasus. The Russians, like the Khazars and Arabs, used the term kashaki in the form of a kasogi. In X-XI, the collective name Kasogi, Kashaki, Kashki covered the entire Proto-Circassian (Adyghe) massif of the North-Western Caucasus. The Svans also called them Kashags. The ethnic territory of the Kasogs by the 10th century 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 single language and culture. Later, for various reasons, the formation and isolation of ethnic groups took place as a result of their movement to new territories. Thus, for example, in the XIII-XIV centuries. a Kabardian sub-ethnic group was formed, which 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 (Circassians) in the XIII-X1V centuries. occupy land in the foothills of the Central Caucasus, in the basin of the rivers Terek, Baksan, Malka, Cherek.

The last period of the Middle Ages, they, like many other peoples and countries, were in the zone of military and political influence of the Golden Horde. The ancestors of the Circassians (Circassians) 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, the Ottoman Empire.

According to many scientists, it was during this period, in the conditions of the Turkic-speaking environment, that the Adyghe ethnic name "Circassians" arose. Then this term was accepted by those who visited the North Caucasus, and from them entered the European and Oriental 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 (the Black Sea tribe of ancient times). The first of the well-known written sources 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 of "Circassia" also arises from the ethnic name.

The very etymology of the ethnonym Circassian has not been established with sufficient certainty. Tebu de Marigny, in his book “Journey to Circassia”, published in Brussels in 1821, cites one of the most common versions in pre-revolutionary literature, which boils down to the fact that this name is Tatar and means from Tatar Cher “road” and Kes “cut off ", but completely "cutting off the path." He wrote: “We in Europe 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 "cut off", which gives the name of the Circassians the meaning "cutting off the path. It is interesting that the Circassians call themselves only "Adyghe" (Adiqheu)." The author of the essay “The History of the Unfortunate Chirakes”, published in 1841, Prince A. Misostov considers this term a translation from Persian (Farsi) and meaning “thug”.

Here is how J. Interiano tells about the Circassians (Circassians) in his book “The Life and Country of the Zikhs, Called Circassians”, published in 1502: 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. along the seashore up to Cape Bussi and the river Phasis, and here it borders on Abkhazia, that is, part of Colchis.

From the land side they border on the Scythians, that is, on the Tatars. Their language is difficult - different from the language of neighboring peoples and strongly 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 "Journey through the Caucasus and Georgia, undertaken in 1807 - 1808." writes: “The name “Circassian” is of Tatar origin and is made up of the words “cher” - road and “kefsmek” to cut off. Cherkesan or Cherkes-ji has the same meaning as the word Iol-Kesedzh, which is common in Turkic and denotes the one who "cuts off the path."

“It is difficult to establish the origin of the name Kabarda,” he writes, since the etymology of Reineggs - from the Kabar River in the Crimea and from the word “da” - a village, can hardly be called correct. Many Circassians, in his opinion, are called "kabarda", namely the Uzdens (nobles) from the Tambi clan near the Kishbek River, which flows into the 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, which the Tatars call Cherkes-Kerman, and the area between the rivers Kacha and Belbek, whose upper half, also called Kabarda, is called Cherkes-Tuz, i.e. Circassian plain. However, I see no reason in this to believe that the Circassians came from the Crimea. It seems to me more likely to consider 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. Once, one old Tatar mullah explained to me quite seriously that the name "Circassian" is composed of the Persian "chekhar" (four) and the Tatar "kes" (man), because the nation comes from four brothers.

In his travel notes, the Hungarian scholar Jean-Charles de Besse (1799 - 1838) published in Paris under the title "Journey to the Crimea, the Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia, Asia Minor and Constantinople in 1929 and 1830" states that that “... the Circassians are a numerous, brave, restrained, courageous, but little known people in Europe ... My predecessors, writers and travelers, claimed 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 that did not belong to the Circassian (Adyghe) people began to be called the word "Circassian". “I don’t know why,” wrote L. Ya Lulye, one of the best experts on the Adyghes in the first half of the 19th century, among whom he lived for many years, “but we are used to calling all the tribes inhabiting the northern slope of the Caucasus Mountains Circassians, while they call themselves Adyge. The transformation of the ethnic term "Circassian" in essence into a collective one, as was the case with the terms "Scythian", "Alans", led to the fact that the most diverse peoples of the Caucasus were hiding behind it. In the first half of the XIX century. it became customary to call "Circassians not only the Abazins or Ubykhs, who are close to them in spirit and way of life, but also the inhabitants of Dagestan, Checheno-Ingushetia, Ossetia, Balkaria, Karachay, who are completely different from them in language."

In the first half of the XIX century. with the Black Sea Adygs, the Ubykhs became very close in cultural, everyday and political relations, who, as a rule, owned, along with their native, and the Adyghe (Circassian) language. F.F. Tornau notes on this occasion: “... 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). Abaza 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 misconception in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century about classifying the North Caucasian peoples as Circassians (Adyghes). In it, he notes: “From many articles and books of that time, one can conclude that 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 were at war with the Circassians and mountaineers, and on the left flank, or in Dagestan, with the mountaineers and Circassians ... ". He himself produces the ethnonym "Circassian" from the Turkic expression "sarkias".

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 the new descriptions of the travels of Dubois de Montpere, Belle, Longworth, and others; sometimes by this name they mean Caucasians living on the Black Sea coast, sometimes they consider all the inhabitants of the northern slope of the Caucasus to be Circassians, they even indicate that Kakhetia, the eastern part of the region of Georgia lying on the other side of the Caucasus, is inhabited by Circassians.

In spreading such misconceptions about the Circassians (Circassians) were guilty not only French, but, in equal measure, many German, English, American publications that reported this or that information about the Caucasus. Suffice it 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.

As a result of this completely misuse of the term "Circassians", it is necessary to be especially careful about the sources of the first half of the 19th century. In each individual case, even when using the data of the authors most knowledgeable in the Caucasian ethnography of that time, one should first figure out what kind of “Circassians” he is talking about, whether the author means by Circassians, in addition to the Adygs, other neighboring mountain peoples of the Caucasus. It is especially important to make sure of this when the information concerns the territory and number of the Adyghes, because in such cases, very often non-Adyghe peoples were ranked among the Circassians.

The extended 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 Adygs were indeed at that time a significant ethnic group in the North Caucasus, which had a great and comprehensive influence on the peoples surrounding them. Sometimes small tribes of a different ethnic origin were, as it were, interspersed in 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 "Circassians". One comes from the astral (solar) hypothesis and translates this word as “children of the sun” (from the term “tyge”, “dyge” - the sun), the other is the so-called “antskaya” about the topographic origin of this term (“glade”), “ Marinist" ("Pomeranians").

As evidenced by numerous written sources, the history of the Circassians (Circassians) of the XVI-XIX centuries. is closely connected with the history of Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, all the Middle Eastern countries, about which not only the modern inhabitants of the Caucasus, but also the Circassians (Adyghes) themselves today have a very vague idea.

