With about one million people, the Chechens are the most numerous ethnic group in the North Caucasus. Since the war of independence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and throughout The Soviet history, the Chechen have kept alive the strongest opposition to Russia compared to all the other groups in the North Caucasus.more

Dagestan

The Ingush took little part in the Shamil revolt from 1834-58, whereas the uprising stamped a permanent mark on the Chechens. During the 1860s, when ethnic Russian settlers started pouring into the Caucasus on a large scale, the western Nakh (Ingush) were relatively passive, whereas the eastern Nakh (Chechens) resisted violently. more

Kabardino-Balkaria

Most likely, the Kabards are descended from a cluster of Caucasian tribes who called themselves Adygea. They originated in the Kuban basin, adopted Christianity in the 12th century. They were pressed eastward by the invasion of the Mongol Golden Horde in the 13th century. more

Karachai-Cherkessia

The Karachai were driven into the highlands of the North Caucasus by Mongol tribes in the 13th century. Their territory was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1828 but they continued to resist Russian rule throughout the 19th century. more

North Ossetia

Refugees are also a major issue in North Ossetia, including both Ingush leaving North Ossetia for Ingushia and Ossets leaving South Ossetia and Georgia for North Ossetia. More than 100,000 refugees in a republic with a total of 600,000 to 700,000 inhabitants necessarily constitute an extraordinary economic problem, particularly with regard to the provision of jobs in times of crisis. more

South Ossetia

Revolutionary activity had began in South Ossetia as early as 1903. S. Kirov directed Bolshevik activities in the region from 1909, and shortly after the outbreak of the February Revolution a soviet was formed at Vladikavkaz. The South Ossetia became a part of the Georgian Menshevik Republic with the break up of the Russian empire in 1918, while the North formed a part of the Terek Soviet Republic. more

The Abhhazians in history

Christianity was introduced to the population in the 6th century, when they entered into protection of the Byzantine Empire under Justinian. With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, the fall of Sassanid Persia and the weakening of Byzantium, Abkhazia was formed as a principality that came to affiliate with the Khazar Khanate from around 800 A.D. as its prince married a Khazar princess. In the 10th century, Abkhazia became part of the Georgian state of the time (the Bagratid dynasty), during a period of anarchy between vassal princes and nobility.more

Historical legend of Adyges

The ancestors of the Adyge peoples formed the Maikop culture, well-known in world archaeology. Dozens of adjacent burial mounds, connected by legend, and the mysterious dolmens, typical only of the Northwestern Caucasus, are open-air museums. more

Adyghea looks to the future

Aslan Dzharýmov
Adyghea's current independence (and consequential higher status) does not entail the weakening of its ties, primarily economic ones, with Russia and its individual regions. Adyghea is a member of the Association of Socioeconomic Cooperation Between the Republics, Territories, and Regions of the Northern Caucasus. more