History of the Circassians. Ethnogenesis of the Circassians. The Hutts, Kaskis and Sindo-Meotian tribes are the ancient ancestors of the Circassians. The search for the national identity of the Circassians

Amateur historian Vitaly Shtybin talks about the divided Circassian people.

Yuga.ru has already been told about Vitaly Shtybin, a young Krasnodar entrepreneur who became so interested in Circassian history that he became a popular blogger and a welcome guest at specialized conferences. This publication - about what is common and what is the difference between Adygeis, Kabardians and Circassians - opens a series of materials that Vitaly will write specifically for our portal.

If you are sure that Kabardians and Balkars live in Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachais and Circassians live in Karachevo-Cherkessia, and Adygeans live in Adygea, then you will be surprised, but this is not entirely true. The Circassians live in all these republics - they are one people, separated by artificial borders. These names are administrative in nature.

Adygs are a self-name, and the surrounding peoples traditionally call them Circassians. In the scientific world, the term Adygs (Circassians) is used to avoid confusion. The main rule is one - Adygs are equivalent to the name Circassians. There is a slight difference between the Circassians (Circassians) of Kabardino-Balkaria\Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea\Krasnodar Territory. It is noticeable in dialects. The Kabardian and Circassian dialects are considered eastern dialects of the Adyghe language, while the Adyghe and Shapsug dialects are considered western. In a conversation, a resident of Cherkessk will not understand everything from the speech of a resident of Yablonovsky. Just as a typical average person in central Russia will not immediately understand the Kuban balachka, so it will be difficult for a Kabardian to understand the conversation of the Sochi Shapsugs.

Kabardians call the Adyghe people the lower Adyghe people due to geography, since Kabarda is located on an elevated plateau. It is worth noting that the term “Circassian” at different times extended not only to this people, but also to its neighbors in the Caucasus. This is precisely the version that has been preserved today in Turkey, where the term “Circassian” is used to describe all immigrants from the North Caucasus.

In the Russian Empire, the Circassians (Circassians) did not have their own republics or autonomies, but with the advent of Soviet power such an opportunity arose. However, the state did not dare to unite the divided people into one large republic, which could easily become equal in size and political weight to Georgia, Armenia or Azerbaijan.

Three republics were formed in different ways: Kabardino-Balkaria- which included Kabardians from the Circassians. To maintain balance, they were united with the Balkar Turks. Then it formed Adyghe autonomy, which included all the remaining subethnic groups of the former Kuban region. The mountainous part of the republic, like the city of Maykop, became part of it only in 1936. Shapsugs in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi received their autonomy from 1922 to 1945, but it was permanently eliminated. Last Karachay-Cherkess Autonomy received in 1957 by the Besleneev Adygs, who are close in dialect to the Kabardians. In this case, the authorities also supported the ethnic balance between them and the Abazas and Karachay Turks (relatives of the neighboring Balkars) who inhabited the republic.

But what do the concepts “Shapsug”, “Besleneevets”, “Kabardian” and so on mean? Despite the one-and-a-half-century history of the Circassians (Circassians) within the Russian state, society has never gotten rid of tribal (or, in scientific terms, subethnic) division. Until the end of the Caucasian War in 1864, Western Circassians lived throughout the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea, south of the Kuban River to the Shakhe River in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi. Eastern Circassians (Circassians) lived in the south of the Stavropol Territory, in the Pyatigorye region, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, in the flat parts of Chechnya and Ingushetia - between the Terek and Sunzha rivers.

As a result of the war, some of the subethnic groups were expelled to Turkey - such as the Natukhais and Ubykhs, most of the Shapsugs, Khatukais, and Abadzekhs. Today, the division into tribal societies is not as pronounced as before. The subethnic term “Kabardians” was reserved for the Circassians (Circassians) of Kabardino-Balkaria. They were the most powerful, numerous and influential Adyghe subethnic group in the entire Caucasus. Their own feudal state, the status of trendsetters and control over the routes in Transcaucasia helped them for a long time to maintain the strongest positions in the politics of the region.