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

Until now, in this country there are surnames Sharkasi, which means "Circassian". The problem of the formation of the Circassian ruling stratum in Egypt is of particular interest not only in the context of the history of Egypt, but also in terms of studying the history of the Circassian people. The rise of the Mamluk institution in Egypt dates back to the Ayyubid era. After the death of the famous Saladin, his former Mamluks, mostly of Circassian, Abkhazian and Georgian origin, became extremely powerful. According to the study of the Arab scholar Rashid ad-Din, the commander-in-chief of the army, Emir Fakhr ad-Din Cherkes, carried out a coup d'état 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 (Circassians) - 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 Tugdzhi, opposed the Turkic rebels and defeated them, while killing Beydar and several other high-ranking Turkic emirs from his entourage. Following this, the Circassians enthroned the 9th son of Kalaun, Nasir Muhammad. During both invasions of the Mongol emperor of Iran, Mahmud Ghazan (1299, 1303), the Circassian Mamluks played a decisive role in their defeat, which is noted in the chronicle of Makrizi, as well as in modern studies by J.Glubb, A.Hakim, A.Khasanov. These military merits 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 Zikhia Barquq. Many wrote about his Zikh-Circassian origin, including the Italian diplomat Bertrando de Mizhnaveli, who personally knew him. The Mamluk chronicler Ibn Taghri Birdi reports that Barquq came from the Circassian Kas tribe. Kassa here apparently means kasag-kashek - the usual name for zihs for Arabs and Persians. Barquq ended up in Egypt in 1363, and four years later, with the support of the Circassian governor in Damascus, he became emir and began to recruit, buy and lure Circassian Mamluks into his service. In 1376, he became regent for another juvenile Kalaunid. Concentrating actual power in his hands, Barquq 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 Ibn Khaldun, a contemporary of Barkuk, the founder of the sociological school, “people were glad that they were under the citizenship of the sultan, who knew how to properly assess affairs and manage them.”

The leading Mamluk scholar D. Aalon (Tell Aviv) called Barquq a statesman who staged the largest ethnic revolution in the history of Egypt. The Turks of Egypt and Syria took the accession to the throne of the Circassian with extreme hostility. So the emir-Tatar Altunbuga al-Sultani, the governor of Abulustan, fled after an unsuccessful rebellion to the Chagatai of Tamerlane, finally stating: "I will not live in a country where the ruler of which is a Circassian." Ibn Tagri Birdi wrote that Barquq had a 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 the highest and middle administrative posts were concentrated in the hands of the Circassians.

Power in Circassia and in 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 significance of Palestine was determined by Jerusalem), the southeastern regions of Anatolia, part of Mesopotamia. This territory with a population of at least 5 million people was subordinate to the Circassian community of Cairo of 50-100 thousand people, which at any time could put up from 2 to 10-12 thousand excellent heavily armed horsemen. The memory of these times of greatness of the greatest military and political power was preserved in the generations of the Adyghes 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 advance 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 ... upon learning of his death, he was so happy that he gave the person who reported this news 15,000 dinars.” Sultan Barquq al-Cherkasi 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, orchestrated 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 Barquq, for example, was not only an able sultan in it, 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 keep this island in vassalage from Egypt until the Ottoman conquest.

The new Sultan of Egypt, Muayyad Shah, finally approved the 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 efficient fleet. The highlanders of the Western Caucasus prospered as pirates from ancient times until the 19th century. Antique, Genoese, Ottoman and Russian sources have left us a fairly detailed description of Zikh, Circassian and Abazgian piracy. In turn, the Circassian fleet freely penetrated the Black Sea. Unlike the Turkic Mamluks, who did not prove themselves at sea, the Circassians controlled the Eastern Mediterranean, plundered Cyprus, Rhodes, the islands of the Aegean Sea, fought 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 XIII century. Circassians were characterized by national solidarity. In the sources of the Circassian period (1318-1517), the national cohesion and monopoly domination of the Circassians were expressed in the use of the terms "people", "people", "tribe" exclusively for the Circassians.

The situation in Egypt began to change from 1485, after the start of the first Ottoman-Mamluk war, which lasted several decades. After the death of the experienced Circassian military commander Kaitbai (1468-1496), a period of internecine wars followed in Egypt: in 5 years, four sultans were replaced on the throne - the son of Kaitbai an-Nasir Muhammad (named after the son of Kalaun), az-zahir Kansav, al- Ashraf Janbulat, al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Tumanbai I. Al-Gauri, 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 rose to a high position thanks to the patronage of his sister, Qaitbai's wife. And Kansav al-Gauri ascended the throne of Cairo at the age of 60. He showed great activity in the foreign policy sphere in view of the growth of Ottoman power and the expected new war.

The decisive battle between the Mamluks and the Ottomans took place on August 24, 1516 in the Dabiq field in Syria, which is considered one of the most grandiose 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 the victory already seemed to be in the hands of the Circassians, the governor of Aleppo, Emir Khairbey, with his detachment went over to the side of Selim. This betrayal literally killed the 76-year-old Sultan Kansav al-Gauri: he was seized by an apocalyptic blow and he 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 - Tumanbay. With a large army, he gave four battles to the Ottoman armada, the number of which reached 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, 15 Circassian (Adyghe) rulers, 2 Bosnians, 2 Georgians and 1 Abkhazian were 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 formation of the Middle Ages and modern times, numerous political, religious, and family relations. Circassia was never part of this empire, but its people in this country made up a significant part of the ruling class, making a successful career 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 Port. So, for example, in the book of Khalil Inaldzhik "The Ottoman Empire: the classical period, 1300-1600." a map is provided that reflects by periods all the territorial acquisitions of the Ottomans: the only free country along the perimeter of the Black Sea is Circassia.

A significant Circassian contingent was 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, in order to save his life, to leave the governorship in Trebizond and flee by sea to Circassia. There he met the Circassian prince Taman Temryuk. The latter became a faithful friend of the disgraced prince and for three and a half years accompanied him in all his wanderings. After Selim became 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 policy of the Sultan. It was also preserved at the court of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), since he, like his father, Selim I, lived in Circassia before his sultanship. His mother was a Girey princess, half Circassian. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Turkey reached the peak of its power. One of the most brilliant commanders of this era is the Circassian Ozdemir Pasha, who in 1545 received the extremely responsible post of commander of the Ottoman expeditionary force in Yemen, and in 1549 was appointed governor of Yemen "as a reward for his steadfastness".

Ozdemir's son, Circassian Ozdemir-oglu Osman Pasha (1527-1585) inherited from his father his power and talent as a commander. Beginning in 1572, the activities of Osman Pasha 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 the 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 Janet clan and had the title of defterdar. In 1853, Kasim Bey submitted to Sultan Suleiman a project to connect the Don and the Volga by a canal. Among the figures of the 19th century, the Circassian Dervish Mehmed Pasha stood out. In 1651 he was the governor of Anatolia. In 1652, he took the post of commander of all the naval forces of the empire (kapudan pasha), and in 1563 he became the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire. The residence, built by Dervis Mehmed Pasha, had a high gate, hence the nickname "High Port", which the Europeans denoted the Ottoman government.

The next no less colorful figure among the Circassian mercenaries is Kutfaj Deli Pasha. The Ottoman author of the middle of the 17th century, Evliya Chelebi, wrote that "he comes from the brave Circassian tribe Bolatkoy."

Cantemir's information is fully confirmed in the 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. Very important is 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. According to Chelyaby, there were settlements of Mamluks on the coast of Circassia, 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, the Circassian Osman Pasha, the builder of the Yeni-Kale fortress (modern Yeysk), the 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, for successful military operations he was granted the three-bunch pasha (marshal rank by European standards; only the grand vizier and the sultan are higher).

A lot of interesting information about prominent military and statesmen 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, 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 Muscovite 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-Abaza), including in language and customs, gives many examples of the Circassians who had the highest positions at the Ottoman court.

The abundance of Circassians in the ruling layer of the Ottoman state is indicated by the historian of the diaspora A. Dzhureiko: “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 historian of the diaspora, 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 Dzhezairli, who in 1776 became Kapudan Pasha, commander-in-chief of the empire's naval forces.

In 1789, the Circassian commander Hassan Pasha Meyyit, was the 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 reforming sultan Selim III (1789-1807), who played an important role in the war against Bonaparte. The closest associate of Kuchuk Hussein Pasha was Mehmed Khosrev Pasha, originally from Abadzekhia. In 1812 he became Kapudan Pasha, a post he held 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 the Russian general Ya.S. Proskurov, who traveled around Turkey in 1842-1846. and met Hasan Pasha, "a natural Circassian, taken from childhood to Constantinople, where he was brought up."

