Dagestan

• Russian – Респу́блика Дагеста́н (Respublika Dagestan)
• Avar – Дагъистаналъул Жумгьурият (Daġistanałul Jumhuriyat)
• Dargin – Дагъистанес Республика (Daġistanes Respublika)
• Kumyk – Дагъыстан Жумгьурият (Dağıstan Cumhuriyat)
• Lezgian – Республика Дагъустан (Respublika Daġustan)
• Lak – Дагъустаннал Республика (Daġustannal Respublika)
• Tabasaran – Дагъустан Республика (Daġustan Respublika)
• Rutul – Республика Дагъустан (Respublika Daġustan)
• Aghul – Республика Дагъустан (Respublika Daġustan)
• Tsakhur – Республика Дагъустан (Respublika Daġustan)
• Nogai – Дагыстан Республикасы (Dağıstan Respublikası)
• Chechen – Дехастан пачхьалкъ (Dexastan Paçxalq̇)
• Azerbaijani – Дағыстан Республикасы (Dağıstan Respublikası)

Map of Dagestan

There are over 1,800 rivers in the republic. Major rivers include:

• Sulak River
• Samur River
• Terek River

Kazikumuchskoe koysu, Avarskoe koisu, Andiyskoe koisy, Shura-ozen'

Dagestan has about 405 kilometers (252 mi) of coastline on the Caspian Sea.

Mountains of Dagestan

Most of the Republic is mountainous, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains covering the south. The highest point is the Bazardüzü/Bazardyuzyu peak at 4,470 meters (14,670 ft) on the border with Azerbaijan. The southernmost point of Russia is located about seven kilometers southwest of the peak. Other important mountains are Diklosmta (4,285 m (14,058 ft)), Gora Addala Shukgelmezr (4,152 m (13,622 ft)) and Gora Dyultydag (4,127 m (13,540 ft)).

Dagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and many other minerals.[16]

The climate is hot and dry in the summer but the winters are harsh in the mountain areas.

• Average January temperature: +2 °C (36 °F)
• Average July temperature: +26 °C (79 °F)
• Average annual precipitation: 250 mm (10 in) (northern plains) to 800 mm (31 in) (in the mountains).[17]

In the first few centuries AD, Caucasian Albania (corresponding to modern Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan) became a vassal and eventually subordinate to the Parthian Empire. With the advent of the Sassanian Empire, it became a satrapy (province) within the vast domains of the empire. In later antiquity, it was a few times fought over by the Roman Empire and the Sassanid Persians as the former sought to contest the latter's rule over the region, without success. Over the centuries, to a relatively large extent, the peoples within the Dagestan territory converted to Christianity alongside Zoroastrianism.

Derbent is renowned for the Sassanid fortress, a UNESCO world heritage site

In the 5th century, the Sassanids gained the upper hand, and by the 6th century constructed a strong citadel at Derbent, known henceforward as the Caspian Gates, while the northern part of Dagestan was overrun by the Huns, followed by the Caucasian Avars. During the Sassanian era, southern Dagestan became a bastion of Persian culture and civilization, with its center at Derbent,[18] and a policy of "Persianisation" can be traced over many centuries.[19]

In 664, the Persians were succeeded in Derbent by the Arabs, who in the 8th century repeatedly clashed with the Khazars. Although the local population rose against the Arabs of Derbent in 905 and 913, Islam was eventually adopted in urban centers, such as Samandar and Kubachi (Zerechgeran), from where it steadily penetrated into the highlands. By the 15th century, Albanian Christianity had died away, leaving a 10th-century church at Datuna as the sole monument to its existence.

19th-century Kaitag embroidered textile from southwest Dagestan.

As Mongolian authority gradually eroded, new centers of power emerged in Kaitagi and Tarki. In the early 16th century, the Persians (under the Safavids) reconsolidated their rule over the region, which would, intermittently, last till the early 19th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, legal traditions were codified and mountainous communities (djamaats) obtained a considerable degree of autonomy.