In the Republic of Adygea, on the contrary, the largest subethnic groups are the Temirgoys, whose dialect is the official language of the republic, and the Bzhedugs. In this republic, all names of subethnic groups were replaced by the artificial term “Adyghe”. There are no strict boundaries in the villages of the republics; everyone lives interspersed, so in Adygea you can meet Kabardians, and in Kabarda - Temirgoyevites.

The easiest way to remember subethnic groups is in the following order:

— Eastern Circassians (Circassians): Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria; Besleneevites in Karachay-Cherkessia;

— Western Circassians (Circassians): Shapsugs in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi; Temirgoyites\Khatukayites\Bzhedugi\Abadzekhs\Mamkhegs\Egerukhaevites\Adamievites\
Makhoshevites/Zhaneevites in the Republic of Adygea.

But what about the Abazas, who live in all the same villages, but mainly in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia? The Abazins are a mixed people whose language is close to Abkhazian. Once upon a time they moved from Abkhazia to the plains of the northern slopes of the Caucasus and mixed with the Circassians. Their language is close to Abkhazian, which is related to the Adyghe (Circassian) language. Abkhazians (Abazas) and Circassians (Circassians) are distant relatives, much like Russians and Czechs.

Now, in a conversation with an Adyghe, Circassian or Kabardian, you can ask him what tribe (subethnos) he is from, and you will learn a lot of interesting things from the life of the Adyghe (Circassians), and at the same time gain confidence as an expert on the structure of the amazing Adyghe (Circassian) society.

They also engaged in fishing and hunting. Local craft production developed, primarily ceramics. Trade relations were maintained with the countries of the Ancient East and the ancient world. The main population of the Kuban and Azov regions in the first millennium BC. e. was in the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, but the Meotian tribes did not reach the formation of a state. The level of development was significantly higher among the Sind tribes, which already in ancient times experienced the process of formation of class relations. The offensive policy of the slave-owning Bosporan kingdom led in the 4th century. BC e. to the loss of independence of the Sinds and their subordination to the Bosporus. In the first centuries A.D. e. the largest tribe that occupied a significant territory of the Black Sea coast were the Zikhs.

In the III-X centuries. ancient tribal names in the North-West Caucasus are gradually disappearing. Already in e. The Circassians become known under the name "Zikhi". The process of formation of the Adyghe people was complicated by numerous ethnic mixtures and external cultural influences. In ancient times, the Scythians played a certain role in the formation of the Adyghe people, and in the early Middle Ages - the Alans. The invasion of the Huns, who defeated the Bosporus, delayed the development of the tribes of the Kuban region.

During the VI-X centuries. Byzantium extends its political influence to the Circassians and instills Christianity among them. The Adygs entered into early communication with the Slavs.

In the 10th century, the Adygs occupied vast territories from the Taman Peninsula in the west to Abkhazia in the south. It was at this time that they entered into trade and economic relations with Russia through Tmutarakan. It was the closest and most important shopping center. However, these connections were broken at the beginning of the 13th century. Tatar-Mongol invasion. The Adygs became part of the Golden Horde, although they did not completely obey it and led stubborn resistance against the Tatar conquerors.

In Russian chronicles they are known as "kosogov". The Adygs were members of the squad of the Chernigov-Tmutarakan prince Mstislav and took part in campaigns (11th century). In the early Middle Ages, the Circassians and Abkhazians even had their own episcopal sees and dioceses. In the spread of Christianity among the Circassians, in addition to Tmutarakan, Georgia also played a significant role. As a result of the fall of Byzantium and the Georgian feudal kingdom of the Bagratids, as a result of the expansionist policies of Turkey and its vassal Crimean Khanate, Christianity in the Western Caucasus fell into complete decline. Tatar-Mongol invasion in the 13th century. slowed down the formation of the Adyghe people. Starting around the 13th century. to the 14th century The Circassians are in the process of establishing early feudal relations. Among a number of Adyghe tribes, the princely elite of the “pshi” stood out, which sought to convert free peasants into dependence. Since the 14th century In Russian chronicles, the name of the Circassians "Cherkassy", apparently borrowed from the Tatars from the Georgians, appears, later taking the form "Circassians". This word possibly comes from the name of one of the ancient tribes - the Kerkets.

