Living in
the northwest of Derbent Passage, they spread out to the Caspian Sea. They are surrounded
by Kumukhs in the north, the Avars in the west and Ghazi-Kumukhs and Kaytaks in the south.
They speak a dialect close to that of the Lezghis. So they can be called amoung the Lezghi
tribes. They are consisted of sub-groups such as Akusa, Sutkur, Sirhal, Urkarak, Horakan,
Kaytak (Haydak) ve Kubachi. Their capital was Lavayi town. The most prominent groups
of the Darghins are Kaytaks and Kubachis. The former lives between Buynakski and
Derbent counties on the coast of Caspian Sea and speak Turkish. The latter lives in and
around Kubachi town. They are famous for mining and hand-weaving. Especially in the last
century, Kubachi miners were very famous in Near East.
Kharachay-Balkhars (Malkhars) : They lived in the
large area among the Khuban, Terek and Khuma rivers between the 13th and 15th centuries
until the Khabartays spreaded through the east. But, with the pressure of Khabartay
migration, they had to move to the highlands and summits of the Caucasian Mountains, and
settled down on the high and steep land around the Elbruz hill. Their origin is not known.
Both groups are generally called together.
They have not much difference between themselves anyway.
There are some opinions that they come from the Khazars, the Bulgarians or the Kipchaks.
As they are surrounded by Circassian and Abkhasian groups, they are effected by them and
almost has become half Circassian. They also fought against the Russian and an important
number of their population migrated to Anatolia. The population of Kharachays in 1866 were
13,400 and the Balkhars were 10,100. The formed increased to 27,000 in 1897 when as the
latter were 23,100. We see that the Kharachays were 81,000 in 1959 and the Balkhars were
42,000.
Nogays : In fact, the Nogays appeared in Caucasia in the
late 17th century. A small group of Nogays came to the north of Khuban river in the middle
of 15th century but not move to south. In 1771, the Russians moved three more tribes to
Khuban river including Yedisan and Bucak Nogays. Later one more group were included in
Khuban tribes.The survivals of the General Suvorov massacre asked Ferah ali Pasha in
Sogucak fort for shelter. They required to be settled in the Khabartay and in the Ottomand
land. Feral Ali Pasha accepted their request and thought that they could be of use against
the Russians. They were settled down in groups: 10.000 nead the Hacilar Fort, 10.000 in
Hatukhay land, 10.000 near Laba river and 10.000 near a pier two hours away from the
Anapa Fort. In 1959, there left 38,582 Nogays in Daghestan. Today, there also live some
Nogays in Krasnodar ve Stavropol states out of Daghestan. These speak the same Turkish
dialect as the Khazakh and Kharakalpakhs. They lost most of their population due to the
compulsory migrations.
These tribes lived as enemies for ages because of these
difference and disunitiy. After their relations with the Ottomans who have a major
role for speading Islam, these tribes succeeded for the first time in their history to
establish an independent Daghestan and the North Caucasia Republic. But, the Ottoman army
had to leave the Caucasia in a short time after the establish of this republic with the
Mondros Armistice on 30 October 1918, and this young republic left alone in the Caucasia
and lived three years before invaded by the Bolsheviks.
Today, some Caucasian countries such as Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia are independent republics. Some of them as Chechen, Daghestan,
Kharachay-Circassia,, Kharbatay-Balkhar, North Ossetia and Ingushistan are dependant to
the Russion Federation and others as South Ossetia and Abhkasia are the autonomous lands
in Georgia. But, Chechen is de facto independent country today.
The economical and commercial history of the Caucusia
has always been very closely dependent with its geographical situation. Being in
neighborhood of the Near East countries in the south and on the commearcial roads on the
north throughout the history, the Caucasia has always been one of the most important actor
of commercial geography of the world. The old Egypt, Babilion, Asur, Fenike, old Greek and
other countries in the Near East and Mediterennean Sea sold their goods in Caucasia and
also sent them to farther eastern and northern countries. On the contrary, the products
and raw materials from north and east were exported to these countries over the
Caucasia.
Continued
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