The Russians intensified their hold in the region for the first time in the 18th century, when Peter the Great annexed maritime Dagestan from Safavid Persia in the course of the Russo-Persian War (1722–23). The territories were however returned to Persia in 1735 per the Treaty of Ganja.

Between 1730 and the early course of the 1740s, following his brother's murder in Dagestan, the new Persian ruler and military genius Nader Shah led a lengthy campaign in swaths of Dagestan in order to fully conquer the region, which was met with considerable success, although eventually he suffered several decisive defeats at the hands of various of the ethnic groups of Dagestan, forcing him to retreat with his army. From 1747 onwards, the Persian-ruled part of Dagestan was administered through the Derbent Khanate, with its center at Derbent. The Persian Expedition of 1796 resulted in the Russian capture of Derbent in 1796. However, the Russians were again forced to retreat from the entire Caucasus following internal governmental problems, allowing Persia to capture the territory again.

Imam Shamil surrendered to Count Baryatinsky on August 25, 1859

In 1806 the khanate voluntarily submitted to Russian authority, but it was not until the aftermath of the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) that Russian power over Dagestan was confirmed, and that Qajar Persia officially ceded the territory to Russia. In 1813, following Russia's victory in the war, Persia was forced to cede southern Dagestan with its principal city of Derbent, alongside other vast territories in the Caucasus to Russia, conforming with the Treaty of Gulistan.[20] The 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay indefinitely consolidated Russian control over Dagestan and removed Persia from the military equation.[21]

The Russian administration, however, disappointed and embittered the highlanders. The institution of heavy taxation, coupled with the expropriation of estates and the construction of fortresses (including Makhachkala), electrified highlanders into rising under the aegis of the Muslim Imamate of Dagestan, led by Ghazi Mohammed (1828–32), Gamzat-bek (1832–34) and Shamil (1834–59). This Caucasian War raged until 1864.

Dagestani man, photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, circa 1907 to 1915.

Dagestan and Chechnya profited from the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), to rise together against imperial Russia for the last time (Chechnya rose again at various times throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries).

On 21 December 1917, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan declared independence from Russia and formed a single state called the "United Mountain Dwellers of the North Caucasus" (also known as the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus) which was recognized by major world powers. The capital of the new state was moved to Temir-Khan-Shura.[22][23][24] The first prime minister of the state was Tapa Chermoyev, a prominent Chechen statesman. The second prime minister was an Ingush statesman Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev, who in 1917 also became the author of the constitution of the land, and in 1920 was reelected for a third term.[25] After the Bolshevik Revolution, Ottoman armies occupied Azerbaijan and Dagestan and the region became part of the short-lived Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. After more than three years of fighting the White movement and local nationalists, the Bolsheviks achieved victory and the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on 20 January 1921.

Russian Spetsnaz during the War of Dagestan

In 1999, an Islamist group from Chechnya, led by Shamil Basayev and Ibn Al-Khattab, launched a military invasion of Dagestan, with the aim of creating an "independent Islamic State of Dagestan". The invaders were not supported by the local population and were driven back by the Russian military. As a retaliation, Russian forces subsequently reinvaded Chechnya later that year.

A couple in Dagestan. Photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, circa 1907 to 1915

Ethnolinguistic groups in the Caucasus region.

Mountain village in Dagestan

Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service

Dagestani man and woman. Photo of 1904.

The people of Dagestan include a large variety of ethnicities. According to the 2010 Census,[6] Northeast Caucasians (including Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks, Tabasarans, and Chechens) make up almost 75% of the population of Dagestan. Turkic peoples, Kumyks, Azerbaijanis, and Nogais make up 21%, and Russians 3.6%. Other ethnicities (e.g. Tats) each account for less than 0.4% of the total population.