The exhausting centuries-long struggle with the Golden Horde, and later with the Crimean Khanate and Turkey, had a serious impact on the economic and cultural development of the Circassians. From historical sources, legends, and songs it is clear that the Turkish Sultan and the Crimean khans waged a war of aggression against the Circassians for more than two centuries. As a result of this war, some tribes, for example, the Khagaki, were completely exterminated, while others, such as the Tapsevians, constituted only an insignificant tribe among the Shapsugs.

A new stage in the relationship between the Circassians and Russia begins in the mid-16th century. during the time of Ivan the Terrible during the period when the Russian centralized state was taking shape. Some Adyghe tribes more than once turned to Moscow for support against the Crimean khans. At the end of the 18th century. The Crimean Khanate was destroyed. Cossacks, immigrants from the Don, settled along the right bank of the middle reaches of the Kuban River. In 1791 - 1793 The right bank of the lower reaches of the Kuban River was occupied by people from Zaporozhye, who were called the Black Sea Cossacks. The Russian-Ukrainian population turned out to be the immediate neighbor of the Circassians. Russian cultural influence on the Circassians in the field of economy and everyday life has greatly increased.

In the 16th century and the first half of the 19th century. Adygea was a country with a semi-feudal, semi-patriarchal structure. The economic system of society was already determined by the dominance of feudal relations. These relations did not lead to the unification of the scattered Adyghe lands into a single state whole, but they contributed to the development of foreign relations and the improvement of the domestic economy, especially agriculture. Its leading industry was animal husbandry for meat and dairy production. As before, field farming occupied second place among the Circassians after livestock farming. The oldest grain crops of the Circassians were millet and barley.

Attaching great importance to Russian-Adyghe ties in the interests of strengthening the southern borders of the Russian state, Ivan IV in 1561 married the daughter of the Kabardian prince Temryuk Idarov Kuchenei. In Moscow she was baptized and became the Russian Tsarina Maria. Repeatedly, through diplomatic and military measures, Russia provided assistance to the Circassians in the fight against their enemies.

In the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. The Circassians made up the main population of two territorial-political entities of the Caucasus - Circassia and Kabarda. Circassia covered a vast expanse of land from the Northwestern tip of the Main Caucasus Range to the middle reaches of the Urup River. In the north, the border ran along the Kuban River from the very mouth to its confluence with the Laba River. The southwestern border of Circassia stretches along the Black Sea coast from the Tamanidorek Shah. Kabarda in the first half of the 19th century. was located in the Terek River basin, approximately from the Malka River in the west and northwest to the Sunzha River in the east, and was divided into Bolshaya and Malaya. In the 18th century, its borders reached the west of the upper reaches of the river. Kuban.

The Adygs at that time were divided into a number of ethnic groups, the largest of which were Shapsugs, Abadzekhs, Natukhais, Temirgoyevts, Bzhedugs, Kabardians, Besleneevtsy, Khatukaytsy, Makhoshevtsy, Yegerukhayevtsy and Zheneevtsy. The total number of Circassians reached 700-750 thousand people. Agriculture and livestock farming remained the leading sectors of the Circassian economy. The ratio of their specific gravity was determined by geographic, soil and climatic conditions.

Since 1717, the Islamization of the Caucasian mountaineers was elevated to the rank of state policy of the Ottoman Empire, carried out by Davlet-Girsem and Kyzy-Girey. The penetration of the new religion into the Circassians was associated with considerable difficulties. Only at the end of the 18th century. Islam has taken deep roots in the North Caucasus. In 1735, on the instructions of the Sultan, the Crimean army again invaded Kabarda, which marked the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war. The peace treaty signed by Russia and the Ottoman Empire in Iasi at the end of 1791 confirmed the terms of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty.

