Avars or Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan, in which they are the predominant group. The Caucasian Avar language belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family (also known as Nakh-Dagestanian). The Republic of Dagestan (Russian: ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... This article is about the Avar Language, for information on the Avar people please see Caucasian Avars. ... Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. ... The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Caspian, Nakh-Dagestanian, or Dagestanian, are a family of languages spoken mostly in the Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia regions of Russia, in Northern Azerbaijan, and in Georgia. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... The Republic of Dagestan (Russian: ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... This article is about the Avar Language, for information on the Avar people please see Caucasian Avars. ... The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Caspian, Nakh-Dagestanian, or Dagestanian, are a family of languages spoken mostly in the Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia regions of Russia, in Northern Azerbaijan, and in Georgia. ...

They populate most of the mountain part of Dagestan, and partly also plains (Buynakskiy, Khasav'yurtovskiy and other regions). They also live in Chechnya, Kalmykia and other subjects of the Russian Federation, as well as Azerbaijan (mainly, The Belokanskiy and Zakatal'skiy regions), Georgia (Kvareli Avars) and Turkey. Capital Grozny Area - total - % water Ranked 80th - 15,300 km² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 49th - est. ... The Republic of Kalmykia (Kalmyk: Хальмг Таңһч; Russian: ) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ...

In 2002, the Avars, who assimilated some peoples speaking related languages, numbered about 800,000, of which 757,000 live in Russia and more than 700,000 in Dagestan. 32% of them live in the cities (2001 number).

Language

Main article: Avar language

The Avar language belongs to to the Avar-Andi-Tsez subgroup of the Alarodian Northeast-Caucasian (or Nakh-Dagestani) language family. The writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, which replaced the Arabic script used before 1927 and the Latin script used between 1927 and 1938. More than 60% Avars living in Dagestan speak Russian as their second language. This article is about the Avar Language, for information on the Avar people please see Caucasian Avars. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several Slavic languages; (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language, which is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world, the standard script of the English language and most of the languages of western and central Europe, and of those areas settled by Europeans. ...

History

According to the head of the Soviet archaeological-ethnographic expedition of 1945 - 1948, Caucasian Avars migrated to their present location from Khwarezm, which was originally populated by the Alarodian Hurrians from Subartu (which was to the south of Transcaucasian Iberia)^[1]. The earliest mention of the Avars in European History at their current location is from Priscus who declares that in 463 AD a mixed Saragur, Urog and Unogur embassy asked Byzantium for an alliance having been dislodged by the Avars' drive towards the west^[2]. It is not clear whether and in what way the contemporary Avars are related to these early European Avars of the Dark Ages. According to Omeljan Pritsak and some other scholars, this Avar invasion of the Caucasus resulted in the establishment of the Avar ruling dynasty in Sarir, a Christian state in Dagestani Highlands, where the Caucasian Avars now live. With the mediation of Sarosios in 567, the Gokturks requested Byzanteum to distinguish the Avars of Pannonia as Pseudo-Avars as opposed to the true Avars of the east who had come under the Gokturk hegemony^[3]. Khwarezmid Empire (1190-1220) Khwarezm (Uzbek: Xorazm, Russian: Хорезм Khorezm, Persian: خوارزم Khwārazm, Arabic: خوارزم Khwārizm, Chinese: 花剌子模 Hualazimo) was a state centred on the Amu Darya river delta of the former Aral Sea, in modern Uzbekistan, extending across the Ust-Urt plateau and possibly as far west as the eastern shores... The Alarodian languages are a proposed language family that encompasses two language families of the Caucasus: Northeast or Dagestan (sometimes called Avar or Lezgian which are also the names of its most major members) and North-central or Vaynakh (which includes Chechen and Ingush), as well as the extinct Hurro_Urartian... The Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably originated in the Caucasus and entered from the north, but this is not certain. ... Caucasian Iberia is the term designated to the Kingdom of Iberia (4th century BC–5th century AD) established in Eastern Georgia by the Georgians (Kartvelians). ... Priscus (left) with the Roman embassy at the court of Attila, holding his ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ (History, which the painter has incorrectly spelled ΙΣΤΩΡΙΑ). ... The Avars were a nomadic people of Eurasia who established a state in the Volga River area of Europe in the early 6th century. ... Petrarch, who conceived the idea of a European Dark Age. From Cycle of Famous Men and Women, Andrea di Bartolo di Bargillac, c. ... Omeljan Pritsak (b. ... Sarir or Serir was a medieval Christian state in the mountainous regions of modern-day Dagestan. ... Sarosios was the Alan King of the early 6th century while they were still in the Ukraine. ... The Göktürks or Kök-Türks known as Tujue (突厥 tu2 jue2) in medieval Chinese sources, established the first known Turkic state around 552, after the Huns, under the leadership of Bumin/Tuman Khan/Khaghan (d. ...

During the Khazar wars against the Caliphate in the 7th century, the Avars sided with Khazaria. Surakat, is mentioned as their Khagan around 729/30 AD followed by Andunik-Nutsal, at the time of Abu Muslima, then Dugry-Nutsal. Sarir suffered a partial eclipse after the Arabs gained the upper hand, but managed to reassert its influence in the region in the 9th century, when it conflicted with the weakened Khazars and conducted a friendly policy towards the neighbouring Christian states of Georgia and Alania. The Khazars were a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism. ... An Anglicized/Latinized version of the Arabic word خليفة or Khalīfah, Caliph (  listen?) is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. ... Khagan or Great Khan, alternatively spelled Chagan, Qaqan, Khakhan, Khaghan, Kagan, Khaqan etc. ... ALania can refer to: Yhe feudal state of Alans. ...

