What faith do Dagestanis profess. Nationalities of Dagestan: features, list and interesting facts. Customs and traditions
Dagestan is the most unique region of Russia: in a small area there are more than a hundred peoples and ethnic groups. What nationalities live in Dagestan today? We will answer this question in the article.
The nationalities of the republic make up an extensive list. Historically determined and some modern processes affect the number of a particular nation present in the republic. Peoples left Dagestan, new nationalities appeared. The attitude towards the national palette and its perception were not always positive, which immediately affected the development of the social and economic spheres. And the more Dagestanis develop tolerance towards each other, the easier it is to solve common problems.
Nationalities of the Republic of Dagestan
The first attempt to count the population of Dagestan was made by the military department of the Russian Empire at the end of the nineteenth century. But more accurate data were obtained at the census eleven years later. It turned out that almost 590 thousand people lived in Dagestan within the borders of that time.
If we compare these figures with those obtained in the 2010 Dagestan census, they have increased almost five times - 2 million 323 thousand people. Population growth was noted from the mid-20s to the 40s. last century, also a decade before the 70s. and from 1989 to 2002. The lowest population in Dagestan was noted in the period from 1897 to 1926, and also from 1939 for the next twenty years.
The civil war, the drought of the early 1920s also affected demographic indicators. At the same time, Russians, Ukrainians and Jews began to leave Dagestan, followed by the emigration of part of the Dagestanis to Turkey. This resulted in a 20% drop in population.
However, after the mid-20s of the twentieth century, a sharp increase begins. It is associated with natural growth, which has reached more than 20%. The influx of Russians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Tatars, Jews and representatives of other nationalities also influenced. People moved to the Dagestan Republic in search of work.
Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, almost 970 thousand people lived in Dagestan. The population of the republic, as well as other territories, was affected by the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union. The mobilization covered more than 160 thousand men, some of whom did not return from the battlefields. From the beginning of the 50s. demographers note the highest birth rate and natural increase - almost 34%.
Nationalities who live in Dagestan
Answering the question of what nationalities live in Dagestan, we note right away that today the republic is one of the three most numerous national republics of Russia, yielding to Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. In the North Caucasian Federal District, among seven subjects, Dagestan ranks first in terms of population - more than 30% of the total population of the district. Exceeds Iceland, Latvia, Estonia, Montenegro, Qatar, Cyprus, Kuwait and Bahrain in this indicator. However, in recent decades there has been a downward trend in the birth rate.
Speaking about how many nationalities there are in Dagestan, one should refer to the figures of the censuses and modern data.
According to Rosstat, more than three million people live in Dagestan in 2017. This is the 13th place in terms of population in Russia. The absolute population growth was 26 thousand people - the 5th place in the country. 12th place in terms of relative growth - 0.86%.
In the list of nationalities of Dagestan, the largest groups are Avars, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins and Laks. Books are printed in the languages of these peoples and mass media work. Small ethnic groups of Dagestan: Chukchi, Arabs, Serbs and Slovaks.
The population in the 1959 census was just over one million people. In 1970 - about one and a half million people. In nine years - two hundred people more. In 1989, the population increased by another two hundred people - 1 million 800 thousand. A census conducted fifteen years ago showed that more than two and a half million people live in Dagestan. The 2010 census gave data with growth - 2 million 900 thousand people.
How has the population changed?
Of the nationalities living in Dagestan, the Avars remain the most numerous:
- 1959 - 22.5%;
- 1970 - 24.4%;
- 1979 - 25.7%;
- 1989 - 27.5%;
- 2002 - 29.4%;
- 2010 - 29.4%.
The second largest group is made up of the Dargins:
- 1959 - 14%;
- 1970 - 14.5%;
- 1979 - 15.2%;
- 1989 - 15.6%;
- 2002 - 16.5%;
- 2010 - 17%.
The third group in terms of numbers is the Kumyks:
- 1959 - 11.4%;
- 1970 - 11.8%;
- 1979 - 12.4%;
- 1989 - 12.9%;
- 2002 - 14.2%;
- 2010 - 14.9%.
The data for Russians and Jews show an increasing decline.
- 1959 - 20.1%;
- 1970 - 14.7%;
- 1979 - 11.6%;
- 1989 - 9.2%;
- 2002 - 4.69%;
- 2010 - 3.6%.
- 1959 - 2.3%;
- 1970 - 2.0%;
- 1979 - 1.6%;
- 1989 - 1.44%;
- 2002 - 0.13%;
- 2010 - 0.08%.
What other peoples live in Dagestan
The list of nationalities of Dagestan includes dozens of names of peoples. The latest population census showed the following data on other peoples: Georgians - almost 700 people, Laks - more than 160 thousand, Lezgins - almost 390 thousand, Nogais - 40 and a half thousand, Ossetians - less than 900, Tatars - almost 4 thousand, Kazakhs and Persians - more than 500, Ukrainians - one and a half thousand, Chechens - almost 94 thousand, Tsukhurs - about 9800 people.
If we consider how many nationalities live in Dagestan, then we can find very interesting data. An analysis of the census of the population of the republic showed that there were fewer nationalities, some of the nationalities left Dagestan, but there were also those that did not exist. Sometimes the names of nationalities, to which some residents consider themselves, made the researchers smile.
Changes in national groups:
- 2002 - 121 nationalities. 2010 - 117 nationalities and ethnic groups.
- During the 2010 census, Bagulals, Americans, Besermen, Veps, Karaites, Tuvans, Udins, Nagaybaks, Nanais, Pashtuns, Eskimos, Yukaghirs and Yakuts, who were previously listed, were no longer found among the inhabitants. Representatives of the Afghan nation, Albanian, Bulgur, Colombian, Nigerian, Turkic, Serbian, French, Ethiopian and Japanese nations settled in Dagestan.
It is interesting that almost 450 people, denoting their nationality, called themselves Akhtyns, Buynaktsy, Dagestanis, Makhachkala residents (this is the name of the inhabitants of the city of Makhachkala, but there is no separate nationality) and Tsumadins, as well as mestizos, Russians and even Afro-Russians. Fifteen years ago, more than 350 people considered themselves to be amazing and extremely unusual in sounding ethnic groups and nationalities.
The number of Cossacks increased - almost 700 people. In 2002, 11 residents of Dagestan called themselves Cossacks. Prior to this, the Cossacks were present only in the 1897 census data.
Avars
In Dagestan, the most numerous peoples are Avars, Dargins and Kumyks.