Crimea and Kabarda were recognized as Russian possessions. In the 30s XIX century Tsarist Russia began to create military posts on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, which in 1839 were combined into a coastline. The Black Sea coastline brought terrible disasters to the Circassians. In October 1853, the Crimean War began, in which Russia was opposed by England, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia. The eviction of the highlanders to the Ottoman Empire is the last page of the chronicle of the Caucasian War. Hundreds of thousands of highlanders, victims of the cold political calculations of Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire, left their homeland. In May 1864, the last pockets of resistance of the highlanders on the Black Sea coast were eliminated. The bloody war is over. The Caucasian War cost the mountaineers tens of thousands of dead, hundreds of thousands excommunicated from their homeland.

In 1864, the Trans-Kuban Circassians were included in the administrative and political system of the Russian Empire.

The path to the proclamation of the Republic of Adygea as part of the Russian Federation was difficult and complex. On April 8, 1920, a special section for Muslim affairs was created under the subdivision for national affairs of the Kuban Regional Administration department. The section was faced with the task of mediating between the authorities and the population, carrying out explanatory work among the mountain population, in particular among the Circassian highlanders of the Maykop, Ekaterinodar, Batalpashinsky departments and the Tuapse district, where more than 100 thousand people of the indigenous population lived. On July 21, 1920, the Military Council of the IX Red Army and the Kuban-Black Sea Revolutionary Committee issued an order to form a temporary mountain section under the board department of the Kubcherrevkom, which carried out a lot of organizational work to convene the first congress of the highlanders of the Kuban and Black Sea region. At this congress, the Mountain Executive Committee was created from representatives of the working Circassians of the Kuban and Black Sea region with rights equal to the provincial executive committees to manage the mountain population with its horizontal subordination to the regional executive committee and vertically to the People's Commissariat of Nationalities. The III Mountain Congress (December 7-12) in Krasnodar decided to create the Mountain District Executive Committee of the Kuban and Black Sea Region and instructed it to develop the issue of separating the highlanders of the Kuban and Black Sea Region into an autonomous region. On July 27, 1922, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a resolution on the formation of the Circassian (Adyghe) Autonomous Region. On August 24, 1922, it was then renamed the Adygei (Circassian) Autonomous Region. From that time on, the Kuban Circassians began to be officially called Adyghe.

The proclamation of the autonomy of Adygea gave the Adyghe people the opportunity to create their own national state formation, exercise their right to national self-determination, contributed to strengthening economic and political ties with more economically developed regions of the country, and developed the economic and cultural life of the people.

December 7-10, 1922 in a. In Khakurinokhabl, the 1st regional congress of the Soviets of Adygea took place, at which the executive committee of the Adygea (Circassian) Autonomous Region was elected. Shahan-Girei Hakurate became its chairman.

At the request of this congress, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR in May 1923 approved the commission’s conclusion on establishing the borders of the Adygea Autonomous Region. Thus, according to this conclusion, the Adyghe region was divided into two districts: Psekunsky and Farsky. After this, the boundaries of the region changed several times. In 1924, five districts were created within Adygea. The regional center was Krasnodar. On April 10, 1936, by resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Maykop became the center of the Adygea Autonomous Region. According to the same resolution, the Giaginsky district and the Khansky village council were included in Adygea. However, according to the Constitution of the RSFSR, the Adygea Autonomous Region, like other such national-autonomous entities, was part of the region (in this case ~ Krasnodar).

On July 3, 1991, at a joint meeting of the Russian Parliament, a Law was adopted on the transformation of the Adygea Autonomous Region into a republic that is part of the RSFSR.

In the modern socio-political and economic situation, increasing the state-legal status of the Adyghe Autonomous Region contributes to the realization of not only the national needs of the people with whose name the creation of autonomy is associated, but also the economic and cultural potential of the republic for the benefit of all peoples living on its territory. Life has shown that the region cannot develop further without independent vital management structures. This became especially noticeable during the transition to market relations.