Such groups as the Botlikh, the Andi, the Akhvakhs, the Tsez and about ten other groups were reclassified as Avars between the 1926 and 1939 censuses.[31]

The indigenous ethnicities of Dagestan are in bold.

There are also 40 or so tiny groups such as the Hinukh, numbering 439, or the Akhvakhs, who are members of a complex family of indigenous Caucasians. Notable are also the Hunzib or Khunzal people who live in only four towns in the interior.

Main areas of Nakh-Daghestanian

More than 30 local languages are commonly spoken, most belonging to the Nakh-Daghestanian language family. Russian became the principal lingua franca in Dagestan during the 20th century;[33] Over 20 of Russia's 131 endangered languages as identified by UNESCO can be found in Dagestan. Most of these endangered languages have speakers in the mountainous region on the Dagestan-Georgia border.[34]

Prior to Soviet rule, the literary lingua-franca status to some extent belonged to Classical Arabic.[35] The northern Avar dialect of Khunzakh has also served as a lingua franca in mountainous Dagestan where Avar-related peoples lived.[36] And throughout centuries the Kumyk language had been the lingua-franca for the bigger part of the Northern Caucasus, from Dagestan to Kabarda, until the 1930s.[37][38][39] Kumyk also had been an official language for communication of Russian Imperial administration with the local peoples.[40]

The first Russian grammar written about a language from present-day Dagestan was for Kumyk.[41] Author Timofey Makarov wrote:

From the peoples speaking Tatar language I liked the most Kumyks, as for their language's distinction and precision, so for their closeness to the European civilization, but most importantly, I take in account that they live on the Left Flank of the Caucasian Front, where we're conducting military actions, and where all the peoples, apart from their own language, speak also Kumyk.

Makhachkala Grand Mosque

According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people,[42] 83% of the population of Dagestan adheres to Islam, 2.4% to the Russian Orthodox Church, 2% to Caucasian folk religion and other native faiths, 1% are non-denominational Christians. In addition, 9% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 2% is atheist and 0.6% follows other religions or did not answer the question.[42]

Islam

Dagestanis are largely Sunni Muslims, of the Shafii rites, that has been in place for centuries. On the Caspian coast, particularly in and around the port city of Derbent, the population (primarily made up of Azerbaijanis) is Shia. There is also a Salafi population, which is often a target of official repression.[43]

The appearance of Sufi mysticism in Dagestan dates back to the 14th century. The two Sufi tariqas that spread in the North Caucasus were the Naqshbandiya and the Qadiriya. The mystic tariqas preached tolerance and coexistence between the diverse people in the region. The Communist total intolerance for any religion after the Communist Revolution of 1917 also suppressed the Sufi movements. Shaykh Said Afandi al-Chirkawi was a prominent scholar, spiritual leader and murshid of Naqshbandi and Shadhili tariqahs in Dagestan until his death.[44]

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union there has been an Islamic revival in the region, and by 1996 Dagestan had 1,670 registered mosques, 9 Islamic universities, 25 madrassas, 670 maktab, and it's estimated that "nearly one in five Dagestanis was involved in Islamic education", while of the 20 000 or so Russian pilgrims for Hajj more than half were from Dagestan.[45]

Judaism

A relatively large number of native Tati-speaking Jews – the "Mountain Jews" – were also present in this same coastal areas. However, since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, they have migrated to Israel and the United States. These were an extension of much larger Azerbaijani Jewish community across the border in the Azerbaijani districts of Quba and Shamakhi.[46]

Christianity

The number of Christians among the non-Slavic indigenous population is very low, with estimates between 2,000 and 2,500. Most of these are Pentecostal Christians from the Lak ethnicity.[47][48] The largest congregation is Osanna Evangelical Christian Church (Pentecostal) in Makhachkala, with more than 1,000 members.[49]

• 
  Makhachkala Grand Mosque.
• 
  Znamensky Cathedral in Khasavyurt.
• 
  Dormition Cathedral, Makhachkala
• 
  Islamic school in Sasitli village.