Circassia

Circassia Адыгэ Хэку
← c. 1500–1864 →
Flag of Circassia
Circassia in 1750.
Capital		Sochi
Languages		Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Kabardian, Karachay-Balkar, Ossetic, Ubykh
Religion		Islam, Christianity, Traditional
Government		Confederation
History
-	Established	c. 1500
-	Russian–Circassian War	1763 – 1864
-	Disestablished	1864

Circassia (Adyghe: Адыгэ Хэку,^[1] Russian: Черке́сия, Georgian: ჩერქეზეთი, Arabic: شيركاسيا‎^[2]) is a region and historical country in the North Caucasus and along the northeast shore of the Black Sea. It is the ancestral homeland of the Circassian people.

Name

Shamil Bay, from Edmund Spencer's Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea, and Circassia, 1855.

The name Circassia is a Latinisation of Cherkess, the Turkic name for the Adyghe people, and originated in the 15th century with medieval Genoese merchants and travellers to Circassia.^[3][4] The name Cherkess is traditionally applied to the Adyghe by neighbouring Turkic peoples (principally Crimean Tatars^[5] and Ottoman Turks^[6]).

Another historical name for the country was Zygii or Zygoi. The Zygii have been described by the ancient Greek intellectual Strabo as a nation to the north of Colchis.

At the end of the 15th century a detailed description of Circassia and of its inhabitants was made by Genoese traveler and ethnographer Giorgio Interiano.^[7]

Geography

Map of the expulsion of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire.

Circassia is located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Before the Russian conquest of the Caucasus (1763–1864), it covered the entire fertile plateau and the steppe of the northwestern region of the Caucasus, with an estimated population of between 3 to 4 million.

Circassia’s historical great range extended from the Taman Peninsula in the west, to the town of Mozdok in today’s North Ossetia–Alania in the east. Historically, Circassia covered the southern half of today’s Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and parts of North Ossetia–Alania and Stavropol Krai, bounded by the Kuban River on the north which separated it from the Russian Empire.

Sochi is considered by many Circassians as their traditional capital city.^[8] The 2014 Winter Olympic village is built on top of mass graves of Circassians after their defeat by the Russians in 1864. ^[9]

History

Arrian said "Stachemfak - king Zichia"

• 1237 - Historian Rashid-ad-Din in the Persian Chronicles, wrote that the Circassian king Tukar was killed in battle against the Mongols.^[10]
• 1333 - In his letter, Pope John XXII (to the king Zichia (Circassia) Verzacht ["Верзахта" in Cyrillic script]), the Rome (Avignon) Pontiff thanks the Governor of Circassians for his assistance in implementing the Christian faith among the Adygs (Circassians).^[11] Verzacht's power and status was so high that his example was followed by the rest of the Circassian princes: They took the Roman Catholic faith.
• 1471 - A contract was signed between the ruler of Circassia and the ruler of Caffa, naming another ruler Zichia - "Petrezok, the paramount lord of Zichia".^[12] Under the contract, Zichia would supply large quantities of grain in the Cаffа.
• The region was famed for its beautiful women, many of whom were married to the Ottoman sultan and had influential positions in the Imperial Harem.
• Most of the population was expelled from their country in the late 19th century after the Russian–Circassian War in what amounted to ethnic cleansing of Circassians. Today, the Circassians are found in various areas of the old Ottoman Empire and its neighbours, including Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Serbia,^[13] Egypt and Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rehaniya, since 1880), and even as far afield as New Jersey and California in the US, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands.^[14]
• Circassian nationalism has only recently developed and calls for a restoration of the native homelands.

Conquest by Russia

Circassia was a small independent nation on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. For no reason other than ethnic hatred, over the course of hundreds of raids the Russians drove the Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history.

— Walter Richmond, The Circassian Genocide ^[15]

Population

Under Russian and Soviet rule, ethnic and tribal divisions between Circassians (and other peoples) were promoted, resulting in several different statistical names being used for various parts of the Circassian people (Adyghes, Cherkess, Kabardins, Shapsugs). Consequently, there is an effort among Circassians to unite under the name Circassian (Adyghe) in Russian Censuses to reflect and revive the concept of the Circassian nation. The majority of the diaspora already tends to call itself "Circassian".

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Circassia.

References

Bibliography

• Bullough, Oliver. Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus. Allen Lane, 2010. ISBN 978-1846141416
• Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Circassians: A Handbook, London: Routledge, New York: Routledge & Palgrave, 2001. ISBN 978-0700706440
• Jaimoukha, Amjad. Circassian Culture and Folklore: Hospitality, Traditions, Cuisine, Festivals and Music. Bennett & Bloom, 2010. ISBN 978-1898948407
• Richmond, Walter. The Circassian Genocide, Rutgers University Press, 2013. ISBN 9780813560694
• Caucasian highlanders (Повседневная жизнь горцев Cеверного Кавказа в XIX в.). Everyday life of the Caucasian highlanders. The 19th century (In the co-authorship with I. Karpeev). Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiy, 2003. ISBN 5-235-02585-7
• Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 - Bell, James Stanislaus (English)

v t e Circassian diaspora Iraq Israel Jordan Libya Syria Turkey See also: Circassia · Abaza · Abkhaz · Adyghe · Kabarday · Ubykh · Genocide