Thus, the Republic of Adygea today is one of the subjects of the Russian Federation, that is, it voluntarily became part of the Russian Federation on the basis of signing the Federal Treaty. According to Article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Adygea, the sovereignty of the republic extends to its entire territory. It has full state power, except for the rights it voluntarily delegates to Russia on the basis of concluded treaties. Adygea became a republic (within the Russian Federation) in 1991. The President of the Republic and the State Council - Khase were elected, and the Cabinet of Ministers was formed. The first President of the republic is Aslan Alievich Dzharimov.

Budaev N.M. "Essays on the political history of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the 16th – 20th centuries." (Origin of the ethnonym Circassian)06.25.2008 15:50 VIII Origin of the ethnonym Circassian. M.G. Volkova writes: “The emergence of the term “Circassian”, the ethnic nature of which is indicated with the Turkic environment, was associated with certain political events of the 13th century.

In the Mongolian chronicle “The Secret Legend” it is recorded in the form - SARKAS (UT), SERKES (UT).
(NOTE: F. Jamalov / SAR - ancient Iranian, Aryan: king, ruler, head, chief. KAS - ancient Iranian, Aryan: man. SARKAS (Circassian) royal man, king's man, warrior, warrior.
Similarly: CAUCASUS (KAF-KAS) - ancient Iranian, Aryan: KAF - the world mountain in the mythology of the Aryan peoples; KAS - Old Iranian, Aryan: person)

Subsequently, the name Circassian appears in all historical sources: in the middle of the 13th century. - in Arabic, Persian and Western European works - from the end of the 13th century. in Russian chronicles, “History of Armenia” already in the 13th century, the name Circassians is recorded in the list of Caucasian peoples” (M.G. Volkova “Ethnonyms and tribal names of the North Caucasus”, M., 1974, pp. 21, 23)

In Russian chronicles, the ethnonym Cherkasy is associated only with Turkic tribes who served in appanage principalities. They are better known under the name: “black hoods”, “berendeys”, “kovui”. Later, the term “Cherkasy” became established as one of the ethnonyms of the Zaporizhian Cossacks. It should be noted that the primary core of this people was the chronicle “black hoods”. According to N.M. Karamzina, N.I.Berezina, P.P.Ivanova, I.A. The male "black cowls" are called "Circassians". Consequently, this ethnonym was used as a general name for the medieval Pecheneg-Oguz tribes: Torks, Uzes, Pechenegs, Black Klobuks, Berendeys, Kovuys and Polovtsians.

Prof. ON THE. Aristov wrote: “One may suspect that the ethnonym “Circassian” itself was brought to the foothills of the Caucasus by an alliance of Turkic clans.” In our opinion, the ethnonym “Circassian” is of quite ancient origin, its distribution area is quite wide from Altai to the Danube, where Adyghe peoples did not live at all. The antiquity and deep connection of the ethnonym “Circassian” with the Turkic peoples are confirmed by excerpts from the works of famous scientists K.Ya.Grot and D.Ilovaisky.K.Ya. Grot believed that “... the Khazars and Avars belonged to the same Circassian tribe, and that this tribe, in conjunction with the Ugrians, acted in southern Russia and on the Danube..” D. Ilovaisky also notes that “... according to various characteristics "Katsirs" or "Kazirs" (Kozars - N.B.) were one of the Circassian tribes, or the Circassian people of the Khazars."