In the early 12th century Sarir disintegrated, only to be succeeded by the Avarian Khanate, a predominently Muslim polity. The only extant monument of Sarir architecture is a 10th-century church at the village of Datuna. The Mongol invasions seem not to have affected the Avar territory and the alliance with the Golden Horde enabled the Avar khans to increase their prosperity. (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... The Avar Khanate was a long-lived Muslim state which controlled Central Dagestan from the early 13th century to the 19th century. ... Mongol invasions can refer to: 1205–1209 invasion of Western China 1211–1234 invasion of Northern China 1218–1220 invasion of Central Asia 1220-1223, 1235-1330 invasions of Georgia and the Caucasus 1220–1224 of the Cumans 1223–36 invasion of Volga Bulgaria 1231–1259 invasion of Korea 1237... The Golden Horde was a Mongol state established in parts of present-day Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan after the break up of the Mongol Empire in the 1240s. ...

The 15th century saw the decline of the Horde and the rise of the Kumyk shamkhalate at Tarki, with whom the Avars could not compete until the 18th century, when they increased their prestige by routing the army of Nadir Shah at Andala. In the wake of this triumph, Umma Khan of the Avars (reigned 1774-1801) managed to exact tribute from most states of the Caucasus, including Shirvan and Georgia. (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Kumyks are a Turkic people occupying the Kumyk plateau in north Dagestan and south Terek, and the lands bordering the Caspian Sea. ... Shamkhal or Samkhal is the Kumyk title for the khans of Tarki, Daghestan, during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. ... Tarki is a village in Dagestan, situated approximately 6 kilometers from the republics capital, Makhachkala, on Tarkitau mountain. ... Nadir Shah’s portrait from the collection of Smithsonian Institute Nadir Shah (Persian: نادر شاه) (Nadir Qoli Beg (Persian: نادر قلی بیگ), also Tahmasp-Qoli Khan (Persian: تهماسپ قلی خان) also Nadir Shah Afshar (Persian: نادر شاه افشار) ) (October 22, 1688 - June 19, 1747) ruled as Shah of Iran (1736–47) and was the founder of the short-lived Turkic Afsharid... Shervan or Shirvan was a former Persian province in Caucasus, a state ruled by the Shervanshahs and the birthplace of the Persian poet Khaqani. ...

Two years after Umma Khan's death in 1801, the khanate voluntarily submitted to Russian authority. Yet the Russian administration disappointed and embittered freedom-loving highlanders. The institution of heavy taxation, coupled with the expropriation of estates and the construction of fortresses, electrified the Avar population into rising under the aegis of the radical Muslim Imamate of Dagestan, led by Ghazi Mohammed (1828-32), Gamzat-bek (1832-34) and Shamil (1834-59). The Imamate of Dagestan was the state established by the imams of Dagestan during the early and middle of the nineteenth century in the Eastern Caucasus, especially in Chechnya and Dagestan, to fight against the Russian Empire during the Caucasian War. ... Ghazi Mollah, also known as Ghazi Mohammed (Кази-Мулла, Гази-Магомед in Russian) (1795-1832) was the first imam of Dagestan and Chechnya (1828). ... Gamzat-bek (Гамзат-бек in Russian) (1789 — October 1(September 19), 1834) was the second imam of Dagestan, who succeeded Ghazi Mollah upon his death in 1832. ... Imam Shamil of Chechnya Imam Shamil (1797 - March 1871) was a Daghestani Avar political and religious leader of the Muslims of the Northern Caucasus. ...

This Caucasian War raged until 1864, when the Avarian Khanate was abolished and the Avarian District was instituted instead. One portion of the Avars refused to collaborate with Russians and migrated to Turkey, where their descendants live to this day. Although the population was decimated through war and emigration, the Avars retained their position as the dominant ethnic group in Dagestan during the Soviet period. After the WWII, many Avars left the barren highlands for the fertile plains closer to the Caspian shore. Russian Invasion of the Caucasus, better known in Russia as the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, was a series of military actions of Imperial Russia against Chechnya, Dagestan and Northwestern Caucasus aimed at conquering these territories. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...

Famous Avars

The most prominent fighures in Avar history were Umma Khan, Hadji Murat, and Imam Shamil. The most celebrated poet writing in the Avar language was Rasul Gamzatov (1923-2003). Hadji Murad (Russian: Хаджи-Мурат) (late 1790s - April 23 (N.S. May 5), 1852) was an important Caucasian leader during the resistance of the Caucasian peoples in 1711-1864 against the Russian Empires seizure of the region. ... Imam Shamil of Chechnya Imam Shamil (1797 - March 1871) was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus. ... Rasul Gamzatovich Gamzatov (September 8, 1923 - November 3, 2003) was a Russian poet. ...

References

1. ^ "Ancient Khwarezm" (Moscow 1948), Sergei Pavlovich Tolstov (1907-1976)
2. ^ Priscus. Excerpta de legationibus. Ed. S. de Boor. Berolini, 1903, p. 586
   Also mentioned in the Syrian compilation of Church Historian Zacharias Rhetor bishop of Mytilene
3. ^ "Sixth Century Alania: between Byzantium, Sasanian Iran and the Turkic World" Agustí Alemany Vilamajo