According to the studies of many scientists, the ancestors of the Circassians (Circassians) took an active part in the formation of the Cossacks of Ukraine and Russia. So, N.A. Dobrolyubov, analyzing the ethnic composition of the Kuban Cossacks at the end of the 18th century, indicated that it partially 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 suggests that these Cossacks, after the liquidation of the Sich, went to Turkey due to the common faith, which means that it can also be assumed that these Cossacks are partly of non-Slavic origin. Semeon Bronevsky sheds light on the problem, who, referring to historical news, wrote: “In 1282, the Baskak of the Tatar Kursk principality, having called Circassians from Beshtau or Pyatigorye, inhabited the settlement with them under the name Cossacks. These, copulating with Russian fugitives, for a long time repaired robberies everywhere, hiding from searches over them through 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, for the reason that most of them were the Cherkasy breed, making up a robber republic, which later became famous under the name of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks.

About the further history of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, the same Bronevsky reported: “When the Turkish army in 1569 came near Astrakhan, then Prince Mikhailo Vishnevetsky was called from the Dnieper from the Cherkess with 5,000 Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, who, copulating with the Don Cossacks, a great victory on the dry route and at sea in boats they won over the Turks. Of these Circassian Cossacks, most of them 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 Pyatigorsk, this circumstance could give reason to call the Kabardians generally Ukrainian residents who fled from Russia, as we find mention of that in our archives. From the information of Bronevsky, we can conclude that the Zaporizhzhya Sich, which was formed in the 16th century in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, i.e. “below the Dnieper”, and until 1654 it was a Cossack “republic”, waged a stubborn struggle against the Crimean Tatars and Turks, and thus 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 Zaporizhian Cossacks, which formed the backbone of the Kuban Cossacks, consisted partly of the descendants of the Circassians who had once been taken away “from the Beshtau or Pyatigorsk region”, not to mention the “Circassians who voluntarily left the Kuban”. It should be emphasized that with the resettlement of these Cossacks, namely from 1792, the colonization policy of tsarism began to intensify in the North Caucasus, and in particular, in Kabarda.

It should be emphasized that the geographical position of the Circassian (Adyghe) lands, especially the Kabardian ones, which had the most important military-political and economic significance, was the reason for their involvement in the orbit of the political interests of Turkey and Russia, predetermining to a large extent the course of historical events in this region since 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 (Circassians) with the Moscow state, which later turned into a military-political union. The marriage in 1561 of Tsar Ivan the Terrible 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 hand, further aggravated relations between the Kabardian princes, the feuds between which did not subside until the conquest of Kabarda. Even more aggravated its internal political situation and fragmentation, interference in the Kabardian (Circassian) affairs of Russia, Ports and the Crimean Khanate. In the 17th century, as a result of internecine strife, Kabarda split into Greater Kabarda and Lesser Kabarda. The official division took place in the middle of the 18th century. In the period from the 15th to the 18th century, 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 failed to use the opportunity provided to unite 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 instructed to "beware most of all the association of the highlanders", for which it is necessary "to try to kindle the fire of internal disagreement between them."

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

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 (Adyghes) in the Western Caucasus in 1800, since 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 on the Black Sea coast.

By the beginning of the war, the lands of the Circassians (Circassians) 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 passed exclusively to the northern slopes of the Caucasus Range, to the Kuban basin, and then Terek, stretching to the southeast for about 350 km.

“The Circassian lands ...,” Khan-Girey wrote in 1836, “stretch too much in length for 600 versts, 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 stretched to the very confluence of the Sunzha with the Terek river. The width is different and consists of the aforementioned rivers at noon south along the valleys and slopes of the mountains in different curvatures, having distances from 20 to 100 versts, thus making up a long narrow strip, which, starting from the eastern corner formed by the confluence of the Sunzha with the Terek, then expands, then again hesitates, following westward down the Kuban to the shores of the Black Sea. It should be added to this that along the Black Sea coast, the Adygs occupied an area of ​​about 250 km. At its widest point, the lands of the Adygs extended from the shores of the Black Sea to the 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 strongly to expand again in the territory of Greater Kabarda to More than 100 kilometers.

(To be continued)

Information compiled on the basis of archival documents and scientific works published on the history of the Circassians (Circassians)

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

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

Jacques-Victor-Edouard Thebu 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 - early 16th centuries). Life and country of 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. S.46-47.

Heinrich Julius Klaproth. Travels in 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. pp.257-259.

Jean-Charles de Bess. Travels to the 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 XII-XIX centuries. Nalchik, 1974.S. 334.

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

S.Kh.Khotko. Essays on the history of the Circassians from the era of the Cimmerians to the Caucasian War. Publishing house of St. Petersburg University, 2001. S. 148-164.

Ibid, p. 227-234.

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

“Notes on Circassia, composed by Khan Giray, part 1, St. Petersburg., 1836, l. 1-1ob.//V.K.Gardanov "Social system of the Adyghe peoples". Ed. "Science", the main edition of Eastern literature. M., 1967. pp. 19-20.

Outside the country of the Alans, between the Caucasus and the Rum (Black) sea, Kesheks live (Ossetians call them kasakh, Mingrelians call them kachak).

“This nation is peaceful, and professes the religion of magicians. In these parts there is not a single people whose men would have more regular features, a brighter complexion and would be so slender in camp. They say that they amazingly beautiful women and very sweet. For their clothes, Kesheks use white linen, Greek silks, raspberry-colored satin, as well as other silk fabrics woven with gold.

Despite the fact that the Alans are a more powerful people, they could not, however, conquer the Kesheks; they resist by hiding in the fortresses they own along the seashore. Some say that this is the Rum sea, others that it is Nitis (Pontus).

Circassians (left) and Nogays

Circassians (left) and Kalmyks
Engravings of the 17th century

Undoubtedly, to Yesheki located near the city Trebizond; they are constantly communicating with this city, sailing to its shores in their galleys, in which they bring and bring goods. Kesheks have not yet been able to measure their strength in an open battle with the Alans, because they do not have a leader who could unite them.

If they lived in complete harmony, neither the Alans, nor any other people would be able to resist them. The word "keshek" is Persian and means "proud", "arrogant".»

Wikipedia: " helmets(kashki, kashaks, kaskeys) - a people (a group of tribes) that inhabited northeastern Anatolia and Southern Black Sea(Pontus) during the II millennium BC. e. from r. Galis (Kyzyl-Irmak) or to the west, to the upper Euphrates west of the modern. Erzinjan, including the valleys of the rivers Iris (Yeshil-Irmak) and Lik (Wolf River, Gail-get, Kelkit). They spoke a language related to the language of the Hutts."

According to I. Singer, helmets And hatts- different branches of the same people, based on the coincidence of their pantheon.

That is, it turns out that the ancient Adygs were the founders hittite civilization.

And in this light, Turchaninov's hypothesis no longer seems so surprising: about it.

In the 16th century, Adam Olearius (real name Elschleger, 1599-1671) left the following description of the same people: "In the summer, women go in the same shirts, dyed red, yellow, green or blue and from top to navel open so that you can see their chest, belly and navel. They are friendly and accommodating."

Very curious are the ancient and medieval descriptions of the Adygs (Circassians) and their national costume, which are so strikingly different from the modern Islamized North Caucasus.

"Wear (men) also razor And touchstone to sharpen this razor with which they shave their heads, leaving a tuft of hair at the crown, in order to have something to grab onto the head in case it is cut off, without soiling their faces with bloody hands, defiled and polluted by homicide.

"The first Cossacks - a rabble from the mountain Circassians, came to the reign of Kursk in the 14th century, where they built the settlement of Cherkasy and, under the protection of the Tatar governors, hunted for theft and robbery, then crossed to the Dnieper and built the city of Cherkasy on the Dnieper," Tatishchev wrote.

Circassian in modern national costume

The Circassian fashion of wearing a mustache spread to other nations. Wearing a beard was introduced only during the Islamization of the North Caucasus in the 19th century.

