Misplaced Pages

#833166

52-481: Caucasians who speak languages which have long been indigenous to the region are generally classified into three groups: Kartvelian peoples , Northeast Caucasian peoples and Northwest Caucasian peoples . Kartvelian languages Northeast Caucasian languages Northwest Caucasian languages The largest peoples speaking languages which belong to the Caucasian language families and who are currently resident in

104-724: A language family indigenous to the South Caucasus and spoken primarily in Georgia . There are approximately 5 million Georgian language speakers worldwide, with large groups in Russia , Iran , the United States , the European Union , Israel , and northeastern Turkey . The Kartvelian family has no known relation to any other language family, making it one of the world's primary language families . The most widely spoken of these languages

156-675: A minority all over Asia Minor. There were groups of Azeris west of their main area who tended to blend with the Turks. The Kurds were semi-nomadic shepherds with small groups in various places and concentrations in Kars province and Nakhchivan. In the far southeast were the Iranian Talysh. Language groups in the Caucasus are closely correlated to genetic ancestry. According to a 2021 study, Caucasian hunter-gatherer ancestry (CHG) significantly contributed to

208-519: A result of deportations (to Kazakhstan following World War II ), immigration to Germany , and assimilation into indigenous communities. Caucasians that speak languages belonging to the Semitic language family: The Kalmyks is the name given to the Oirats , western Mongols in Russia , whose ancestors migrated from Dzungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous republic of Kalmykia on

260-529: Is Georgian . The earliest literary source in any Kartvelian language is the Old Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions , written in ancient Georgian Asomtavruli script at the once-existing Georgian monastery near Bethlehem , dated to c.  430 AD . Georgian scripts are used to write all Kartvelian languages. Georgian is the official language of Georgia (spoken by 90% of the population) and serves as its main language for literary and business use. It

312-567: Is a part of the Southern Federal District , and covers an area of 7,600 square kilometers (2,900 sq mi), with a population of roughly 496,934 residents. It is an enclave within Krasnodar Krai and is the fifth-smallest Russian federal subject by area. Maykop is the capital and the largest city of Adygea, home to one-third of the republic's population. Adygea is one of Russia's ethnic republics, primarily representing

364-870: Is around 35 million (15 million in Iran ). Other Turkic speakers live in their autonomous republics within Russia : Karachays ( Karachay-Cherkessia ), Balkars ( Kabardino-Balkaria ), while Kumyks and Nogais live in Dagestan . Sunni Islam in Turkey Armenian Sunni Islam in Turkey Sunni Islam in Turkey Uatsdin Shia Islam in Azerbaijan Kurds Transcaucasia Yazidis Caucasus Turkish dialect This gives ethnic locations about 1775 before

416-456: Is famous for producing grain , sunflowers , tea , tobacco , and other produce. Hog and sheep breeding are also developed. Food, timber, woodworking, pulp and paper, heavy engineering, and metal-working are the most developed industries. There is a small airport in Maykop ( ICAO airport code URKM). Several rail lines pass through the republic. The Adyghe language (Адыгабзэ) is a member of

468-473: Is likely that certain grammatical features have been influenced as well. The Kartvelian languages have grammatical gender based on animacy , classifying objects as intelligent ("who"-class) and unintelligent ("what"-class) beings. Kartvelian verbs can indicate one, two, or three grammatical persons . A performer of an action is called the subject and affected persons are objects ( direct or indirect ). The person may be singular or plural. According to

520-585: Is written with an original and distinctive alphabet, and the oldest surviving literary text dates from the 5th century AD. The old Georgian script seems to have been derived from the Greek script , but this is not certain. Mingrelian has been written with the Georgian alphabet since 1864, especially in the period from 1930 to 1938, when the Mingrelians enjoyed some cultural autonomy , and after 1989. The Laz language

572-620: The 2021 Census , ethnic Russians make up 64.4% of the republic's total population, while the ethnic Adyghe are 25.7%. Other groups include Armenians (3.3%), Kurds (1.2%), Romani people (0.7%) and Ukrainians (0.6%). According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people 35.4% of the population of Adygea adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church , 23.6% to Islam , 3% are unaffiliated Christians and 1% are Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to church or are members of other Orthodox churches . In addition, 19.8% of

