The Grebensky Cossacks or Grebentsy was a group of Cossacks formed in the 16th century from Don Cossacks who left the Don area and settled in the northern foothills of the Caucasus. The Greben Cossacks are part of the Terek Cossacks. They were influenced by Chechen and Nogai culture and most were bilingual in the Russian language and the Nogai language.
According to the article on Grebentsy in ЭСБЕ (1893), whose author is — a writer V. E. Rudakov — referring to some historians, who, in turn, allegedly relied on materials from «Book to the Big Drawing » and the legend of the Grebensky icon [lower-alpha 1] , claimed that Grebensky Cossacks descended from the Don Cossacks who settled in the Caucasus, whose community originally lived in the interfluve Seversky Donets and Kalitva near a hill called the Grebensky mountains, hence the name of these Cossacks — Grebensky. [1]
Modern scholars don′t have information about settlement area of Grebentsy on the right side of the Terek River (old Russian Terka/Terki). Basic facts about these Cossacks appear after relocation to the left bank of the river. In 1712 [lower-alpha 2] the Grebensky Cossacks moved to the left bank of the Terek River in the area of the fortification of the Terka/Terki [lower-alpha 3] (Sunzhensky fortification).
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Orthodox Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became East Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christians.
The Terek is a major river in the Northern Caucasus. It originates in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia and flows through North Caucasus region of Russia into the Caspian Sea. It rises near the juncture of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the Khokh Range, to the southwest of Mount Kazbek, winding north in a white torrent between the town of Stepantsminda and the village of Gergeti toward the Russian region North Ossetia and the city of Vladikavkaz. It turns east to flow through Chechnya and Dagestan before dividing into two branches which empty into the Caspian Sea. Below the city of Kizlyar it forms a swampy river delta around 100 kilometres (62 mi) wide. The river is a key natural asset in the region, providing irrigation and hydroelectric power in its upper reaches.
The history of the Cossacks spans several centuries.
Kumyks are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.
Don Cossacks or Donians, are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host, which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in present-day Southern Russia and parts of the Donbas region of Ukraine, from the end of the 16th century until 1918. As of 1992, by presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host. Don Cossacks have had a rich military tradition - they played an important part in the historical development of the Russian Empire and participated in most of its major wars.
Kuban Cossacks, or Kubanians, are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are descendants of different major groups of Cossacks who were re-settled to the western Northern Caucasus in the late 18th century. The western part of the region was settled by the Black Sea Cossack Host who were originally the Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine, from 1792. The eastern and southeastern part of the host was previously administered by the Khopyour and Kuban regiments of the Caucasus Line Cossack Host and Don Cossacks, who were re-settled from the Don from 1777.
A Cossack host, sometimes translated as Cossack army, was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in the Russian Empire. Earlier the term viisko referred to Cossack organizations in their historical territories, most notable being the Zaporozhian Host of Ukrainian Cossacks.
The Terek Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. The local aboriginal Terek Cossacks joined this Cossack host later. In 1792 it was included in the Caucasus Line Cossack Host and separated from it again in 1860, with the capital of Vladikavkaz. In 1916 the population of the Host was 255,000 within an area of 1.9 million desyatinas.
The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus.
Nekrasov Cossacks, Nekrasovite Cossacks, Nekrasovites, Nekrasovtsy descend from those Don Cossacks who, after the defeat of the Bulavin Rebellion of 1707–1708, fled to the Kuban in September 1708, headed by Ignat Nekrasov, hence their name. At that time the Crimean Khanate ruled the Kuban. Later, other fugitives from the Don and runaway Russian serfs joined the Nekrasov Cossacks. The Nekrasovites were Old Believers, and hence persecuted by Orthodox Russian authorities.
Chapaev is a town in north-western Kazakhstan. It is the seat of Akzhaik District in West Kazakhstan Region. The town is located 130 km south of Oral, Kazakhstan (Uralsk), on the right bank of the Ural River.
The Povolzyhe Cossacks or Volga Cossacks were free Cossack communities in Russia which were recorded in sources from the 16th century on. They inhabited the areas along the Volga River.
The Russo-Persian War of 1651–1653 was an armed conflict in the North Caucasus fought between the Safavid Empire and the Tsardom of Russia, associated with the Safavid plans to strengthen its position in the region and to exclude Russia. The main issue involved the expansion of a Russian garrison on the Koy Su River, as well as the construction of several new fortresses, in particular the one built on the Iranian side of the Terek River. The Safavid government then sent troops, and destroyed the fortress while expelling its Russian garrison. In 1653 Alexis of Russia and the Russian government, which thought about sending the Russian Zaporozhian Army, but did not want to disperse its forces, sent an embassy to Persia for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Shah Abbas II agreed, stating that the conflict was initiated without his consent.
Terki fortress, Terka, or Terek was a Russian fortress in the Caucasus in the 16-18th centuries. It was originally erected at the mouth of the Sunzha river on the lands of the Tyumen Khanate, it was demolished several times, restored and transferred.
The North Caucasus Line was a line of Russian forts and Cossack settlements along the north side of the Caucasus Mountains. Originating in the mid-16th century with a small number of free Cossacks near the Caspian Sea, from the mid-18th century the line was pushed west and used as a base to conquer the mountains to the south and to populate the steppes to the north.
Kazanskaya is a rural locality in Verkhnedonskoy District of Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of Don River 360 kilometers (220 mi) from Rostov-on-Don. Population: 4,721 (2010 Census); 4,954 (2002 Census). It is also the administrative center of Verkhnedonskoy District.
The All-Russian Cossack Society is a government sponsored Cossack advocacy organization in the Russian Federation. It is responsible for the coordination of activities between the 11 registered Cossack hosts. In particular, it works in the spheres of patriotic education and the continuing historical Cossack customs and traditions. Both registered and non-registered Cossack organizations can be part of the society. It is headed by the Society Ataman, Cossack General Vitaly Kuznetsov.
Cherny Iyus is a mountain river in the northern part of Khakassia, Russia. It flows through the territories of the Shirinsky and Ordzhonikidze districts. Merging with the Bely Iyus it forms the Chulym River, the right tributary of the Ob.
Russian–Kumyk wars — a series of military conflicts between the Russian Tsardom and the Kumyk Tarki Shamkhalate and other Kumyk states and feudal possessions during the 16th–18th centuries. At the end of the 18th century, as well as during and after the Caucasian War, and throughout the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, conflicts continued in the form of uprisings in Shamkhalate, Northern Kumykia, Southern Kumykia, and in the form of anti-colonial protests of individual villages (societies). In the result of these wars and uprisings, some Kumyk areas and villages were destroyed several times over.
The Murat Kuchukov Movement, also known as the 1708 Insurgency in Chechnya or the 1708 Insurgency in the North Caucasus, was caused by the oppressive policies of the Russian Empire towards the North Caucasian peoples as well as the teachings and propaganda of the Islamic preacher and military commander Murat Kuchukov, a Bashkir prince who had previously participated in the Bashkir rebellion of 1704–1711.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)