Crimean Khan Adil Giray

And Ossetians still call Adygs kasakh.

However, the ancient Adyghe pantheon has not been forgotten - it is still remembered in certain sub-ethnoses of the Adyghe people and in Abkhazia, where, according to many, despite the official confession of Christianity or Islam, the priests of the Abkhaz religion enjoy great reverence.

Medieval women's clothing

"Nart epic"even in Abkhazia, even in Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria or Circassia - is not forgotten anywhere.

Some episodes of the ancient pantheon:

Psathye- the god of life (the god of the soul), the supreme god.

shible- god of thunder and lightning. It is still believed that a person killed by lightning is chosen by God.

Satan- the mother of all Narts, who fights with the god of evil Pak.

Sosruko- Nart who stole the "sano" from the gods, from which Sataney made the first wine.

And now the faces of this proud and beautiful people

Circassians of Australia: Jamirze family

Diplomat Charles de Payssonnel (1727-1790) about the Circassians: "Circassian women are the only ones who share the bed of the Turkish Sultan and the Tatar princes; the Crimean nobility keeps only Circassian women as concubines. The admixture of this beautiful blood softened the ugliness of the Tatar type and eventually destroyed these the faces of real monkeys, similar to the Chinese, these small round eyes, these flattened noses that are found in all Nogais who have not mixed with the Circassians. Indeed, among the Crimean nobility there are many very beautiful faces, but the common people are disgusting. "

The Circassian component in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars is significant, which is reminiscent of not only historical facts, but also modern ones.

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archaeological culture Language Religion Racial type Related peoples Origin

Adygs(or Circassians listen)) is the common name of a single people in Russia and abroad, divided into Kabardians, Circassians, Ubykhs, Adyghes and Shapsugs.

Self-name - Adyghe.

Numbers and diasporas

The total number of Adygs in the Russian Federation according to the 2002 census is 712 thousand people, they live on 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 Adyghes in Adygea, the Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria.

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

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

Modern languages ​​of the Adygs

To date, 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 supplanted by the exoethnonym - Circassians.

Modern ethnonymy

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

• Adyghes, which includes the following sub-ethnonyms: Abadzekhs, Adamians, Besleneevs, Bzhedugs, Egerukaevs, Makhegs, Makhoshevs, Temirgoevs (KIemgui), Natukhais, Shapsugs (including Khakuchis), Khatukais, Khegayks, Zhaneevs (Zhane), Guayesin (Tsopsy, Chebasin ), adele.

Ethnogenesis

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

History

Main article: History of the Circassians

Fight against the Crimean Khanate

Regular Moscow-Adyghe ties began to be established back in 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 a significant part of the population were Adygs. At the end of the 15th century, along the Don route, caravans of Russian merchants constantly came to these Genoese cities, where Russian merchants made trade deals not only with the Genoese, but with the highlanders of the North Caucasus who lived in these cities.

Moscow expansion to the south could not to develop without the support of ethnic groups that considered the basin of the Black and Azov Seas to be their ethnosphere. These were primarily the 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 allies of Moscow met their ethnocentric goals. On the side of the Russians, part of the Nogais, who swore allegiance to the Moscow state, could come forward. But, of course, first of all, the Russians were interested in supporting the most powerful and strong West Caucasian ethnic group, the Adygs.

During the formation of the Moscow principality, the Crimean Khanate delivered the same troubles to the Russians and Adygs. For example, there was the Crimean campaign against Moscow (1521), as a result of which the Khan's troops burned Moscow and captured more than 100 thousand Russians, for sale into slavery. 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 sub-ethnic groups it was most appropriate for Ivan the Terrible, whose plans were in the direction of the advance of the Russians along the Volga to its mouth, to the Caspian Sea. Alliance with the most powerful ethnic group S.-Z. K. was needed by Moscow in its struggle with the Crimean Khanate.

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

Also under Ivan the Terrible, he had the 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 as prisoners (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 Commonwealth, as a result of the Molodinsky battle, ended with the complete physical destruction of the Tatar-Turkish army and the defeat of the Crimean Khanate http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_at_Molodyakh

In the 70s, despite the unsuccessful Astrakhan expedition, the Crimeans and the 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 West Caucasian highlanders, Circassians and Abaza, their subjects, but this did not change the essence of the matter. The highlanders had no idea about this, just as the Asian nomads did not suspect in their time that China considers them to be its subjects.

The Russians left the North Caucasus, but entrenched themselves in the Volga region.

Caucasian war

Patriotic War

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

The question of the genocide of the Circassians

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 the control of the territories, the new authorities were forced to resettle the Circassians, who founded 12 auls in new places, and 5 in the 20s of the XX century.

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 culture has experienced various internal and external influences, including long-term contacts with the Greeks, Genoese and other peoples, long-term feudal civil strife, wars, mahadzhirstvo, social, political and cultural upheaval. The culture, while changing, has basically survived, and still demonstrates its openness to renewal and development. Doctor of Philosophical Sciences S. A. Razdolsky, define it as “a thousand-year-old worldview socially significant experience of the Adyghe ethnic group”, which has its own empirical knowledge about the world around it and transmits this knowledge at the level of interpersonal communication in the form of the most significant values.

moral code, called Adygage, acts as a cultural core or the main value of the Adyghe culture; it includes humanity, reverence, reason, courage, and honor.

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

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 genuine self-value.

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 reports (reports), long before his travels, that is, before 1711, in Circassia they had the skills of mass smallpox inoculation.

Abri de la Motre left a detailed description of the procedure for vaccination among the Adygs in the village of Degliad:

The girl was taken to a little boy of three years old, who was ill with this disease and whose pockmarks and pimples were beginning to fester. The old woman performed the operation, as the oldest members of this sex are reputed to be 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, made an injection under the spoon of a little girl, 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 flowed, with which she mixed the pus extracted from the pockmarks of the patient. Then she applied dry leaves of the barn to the pricked and bleeding places, tying two skins of newborn lambs to the drill, after which the mother wrapped her in one of the leather covers that make up, as I said above, the bed of the Circassians, and thus wrapped she took her 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, she was given nothing to drink except a refreshing decoction made from ox's tongue (Plant), a little licorice and a barn (Plant), three things not uncommon in the country.

Traditional surgery and bonesetting

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

“Asian doctors in the Caucasus cured absolutely 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 known throughout the Caucasus that the removal of limbs, the cutting out of crushed bones, is never undertaken by Asian doctors; of the bloody operations performed by them to treat external injuries, only the cutting of bullets is known.

Crafts of the Circassians

Blacksmithing among the Circassians

Professor, doctor of historical sciences, Gadlo A. V., about the history of the Adygs in the 1st millennium AD. e. wrote -

Adyghe blacksmiths in the early Middle Ages, apparently, had not yet broken their ties with the community and had not separated from it, however, within the community they already constituted a separate professional group, ... Blacksmithing during this period was mainly focused on meeting the economic needs of the community ( plowshares, scythes, sickles, axes, knives, overhead chains, skewers, sheep shears, etc.) and its military organization (horse equipment - bits, stirrups, horseshoes, girth buckles; offensive weapons - spears, battle axes, swords, daggers, arrowheads, defensive weapons - helmets, chain mail, shield parts, etc.). What was the raw material base of this production, it is still difficult to determine, but, not excluding the presence of our own smelting of metal from local ores, we will point out two iron ore regions, from where metallurgical raw materials (semi-finished products - kritsy) could also come to Adyghe blacksmiths. This is, firstly, the Kerch Peninsula and, secondly, the upper reaches of the Kuban, Zelenchukov and Urup, where clear traces of ancient raw iron smelting.