SECTION 10

#1732851837834

624-563: The Adyghe people . At that time, Krasnodar was the administrative center . It was renamed Adyghe (Cherkess) Autonomous Oblast on August 24, 1922, soon after its creation. In the first two years of its existence the autonomous oblast was a part of the Russian SFSR , but on October 17, 1924, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the newly created North Caucasus Krai within the RSFSR. It

676-501: The Gilaki and Mazanderani ethnic groups in northern Iran (near the Caspian Sea) have been proven to be genetically similar to Armenians, Georgians and Azeris. This indicates that the Gilaki and Mazanderani ethnic groups are people that immigrated from the Caucasus region to what is now northern Iran. South Slope: Black Sea coast: In the northwest the mountains came down to the sea and

728-530: The Indo-European language family: †Although the group does not have any inhabitants physically living anywhere in the Caucasus, genetic tests have proven their affinity to Caucasian populations and shown that their ancestors originated from the Caucasus. Armenians number 3,215,800 in their native Armenia , though approximately 8 million live outside the republic, forming the Armenian diaspora . Elsewhere in

780-616: The State Duma and the other two to the Federation Council . The Constitution of the Republic of Adygea was adopted on May 14, 1995. The Republic of Adygea is administratively divided into seven districts ( raions ), two cities/towns , and (at a lower administrative level) five urban-type settlements . Municipally , the republic is divided into two urban okrugs, five urban settlements, and 46 rural settlements. According to

832-562: The 1878 Treaty of San Stefano ) that centred on the town of Kars (ceded back to Turkey in 1916). Russians mostly live in the Russian North Caucasus and their largest concentration is in Stavropol Krai , Krasnodar Krai , and Adygea . Georgia and the former Russian South Caucasus province of Kars Oblast was also home to a significant minority of ethnic ( Swabian ) Germans , although their numbers have become depleted as

884-451: The 8th century BC, although with the reservation that such dating is very preliminary and substantial further study is required. A 2023 study employing Bayesian linguistic phylogenetics in conjunction with archaeological, ethnoecological, and human population genetic data suggests a substantially earlier separation between Svan and the Karto-Zan languages. This multidisciplinary approach dates

936-737: The Caucasus are the Georgians (3,200,000), the Chechens (2,000,000), the Avars (1,200,000), the Lezgins (about 1,000,000) and the Kabardians (600,000), while outside the Caucasus, the largest people of Caucasian origin, in diaspora in more than 40 countries (such as Jordan , Turkey , the countries of Europe, Syria , and the United States ) are the Circassians with about 3,000,000-5,000,000 speakers. Georgians are

988-419: The Caucasus during the early post- Last Glacial Maximum period explains the presence of these alleles. Kartvelian languages The Kartvelian languages ( / k ɑːr t ˈ v ɛ l i ə n , - ˈ v iː l -/ kart- VEL -ee-ən, -⁠ VEEL - ; Georgian : ქართველური ენები , romanized : kartveluri enebi ; also known as South Caucasian, Kartvelic, and Iberian languages ) are

1040-632: The Iranian-speaking Tats . When Baku became a boom town the Tats retained a majority only in the mountains. The Mountain Jews , who had a number of villages inland from the coast, spoke a form of Tat called Judeo-Tat . The lowlands south of Baku were held by Azerbaijanis , Turkic-speaking Shiites. On both sides of the current Iranian border were the Iranian-speaking Talysh . Based on genetic studies

1092-496: The Russians came. NECLS means ' Northeast Caucasian Language Speakers' and NWCLS means ' Northwest Caucasian Language Speakers'. The linguistic nationalities that we now recognise are somewhat artificial. Two hundred years, ago a person's loyalty was to their friends, kin, village and chief and not primarily to their language group. The difference between steppe, mountain and plain was far more important than difference of language. Only