Avars are settled mainly in the territories of mountainous Dagestan, they speak several dialects and dialects. The literary language of the Avars is called the language of the guest or the language of the troops. Arabic graphics provided the basis for Avar writing in the 15th and 16th centuries. But by the thirtieth year of the twentieth century, the Avars began to massively master the Russian language, because they were trained in it. In 1938, representatives of the nationality begin to use the Cyrillic alphabet. Children in schools were first taught in their native language, and in the middle classes - already in Russian. Today, the Avars speak both the language of their people and Russian, which allowed them to easily integrate into the cultural space of Russia.
Avars are considered Sunni Muslims by religion.
Dargins
The Dargins in the Civil War were among the first to start the fight: they rebelled against Denikin and defeated the White Cossacks in the Aya-Kakak Gorge. These people are very hospitable. Previously, the Dargins tremblingly revered blood feud, but the community, represented by the elders, gradually achieved a change in attitude towards this in the Dargian code of honor. For example, murderers began to be expelled from the community.
Islam as a religion among the Dargians was established by the fourteenth century. They are Sunni Muslims - madhhaba. Before the Islamic faith, they worshiped the forces of nature, they were pagans, like the original Russian population before the adoption of Christianity.
Kumyks
Kumyks are also the indigenous inhabitants of Dagestan. They are Sunni Muslims. It is believed that the Kumyk language began to take shape in the pre-Mongol era. Kumykia was crossed by all travelers of the Great Silk Road. The first national theater in Dagestan appeared precisely among this people.
Kumyks are very proud of their scientists, artists (artists, writers) and athletes. The special pride of the people is the Hero of the Soviet Union Abdulkhakim Ismailov, who, together with Alexei Kovalev from Kyivian and Leonid Gorichev from Minsk, hoisted the Banner of Victory over the defeated Reichstag in Berlin. Two representatives of the Kumyk people became full cavaliers of the Order of Glory.
Russians in Dagestan
Russians have lived side by side with the highlanders for thousands of years. And in Soviet times, they massively went to the republic to teach children in schools, treat people in hospitals, build houses and work in other professions. The Soviet distribution after universities and colleges made the profession of a teacher the most respected and revered in Dagestan. Therefore, it is no coincidence that a monument dedicated to the work of Russian teachers was erected in Makhachkala.
Today, there are more than 8% Russians in Dagestan, about one hundred and fifty thousand people. A large proportion of Russians live in Makhachkala and Kaspiysk, half of the Russian population lives in Kizlyar. In the nineties, many native Dagestan Russians left Dagestan due to the growth of a national movement, radical and violent. At that time, there was a sharp decline in the population - seven to eight thousand Russian citizens a year left the republic.
Lately, however, Caucasian Russians have been making a comeback. Experts attribute this to longing for a small homeland and the land of their ancestors, as well as a special Dagestan character. But they do not return in the same numbers as they left Dagestan: in ten years, only about five thousand people returned to their small homeland.
In addition, today the government pays special attention to protecting the interests and security of Russians in Dagestan. The number of cases of infringement of human rights on a national basis is gradually decreasing.
The linguistic composition of the inhabitants of Dagestan
Almost seven hundred thousand people speak the Avar language, about 420,000 people speak Dargin, and almost 380,000 citizens speak Kumyk. About 140,000 people know Laksky, almost 360,000 people know Lezgi. There are 500 people who speak Chamalin, 230 - Karata, more than 180 Botlikh, and only one citizen Ginukh. This is the data of the last All-Russian population census, which took place in 2010.
More than two and a half thousand Dagestanis constantly use the Russian language in everyday life. From foreign languages, citizens singled out English, German, Arabic, French, Turkish, Persian, Hindi and Japanese. Two answered that they knew Esperanto.
Only Russian is used by almost half a million people, they know two languages - more than two million, three languages - 115 thousand, four languages - 10 thousand, five languages - only seventeen people.
Young Dagestan
More than thirty percent of the population of Dagestan are young people. The average age of Dagestanis does not even reach thirty years. Even less in Chechnya - twenty-five years. Demographers believe that this forecast will continue in the region for the next eighteen to twenty years. The difference between the age of the young population in Dagestan and the elderly people of the republic is almost fifteen years.
Finally
The 1990s had a severe impact on Dagestan, when the struggle for sovereignty that almost began broke the multinational region into dozens of small groups and did not lead to great casualties among the civilian population. They, of course, were. Echoes of that time are still felt by the society in the region and the demographic situation. But the population of Dagestan by nationality is still very diverse.
The southernmost part of the Russian Federation is the Republic of Dagestan. Its capital for almost 100 years has been the city of Makhachkala. This republic borders on Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Stavropol Territory, Kalmykia and Chechnya.
Population of Dagestan
It can be estimated not only by its area, but also by the number of people living in it. The census of the population of Dagestan showed that in 2015, 2.99 million people lived in the republic. At the same time, the density is 59.49 inhabitants per km 2. It is worth noting that back in 1989, according to the census, less than 2 million people lived there, and in 1996 - 2.126 million people.
But one can estimate the true number of citizens of the republic if one knows that more than 700,000 more live outside the region. The government of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation speaks about this number. Among all the mountainous regions, the population density in Dagestan is one of the highest. On average, there are 2.13 children for every woman.
The population speaks Russian and Dagestan. But at the same time, only 14 of all the ethnic languages of the republic have a written language. The rest are oral. But only 4 language groups are most common.
Population growth
The republic also has a high birth rate. It takes an honorable third place in this indicator in Russia. Only Ingushetia and Chechnya are ahead of it. Every year, there are 19.5 newborns for every thousand inhabitants. Five years ago this figure was 18.8 in the Republic of Dagestan.
The population is growing every year. The growth rate of the number of people is the highest in Russia. At the same time, only 45% of people live in cities, the rest - in rural areas. There are slightly fewer men in this subject of the Russian Federation, their share is 48.1%. If we take into account only the population of Dagestan, then this republic ranks 13th among all subjects of the Federation.
Distribution by cities
The most densely populated is the capital of the republic - the city of Makhachkala. 583 thousand people live directly here. And if we take into account all the settlements that are subordinate to the capital, then about 700 thousand people will come out.
Quite a lot of people live in other cities of the Republic of Dagestan. The population of the city of Khasavyurt is almost 137 thousand, Derbent - 121 thousand, Kaspiysk - 107 thousand, Buynaksk - 63 thousand.
If you look at the regions of the republic, then Khasavyurtovsky will be the most densely populated: 149 thousand people were counted in it during the census. 102 thousand Dagestanis live in the Derbent region, and 78 and 79 thousand people, respectively, in the Buynaksky region.