Jewelery among the Adyghes

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

gunsmithing

Blacksmiths are very numerous in the country. They are almost everywhere gunsmiths and silversmiths, and are very skillful in their profession. It is almost incomprehensible how they, with their few and insufficient tools, can make excellent weapons. The gold and silver ornaments, which are admired by European weapon lovers, are 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 exclusively engaged in the manufacture of gunpowder and receive a significant profit from this. Gunpowder is the most expensive and most necessary commodity, without which no one here can do without. Gunpowder is not particularly good and inferior even to ordinary cannon powder. It is made in a rough and primitive way, therefore, of low quality. There is no shortage of saltpeter, as saltpeter plants grow in great numbers 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

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

Animal husbandry among the Circassians, in the 1st millennium AD

Undoubtedly, cattle breeding also played a prominent role in the economy of the Circassians. The Circassians bred 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 fat lowland pastures is a constant motif of heroic deeds in the Adyghe folklore.

Animal husbandry in the 19th century

Theophilus Lapinsky, who visited the lands of the Adyghes in 1857, wrote the following in his work “The Mountaineers 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 the goats, owing to the excellent pastures, are very good; goat meat, which in some countries is considered almost inedible, is tastier here than lamb. The Circassians keep numerous herds of goats, many families have several thousand of them, and it can be considered that there are more than one and a half million of these useful animals in the country. The goat is only under the 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 are plentiful in the eastern plains of the country, donkeys and mules are found only in the southern mountains. Pigs used to be kept in large numbers, but since the introduction of Mohammedanism, the pig as a pet has disappeared. Of the birds they keep chickens, ducks and geese, especially turkeys are bred a lot, but the Adyg very rarely takes the trouble to take care of poultry, which feeds and breeds at random.

horse breeding

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

The highlanders of the western half of the Caucasus then had famous horse factories: Sholok, Tram, Yeseni, Loo, Bechkan. The horses did not have all the beauty of pure breeds, but they were extremely hardy, faithful in their legs, they were never forged, because their hooves, according to the Cossacks, were as strong as bone. Some horses, like their riders, had great fame in the mountains. So for example the white horse of the plant Tram was almost as famous among the highlanders as his master Mohammed-Ash-Atadzhukin, a fugitive Kabardian and a famous predator.

Theophilus Lapinsky, who visited the lands of the Adyghes 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 owned by wealthy residents in the Laba and Malaya Kuban, now there are few families that have more than 12 - 15 horses. But on the other hand, there are few who do not have horses at all. In general, we can assume that on average there are 4 horses per household, which will amount to about 200,000 heads for the whole 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 found 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 settlements located on elevated plateaus and mountain slopes far from the coast in the upper reaches of rivers and streams flowing into the sea. The settlements-markets that arose in the ancient period on the seashore in the early Middle Ages did not lose their significance, and some of them even turned into cities protected by fortresses (for example, Nikopsis at the mouth of the Nechepsuho River near the village of Novo-Mikhailovsky). The Adygs who lived in the Trans-Kuban region, as a rule, settled on elevated capes hanging over 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 fortified settlements prevailed here, consisting of a citadel-fortification fenced with a moat and a settlement adjoining it, sometimes also fenced with a moat from the floor side. Most of these settlements were located on the sites of old Meotian settlements abandoned in the 3rd or 4th century. (for example, near the village of Krasny, near the villages of Gatlukay, Tahtamukay, Novo-Vochepshiy, near the farm. Yastrebovsky, near the village of Krasny, etc.). At the beginning of the 8th century the Kuban Adygs also begin to settle in unfortified open settlements, similar to the settlements of the Adygs of the coast.

The main occupations of the Circassians

Theophilus Lapinsky, in 1857, wrote the following:

The predominant occupation of the Adyghe is agriculture, which gives him and his family a means of subsistence. Agricultural tools are still in a primitive state and, since iron is rare, very expensive. The plow is heavy and clumsy, but this is not only a peculiarity of the Caucasus; I remember seeing equally clumsy agricultural implements in Silesia, which, however, belongs to the German Confederation; six to eight bulls are harnessed to the plow. The harrow is replaced by several bundles of strong thorns, which somehow serve the same purpose. Their axes and hoes are pretty good. On the plains and on the less high 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 hold on for a long time and can carry from eight to ten centners. On the plains, a cart is for every two families, in the mountainous part - for every five families; it is no longer found in the high mountains. In all teams only bulls are used, but 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 amount of borrowed vocabulary.

• 1855 - Adyghe (Abadzekh) educator, linguist, scientist, writer, poet - fabulist, Bersey Umar Khapkhalovich - made a significant contribution to the development of Adyghe literature and writing, compiling and publishing in March 14, 1855 the first Primer of the Circassian language(in Arabic script), this day is considered the "Birthday of modern Adyghe writing" served as an impetus for Adyghe enlightenment.

• 1918 - the year of the creation of the Adyghe alphabet 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. Turkiyedeki Kurtlerin SayIsI! (Turkish) Milliyet(June 6, 2008). Retrieved June 7, 2008.
3. National composition of the population // Population census of Russia 2002
4. Israeli site IzRus
5. Independent English Studies
6. Russian Caucasus. A book for politicians / Ed. V. A. Tishkova. - M.: FGNU "Rosinformagrotech", 2007. p. 241
7. A. A. Kamrakov. Features of the development of the Circassian diaspora in the Middle East // Publishing House "Medina".
8. st.st. Adygs, Meots in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
9. Skylak of Karyandsky. Perippus of the inhabited sea. Translation and comments by F.V. Shelova-Kovedyaeva // Bulletin of Ancient History. 1988. No. 1. P. 262; No. 2. S. 260-261)
10. J. Interiano. Life and country of Zikhs, called Circassians. Remarkable Narrative
11. K. Yu. Nebezhev ADYGEZAN-GENOA PRINCE ZAHARIA DE GIZOLFI-OWNER OF THE CITY OF MATREGA IN THE 15TH CENTURY
12. Vladimir Gudakov. Russian way to the South (myths and reality
13. Hrono.ru
14. DECISION of the Supreme Council of the KBSSR dated 07.02.1992 N 977-XII-B "ON THE CONDEMNATION OF THE GENOCIDE OF THE ADYGES (CHERKESIANS) IN THE YEARS OF THE RUSSIAN-CAUCASUS WAR (rus.), RUSOUTH.info.
15. Diana b-Dadasheva. Adygs seek recognition of their genocide (Russian), Newspaper "Kommersant" (13.10.2006).

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Turkey:

archaeological culture Language

Circassian (Kabardian)

Religion Racial type Origin There are also people with the surname "Circassian". Read more.

Currently abroad ethnonym Circassian continues to be used in relation to the descendants of the Circassian Muhajirs, as well as the descendants of the Circassian Mamluks living in the Adyghe diaspora. Sometimes the ethnonym "Circassians" refers not only to the Circassians, but also to representatives of all the North Caucasian peoples, who were also expelled or resettled abroad during and after the end of the Caucasian War.

Currently in Russia the term Circassians(self-name: Adyghe) in addition to the above meaning is the designation of the Adygs living in Karachay-Cherkessia of Adygea and Kabardino-Balkaria (Russia). Circassians have a population of 73.2 thousand people, including in Karachay-Cherkessia - 56.5 thousand people (translated 2010). They live in 17 villages of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic.

This article is about the "Circassians" in the administrative-territorial sense of the term, and not about the Circassian (Adyghe) people as a whole.

History

Ethnonym

Circassians in the USSR

In 1921, the Gorskaya Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in the North Caucasus as part of the USSR. In January 1922, the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region was formed as part of the USSR. It included part of the lands of the Kabardians and the lands of the Besleneyites in the upper reaches of the Kuban. The Adyghes (self-name) who inhabited this republic retained the other name Circassians.

On April 26, 1926, the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug was divided into the Karachay Autonomous Okrug and the Cherkess National Okrug (an autonomous region since 1928). According to the 1926 census, 65,270 Circassians were recorded in the USSR, and according to the 1959 census, their number decreased to 30,453 people.

