Circassia, also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in Eastern Europe. It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Russo-Circassian War (1763–1864), after which approximately 99.5-99.8% of the Circassian people were either exiled or massacred in the Circassian genocide.
Kumyks are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.
Shamkhal, or Shawhal is a title used by Kumyk rulers in Dagestan and the Northeast Caucasus during the 8th–19th centuries. By the 16th century, the state had its capital at Tarki and was thus known as the Shamkhalate of Tarki.
The Avar Khanate, the Avar Nutsaldom, also known as Khundzia or Avaria, was a long-lived Avar state, which controlled mountainous parts of Dagestan from the early 13th century to the 19th century.
Oleg Nikolayevich Trubachyov was a Russian linguist. A researcher of the etymology of Slavic languages and Slavic onomastics, he was considered a specialist in historical linguistics and lexicography. He was a Doctor of Sciences in Philological Sciences, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and served as the editor-in-chief of the Etimologiya yearbook. His works are on the etymology of Slavic languages and on East Slavic onomastics.
"Gazikumukh Shamkhalate" is a term introduced in Russian-Dagestan historiography starting from the 1950s–60s to denote the Kumyk state that existed on the territory of present-day Dagestan in the period of the 8th to 17th centuries with the capital in Gazi-Kumukh, and allegedly disintegrated in 1642. However, In the 16th century's Russian archival sources Tarki is stated to be the "capital of Shamkhalate" and "the city of Shamkhal", while "Kazi-Kumuk" is mentioned as a residence. These facts contradict "1642 disintegration" date. Moreover, there is absolutely no source before the 1950s containing the term "Gazikumukh Shamkhalate" or a statement that Gazi-Kumukh had ever been the capital of Shamkhalate. Historically, Shamkhalate is widely described as Tarki Shamkhalate or just Shamkhalate.
The Shamkhalate of Tarki, or Tarki Shamkhalate was a Kumyk state in the eastern part of the North Caucasus, with its capital in the ancient town of Tarki. It formed on the territory populated by Kumyks and included territories corresponding to modern Dagestan and adjacent regions. After subjugation by the Russian Empire, the Shamkhalate's lands were split between the Empire's feudal domain with the same name extending from the river Sulak to the southern borders of Dagestan, between Kumyk possessions of the Russian Empire and other administrative units.
The Durdzuks, also known as Dzurdzuks, was a medieval exonym of the 9th-18th centuries used mainly in Georgian, Arabic, but also Armenian sources in reference to the Vainakh peoples.
Historically, Dagestan consisted of a federation of mountainous principalities in the eastern part of the North Caucasus. Located at the crossroads of world civilizations of north and south, Dagestan was the scene of clashes of interests of many states and until the early 19th century, most notably between Iran and the Russian Empire.
Simsim was either a historical region or kingdom in the North Caucasus during the Middle Ages, existing in the 14th century. Predominantly localized roughly in eastern Chechnya (Ichkeria), with some also connecting part of Kumyk Plain. Simsim is also localized in both Chechnya and Ingushetia. Its name may have been derived from the Chechen village of Simsir. However, according to folklore, the King Gayur-khan was chosen as the leader of all Chechens by the Mehk-Khel. In its later years it allied itself with the Golden Horde before being destroyed in 1395 by Timurlane, which was recorded in Zafarnama by Nizam al-Din Shami and the Zafarnama by Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi.
Badzhgard or Bashkurd, historically Bashkiria is a historical and geographical region in the Urals, the traditional border between Northern Asia and Eastern Europe in modern Russia, inhabited by the Bashkirs. Today, the territory is administratively split between the Republic of Bashkortostan, Orenburg and Chelyabinsk oblasts, parts of the Republic of Tatarstan, the south-eastern part of Udmurtia, the southern part of the Perm Krai, the south-western part of the Sverdlovsk oblast, the western part of the Kurgan, the north-eastern part of Samara, the eastern part of the Saratov regions.
The House of Lopukhin was an old Russian noble family, most influential during the Russian Empire, forming one of the branches of the Sorokoumov-Glebov family.
Zichia was the predecessor of Circassia and a medieval kingdom on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, inhabited by Circassians.
The Battle of Voronezh River happened during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. The Principality of Ryazan was the first to be attacked.
The siege of Kolomna during December 1237–January 1238 was part of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. Following the Battle of Voronezh River in December 1237, Yuri II of Vladimir sent both of his sons with "all his men" and Voivode Yeremey to defend the fortress of Kolomna, which was on the border to the Wild Fields.
Sochigel was either a junior wife or concubine of Yesügei, the chief of the Khamag Mongol confederation and father of Genghis Khan. Sochigel's children were Ghengis Khan's half-siblings, and included Behter and Belgutei; the latter became one of Genghis Khan's advisors.
The Mongol invasion of Circassia and Alania refers to the invasion of Circassia and Alania by the Mongolian Empire. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols launched massive invasions of the territory of Circassia and Alania. William of Rubruck, who travelled to the Caucasus in 1253, wrote that the Circassians had never "bowed to Mongol rule", despite the fact that a whole fifth of the Mongol armies were at that time devoted to the task of crushing the Alano-Circassian resistance. Circassians and Alans made use of both the forests and the mountains, and waged a successful guerrilla war, maintaining their freedom to some extent.
Circassians is a broad ethnonym of the Turkic origin, which in Russia, Turkey and Persia used to be, and in the case of Turkey is now, applied to peoples of different ethnicities living on the North Eastern and Eastern shores of the Black Sea, and in the Northern Caucasus.
The defensive campaigns of the North Caucasus (1222–1240) marked the struggle of local tribes, including the Alans, Kipchaks, Circassians, and Dagestani tribes, against repeated incursions by the Mongol Empire. Despite facing a powerful, centralized force, the peoples of the North Caucasus organized fierce resistance, often employing guerrilla tactics, and managed to retain partial autonomy in remote regions, slowing the Mongol expansion.
The Mongol invasion of the lands of the Abaza and Circassians refers to the campaigns led by Batu Khan against the highland tribes of the North Caucasus, particularly targeting the Circassians, Alans, and Abaza people. Despite facing overwhelming odds, the mountainous peoples of the region utilized their knowledge of the terrain to mount a persistent resistance, waging a guerrilla war that the Mongols struggled to fully subdue.
Mongol Empire 
Kingdom of Alania and allied tribes