National composition
It should be noted separately that the population of the Republic of Dagestan is a unique community from an ethnic point of view. More than 100 different peoples and nationalities live on 50 thousand km 2. Do not forget that part of the territory is uninhabitable mountain ranges.
The most numerous group is the indigenous people - the Avars. According to 2010 data, their number was 850 thousand people, which at that time was equal to 29.4% of all residents. The next largest is This is also a republic, so it is important to know how many of them are left. The population of Dagestan is growing, and the number of ethnic groups is also increasing accordingly. In 2010, 490 thousand Dargins lived in the republic (17% of the total), and in 2002 there were noticeably fewer of them - 425.5 thousand.
The third largest are the Kumyks. Almost 15% of them, or 432 thousand people, live in Dagestan. There are slightly fewer Lezgins, they make up 13% of the total number of inhabitants. The number of this people in the republic is almost 388 thousand people.
Also, as a result of the census, it was found that there are noticeably fewer other ethnic groups. For example, slightly more than 5% of Laks live in Dagestan, 4% of Azerbaijanis and Tabasarans each, 3.6% of Russians, 3.2% of Chechens.
Religious Features
The population is quite diverse. But at the same time, almost 90% of the inhabitants have one religion. The majority in this republic professes Islam. This religion began to spread in this territory in the 7th century. Initially, it appeared in Derbent and on the flat part. Islam became the dominant religion only in the XIII-XIV centuries.
Such a long spread of it is explained by internecine wars that lasted for two centuries during that period. But only after the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and the subsequent attack by Tamerlane, Islam became the religion of all the mountainous inhabitants of the republic. At the same time, there are two of its branches in Dagestan: Sunnism and Shiism. The first of them is professed by the absolute majority - 99% of the inhabitants of the Republic of Dagestan.
The population, belonging to the remaining 10% of people who are not Muslims, professes Christianity and Judaism. At the same time, Orthodox Christians make up 3.8% of the total number of residents there. In the mid 90s. in Dagestan there were more than 1.6 thousand mosques, 7 churches and 4 synagogues. Such a number of religious objects gives a clear idea of which religion is predominant.
Historical Features
The resulting ethnic diversity is a consequence of the historical development of this region. Dagestan has always been divided into established historical and geographical regions. Separately, the following regions are distinguished in this republic: Accident, Akusha-Dargo, Agul, Andria, Dido, Aukh, Kaitag, Lakia, Kumykia, Salatavia, Lekia, Tabarstan and others.
The territory of modern Dagestan was already inhabited a million years ago. As a result of wars at the beginning of the last millennium, these places were subordinated to the Khazars, and after they were occupied by the Tatar-Mongols.
The second Russian-Persian war also left an imprint on development. In the 16th century, the Russians founded the city of Port-Petrovsk (now Makhachkala) and formally annexed the entire coast of the Caspian Sea to the territory of the Russian Empire.
By the 17th century, Dagestan became a province of the Caucasus. But in the middle of the century, an uprising took place in this territory, which grew into the Caucasian War. As a result, the Dagestan region was formed as part of the Empire under the military people's control.
In Soviet times, the Dagestan ASSR was created. In 1993 it became the Republic of Dagestan.
Culture and sport in the republic
Due to the diverse ethnic composition, the republic is unique. This leaves an imprint on the cultural development of the region. For example, there are several national theaters here, including the Dargin and Kumyk ones. The Old City, the Citadel and a number of buildings of the city of Derbent are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are about 8 thousand monuments in the republic.
One of the largest book depositories in the North Caucasus, which contains more than 700 thousand documents, is located in the Republic of Dagestan.
The population is also actively involved in sports. The region is one of the leaders in Russia in terms of sports achievements. For over 50 years, Dagestan has been famous for its wrestlers. Moreover, 10 people from this region became Olympic champions, 41 people were awarded the title of world champion and 89 - European champion.
National traditions
Separately, all researchers note the unique folklore of Dagestan. The basis of the spiritual heritage of the republic is precisely the multilingualism and multinationality of the region. Oral poetry has been developed since ancient times. It has its own mythological genre.
Fine arts developed only in the 20th century. There were both painters and sculptors in the republic. But arts and crafts goes back to the Bronze Age. Now in Dagestan they make jewelry that is decorated with enamel, niello, engraving. Certain regions are known for their copper embossing, wooden items with silver notches or bone inlays, painted ceramics, and carpets.
Dagestan is a multilinguistic and polyconfessional region. The population here belongs to at least three language families, professes three world religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Despite this, customs in Dagestan are republican. More recently, we could say that this indicator plays a role in resolving interethnic conflicts. Today, for the Muslims of Dagestan, identification at the religious level as a collective, ethnic, than national, ethnic and civil is more significant. The development of identification processes in Dagestan is generally aimed at finding solutions to social problems by constructing a new type of identity that could unite the ethnic groups living in this territory.
In the article, we display a real picture of the phenomenon of the religious identity of the Dagestanis, based on the indicators of our study in 2010.
In the early 1990s, many researchers believed that Islam could turn out to be an influential integrating force capable of reuniting ethnic groups and nationalities. As subsequent events showed, Islam in Dagestan, nevertheless, did not become a factor of stability, but rather became a factor of destabilization.
Islam in Dagestan was divided into various types of Nakshbandi and Shazili persuasion, which are alien to a Dagestan Muslim with the identity of a civilian. Also on the direction of Islamic fundamentalism of an aggressive nature, Salafism and Wahhabism. And new formations are militant Islamists who call themselves "forest" and "jamaat".
Supporters of the religious revival saw the main reason for the moral decay of certain segments of the population in the absence of an appropriate ideology. Based on this, the task was to fill the resulting ideological vacuum by rooting the principles of Islamic faith and morality, while it was argued that no other ideology could lead Dagestan out of the crisis.
The revival of Islam was given the green light: the number of mosques and Muslim educational institutions rapidly increased, and religious literature was widely distributed.
Z. Arukhov divides the population of Dagestan into two groups. Those who are guided by European values (mostly the lowland population) and those who are oriented to the East, primarily by the religious norms of Islam.
According to M.T. Stepanyants, people with religious self-identification are divided into several categories of people. Some identified themselves with religion from childhood and remained faithful to it throughout their lives. Others have become religious since there was freedom of conscience. Still others, while remaining agnostics (and sometimes atheists), identify themselves with one or another confession, identifying religion with their genetic culture.
The principle of community of Muslims based on faith in the history of Islam justified the consolidation of ethnically disparate population groups. Therefore, nationalism as an ideology that affirms national unity as the foundation of statehood and considers the religious community not as a priority, but only along with the community of language, territorial, economic, cultural, etc. seems incompatible with Islam.