Since 1957 - again Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug as part of the Stavropol Territory. Since 1992 - Karachay-Cherkess Republic. The 1970 census recorded 39,785 Circassians, and according to the 1989 census, the Circassian population in the USSR grew to 52,363.

Language

The emergence of most of the modern auls of Circassia dates back to the 2nd half of the 19th century. In the XIX - early XX centuries. 12 auls were founded, in the 20s of the XX century - 5. The estate was surrounded by a fence. Residential premises were usually built with a facade to the south. The dwelling had wicker walls on a pillar frame, plastered with clay, a two- or four-slope wattle roof covered with straw, and an adobe floor. It consisted of one or more rooms (according to the number of married couples in the family), adjacent to each other in a row, the doors of each room overlooked the courtyard. Kunatskaya served as one of the rooms or a separate building. An open hearth with a wicker smoker was arranged near the wall between the door and the window, inside which a crossbar was installed for hanging the boiler. Outbuildings were also made of wattle, often had a round or oval shape. Modern Circassians build square multi-room houses.

Cloth

File:Tsey zepyl.jpg

Traditional male costume - Circassian ( tsey) single-breasted caftan with an open chest, a length just below the knees, with wide sleeves. Young men of the age of a warrior wore short-sleeved Circassian coats - so that they would not hamper movements in battle. Gasyri were sewn on both sides of the chest (Adyghe Khezyr- ready) - narrow pockets stitched with braid for special sealed pencil cases, more often bone ones. In the pencil case there was a measure of gunpowder and a bullet wrapped in a rag, molded to the measurements of the owner's gun. Penalchik allowed to quickly charge the gun at full gallop. The outer pockets, located almost under the armpits, were used to store dry chips for kindling. Later, with the advent of guns, where gunpowder was ignited not by a wick or flint, but by a primer, the outer pockets began to be used to store primers. the Circassian coat strictly differed among men according to their class affiliation in color - white among the princes ( pshchy), red for nobles ( work), gray, brown and black among the peasants (blue, green and other colors were usually not used). Beshmet ( captlal) in cut resembled a Circassian but was with a closed chest and a standing collar, narrow sleeves, its length was slightly above the knee, it was usually sewn from light and thinner material, often the beshmet was quilted on a wadded or woolen basis. Trousers ( Guenchej, Guenchej) with a wide step to the bottom narrowed. hat ( dust) was sewn from sheepskin, white, black or brown, the height varied. Also among the Circassians felt hats were very common in everyday life ( upchle dust). Bashlyk ( shkharykhhuen, shkharykhyon) were sewn from fine homemade cloth or purchased material, decorated with lace products, rarely with embroidery, more often in white, but there were also dark shades. Burka ( shlaklue, klaklue) - a long, felt cloak, black, rarely white. Composite belt. Its buckle was used as an armchair for carving fire. Shoes - dudes ( wak'e) were sewn from red morocco, as a rule, existed among the upper class, the peasants wore chuvyaks made of rawhide or felt. Legs ( lay) - made of thin leather or morocco, decorated with galloons with garters under the knee with silver buckles. Mandatory items of men's costume were a dagger and a saber. Dagger ( kame) - the hilt and scabbard were richly decorated with silver, usually blackened - so as not to unmask the owner, as well as the saber handle ( seshhue), but the scabbard of the checker was decorated with galloon and gold embroidery (young girls of the highlanders were engaged in this work). Now only a few have a full set of national costume and appear in it on holidays.

Adygs (Circassians) wore daggers of the type - Kama (dagger), or type - Bebut, which, in addition, had the functions of a talisman, were used to perform various customs and rituals. An oriental dagger of the type - Dzhambiya was common among the Ubykhs and Shapsugs. Of the sabers, depending on the wealth of the owner, the Mamluk-type saber, or Kilich (Turkish saber), or Gaddare (Iranian saber) was preferred.

Even a bow (weapon) with a quiver for arrows was considered an element of the rider's clothing.

Adygs (Circassians) always had a small knife with them ( jean), which could be used for domestic purposes, but which was not visible and therefore was not an element of clothing.

Food

In the summer season, mainly dairy products and vegetable dishes are consumed, in winter and spring flour and meat dishes predominate. The most popular is puff bread made from unleavened dough, which is consumed with Kalmyk tea (green tea with salt and cream). They also bake yeast bread. Cornmeal and groats are widely used. The national dish, libzha (shyps) is chicken or turkey with a sauce seasoned with crushed garlic and red pepper. This dish is also national among the Abaza, but is called dzyrdza. The meat of waterfowl is consumed only fried. Lamb and beef are served boiled, usually seasoned with sour milk with crushed garlic and salt (bzhynyhu shyps). After boiled meat, broth is always served, after fried meat - sour milk. From millet and corn flour with honey for a wedding and on major holidays, they prepare behsyme (mekhsyme) (a national low-alcohol drink). On holidays, they make halva (from fried millet or wheat flour in syrup), bake pies and pies (lekum, delen, khalive, hyrshyn).

The medicine

According to the French agent of the Swedish king Charles XII Abri de la Motre, long before 1711 in Circassia they had the skills of mass smallpox vaccination. Abry de la Motre left a detailed description of the vaccination procedure among the Circassians in the village of Degliad: “... they vaccinated a little girl of four or five years old ... The girl was taken to a little boy of three years old, who was sick with this disease and whose pockmarks and pimples began to fester ", etc. Recall that only on May 14, 1796, the English pharmacist and surgeon Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phips with cowpox.

Culture and Religion

In the ancient culture of the Circassians (Circassians), the central place is occupied by the moral, ethical and philosophical code "Adyghe Khabze", formed under the influence of the ancient religious system of the Circassians and brought to perfection by the centuries-old history of the people.

In folklore, the central place is occupied by the Nart epic, the positive characters of which serve as a model for observing the code of "Adyghe Khabze".

The art of storytellers and song performers (dzheguaklue) has been developed. Crying songs are widespread ( gybze), labor and comic songs. Traditional musical instruments are shiklepshchyne (violin), bzhemi (pipe), pkhetslych (ratchet), various tambourines, which were played with hands and sticks. At the end of the 18th century, the harmonica became widespread.

Circassian sayings: “Shapsug does not like to burn gunpowder”, “The death of a rider in battle is crying in his house, and the loss of weapons is crying in the whole people”, “a real educated horseman should leave the feast so that he could immediately be present again for the same treat, etc.

forgotten custom

It is known from history that in ancient times the Circassians practiced the Rite of Air Burial (the rite has not been performed for more than 150 years).

Notes

1. All-Russian population census 2002. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
2. Official website of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. Information materials on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census
3. Conclusion of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the ethnonym Cherkes and the toponym Cherkessia
4. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
5. On the problem of the origin of the Koban culture and its local variants
6. All-Union census of the population of 1926. The national composition of the population in the republics of the USSR. "Demoscope". archived
7. All-Union population census of 1959. The national composition of the population in the republics of the USSR. "Demoscope". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.
8. All-Union population census of 1970. The national composition of the population in the republics of the USSR. "Demoscope". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.
9. All-Union population census of 1989. The national composition of the population in the republics of the USSR. "Demoscope". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.

Links

Literature

• Kaziev Shapi, Karpeev Igor. Daily life of the highlanders of the North Caucasus in the 19th century.
• Circassians // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M .: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8
• The peoples of Russia: a picturesque album, St. Petersburg, printing house of the Association "Public Benefit", December 3, 1877, art. 354
• Adyghe (Circassian) encyclopedia.

see also

• Circassian Muhajirism and the Circassian Day of Mourning
• Circassian Franks

Ethnonyms and subethnoi of the Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples
Obsolete ethnonyms	Geniohi | Zikhi (Zigi, Zyuhi, Jiki) | Helmets | Kasogi | Circassians (Cherkasy) | Meots (Dandaria | Sinds | Doskhi, Torets (or Toreats) | Agras | Arrekhs Tarpets | Obidiakens | Sittakens | Aspurgians) | Kerkety
Sub-ethnic groups

Adyghe people have always been considered trendsetters: men were called “aristocrats of the mountains”, and girls were called “French women of the Caucasus”, since the latter began to wear corsets from a young age. Adyghe women were considered the most beautiful and desirable wives, and men - the best warriors. By the way, even today the personal guard of the King of Jordan consists exclusively of representatives of this brave and proud nation.