SECTION 20

#1732851837834

1144-696: The Terek River there were the Buddhist Kalmyk nomads. Along the Terek were the isolated Terek Cossacks . From the Terek to Derbent were the Turkic-speaking Kumyks with a state at Tarki . The town of Derbent itself had a majority Persian ( Russian : персы ) population, as it had for many centuries, until the late 19th century. On the coastal plain south of Derbent was a mixed population, mostly Azeri ("Transcaucasian Tatar"), and further south to Baku were

1196-513: The center of the steppe. North Slope: The western two thirds was occupied by Circassians – NWCLS divided into twelve or so tribes. They long resisted the Russians and in 1864 several hundred thousand of them were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. To their east were the Kabardians – NWCLS similar to the Circassians but with a different political organization. The term Lesser Kabardia refers to

1248-801: The center the Iranian Ossets had moved south and were surrounded on three sides by Georgians. East of the Ossets and south of the Ingush-Chechens were three groups of Georgian mountaineers on both sides of the mountain crest: Khevi , Khevsurs , and Tushetians . The Bats were NECLS entangled with the Tushetians and the Kists were Chechens south of the mountains. Near the Georgian-Azeri linguistic border there were some Avars and Tsakhurs (Lezgians) who had crossed

1300-697: The divergence to the Early Copper Age, approximately 7600 years before present. According to this study it is highly likely that Proto-Karto-Zan (i.e. Proto-Georgian-Zan) prior to its split into Georgian and Zan was spoken by pre-Kura-Araxes and Kura-Araxes farmers that thrived in the watershed of Mtkvari (Kura) River during the Copper and Bronze Ages. No relationship with other languages, including Northwest Caucasian and/or Northeast Caucasian , has been demonstrated so far. There have been numerous attempts to link Kartvelian languages to other language families, such as

1352-513: The eastern area. South of the eastern Circassian-Kabardians were three groups that seem to have been driven into the high mountains about 500 years previously. The Karachays and Balkars spoke similar Turkic languages. East of the Balkars were the Ossetians – Iranian speakers descended from the ancient Alans who controlled the future Georgian Military Road and had a growing Christian minority. East of

1404-741: The eastern areas of Georgia. An autonomous Kurdish region was created in 1923 in Soviet Azerbaijan but was later abolished in 1929. Pontic Greeks reside in Armenia ( Lori Province , especially in Alaverdi ) and Georgia ( Kvemo Kartli , Adjara , the Tsalka , and Abkhazia ). Pontic Greeks had also made up a significant component of the South Caucasus region acquired from the Ottoman Empire (following

1456-466: The eastern steppe was occupied by Kalmyks – Buddhist Mongols who migrated from Dzungaria about 1618. In 1771 many returned to their original homeland and they contracted to their present location in the far northeast, Nogais temporarily taking their place. In the southeast were the isolated Terek Cossacks . Their settlements later grew into the North Caucasus Line. There were a few Turkmens in

1508-640: The foothills of the Northwestern Caucasus in the Caucasus Mountains System, with plains in the northern areas and mountains in the southern area. Forests (mainly of European beech, oak, and maple) cover almost 40% of its territory. The 870-kilometer (540 mi) long Kuban River is one of the major navigable rivers in the Caucasus region. It forms part of the northern border between the Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai . Other rivers include: The republic has no large lakes. However,

1560-464: The fringe of the Georgian area were Georgian speakers who had either adopted Islam or mountain customs. Armenian Highlands: Further South, the land becomes higher. In the west were the Laz people or Georgian Muslims. In Kars province there were Turks, Kurds and Armenians. The Armenians , which gave the plateau its namesake, were somewhat concentrated in the present-day Armenia but were mostly spread out as

1612-666: The future highway was a north-south band of Ingush – NECLS similar to the Chechens. The numerous Chechens to the east were later to wage the long Murid War against the Russians. For the small groups south of the Ingush-Chechens see South Slope below. To the east along the coast were the Turkic Kumyks . Mountain Dagestan: All the peoples of mountain Dagestan were NECLS except the Tats . In