As for the appearance of the ethnonym “Circassian”, “Jarkas”, “Sherkes” in Persian and Arabic sources it is associated with the Mamluks. New research has shown that the Adyghe peoples are not related to the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria. During their four-hundred-year reign, the Mamluks left many written documents. These are primarily Arabic-Mamluk dictionaries, which were published in the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries; in addition, a treatise on the art of war and many poetic works were published. The Mamluks established close diplomatic relations with the khans of the Golden Horde, exchanged embassies, etc. It is especially worth noting that by order of the last Mamluk Sultan Kansukhguri, “Shah Name” was translated into the Turkic Mamluk language. The language in which these works are written is closest to the language of the Karachay-Balkars, Kumyks and Nogais. Moreover, all the known names of the Mamluks are mostly Turkic or Arabic, and the medieval Arabs themselves considered them Turks. I.F. Blumberg wrote back in 1834: “Circassians... whom Europeans call incorrectly, call themselves Adyga, or Adykhe.” .Ethnographer L.Ya. Lhuillier once noted: “I don’t know why, but we are accustomed to calling all the tribes inhabiting the northern slope of the Caucasus Mountains Circassians.” This was also noted by G.Yu. Klarpot: “Circassian is of Tatar origin and is made up of the words “cher” - road and “kesmek” - cut off.” Summarizing these facts, it is quite obvious that the Turkic tribe of Circassians (Western Kazakhs) took part in the ethnogenesis of the Kabardians, who later became the feudal lords of the Kabardians. T. Lapinsky wrote about this: “In this brief overview of the history of the Circassians I want to refute a misconception that is current throughout Europe. It is completely wrong when the peoples of the Caucasus, the Abaza (Adyghe), as well as the Dagestan tribes, are designated by the name of the Circassians.

Dagestan tribes are also designated by the name Circassians. The Circassian people no longer exist; their remnants in the Caucasus no longer call themselves that and are disappearing more and more day by day. With much greater right, one can call all the Cossacks of Russia, with the exception of the Cossacks of the Kuban, Circassians, since they are the descendants of these old robbers and the Circassian spirit has been preserved among them." "These Circassians still form a special tribe of Ezden-Tlako and marry only among themselves - therefore the Tatar the race remained almost pure among them" (p. 101). This is how Lapinsky describes the appearance of the Circassian prince and his son, with whom he was personally acquainted: "Poorly with a silver beard, he was one of the most beautiful old men I had ever seen - or. His facial features bore the clear imprint of a sedate Tatar, and among 1000 Abaz (Adygs) he could be instantly recognized as a foreigner, as well as his son Karabatir Ibrahim, who in appearance was a copy of his father... His retinue also consisted almost exclusively of Turks , Tatars and several Circassian workers" (p. 289). Lapinsky does not have any special sympathy for the Tatars and Circassians, for example: "Sefer Pasha and the entire Tatar-Circassian rabble, who, unfortunately for the country, committed outrages and intrigued on behalf of the Porte , send to Turkey" (p. 251). T. Lapinsky considered the Circassians to be an unconditionally Turkic tribe, dissolved in the Adyghe environment and having a bad influence on it. "I always distinguish between the Circassians, who in Abkhazia (Adygea) are looked upon as uninvited guests, and Abazs and Circassians, who are the owners of the country and form the bulk of the population” (p. 163). Theophilus Lapinsky lived among the Circassians for a long time, but considered the Circassians to be a Turkic foreign tribe that had dissolved in the Circassian environment: “I always distinguish between the Circassians, who in Abkhazia (Adygea) are looked upon as uninvited guests, and the Circassians, who are the owners of the country and form the bulk population." (Uk. R. p. 163, 100, 205.) It is important to note one detail - in a certain period, quite early, on the map of Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century. coast of the Black and Azov Seas is designated as “Kasakhia”. The Pechenegs and Cumans lived there at that time, and on the maps of the 15th century. Circassia was located between the Don and Astrakhan. There is a connection between the etonyms Cossack-Cherkass, Kazakh-Sherkes. Facts confirming our assumption are found in Kazakhstan, where part of the Kazakhs of the Younger Zhuz and Alabuga Tatars still call themselves Circassians. We found convincing confirmation of this in the “Genealogy of the Turks, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Khan dynasties” by Shakarim Kudaiberdi-ulu. He writes: “Sherkes are included in the Junior Zhuz of the Kazakh people.” (Ukrainian work. p. 68). We found more accurate information in the work of the famous historian Academician. V.V. Radlova: “Sherkes is a division of the Cossack-Kirghiz of the Small Horde, the Alachin tribe.” (Ukrainian rab. art. 75, 113, 287). This fact was also noted by T. Lapinsky in the 18th century, the genetic connection of the Circassians with the Kazakh people: “Circassians are a tribe in the middle horde of the Kyrgyz, which during their nomadic winters are usually located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea” (uk.r. p. 72 ). In the 18th century, Kazakhs were often called Kirghiz. To what has been said, we should add a quote from A. M. Bayramkulov: “The ancient Circassians were one of the largest Turkic-Alan tribes. The accuracy of what has been said is confirmed by a large number of new materials. This is the ethnonym Cherkesli in Turkmenistan, the ancient Kyrgyz tribe Cherkas, the Crimean Tatar proper name Cherkas, the Nogai Taucherkes.” In the Altai heroic epic the name “Altyn-Charkas” appears. In the history of the Golden Horde, there is a known case when one of the contenders for the Khan’s throne was the prince, Genghisid Hadji-Cherkess. As you know, only the Chingizids could claim the throne. (V.V. Pokhlebkin “Tatars and Rus'”, M., p. 22, 2001) U. Bayramukov: “In our opinion, there never was an Adyghe-speaking Circassian ethnic group, and there is none now. If we mean the population living in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic and now spelled “Circassians,” then historical documentary sources claim

