The Caucasus, or Caucasia, is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and mainly occupied by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range, which has historically been considered a natural barrier between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian or Nakh-Daghestanian languages, is a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in diaspora populations in Western Europe and the Middle East. They are occasionally called Caspian, as opposed to Pontic for the Northwest Caucasian languages.
Makhachkala, previously known as Petrovskoye (Петровское) (1844–1857), and Petrovsk-Port (Петровск-Порт) (1857–1921), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Dagestan in Russia. The city is located on the Caspian Sea, covering an area of 468.13 square kilometres, with a population of over 603,518 residents, while the urban agglomeration covers over 3,712 square kilometres, with a population of roughly 1 million residents. Makhachkala is the fourth-largest city in the Caucasus, the largest city in the North Caucasus and the North Caucasian Federal District, as well as the third-largest city on the Caspian Sea. The city is extremely ethnically diverse, with a minor ethnic Russian population.
Derbent, formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is the southernmost city in Russia, and it is the second-most important city of Dagestan. Population: 119,200 (2010 Census); 101,031 (2002 Census); 78,371 (1989 Census).
Lezgins are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native predominantly to southern Dagestan, Russia and northeastern Azerbaijan and who speak the Lezgian language.
The Avars are a Northeast Caucasian native ethnic group which forms the largest of several ethnic groups living in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The Avars reside in a region known as the North Caucasus between the Black and Caspian Seas. Alongside other ethnic groups in the North Caucasus region, the Caucasian Avars live in ancient villages located approximately 2,000 m above sea level. The Avar language spoken by the Caucasian Avars belongs to the family of Northeast Caucasian languages and is also known as Nakh–Dagestanian. Islam has been the prevailing religion of the Avars since the 13th century.
Dagestan, officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated on the Caspian Sea, in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Federal District. As the southernmost tip of Russia, the republic shares land borders with the countries of Azerbaijan and Georgia to its south and southwest; and borders the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia to its west and north, while having a border with Stavropol Krai to its northwest. Makhachkala is the capital and largest city; other chief cities are Derbent, Kizlyar, Izberbash, Kaspiysk and Buynaksk.
Tabasaran is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Lezgic branch. It is spoken by the Tabasaran people in the southern part of the Russian Republic of Dagestan. There are two main dialects: North (Khanag) and South Tabasaran. It has a literary language based on the Southern dialect, one of the official languages of Dagestan.
The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus region.
Tabasaran or Tabassaran may refer to:
Azerbaijanis in Russia or Russian Azerbaijanis are people of Azeri descent in Russia. These may be either ethnic Azeris resident in the country or recent immigrants who profess Azeri ancestry.
The khanates of the Caucasus, or Azerbaijani khanates or Persian khanates, or Iranian khanates, were various provinces and principalities established by Persia (Iran) on their territories in the Caucasus from the late Safavid to the Qajar dynasty. The Khanates were mostly ruled by Khans of Turkic (Azerbaijani) origin and were vassals and subjects of the Iranian shah (King). Persia permanently lost a part of these khanates to Russia as a result of the Russo-Persian Wars in the course of the 19th century, while the others were absorbed into Persia.
Shaykh Haydar or Sheikh Haydar was the successor of his father as leader of the Safavid order from 1460-1488. Haydar maintained the policies and political ambitions initiated by his father. Under Sheikh Haydar, the order became crystallized as a political movement with an increasingly extremist heterodox Twelver Shi'i coloring and Haydar was viewed as a divine figure by his followers. Shaykh Haydar was responsible for instructing his followers to adopt the scarlet headgear of 12 gores commemorating The Twelve Imams, which led to them being designated by the Turkish term Qizilbash "Red Head".
Arabs first established themselves in the Caucasus in the eighth century, during the Arab invasion of Iran (Persia). The process of shrinking of the Abbasid Caliphate in the tenth century was followed by the establishment of several Arab-ruled principalities in the region, chiefly the principality of Shirvan ruled by the Mazyadid dynasty. As the rulers of Shirvan spread their control over much of the Southeast Caucasus and at the same time found themselves more and more isolated from the Arab world, they were undergoing gradual Persianisation. Arab personal names of the Shirvanshahs gave way to Persian ones, members of the ruling dynasty were claiming Ancient Persian descent and Persian gradually became the language of the court and the urban population, while the rural population continued to speak the indigenous languages of Caucasian Albania. However by the seventeenth century a local Turkic idiom became the language of everyday life, as well as the language of interethnic communication.
Lakia is an ancient ethnic region within the state of Dagestan. Its historical capital is Kumukh, one of the ancient cultural and religious centres of Lakia. The people of Lakia are self-designated as Laks and their native language is Lak.
"Gazikumukh Shamkhalate" is a term introduced in Russian-Dagestan historiography starting from the 1950s–60s to denote the Kumyk state that presumably 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 1950th 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.
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 that of between Persia (Iran) and Imperial Russia.
Fatali Khan of Quba or Fath Ali-Khan of Quba was a khan of the Quba Khanate (1758–1789).
Karim Huseyn oglu Mammadbeyov was a Soviet Dagestani politician, social activist and revolutionary who participated in the Bolshevik movement in Dagestan and served in various government positions from 1921 to 1937.
The Derbent Khanate was a Caucasian khanate that was established in Afsharid Iran. It corresponded to southern Dagestan and its center was at Derbent. It included the northern clans of Lezgian people.