Ethnic groups in the Caucasus - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-641: The genetic makeup of modern Caucasian populations but the proportion of CHG alleles are highest in modern peoples that live close to the archaeological sites in western Georgia, where the bones of CHG were discovered. The proportion gradually decreases away from this region, being replaced by ancient Anatolian and European alleles. Ancient Anatolian alleles are common in the genomes of modern peoples in Georgia and east Turkey (i.e. Georgians from Meskheti province, Laz and Armenians). But for peoples from north Caucasus, ancient Balkan alleles were common. Intensified immigration to

1716-489: The indigenous Circassian people that form 25% of the Republic's population, while Russians form a majority at 60%, and with minority populations of Armenians and Ukrainians . The official languages of Adygea are Adyghe and Russian . The Cherkess (Adyghe) Autonomous Oblast was established within the Russian SFSR on July 27, 1922, on the territories of the Kuban-Black Sea Oblast , primarily settled by

1768-553: The languages of the Caucasus, and later proven by G. Rosen , Marie-Félicité Brosset , Franz Bopp and others during the 1840s. Zan is the branch that contains the Mingrelian and Laz languages. On the basis of glottochronological analysis , Georgi Klimov dates the split of the Proto-Kartvelian into Svan and Proto-Georgian-Zan (Proto-Karto-Zan) to the 19th century BC, and the further division into Georgian and Zan to

1820-516: The mountains. Associated with the Tsakhurs were the Ingiloy or Georgian-speaking Muslims. In the north Azeri area were a few Udis or southern Lezgians and Lakhij or southern Tats. Southern Lowlands: The western two thirds were occupied by Georgians – an ancient Christian people with a unique language. The eastern third was Azerbaijanis – a group of Turkic-speaking Shiites under Persian influence. On

1872-759: The northwest were a number of small language groups ( Tsez people (Dido) and Andi people ), similar to the Avars. To their southeast were the numerous Avars with a khanate at Khunzakh who fought in the Murid War. Southeast were the Dargins and west of them the Laks who held the Kumukh Khanate. Southeast along the Samur were the Lezgins with many subgroups and then the Iranian-speaking Tats down to Baku. Caspian Coast: From Astrakhan to

1924-448: The number of persons, the verbs are classified as unipersonal, bipersonal or tripersonal. Subjects and objects are indicated with special affixes . l-...-(š)d (incl.) gv- (incl.) gw- (incl.) By means of special markers Kartvelian verbs can indicate four kinds of action intentionality ("version"): Subject, direct object and indirect object are coded by the three core-cases, namely ergative, nominative and dative. Although

1976-429: The only Caucasian people who have their own undisputedly independent state— Georgia . Abkhazia 's status is disputed. Other Caucasian peoples have republics within Russia : Adyghe ( Adygea ), Cherkess ( Karachay-Cherkessia ), Kabardians ( Kabardino-Balkaria ), Ingush ( Ingushetia ), Chechens ( Chechnya ), while other Northeast Caucasian peoples mostly live in Dagestan . Caucasians that speak languages belonging to

2028-552: The other hand, has extended the use of the ergative to all intransitive verbs, becoming fully accusative in all series, although with different case marking. form [næj] ni- šgwey (incl.) [ni-ʃɡwɛj] Adygea The Republic of Adygea , ( / ˌ ɑː d ɪ ˈ ɡ eɪ ə / ) also known as the Adygean Republic , is a republic of Russia . It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe . The republic

2080-468: The population declares to be "spiritual but not religious" 8% is atheist , and 8.6% follows other religions or did not answer to the question. Adyghe State University and Maykop State Technological University , both in the capital Maykop, are the two major higher education facilities in Adygea. Even though it is one of the poorest parts of Russia, the republic has abundant forests and rich soil. The region

2132-453: The population was Circassian. Southward the coastal plain broadened and the population was Abkhazians – similar to the Circassians but under Georgian influence. South Slope proper: On the south side of the Caucasus the mountains fall quickly to the plains and there is only a small transition zone. The inhabitants were either Georgians with mountain customs or northern mountaineers who had moved south. The Svans were Georgian mountaineers. In