Name

There are many myths and disputes around the name "Adyghe", and all because, in fact, this is a name invented in the Soviet years, created to divide the Caucasian peoples on a territorial basis. Since ancient times, a single people lived on the territory of the modern residence of the Circassians, Circassians and Kabardians, who called themselves "Adyge". The origin of this word has not been fully established, although there is a version that it is translated as "children of the sun."
After the October Revolution, the authorities divided the territories of the Circassians into smaller regions in order to weaken the power of a single people by including different subethnic groups in the new regions.

1. The composition of Adygea included peoples living on the territory of the Kuban, and later the mountainous regions and the city of Maykop.
2. Kabardino-Balkaria was inhabited mainly by Circassians-Kabardians.
3. The Adygs-Besleneevs, similar in cultural and linguistic features to the Kabardians, entered the Karachay-Cherkess region.

Where do they live and number

Starting from Soviet times, the Adyghes began to be listed as a separate people, which served as a separation from the Circassians and Kabardians. According to the results of the 2010 census, about 123,000 people consider themselves Adyghes in Russia. Of these, 109.7 thousand people live in the Republic of Adygea, 13.8 thousand - in the Krasnodar Territory, mainly in the coastal areas of Sochi and Lazarevsky.

The genocide of the Circassians during the civil war led to a significant migration of representatives of the nationality and the formation of large Adyghe diasporas abroad. Among them:

• in Turkey - about 3 million people
• in Syria - 60,000 people
• in Jordan - 40,000 people
• in Germany - 30,000 people
• in the USA - 3,000 people
• in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Israel - 2-3 national villages

Language

Despite the presence of dialects, all Adyghes speak the same language, belonging to the Abkhaz-Adyghe language group. The writing of the people has existed since ancient times, as evidenced by the preserved written monuments: the Maykop plate and the petroglyphs of Makhoshkushkha, dating back to the 9th-8th centuries BC. By the 16th century, it was lost, starting from the 18th century, analogues based on Arabic writing came to replace it. The modern alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet appeared in 1937, but it was finally established only by 1989.

History

The ancestors of the Adyghes were the most ancient population of the Caucasus, which, interacting with neighboring peoples, formed the tribes of the Achaeans, Kerkets, Zikhs, Meots, Torets, Sinds, who occupied the Black Sea coast and the Krasnodar Territory at the end of the first millennium BC.
At the beginning of a new era, one of the oldest states in the region, Sindika, was located here. Even the famous king Mithridates was afraid to pass through its territory: he had heard a lot about the fearlessness and courage of the local warriors. Despite the ensuing feudal fragmentation, the Circassians managed to maintain their independence from the Golden Horde, although their territories were subsequently plundered by Tamerlane.
The Circassians have maintained friendly and partnership relations with the Russians since the 13th century. However, during the period of the Caucasian wars, the authorities began a policy of capturing and subjugating all the peoples living here, which led to numerous clashes and genocide of the Circassian people.

Appearance

The vast majority of representatives of the nationality belongs to the Pontic anthropological type of appearance. Some representatives have features of the Caucasian type. The distinctive features of the appearance of the Adyghe include:

• medium or high growth;
• a strong athletic figure with broad shoulders in men;
• a slim figure with a thin waist in women;
• straight and dense hair of dark blond or black color;
• dark eye color;
• significant hair growth;
• straight nose with high bridge;

Cloth

The national Circassian costume has become a symbol of the people. For men, it consists of a shirt, loose trousers and a Circassian: a fitted caftan with a diamond-shaped neckline. Gazyri were sewn on the chest on both sides: special pockets, in which at first they stored gunpowder measured in quantity for a shot, and then only bullets. This allowed the weapon to be quickly reloaded even while riding.

The older generation had long sleeves, while the younger generation had narrow ones so as not to interfere in battle. The color of the outfit was also important: the princes wore white Circassians, the nobles - red, the peasants - gray, black and brown. The beshmet served as a replacement for the Circassian coat: a caftan similar in cut, but without a cutout and with a standing collar. In cold weather, the costume was complemented by a cloak - a long fur coat made of sheep's fur.
Women's outfits were even more colorful. Rich Circassian women specially bought velvet and silk for sewing dresses, the poor were content with woolen fabric. The cut of the dress emphasized the waist: it fitted the upper part of the figure and greatly expanded towards the bottom due to the use of wedges. They decorated the outfit with an exquisite leather belt with silver or gold jewelry. They put on a low hat on their heads, and after marriage and the birth of a child, they replaced it with a scarf.

Men

The Adyghe man is, first of all, a brave and fearless warrior. From early childhood, boys were taught to wield a knife, dagger, bow and arrow. Each young man was obliged to breed horses and be able to stay in the saddle perfectly. Since ancient times, Circassian warriors were considered the best, so they often acted as mercenaries. The guards of the King and Queen of Jordan still consist exclusively of representatives of this nation and continue to wear national costumes in the service.

From childhood, men were taught restraint, modesty in everyday desires: they had to be able to live in any conditions. It was believed that the best pillow for them was a saddle, and the best blanket was a cloak. Therefore, men did not sit at home: they were always on hikes or doing household chores.
Among other qualities of the Adyghe, it is worth noting perseverance, purposefulness, strong character, perseverance. They are easily inspired and do everything to achieve their goals. Self-esteem, respect for their land and traditions are acutely developed, therefore, in dealing with them, it is worth showing restraint, tact and respect.

Women

Since ancient times, not only legends, but also poems have been composed about the beauty of Circassian women. For example, in the poem “Cherkeshenka”, the poet Konstantin Balmont compares a beautiful girl with a “thin lily”, “tender weeping willow”, “young poplar” and “Hindu bayadere”, but at the end he remarks:
“I would like to compare you ... But the game of comparisons is perishable.
For it is too obvious: You are incomparable among women.

From the age of twelve, the girl began to wear a corset. He ensured correct posture, a flexible frame, a thin waist and a flat chest: these external qualities were highly valued not only by fellow tribesmen, but also by foreigners. On the wedding night, the groom cut off the corset with a knife; a married lady was not supposed to wear it. Luxurious long hair was also a symbol of beauty: girls braided it in braids or did other hairstyles, and married women were obliged to hide it under a scarf.
All the peoples of Eurasia sought to have a Circassian wife or concubine. Princess Kuchenei, the daughter of the famous prince from the Temryuk dynasty, entered history: she became the wife of Ivan the Terrible and received the name Maria Temryukovna. During the slave trade, Adyghe women were sold twice as expensive as others: it was prestigious to have them in a harem for their beauty, needlework skills, pleasant manners of communication and behavior.
Adyghe girls from childhood were taught needlework, etiquette rules, modesty, inspired self-esteem. Women played an important role in society, they were respected and revered, despite the patriarchal way of life and the practice of Islam. With women it was forbidden to smoke, swear, quarrel, fight. Men of any age stood up at the sight of them, and riders dismounted. Having met a lady in the field, on the way or just on the street, it was customary to offer her help if she needed it.
There was also a custom of offering gifts: men who returned after a military campaign or a successful hunt gathered for a feast in the house of the most revered or desired woman, where they were obliged to bring her a part of what they received in battle as a gift. If there was no such woman, gifts could be given to any Adyghe woman they met on the way.

Family way

The Adyghe adopted the traditional patriarchal family structure. At the same time, the role of women was much more important, and the position was freer than that of other Caucasian peoples. Girls, along with boys, could participate in festivities, host young men: for this, separate rooms were even equipped in rich houses.