U. Bayramukov: “In our opinion, there never was an Adyghe-speaking Circassian ethnic group, and there is none now. If we mean the population living in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic and now called “Circassians,” then historical documentary sources claim that the fugitive Kabardians, part of the Beleneevs and Abazins who found shelter in the Kuban, were called by this ethnic term after the establishment of Soviet power in the 20-30s. Prof. writes about this. V.B. Vinogradov “Some 150-200 years ago, in the words of a historian of the 19th century: “Under the name “Circassians” are hidden many tribes that bear a variety of names, most of them moved to Turkey after the conquest of the Caucasus,” further : “... during the All-Union Census of 1926 and in the next few years, a people under the name “Circassian” was not recorded, although there were “Adyghe” and “Circassian” autonomous regions. And only in the early 1930s. some representatives of the Adyghe intelligentsia began to define their nationality with the historical term “Circassian”, and some 10 years later, on the eve of the Second World War, 80% of the Adyghe inhabitants of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug within the Stavropol Territory called themselves Circassians” (V.B. Vinogradov “Middle Kuban: Countrymen and neighbors” Armavir, 1995, P. 118). G.D. Chesnokova: “At the beginning of the 20th century, the entire Adyghe population began to be called “Circassians” ... from the fugitive Kabardians who moved beyond the Kuban to the Karachay territory in the 1820-1840s "(G.D. Chesnokova "Regional Caucasian studies and Turkology: tradition and modernity, Karachaevsk, 1998, p. 173) I.Kh. Kalmykov: “During the years of Soviet power, various Adyghe ethnic groups in Karachay-Cherkessia formed into an independent “Circassian” a nationality with its own language... The modern “Circassian” nationality was formed in the 20th century” (I.Kh. Kalmykov “Circassians”, Cherkessk, 1974, pp. 27-31).

Continued: http://tourism-x.com/book24/page1.html

Amateur historian Vitaly Shtybin talks about the divided Circassian people.

Yuga.ru has already been told about Vitaly Shtybin, a young Krasnodar entrepreneur who became so interested in Circassian history that he became a popular blogger and a welcome guest at specialized conferences. This publication - about what is common and what is different among Adygeis, Kabardians and Circassians - opens a series of materials that Vitaly will write specifically for our portal.