Ethnic groups in the Caucasus - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-669: The proposed Nostratic family, but these have fallen out of favor. Certain grammatical similarities with Basque , especially in the case system , have often been pointed out. However, the hypothesis of a relationship, which also tends to link the Caucasian languages with other non-Indo-European and non-Semitic languages of the Near East of ancient times, is generally considered to lack conclusive evidence. Any similarities to other linguistic phyla may be due to areal influences. Heavy borrowing in both directions (i.e. from North Caucasian to Kartvelian and vice versa) has been observed; therefore, it

2236-626: The region, they reside in Georgia (primarily Samtskhe–Javakheti , Tbilisi , and Abkhazia ), and the Russian North Caucasus . The Ossetians live in North Ossetia–Alania (an autonomous republic within Russia) and in South Ossetia , which is de facto independent, but is de jure part of Georgia. The Yazidis reside in the western areas of Armenia , mostly in the Aragatsotn marz, and in

2288-425: The region. There is also a directly elected State Council ( Khase or Xase —not to be confused with the Adyghe Khase, a union of Adyghe who supported Sovmen for a second term), which comprises the Council of Representatives and the Council of the Republic. Both councils are elected every five years and have 27 deputies each. The Republic sends three representatives to the parliament of the Russian Federation; one to

2340-404: The several large reservoirs include: The republic's major mountains and peaks range in height from 2,000–3,238 metres (6,562–10,623 ft), and include: The republic is rich in oil and natural gas . Other natural resources include gold , silver , tungsten , and iron . February 15, 2010, recorded the absolute maximum for the winter months—in the capital, the city of Maykop ,

2392-401: The southern half (and the southernmost part of Dagestan) had organized states, usually Persian or Turkish vassals and few, if any, of these states corresponded well to language groups. Northern Lowlands: The Turkic-speaking Nogai nomads occupied almost all of the steppe north of the Caucasus. In the nineteenth century they were pushed far southeast to their present location. Formerly part of

2444-431: The status of a republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The first President of the republic was Aslan Dzharimov , elected on 5 January 1992. Relations between the Adyghe and ethnic Russians in Adygea are currently good. Russians make up two-thirds of the population within Adygea. The current Head of Adygea is Murat Kumpilov . Adygea lies in Russia's Southern Federal District of Eastern Europe, in

2496-407: The temperature was 23.4 °C (74.1 °F). The chief executive of the government of the Republic of Adygea is the Head (called "President" until May 2011), who is appointed for a five-year term. Proficiency in the Adyghe language is a prerequisite for the candidate. The current Head, Murat Kumpilov (since January 27, 2017), succeeded Aslan Tkhakushinov , initially as acting Head of

2548-495: The term "ergative" is traditional, strictly speaking no Kartvelian language features ergative alignment . Rather, they display a mixture of nominative-accusative and active alignment , depending on two factors: Georgian and Svan have accusative alignment in the Present series (often termed Series I) and active alignment in the Aorist series (Series II). Laz has extended the case marking of Series II to Series I, thus featuring active alignment regardless of tense. Mingrelian, on

2600-457: The western shore of the Caspian Sea . Kalmykia has Europe's only Buddhist government. Caucasians that speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family: The largest of the Turkic-speaking peoples in the Caucasus are Azerbaijanis who number 8,700,000 in the Republic of Azerbaijan . In the Caucasus region, they live in Georgia , Russia ( Dagestan ), Turkey and previously in Armenia (before 1990). The total number of Azerbaijanis

2652-414: Was renamed Adyghe Autonomous Oblast (AO) in July 1928. On January 10, 1934, the autonomous oblast became part of the new Azov-Black Sea Krai , which was removed from North Caucasus Krai. Maykop was made the administrative center of the autonomous oblast in 1936. Adyghe AO became part of Krasnodar Krai when it was established on September 13, 1937. On July 3, 1991, the oblast was elevated to

SECTION 50

#1732851837834

2704-415: Was written mainly between 1927 and 1937, and now again in Turkey using the Latin alphabet . Laz, however, is disappearing as its speakers are integrating into mainstream Turkish society. The Kartvelian language family consists of four closely related languages: The connection between these languages was first reported in linguistic literature by Johann Anton Güldenstädt in his 1773 classification of

#833166