Islam and nationalism are directly opposed to each other, the ultimate goal of Islam is a world state in which racial and national prejudices will be eliminated, all of humanity forms a single cultural and political system. (Abul Ala Maududi. Organization "Jamaat-i Islami").
From the point of view of Islam, nationalism is group solidarity, comparable to loyalty exclusively to one's own tribe, and the prophet Muhammad condemned this principle: "He who turns to asabiyyah nationalism does not belong to our community."
Islam was considered by Jemal ad-Din Afghani as a single ideological platform capable of uniting peoples in the struggle against oppression and instilling in them confidence in the possibility of birth.
Islamic ideologues rushed from one extreme to another, from a complete rejection of the idea of a "nation" they moved on to identifying it with a religious community.
102 ethnic groups live on the territory of Dagestan, 5 ethnic groups (Avars, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins and Russians) quantitatively predominate, making up two-thirds of the population. The republic is multi-confessional, 90% - Islam (adherents of Sufism - a mystical trend in Islam), various tarikats (Muslim brotherhood orders). Finally, the region retains a strong influence of clan relations, as well as the norms of adat (customary law) rooted among the highlanders.
Tariqatism is the dominant and recognized by the authorities as the only legitimate and rooted form of Islam in Dagestan.
Tarikatists created in 2001 on the basis of the Sufi-oriented movement "Nur" the all-Russian political organization "Islamic Party of Russia", which is loyal not only to the republican, but also to the federal authorities.
Diagram 1
The emergence of many national movements and religious groups in Dagestan was a kind of defensive reaction to the changes. These politicized structures sought to ensure that in the new conditions the ethnic and religious identity of the peoples would not be lost.
According to the results of the dissertation research on the correlation of the ethnic national and civil identities of the Dagestanis, one can see the following.
The sample consisted of 205 people living in urban and rural areas aged 18 to 50 and over, and representatives of the predominant nationalities in the region were selected from among the Avars and Kumyks. The control group consisted of Dagestanis (Avars and Kumyks) living for 8 years or more in St. Petersburg (72 people).
Table 1
To identify strong, medium and weak identities, the "Who Am I" method was used (authors M. Kuhn and T. McPartland) . In the course of the study, we were able to identify indicators for various criteria, including religious identity, which was ranked first in the overall rating table by the respondents (Table 2). I would like to note that the main purpose of the study was to study ethnic national and civic identity, and the indicators of religious identity were identified during the survey, which we are going to cover in this article.
Diagram 2
Diagram 1 shows that the religious identity of those living in St. Petersburg is higher than that of respondents from the region. This suggests that staying in a metropolis dominated by representatives of other faiths strengthens the self-identification of "I am a Muslim." It is also clear that the representatives of the plains (Kumyks) living in Dagestan have a lower religious identity than the highlanders (Avars) living in the mountains.
Here is the statement of the highlanders: “…Muslims of the plain, thanks to ties with the Russians, have lost their Muslim identity. And only in the mountains there are still real Muslim scientists and Ulama. It is possible that interaction with representatives of other religions (with Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Tatami, Jews) among the inhabitants of the plain over a long period of cohabitation in the same territory developed a tolerant attitude than among representatives of the highlands, who lived within the framework of their ethnic culture.
table 2
In table 2, we see that religious identity began to prevail over other types of identity. Over the past decade, the religious factor began to play a major role in the region due to the politicized structures of religious groups. Educational institutions, institutes, Muslim schools, note classes and religious literature began to actively appear, which were not inferior in their number to secular schools.
The leaders of the Islamic revival of Dagestan critically assessed the dynamics of the growth of religious consciousness, pointed to its low level and the lack of an appropriate ideology, the main task was to fill the ideological vacuum in the younger generation, thus, the researchers believed that Islam could be an influential integrating force capable of reuniting ethnic groups and nationality. At the same time, the programs of educational institutions of Islamic universities were not approved through the relevant departments of the Ministry of Education, and such did not exist at that time. Today in Dagestan there are probably more graduates of theologians than the necessary specialists of physicists, chemists and representatives of other professions necessary for the region. It became profitable to be a theologian and a follower of the tarikat, respect and honor from the environment for the teachers of the foundations of Islam increased his prestige among the youth. While Dagestan is in need of specialists, the majority of young university graduates become adherents of religious canons.
So, we think that the search for ethnic, national and civil identity will continue in the republic, as well as the search for the righteous norms of Islam and religious identity among the local peoples. The formation of religiosity is influenced by religious education in the family, Muslim educational institutions, as well as the formation of attitudes, stereotypes of religious consciousness and behavior. And it is possible to single out different types of believers who attend a mosque, those who do not attend a mosque, with a predominance of external internal and near-religious motivation.
Zarema Aslanbekova
Literature:
- Arukhov Z.S. The search for ethnic and religious identity in Dagestan. M. 2003
- Arslanbekova Z.B. Religious identity of the Dagestanis: traditionalism and Wahhabism. 2011
- Miklyaeva A.V., Rumyantseva P.V. Social identity of the individual: content, structure, mechanisms of formation. SPb 2008
- General information about the number of religious associations and organizations in the Republic of Dagestan as of August 1, 2003//Current archive of the Committee for Religious Affairs under the Government of the Republic of Dagestan. Makhachkala 2003
- Stepanyants M.T. Ethno-confessional processes in modern Russia.//Religion and identity in Russia. Digest of articles. M. 2003
Dagestan is a republic within multinational Russia, called the country of mountains, many languages and contrasts. The mountain people of Dagestan are representatives of more than a hundred nationalities, three religions, many language groups and local dialects.
Geography of the region
Dagestan is the southernmost and most mountainous republic of the Russian Federation. The Caucasian ranges occupy the main part of its territory, it is here that Bazarduzo, the highest mountain in Russia, is located. The peoples living in Dagestan are real highlanders. A small part of the lowland is located only in the northern part of the foothills. The east of Dagestan is washed by the waters of the Caspian Sea. On the territory of the republic there are about 6 thousand large, small and very small rivers and streams, of which 100 are classified as large rivers (only 20 of them reach the Caspian Sea). The most famous: Terek, Samur, Sulak.
The climate as a whole belongs to moderately warm, fluctuations in temperature regimes and the amount of precipitation depend on the altitude, remoteness from the sea, and the surrounding mountain ranges. Land lands are divided into plains, foothills and mountains. Their geography determines the main occupation of local residents.