Adygs are a self-name, and the surrounding peoples traditionally call them Circassians. In the scientific world, the term Adygs (Circassians) is used to avoid confusion. There is only one main rule - Adygs are equivalent to the name Circassians. There is a slight difference between the Circassians (Circassians) of Kabardino-Balkaria\Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea\Krasnodar Territory. It is noticeable in dialects. The Kabardian and Circassian dialects are considered eastern dialects of the Adyghe language, while the Adyghe and Shapsug dialects are considered western. In a conversation, a resident of Cherkessk will not understand everything from the speech of a resident of Yablonovsky. Just as a typical average person in central Russia will not immediately understand the Kuban balachka, so it will be difficult for a Kabardian to understand the conversation of the Sochi Shapsugs.

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Cuban studies without gaps. Krasnodar resident Vitaly Shtybin talks online about the Adyghe history of the region

In the Republic of Adygea, on the contrary, the largest subethnic groups are the Temirgoys, whose dialect is the official language of the republic, and the Bzhedugs. In this republic, all names of subethnic groups were replaced by the artificial term “Adyghe”. There are no strict boundaries in the villages of the republics, everyone lives interspersed, so in Adygea you can meet Kabardians, and in Kabarda - Temirgoyevites.

The easiest way to remember subethnic groups is in the following order:

- Eastern Circassians (Circassians): Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria; Besleneevites in Karachay-Cherkessia;

- Western Circassians (Circassians): Shapsugs in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi; Temirgoyites\Khatukayites\Bzhedugi\Abadzekhs\Mamkhegs\Egerukhaevites\Adamievites\
Makhoshevites/Zhaneevites in the Republic of Adygea.

From the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Thanks to ancient Greek written sources, the names of the tribes that inhabited the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region and the Northern Caucasus become known.

These are steppe Iranian-speaking nomads - the Cimmerians, Scythians and their eastern neighbors the Sauromatians. The middle and lower reaches of the Kuban River, the Eastern Azov region, the Taman Peninsula and the Trans-Kuban region were occupied by settled agricultural tribes, united by the name “Meotians”.

The Meotians and Sindians were first mentioned by ancient Greek authors of the 6th-5th centuries BC. Hecatea of Miletus, Hellanicus of Mytilene, Herodotus. The ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo, who lived at the turn of the new era, reports about them in more detail in his work.

Along the Black Sea coast, ancient authors indicate the Kerkets, Torets, Zikhs and other tribes, some of which are classified as Meotians. The main body of Meotian tribes are considered the indigenous population of the North-West Caucasus, belonging to the Caucasian language family. The Meots are considered one of the distant ancestors of the Circassians.

One of the main hypotheses about the ancient ancestors of the Circassians suggests that they were Meotians. Tribal names of the ancestors of the Meotians: Keshak, Kashka, Kason and Abkhazians - Abeshla, Absils. The Zikhs, who actively developed in the 5th-6th centuries in the Kuban, were also classified as Meotian tribes. Scientists suggest that the ancient tribes who lived in the Northwestern Caucasus spoke the Abkhaz-Circassian language. In the book by Sheudzhen A.Kh., Galkin G.A. Tkhakushinova A.K. and others. “Land of the Circassians.” Maikop, GURIPP “Adygea”, several versions of the appearance of the Circassians in the North Caucasus are given.

Among them: Arabian, Turkish, Egyptian, Crimean, Khazar, Ryazan, Greek, Genoese, as well as “Cossack Cossacks - descendants of the Pyatigorsk Circassians”, “Adyghe-Anty - Slavic tribes”, “Adyghe-Kabardians - descendants of the Amazons”, “ Kabardians are the descendants of Genghis Khan,” etc. But all of them do not have sufficient justification.

According to the Arabian version, the Circassians moved to Kuban from Arabia.

According to the information collected in 1784, Governor General P.S. Potemkin, the Kabardian princes “... trace their family back to one prince, called Kes, who left Arabia and became the owner of all the mountain peoples.” The legend existing among the Circassians says: “Circassians descend from two brothers: Cher and Kes, who came from Arabia from the Qureish tribe.”

According to the work of S. Bronevsky (1823) “According to the inhabitants’ own legends, Kabarda in ancient times was ruled by one prince named Inal, who descended from Keyes, and this one came out of Arabia and conquered the Circassians.”