 Afro-Abkhazian family, c. 1912. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Adzyubzha | |
| Languages | |
| Abkhaz |
Afro-Abkhazians are a small group of people of African descent in Abkhazia, [note 1] who historically lived in the village of Adzyubzha at the mouth of the Kodori River and the surrounding villages (Chlou, Pokvesh, Agdarra and Merkulov) on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
E. Lavrov in 1913 first proposed that Black Abkhazians originated in 5th-century BC Colchis. Ancient sources including Herodotus and Jerome described Colchians as having dark skin, "wooly" hair, and an African origin. Patrick English investigated this hypothesis further in 1959, citing ancient accounts of the region as well as anthropological and linguistic evidence. [1] [2]
Another origin hypothesis, which is more prevalent, [3] is that Africans were first brought to Abkhazia through the Ottoman slave trade in the 17th or 18th centuries, having been purchased by Abkhazian royals. [4] When the Ottomans withdrew from the region in the 19th century, those African slaves remaining in Abkhazia were freed. [3]
By the 19th century, Afro-Abkhazians had fully assimilated into the local Abkhaz population and were not viewed as a diaspora community. [5] They were therefore not recognized as a distinct community by Soviet authorities, who did not distinguish groups of people by skin color. [6] Black Abkhazian villagers, who were impoverished and isolated, may have been subject to deportation to elsewhere in the Soviet Union. [7]
During the Siege of Tkvarcheli operation in the 1992–1993 war, Georgian troops destroyed the three villages which had Afro-Abkhazian communities: Adzyubzha, Kindigh, and Tamsh. [8]
Historically, the few scattered African communities in the Black Sea region were geographically isolated and unknown by the broader public. [9] Beginning in 1913 with an article by V. P. Vradii in the Tbilisi newspaper Kavkaz, the presence of Black communities in Abkhazia was repeatedly reported on in Russian newspapers. Their origin and numbers were the subject of public debate in Russian media. [10] In 1923, journalist Zinaida Richter visited a Black village near Sukhumi and reported on her expedition in the Moscow newspaper Izvestia . Foreign periodicals also covered the subject in 1925 and 1931, when anthropologist B. Adler publicized his research in The New York Times , in which he described small Black settlements whose inhabitants were of relatively unmixed ancestry. [11]
Soviet anthropologists took interest in Black Abkhazians in the 1960s and produced several studies, although by this time the group was more dispersed and assimilated. [11]
Afro-Abkhazians are recognized by other Abkhazians as being ethnically Abkhaz, as they have culturally assimilated, intermarry with Abkhaz, and speak the language. [12] [6] In 1913, V. P. Vradii found that they were mostly Muslim and spoke Abkhaz. [11]
Fazil Iskander wrote about Afro-Abkhazians and their relationships with indigenous Abkhaz, [13] which further popularized the subject. [5]
Vladislav Ardzinba was an Abkhaz historian and politician who served as the first de facto president of Abkhazia. Ardzinba led Abkhazia to de facto independence in the 1992–1993 War with Georgia, but its de jure independence from Georgia remained internationally unrecognised during Ardzinba's two terms as President from 1994 to 2005. His government orchestrated ethnic cleansing of Georgian civilians in Abkhazia in 1993.
The Principality of Abkhazia emerged as a separate feudal entity in the 15th-16th centuries, amid the civil wars in the Kingdom of Georgia that concluded with the dissolution of the unified Georgian monarchy. The principality retained a degree of autonomy under Ottoman and then Russian rule, but was eventually absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1864.
Gagra is a town in Abkhazia/Georgia, sprawling for 5 km on the northeast coast of the Black Sea, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. Its subtropical climate made Gagra a popular health resort in Imperial Russian and Soviet times.
The Abkhazia conflict is a territorial dispute over Abkhazia, a region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in the South Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The conflict involves Georgia, the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia, which is internationally recognised only by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria; Georgia and all other United Nations members consider Abkhazia a sovereign territory of Georgia. However, as of 2023, Georgia lacks de facto control over the territory.