This made it possible to take a closer look at the opposite sex and find a mate: the bride's opinion when choosing a groom was decisive, if not contrary to the traditions and wishes of her parents. Weddings were seldom performed by collusion or by kidnapping without consent.
In ancient times, large families were common, numbering from 15 to 100 people, in which the head was the elder, the founder of the clan or the most respected man. Since the 19th-20th centuries, priority has shifted to a small two-generation family. The main thing in solving social issues was the husband, he could not argue, argue with him, especially in public. However, the woman was the main one in the house: she solved all household issues, was engaged in raising babies and girls.
In rich, especially princely families, atalyism was widespread. One or more sons from a wealthy family were given from an early age to be raised in a less noble, but still influential family. In it, the boy grew up to the age of 16, after which he returned to his father's house. This strengthened the relationship between the clans and observed the tradition according to which the father was forbidden to become attached to the children and express his feelings for them in public.

dwelling

The traditional dwelling of the poor Adyghe people is a house assembled from rods coated with clay. It usually consisted of one room, in the center of which there was a hearth. According to tradition, it should never go out, as this promised misfortune to the family. Subsequently, additional rooms were added to the house for sons who got married and decided to stay with their parents.
Later, vast estates gained popularity, in the center of which stood the main house, and outbuildings were located on the sides. In wealthy families, separate dwellings in the courtyard were built for guests. Today this is rare, but every family tries to have a special room to accommodate travelers, relatives and guests.

A life

The traditional occupations of the Adyghe people are cattle breeding and agriculture. They planted mainly millet and barley, later corn and wheat were added. Cattle breeding was pasture, goats and sheep were bred, less often cows and yaks, in mountainous regions - donkeys and mules. Birds were kept in the subsidiary farm: chickens, ideas, geese, ducks.

Viticulture, horticulture, and beekeeping were widespread. The vineyards were located on the coast, in the areas of modern Sochi and Vardane. There is a version that the name of the famous "Abrau-Dyurso" has Circassian roots and denotes the name of a lake and a mountain river with clear water.
The crafts of the Adyghes were poorly developed, but in one of them they succeeded much better than their neighbors. Since ancient times, the Adyghe tribes were able to process metal: blacksmithing and blade making flourished in almost every village.
Women mastered the art of weaving and were famous as excellent needlewomen. The skill of embroidering with gold threads with national ornaments, which included solar, plant and zoomorphic motifs, and geometric shapes, was especially appreciated.

Religion

The Adyghes went through three main periods of religious definition: paganism, Christianity and Islam. In ancient times, the Adyghe peoples believed in the unity of man and the cosmos, they thought that the earth was round, surrounded by forests, fields and lakes. For them, there were three worlds: the upper one with deities, the middle one, where people lived, and the lower one, where the dead went. A tree connected the worlds, which continues to play a sacred role to this day. So, after the birth of a grandson, in the first year of his life, the grandfather is obliged to plant a tree, which the child will later look after.

The supreme deity of the Adyghes was Tkha, or Tkhasho, the creator of the world and its laws, controlling the course of life of people and everything that exists. In some beliefs, the leading role of the god of lightning, similar to Perun or Zeus, is observed. They also believed in the existence of the souls of ancestors - Pse, who watch over their descendants. That is why throughout life it was important to observe all the laws of honor and conscience. There were also separate patron spirits of fire, water, forests, and hunting in the ritual culture.
Christian tradition indicates that Simon the Zealot and Andrew the First-Called preached in the territories of Circassia and Abkhazia. However, Christianity in the Circassian region was established only by the 6th century, dominating here until the fall of Byzantium. Since the 16th century, under the influence of the Ottoman sultans, Islam has spread. By the 18th century, it rallied the entire population under the banner, becoming a national idea during the struggle against the colonial policy of the Russian Empire during the Caucasian wars. Today, the majority of Adyghes profess Sunni Islam.

culture

A special role in the tradition of the Circassians was played by dance, which existed since ancient times and was considered the soul of the people. A popular pair dance is a lyrical islamei, in which a man, like a proud eagle, soars in a circle, and a modest but proud girl responds to his advances. More rhythmic and simpler is the ouj, which is usually danced in groups at weddings and during folk festivals.

wedding traditions

The wedding traditions of the Adyghes are largely preserved to this day. Often the bridegroom was chosen by the girl, hinting to him about her desire to start a family with a small gift. Negotiations about a future alliance began with matchmaking: the men from the side of the groom came to the house of the chosen girl and stood in the place where they chop firewood. There were at least three such visits: if during the last one they were invited to the table, this meant the consent of the bride.
After that, the relatives of the girls went to inspect the groom's house in order to assess his material well-being. This was necessary, since it was possible to create a family only with people of their own social stratum. If what they saw suited the visitors, the size of the bride price was discussed: usually it consisted of at least one horse and cattle, the number of heads of which was determined depending on the wealth of the family.

On the day of the wedding, the male relatives of the husband and one girl came for the bride to accompany the young one. There were obstacles on the way of the wedding train, and one could get into the bride's house only after a playful battle. The future wife was showered with sweets, a path of silk fabric was laid in front of her, and they were sure to be carried over the threshold so that she would not disturb the spirits of her ancestors.
Upon arrival at the groom's house, the bride was again showered with sweets and coins, while the future husband left for the whole day, returning only at sunset. During the day, the girl was entertained by her husband's relatives, there was also a playful custom of "grandmother's departure": once a new mistress came to the house, the old one did not belong here. The bride had to run after her with sweets and persuade her to stay. Then they embraced and together returned to the house.

Birth traditions

Many Adyghe customs are associated with the birth of children. Immediately after the birth, a flag was hung over the house: this meant that everything was fine with both the mother and the child. A monophonic flag announced the birth of a boy, a motley - a girl.
Before childbirth, no dowry was prepared for the child; this was considered a bad omen. After that, the mother's relatives made a cradle from hawthorn wood and brought bed linen. The cat was placed first in the cradle so that the child would sleep as soundly as she did. Then the baby was put there by the grandmother on the father's side, who had not usually seen the child before. If at the time of the birth of the baby there was a guest in the house, he was given the right to choose a name for the newborn. He received such an honorary right, since the Adyghe people believed that any guest is a messenger of God.

When the child began to walk, the rite of the "First Step" was performed. All friends and relatives gathered in the parents' house, brought gifts to the baby and feasted. The hero of the occasion was tied up with a satin ribbon, which was then cut. The purpose of the ceremony is to give the child strength and agility so that his further steps in life pass freely and without obstacles.

Funeral traditions

In the era of the early and late Middle Ages, some ethnic groups of the Adyghe had a rite of air burial. The body of the deceased was placed between hollowed-out logs, which were fixed on the branches of trees. Usually, after a year, the mummified remains were interred.
In antiquity, more extensive burial practices were used. Often, stone crypts were built for the dead, similar to the dolmens preserved in the Sochi region. Bulk burial grounds were arranged for rich people, where they left household items that the deceased used during his lifetime.

hospitality traditions

The tradition of hospitality has passed through the life of the Adyghe through the centuries. Any traveler, even an enemy who asked for shelter, needed to be placed in the house. He was settled in the best room, cattle were slaughtered especially for him and the best dishes were prepared, presented with gifts. At first, the guest was not asked about the purpose of the visit, and it was not allowed to expel him if he did not violate the traditions and rules of the house.

Food

Traditional Adyghe cuisine consists of dairy, flour and meat products. In everyday life, they ate boiled lamb with broth. Libzhe, a national poultry dish, was always served with a spicy shyps sauce made on the basis of garlic and hot pepper.

Cottage cheese was made from milk, to which fruits or greens were added, and hard and soft cheeses were prepared. After the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Adyghe cheese became famous all over the world, which was branded and placed on the shelves especially for foreign guests. According to legend, the god of cattle breeding Amysh told the Circassian girl the recipe for cheese because she saved a lost herd of sheep during a storm.

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