The history of the region
The people of Dagestan has gone through such a difficult, eventful path in its historical development that full descriptions of it are not articles, but entire volumes. Some nationalities of the republic are associated with kinship with the Medes, the Hittites, the peoples of ancient Sumer. The first state, which included the territory of southern Dagestan, was Caucasian Albania, formed in the 5th century BC. Constant wars led to the fact that the lands passed from one state to another, rulers and religions changed. The gradual process of the formation of Dagestan as an unification of various nationalities was due to the need to unite small tribes to protect their lands from stronger enemies. Historically, the best flat lands were occupied by alien peoples: Arabs, Shiites, Sunnis. Originally local tribes were forced out into the mountains, but over time they all became related and substantiated their single Dagestan epic.
Some statistics
What will stingy numbers tell about Dagestan:
- The territory of the republic is 50.3 thousand km 2.
- Coastline - 530 km, total land borders - 1181 km.
- The highest point is 4466 km, the average height above sea level is 1000 km.
- The total population, according to the latest census, is 2125 thousand people.
- The number of peoples of Dagestan is 102, of which 30 are indigenous.
- The territorial division of the republic is 22 districts.
- The population of rural areas is 69%.
- Heroes of the Soviet Union (Dagestanis) - 49 people.
Peoples of Dagestan
The list of main nationalities looks like this:
- Avars - 30% of the total population, mainly occupy the mountainous regions of western Dagestan.
- Dargins - 17% of the ethnic group, traditionally settled in the mountains and foothills of the middle part of the republic.
- Nogais - 16% of the population, the main residence is the Nogai steppe in the north of Dagestan.
- Kumyks - 13% of the population, which occupies the Terk-Sulam lowland and the northern foothills.
- Lezgins - 12%, places of settlement - mountains, foothills and plains of Southern Dagestan.
- The Russian population of Dagestan, also belongs to the local population, occupies 7% of the population. Most Russians live in the capital Makhachkala and other cities and towns. Citizens among Russians make up 80%. Representatives of Russian rural residents are mainly Terek Cossacks, whose settlements are concentrated in the lower reaches of the Terek.
- Laks are concentrated in the central part of the mountains and account for 5% of the ethnic composition.
Approximately 4% each, in the total number of such nationalities as Tabasarans, Turks (Azerbaijanis), Chechens. The number of the latter increased sharply after the outbreak of hostilities on the territory of the Chechen Republic. Tats (the people of Dagestan, who call themselves Dagestan Jews), Rutuls, Aguls, Tsakhurs, living mainly in certain separate territories, make up an insignificant part of the Dagestan population.
In addition to indigenous groups, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Georgians, Tatars, Belarusians, Ossetians, and Persians who have lived here since birth consider themselves to be residents of Dagestan.
Language composition
Yes, such a variety of nationalities and nationalities on a relatively small piece of land is nowhere else in the world. Corresponding is the diversity of linguistic composition. There are only 30 indigenous languages in Dagestan. This is also unique to Dagestan. What other people can present to the world such a difference in languages, dialects and dialects with, in general, a united culture, customs, everyday traditions.
Linguists, together with historians, have identified the significant isolation of the villages from each other, associated with the geographical and climatic conditions of the mountainous area, as the main reason for the complex linguistic differences. The emergence of separate dialects was also facilitated by different religious preferences, political and social differences, isolation within individual clans.
According to the linguistic composition, the population of Dagestan is divided into three main groups:
- North Caucasian family, Nakh-Dagestan branch (Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks, Tabarasans, Rutuls, Aguls, Tsakhurs, Chechens).
- Altai language family, Turkic group (Turks, Kumyks, Tatars, Nogais).
- Indo-European language family (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Tats, Jews, Armenians).
Religious denominations
In terms of religious beliefs, the modern people of Dagestan are mostly (90%) Sunni Muslims. But it was not always so. Back in the first century after the birth of Christ, the population of Caucasian Albania, and then all the Dagestanis, adopted Christianity, Islam was imposed on the Albanians as a result of a hundred-year war with the Arabs. But for many millennia, it was Islam that established itself not only in Dagestan, but also spread to other territories of the Caucasus. Another branch of Muslims is the Shiites, these are mainly Turks, to whom some Lezgin settlements also joined. Judaism is practiced by mountain Jews - Tats, while the Orthodox population, including adherents of the Armenian Gregorian Church, is 9%. There is no acute hostility towards non-Christians here, a mixture of languages and religions fosters tolerance for the religions of neighbors.
Big nations and small nations
Frequent questions about any multinational country or republic: "What is the main and most numerous people? Whose traditions and language prevail in the region?" In this case, it is difficult to answer them, for the reason that the peoples of Dagestan, the list of which is compiled in order of decreasing percentage to the total number, include several more ethnic groups, which give the total percentage of the nationality.
Avars, who make up a third of the population of the republic, are the common name for fifteen ethnic groups. The Andians, Archins, Akhvakhs, Bagulals, Bezhtins, Botlikhs, Ginukhs, Godoberins, Gunzibs, Didoys, Tindins, Karatas, Khvarshins, Tsezes, Chamaltys consider themselves to be Avars. 17% of Dargins are Kubachins and Kaitags. Here is such a Caucasian Babylon and Jerusalem.
The Tsakhurs are considered the smallest people in Dagestan, their number on the territory of the republic is about 10 thousand people. Most of the Tsakhurs live in Azerbaijan. This nationality in Dagestan settled in the most inaccessible high-mountain region - Rutulsky, the sources of the Samur River. The village of Tsakhur is considered the most ancient village of Dagestan, its history is rooted in the distant historical past, and the name is translated as "Burning village". Numerous hordes of conquerors repeatedly burned it to the ground, but the patient people restored the village again and again.
Customs and traditions
In countries where the leading religion is Islam, the entire life of society is subject to Sharia law, which in most cases is enshrined in law. The Caucasians, which include the people of Dagestan, call the customs and traditions that regulate almost all aspects of society's life the word "adat". The way of family life, relationships with neighbors, the rules of matchmaking and marriage, hospitality - everything is taken into account in the set of unwritten rules of the highlanders, intertwined with some dogmas of religion, but does not always correspond to legislative norms. If the rules for receiving guests, honoring elders deserve respect and praise, then the adat of blood feud is already contrary to state laws. Many traditions in modern Dagestan are gradually losing their relevance, but the laws of the ancestors are still strong in the local society.
Famous Dagestanis
The Republic of Dagestan, whose peoples are famous for their diligence, perseverance, courage and talents, has given the world many famous and worthy countrymen. Here are just a few names that are familiar to many:
- Jamal Adzhigirey - wushu wrestler, actor.
- Yusup Akaev - pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union.
- Ali Aliyev - wrestler, five-time world champion.
- Rasul Gamzatov - sings.