The Abkhazians or Abkhazes are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the Caucasian War in the late 19th century. Many Abkhaz also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia and Ukraine.
Sukhumi or Sokhumi is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of the Republic of Abkhazia, a partially recognised state that most countries consider a part of Georgia. The city has been controlled by Abkhazia since the Abkhazian war in 1992–93. The city, which has an airport, is a port, major rail junction and a holiday resort because of its beaches, sanatoriums, mineral-water spas and semitropical climate. It is also a member of the International Black Sea Club.
The history of Abkhazia, a region in the South Caucasus, spans more than 5,000 years from its settlement by the lower-paleolithic hunter-gatherers to its present status as a partially recognized state.
The Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia was a short-lived republic within the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union that covered the territory of Abkhazia, and existed from 31 March 1921 to 19 February 1931. Formed in the aftermath of the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921, it was independent until 16 December 1921 when it agreed to a treaty that united it with the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. The SSR Abkhazia was similar to an autonomous Soviet republic, though it retained nominal independence from Georgia and was given certain features only full union republics had, like its own military units. Through its status as a "treaty republic" with Georgia, Abkhazia joined the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which united Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian SSRs into one federal unit when the latter was formed in 1922. The SSR Abkhazia was abolished in 1931 and replaced with the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.
The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government forces for the most part and Abkhaz separatist forces, Russian government armed forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993. Ethnic Georgians who lived in Abkhazia fought largely on the side of Georgian government forces. Ethnic Armenians and Russians within Abkhazia's population largely supported the Abkhazians and many fought on their side. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasus and Cossack militants and from the Russian Federation forces stationed in and near Abkhazia.
The history of the Jews in Abkhazia dates back to the early 19th century. The Jewish population of Abkhazia consisted of Ashkenazi, Georgian and other Jews. It grew after the incorporation of Abkhazia into the Russian Empire in the middle of the 19th century. Most of the Jews left or were evacuated from Abkhazia as a result of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict of 1992–1993.
The Sukhumi riot was a riot in Sukhumi, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, in July 1989, triggered by an increasing inter-ethnic tensions between the Abkhaz and Georgian communities and followed by several days of street fighting and civil unrest in Sukhumi and throughout Abkhazia.
Many inhabitants of Abkhazia are Orthodox Christians, With significant minorities adhering to Islam and the Abkhaz neopaganism, or the "Abkhazian traditional religion". The influence of this last has always remained strong and has been experiencing a revival through the 1990s and 2000s.
The demographics of Abkhazia include population density, ethnicity, education level, health, socioeconomic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The Abkhazian town of Tkvarcheli was put under siege by the Georgian National Guard during the 1992–93 War in Abkhazia. The siege lasted from October 1992 to September 1993, almost the entire duration of the war, but was eventually unsuccessful. It was accompanied by inconclusive fighting in surrounding villages. Russian aid, both humanitarian and military, was critical for the defence of the town which suffered a severe humanitarian crisis during the siege.
The written Abkhaz literature appeared relatively recently in the beginning of the 20th century although Abkhaz oral tradition is quite rich.
Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It covers 8,665 square kilometres (3,346 sq mi) and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi.
Adzyubzha is a rural settlement in the Ochamchire Municipality of Abkhazia, Georgia’s breakaway republic.
Abkhaz neopaganism, or the Abkhaz native religion, is the contemporary re-emergence of the ethnic religion of the Abkhaz people in unrecognized Abkhazia, a revitalisation which started in the 1980s. The most important holy sites of the religion are the Seven Shrines of Abkhazia, each one having its own priestly clan, where rituals and prayers began to be restored in the 1990s.
This is an alphabetical list of Abkhazia-related articles.
Shaaban Abash - was the rider of the Abkhazian hundreds of the Circassian cavalry regiment of the Caucasian native division during the First World War. Shaaban was afro-abkazian.
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