Abazin the Abkhaz in Search of Meadows Fortheir Herds in the N01thern Plains of the Cauca the Abazin Live in the Northern Caucasus Sus Mountains
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A Abazin the Abkhaz in search of meadows fortheir herds in the n01thern plains of the Cauca The Abazin live in the Northern Caucasus sus Mountains. Some accounts say that region, particularly in the Adyghcya and they are a Black Sea people with strong ties Karachaevo-Cherkessia republics of the to Asia Minor as well. Yet others consider Russian Federation. They call themselves the Abazin a separate ethnic group and ex Abaza, Ashywua, or Ashkarywua, the lat plain the similarity of the Abazin and Ab ter two names referring to their two major khaz languages as the result of historical tribes. Historically, the Abazin have prac relations. Abazin dialects are understand ticed herding and some farming. They live able forAbkhaz speakers. on the northernparts of the Great Caucasus On the eve of the Russian Empire's range, in the valleys of the Kuma and Great campaign in the Caucasus, the numbers of and Little Zelenchuk rivers. They also live Abazin were estimated at around 45,000; on the northeastern shores of the Black Sea about 10,000 remained in Russian territory basin in a tier starting from Sochi down at the end of the 19th century. The Ashy to the borders of contemporary Abkhazia. wua subgroup consists of six families: Loo, The most recent data show their numbers Bibard, Darykua, Kylych, Jantemir, and in the Russian Federation near 40,000; K' achua. The Ashkarywua subgroup con smaller numbers also live in Turkey, Syria, sists of seven families: Bashylby, Barakey, and Jordan. The Abazin language belongs Mysylbiy, Kyzylby, Shegerey, T'am, and to the West Caucasian subgroup of the Bagh. In the faceof Russian forcesmost of North Caucasian language family, a sub the Ashkarywua fled to the Ottoman Em group consisting of Abazin (i.e., Abaza), pire in the second half of the 19th century. Abkhaz, Adygh, Kabardinian, and Ubykh They are now found in different parts of languages. The Abazin are Sunni Muslims. Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. They are often confused with the Abkhaz Abazin literature is predominantly oral, (Apsywua), a related people now resident identified with the epic tradition of the in Abkhazia. Some Circassians use the Caucasus nations. The first written forms term Abazin for Abkhaz living outside of of Abazin literature were published by Abkhazia, but the two populations should the famous Abazin literary figure Tobil be distinguished on the basis of the strong Talustan in 1920s in the Soviet Union. self-consciousness of the Abazin people The Abazin national movement tried to about their identity. establish a homeland within the Kara One theory says that in the distant past chaevo-Cherkessia Republic in 1991 but the Ashywua and Ashkarywua split from failed. Following a referendum in 2005, 2 I Abkhaz an Abazin national district was formed in and paganism have coexisted among the 2006. After a transitional period and reor Abkhaz for centuries, seven decades of ganization of the administrative districts in Soviet rule has created a largely nonreli northern Karachaevo-Cherkessia, in De gious people. In the 14th and 15th centu cember 2007 elections were held to elect ries, some Abkhazians moved to the North a 15-member parliament and a president Caucasus, and their descendants became of the Abazin national district. The popu known as Abazinians. There is also a large lation of the Abazin national district is es diaspora in Turkey, mostly descendants of timated at 15,000. Its capital is the village those expelled by the Russian empire in the of Psyzh. late 19th century. Hasan Ali Karasar At the end of the 8th century, following a dilution of Byzantine power, an Abkhaz ian kingdom emerged, which encompassed Further Reading the whole of western Georgia with its capi Danilova, E. N. Abaziny: Istoriko-etnogra ficheskoe /ssledovanie Khozyastva i Ob tal in Kutaisi. The kingdom consolidated shinnoy Organizatsii XIX vek (Abazins: Abkhazian tribes and thrived for two cen Historical-Ethnographic Study of Agricul turies before being superseded in 978 by a ture and Communitarian Organization in new state, known as the Kingdom of Ab the 19th Century). Moskva: lzdatel'stvo khazians and Kartvelians. Ruled by the Moskovskogo Universiteta, 1984. Bagrationi family, the capital remained Pershits, A. I. Abaziny: /storiko-Etnografiches in Kutaisi until 1122, when the expulsion kii Ocherk (Abazins: Historical-Ethno graphic Essays). Cherkessk: Karachaevo of the Arab emirate of Tbilist facilitated a Cherkesskoe Otdelenie Stavropol'ckogo move to that city. The kingdom succumbed Knizhnogo lzdatel'stva, 1989. to Mongol invasions in the 13th century, never to reappear, and was replaced by numerous smaller principalities, includ ing Abkhazia, now ruled by the Chachba Abkhaz (Sharvashidze) family. The Abkhaz were in regular battle with the neighboring prin The Abkhaz (or Abkhazians) are indige cipality of Mingrelia, an ethnic Georgian nous to the Caucasus region and the au region ruled by the Dadiani family. tochthonous people of Abkhazia, a Black Extensive interaction with the Geno Sea republic whose self-declared indepen ese in the 14th and 15th centuries was dence is recognized by Russia and Nica eclipsed by the rise of Ottoman power ragua but disputed by the remainder of in the region. The Turks brought Islam, the international community, which ac which gradually replaced Christianity cepts Georgia's right to the territory. Less as the dominant religion in Abkhazia, than 100,000 now live in Abkhazia, and though traditional paganism remained in the number of native Abkhaz speakers has fluential. The Ottomans were dislodged dwindled dming the last century through in turn by an expanding Russian empire Russification. While Christianity, Islam, and in 1810 Abkhazia became an unruly .