- Mansul Isaev - judoka.
- Musa Manarov - pilot-cosmonaut.
Pre-Islamic beliefs of the peoples of Dagestan
Religious beliefs were fixed in the early stages of the development of the peoples of Dagestan. One of the first religious ideas were pagan beliefs. In the archaeological materials of ancient Dagestan, monuments are found that testify to the worship of heavenly bodies, natural phenomena. One of the early cults was the worship of fire, which was given the meaning of purifying power. The pagan ritual of kindling fires passed as a folk custom in subsequent eras. Numerous solar signs have been preserved in many monuments, testifying to the worship of the sun. This is an image of the sun in the form of a disk with divergent rays, a swastika (an image of a cross inside the solar disk, which is the oldest sign personifying the sun). Solar signs are found from the Mesolithic era and are found up to the early Middle Ages. Traces of worship of the sun are found in the religious ideas of individual peoples of Dagestan. In particular, in the pantheon of gods among the Laks, the sun god occupies one of the main places. He was represented as a beautiful young man, illuminating the whole world with his beauty. An interesting fact is that this image resembles ancient ideas about solar deities, which indicates certain cultural ties between the peoples of Dagestan and the ancient world, but in later eras.
With the emergence of a manufacturing economy and the increase in the importance of agriculture and cattle breeding in the life of ancient people, agrarian cults appear. They are typical for many countries of the world that have experienced similar processes. The main cult of this period is the cult of fertility, which was revered in the form of a female deity. The woman was a symbol of the constantly resurgent nature, her maternal strength. In many monuments of Dagestan, there are female clay figurines, personifying fertility. An important place among agricultural cults was occupied by the worship of domestic animals, in particular, the bull, which was the main draft force of that time. Worship of the bull is in contact with the common cult of arable land that existed among the ancient Dagestanis. This is evidenced by clay reliefs depicting scenes of plowing and a bull. Interesting finds were found in the archaeological materials of the Upper Gunib settlement and they date back to the Bronze Age. These are clay reliefs depicting scenes of arable land with harnessed bulls. All these cults testify to the stable settled way of life of the population of Dagestan. The cult of the hearth tells us the same thing. This is evidenced by the finds of various offerings near the hearths of the dwelling. The beliefs of ancient Dagestan are characterized by totemism. In many cultures, animals were considered patrons of people.
Thus, in some representations, the good spirit of the house and its guardian appear in the form of a snake. The Avars of the Khunzakh region have a golden snake, the Laks have a snake with golden horns. There is also a white snake. According to folk legends, a brownie - a snake lives in the central pillar of the dwelling. The owners from time to time must appease the brownie with various gifts. One of the early religious ideas was the belief in the afterlife, which is characteristic of all peoples at a certain stage of development. The ancient inhabitants of Dagestan had a custom to put various implements in the burials - household items, labor, weapons, as this could be useful to their owner in the afterlife. There is also a custom to bury the dead in special burials resembling dwellings. During the transition period from bronze to iron, religious ideas are supplemented by new cults. The cult of ancestors is of great importance. According to the ideas of the Dagestanis, the deceased ancestors were the patrons of the hearth and protected the dwelling from evil spirits. During this period, the custom appears to hold feasts for the dead, as well as arrange sacrificial places near the graves. In the era of iron, the cult of this metal is of great importance. The ancient Dagestanis carried weapons made of iron - axes, knives, because, according to their ideas, they drove away evil spirits. In this regard, the profession of a blacksmith and the veneration of representatives of this profession are of great importance. With the increasing importance of war, the cult of the horse also spreads.
In the Albanian era, the worship of heavenly bodies was also of great importance. The main deity of Albania was the goddess of the moon. Temple areas and sacred groves were dedicated to her. Their remains were found in Southern Dagestan, in particular, in the Shalbuzdag region. The priest of the goddess of the moon was the second person in the state, which also emphasizes the importance of this cult. Moon worship also existed in Dagestan. An old Kumyk proverb says: "The weight of the Moon will outweigh the Sun." There were also gods of the Sun, Fire, Earth in Albania. In ancient sources, they are called Greco-Roman names. The god of fire was called among the Albanians Alp. Some researchers believe that the name of the state also came from the name of this deity. A deity with this name is found among the Lezgins.
In the IV century. AD Christianity penetrated the territory of Albania, which corresponded to the new social and economic relations that characterize feudalism. In the 70s. this century, the Albanian king Urnair and the highest nobility adopted a new religion. But attempts to spread it among the population of the country ran into fierce resistance. Bishop Grigoris, sent from Armenia to Albania, tried to introduce the nomads - Maskuts and their king - Sanatruk to the new religion, but were unsuccessful. Grigoris was captured and tied to the tail of a wild horse. Folk tradition connects the death of Grigoris with the village of Mola-Khalil, located near Derbent. During the reign of the Albanian king Vachagan III at the end of the 5th century. Christianity in Albania already had a strong position. Consequently, in Dagestan, his position was strengthened. The patriarchal throne (the residence of the catalikos - the Christian head of Albania) was located in the first half of the 6th century. in the Chora region (a region near Derbent), and then it was already transferred to Partav. On the Verkhnechiryurt settlement, the remains of two early Christian churches were found, which date back to the 6th-8th centuries. Strengthening political ties with the neighboring states of Transcaucasia - Armenia and Georgia - played a big role in the process of spreading Christianity in Dagestan. Southern Dagestan was under the influence of the Armenian church, and the western one was under the influence of the Georgian church. Christian missionaries penetrated into the regions of Dagestan, created their missions and seminaries here. The success of the missionaries in the region of Southern Dagestan was associated with the strengthening of the influence of the Armenian kings on the political life of this part of Dagestan. Various methods were used in the process of Christianization of the local population. According to Georgian chronicles, the Georgian king Archil (668-718)
He forcibly converted "pagans" to Christianity, among whom were the Avars. The vigorous activity of the Christian church in Dagestan is also associated with the name of the outstanding Georgian ruler - Queen Tamara. The process of Christianization of Dagestan, as well as the strengthening of Georgian influence, is associated with the emergence of bilingual texts - bilingual, which testified to the growing cultural and political ties, as well as the attempts of local peoples to create their own script. Religious representations of the peoples inhabiting the Khazar Khaganate are interesting. According to the Arab author al-Istarkhiya, the Khazars are Muslims, Christians and Jews. There are also idolaters among them. The smallest class is the Jews. The largest are Muslims and Christians. But the king and his entourage are Jews. The adoption by the top of the Khazar Khaganate of such a religion, which is not widespread among the inhabitants of the state, pursued a purely political goal. Perhaps this was due to the unwillingness of the Khazar elite to fall under the influence of the powerful states of the Middle Ages - the Christian - Byzantium and the Muslim - Arab Caliphate. The traces of Judaism in Dagestan are thus very insignificant. As for Christianity, its positions were quite strong.
In mountainous Dagestan, this was due to the significant political and cultural influence of neighboring Georgia. It is here that the remains of Christian places of worship and objects of Christian symbolism, such as crosses, are found. Written sources provide us with great help in determining the religious ideas of the inhabitants of medieval Dagestan. The well-known Arab author Ibn Ruste describes the funeral rite common among the inhabitants of Serir and gives interesting information about the religion of the population of this region of Dagestan. He writes that all the inhabitants of the fortress (obviously, the local nobility) are Christians, and all the rest of the inhabitants of the country are pagans. Further, he describes the pagan rite of burial. “When someone dies,” he writes, “they put him on a stretcher and take him out to an open place, where they leave him for three days. rush to the dead body on a stretcher, they circle around the stretcher, directing the horse towards the body, but not piercing it. The meaning of the action performed, described by the Arab author, is not entirely clear and is obviously associated with certain superstitions that existed among the medieval inhabitants of Serir.
Among the beliefs of medieval Dagestan, one should also mention the Iranian religion - Zoroastrianism, which spread here during the reign of the Sassanids. Turning again to written sources, one should pay attention to the information of the Arab author again - Al-Andalusi al-Garnati. He describes a funeral rite common among the inhabitants of Zirikhgeran (Kubachi) in the 12th century. He writes: “When a person dies with them, and if he is a man, then they hand him over to men underground, who dismember the bones of the deceased, clean the bones from meat and collect ... meat and give it to be eaten by black crows. If this is a woman, then the men under earth ... they pull out its bones and give meat to kites."
The spread of Islam in DagestanThe birthplace of Islam is the western part of the Arabian Peninsula, namely the cities of Mecca and Medina. The emergence of Islam coincided with the process of the formation of statehood among the Arabs and the unification of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. The new religion turned into a powerful consolidating factor that contributed to the political, ideological and cultural unity of Arabia. The beginning of the sermons is associated with a native of the city of Mecca, Mohammed, who was born around 570. Mohammed belonged to a noble, but not rich family. The beginning of the sermons of the new religion dates back to about 610. But this period was not successful for Mohammed. Few of his fellow citizens recognized him. Therefore, the prophet was forced to move to the city of Yathrib. Later, this city became known as the "city of the prophet" or al-Madina. The process of resettlement itself was called "hijra" (literally, eviction, emigration). The Hijra, which took place in 622, was recognized as the beginning of the Muslim chronology. Gradually, the positions of the new religion began to strengthen, and it soon replaced the agricultural pagan cults of the Arabian tribes. The process of political unification of the Arabs, begun by Mohammed, ended with the creation of a new state - the caliphate, which was destined to play a big role in the historical destinies of many peoples. The rulers of the state received the title of Caliph.
Under the first three caliphs - Abu Bakr, Omar and Osman, the era of "great conquests" begins. New territories were included in the caliphate. Moreover, for the peoples of some countries, the Arabs acted as deliverers from oppression. Thus, the common people of the Byzantine Empire and Iran saw the Arabs as saviors from the oppression of their feudal elite. The fact that the Arabs used more benign methods of exploiting the conquered peoples played an important role in this. In the process of conquests, the doctrine of "jihad" was developed - a holy war against the infidels, which also contributed to the success of Islamization. In Muslim tradition, there is a division of lands into categories depending on their relationship to Islam. The territories of Islam are distinguished - Muslim countries under the rule of Muslim rulers; treaty territories - non-Muslim lands that pay a certain tribute to the Arabs, but retain their own internal order and war territories - lands that are at war with the Arabs. Depending on the category of land, the policy of the Arabs in relation to them varied. The confessional status of the local population also played a certain role. In Islam, there was the concept of ahl al-kitab, i.e. "People of the Book" They included Christians and Jews. The attitude towards them was more tolerant, and they belonged to the category of the "protected" population. Much more implacable was the attitude towards unbelievers and pagans. Dagestan, in which the pagan population prevailed, belonged to the territory of the war.
The process of Islamization in Dagestan covered a fairly long time period. It is customary to single out two periods of this long process. The first covers the 7th - the first half of the 10th centuries. and is connected directly with the Arabs. The second stage continues from the second half of the 10th to the 16th centuries. These stages had certain differences both in the rate of spread and in those carriers who acted as conductors of the ideas of Islam in Dagestan. The first Arab campaigns were not accompanied by violent Islamization. An important role here was played by the specific tax system adopted in the Arab Caliphate. The population of the conquered lands, who accepted Islam, was exempted from the poll tax, called jizya. Jizya was paid by those locals who retained their former beliefs. Thus, the poll tax was a kind of payment for the religious tolerance of the Arabs. The size of the poll tax was established by agreement. Women, old people, children, the poor, monk slaves, as well as Christians who fought on the side of the Arabs, were exempted from jizya. On the one hand, such a system of taxation gave a certain income to the treasury. On the other hand, it served as a means of economic coercion to accept Islam.
Among those who one of the first began the process of Islamization in Dagestan, historical sources name the Arab commander - Maslama. The construction of the first mosques in Derbent is associated with him. In each district of the city, a separate mosque was built and the cathedral Juma - a mosque that has survived to this day. So, gradually Derbent became the center of Arab influence in Dagestan and the largest Muslim center. Among the activities of Maslama was the resettlement of 24 thousand residents from Syria to the Derbent region. The numerous Arab population of the city and its environs significantly contributed to the strengthening of the position of Islam among the local population. The well-known historical chronicle "Derbent - name" describes the activities of Maslama to plant Islam in the conquered territories and not only in Derbent. According to the author of the chronicle, Maslama went to Kumukh, fought with the inhabitants, killed their head and defeated them. He spared those who converted to Islam, and those who did not - killed those and divided their property among the fighters for the faith. Fighters for the faith, the so-called ghazi, were specially organized units that contributed to the spread of a new religion. Similar events were repeated in Kaitag and Tabasaran. Turning to another authoritative author - al - Garnati, who visited Derbent in 1162, we again meet the name of Maslama. He reports that the inhabitants of Tabasaran converted to Islam under Maslam. Arab campaigns in Dagestan lasted until the 9th century. The power of the Arab state began to decline. The territories previously subject to them came out of the control of the Arabs. In fact, Dagestan also turned out to be independent. After the cessation of the Arab conquests, the position of Islam strengthened in the region of Derbent and in South Dagestan. At the first stage of Islamization, the main part of the Dagestan lands retained their pagan beliefs. It is possible that even those units that converted to Islam under the Arabs returned to their former beliefs at the end of their campaigns. In a number of regions, especially mountainous Dagestan, the positions of Christianity were strong. Geographically, the process of the spread of Islam in Dagestan was carried out from the southeast to the northwest. Moreover, it should be noted that at the first stage, Islam primarily spread among the rulers of the political associations of Dagestan.
In the middle of the X century. Islam already had a fairly definite position in Dagestan. Derbent becomes a Muslim city. This is confirmed by the appearance here of Muslim names, Muslim funeral rites, as well as Arabic inscriptions, most of which have a construction character. The earliest refers to the VIII., and the next is already in 1044. This inscription contains a list of Muslim names and formulas. The analysis of tombstone inscriptions - epitaphs, allows us to conclude that the Muslims of Derbent are a significant force in the process of spreading Islam. Judging by the inscriptions, those killed in the struggle for the faith receive the title of "shahid". Of great interest is the famous burial ground "Kirkhlyar" or "Sorokovnik", located 200 - 300 meters north of the northern gates of the Naryn fortress - kala. Local historical chronicles link this burial site of the 10th - 13th centuries. with 40 fighters for the faith - ghazis who died in the fight against the infidels. This monument was revered as a Muslim shrine, and even now it has retained its significance as a sacred place. During this period, Derbent acts not only as a religious center, but also as the center of the cultural life of medieval Dagestan. The importance of this city as a cultural and educational center is evidenced by the fact that in the XIII century. there were madrasahs. Madrasahs appear in other regions of Dagestan as well. In the village of Tsakhur at the end of the 11th century. madrasah was established. Soon Tsakhur becomes one of the major centers of Islamization and acts as a distributor of the ideas of Islam in neighboring regions.
The second stage of Islamization
At the second stage, the Turkic element played a significant role in the spread of Islam. The penetration of the Turkic tribes into the territory of Dagestan was carried out both from the north and from the south. In the north they were Polovtsy, and in the south - Turks - Seljuks. During the reign of the Seljuk sultans, the territory of Southern Dagestan was under their control. The Seljuks persistently spread the ideas of Islam in the conquered territories, as it was the state religion of the Sultanate. In the conquered countries, the Seljuks distributed significant land holdings to representatives of the nobility. This was used by the local feudal nobility, since being an adherent of the ideas of Islam meant having certain economic benefits. The next wave of Turkic conquests is connected with the Mongols. But the first Mongol campaigns caused great harm to the positions of Islam in Dagestan. Especially after Bukdai's 1239 campaign against Derbent. The city was destroyed, and the importance of Derbent as a Muslim center was undermined. But gradually the city recovered, the destroyed mosques were built again. In addition, the ruling elite of the Golden Horde under Khan Berke (second half of the 13th century) itself converted to Islam. Khan Berke and his successors strongly supported the adoption of Islam by the inhabitants of the subject areas, including Dagestan. Under the rule of the Golden Horde at that time was not only Derbent, but also the flat areas to the north of it. In the face of the Golden Horde khans, the Muslim clergy of the North Caucasus gained significant support. Also, immigrants from Dagestan had a certain weight in the Golden Horde. The Arab traveler ibn Batuta mentions the well-known scientist Suleiman al-Lakzi in the capital of the state - the city of Saray, obviously a native of Dagestan.
The next strengthening of the position of Islam in Dagestan is associated with the name of Timur. Timur attached great importance to the religious factor and used it to his advantage. The Islamic factor acquired particular importance in the process of fighting its main political rival in the North Caucasus - the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh. His historians presented Tokhtamysh as a pagan, "infidel". This averted the Muslim population of Dagestan from an alliance with him. Timur supported the local feudal nobility, who accepted Islam and submitted to it. This is especially evident in Timur's attitude towards the clergy and rulers of the accident and Kazi-Kumukh. During this period, Islam was widely spread among the inhabitants of Kumukh. The inhabitants of the accident at that time had both pagan and Christian and Muslim beliefs. Nizametdin Shafi, Timur's court historiographer, reported that Timur supported the "Gazikumukh and Aukhar Kalantars" in the fight against the infidels. Representatives of the local nobility were called Kalantars. The Aukharian Kalantars, obviously, are a layer of the ruling elite of Avaria. Georgian chronicles preserved information about Timur's actions to strengthen the position of Islam in Avaria. According to this historical source, Timur conquered the "Lezgins" (in this context, the Avars), who were previously Christians, and seduced them into Mohammedanism either by flattery or threats, and appointed mullahs from the Arabs, who obliged Lezgin children to learn writing in Arabic. He even issued strict orders that people should not learn to read or write in Georgian. Thus, Timur attached great importance to the spread of Islam in the mountainous Dagestan. But Christianity did not want to give up its positions here, just as the Georgian kings did not want to lose their influence. Therefore, the confrontation between Islam and Christianity takes on the most violent forms here. At the end of the XIII - XIV centuries. Islam finally gained a foothold in Central Avaria, and Khunzakh became the center of Islamization for neighboring regions.
Another issue is Timur's attitude to the Dargin regions. The Islamization of Dargin societies, in particular, Kaitag, begins at the end of the 10th century. and proceeds at a rapid pace. Numerous Kufic inscriptions found in Urkarakh, Kalakoreish speak in favor of the spread of Islam in these areas. There is also other evidence of the spread of Islam among the Dargins. In particular, we can say that in 1306, with the participation of Sheikh Hassan Suhraverdi, who arrived from Iran, the inhabitants of Kubachi converted to Islam. But in the annals of Timur, the inhabitants of Ushkudzh (Akushi), Kaitag. Zirichgeran are called "infidels". This was done for political reasons, since it was here that Timur ran into fierce resistance. The spread of Islam here by the time of Timur's arrival is documented. But Timur significantly expanded and approved the spread of Islam here and in general in Dagestan. Last but not least, Islam in Dagestan is accepted by residents of the extreme north-western regions inhabited by Didoi, where the influence of Georgia was strongest and Christianity had a stable position.
In the process of Islamization, there are two most important factors that played a big role in its spread in Dagestan. First of all, this is an external factor, since Islam penetrated the territory of Dagestan during the conquests. Successive conquerors - first the Arabs, then the Turks, Timur, the Safavids created a continuous Muslim stream that flooded into Dagestan. At some point, this factor was of decisive importance. But then the internal factor comes to the fore. The appearance in Dagestan of local Muslim centers, which themselves act as conductors of the ideas of Islam in the conquered territories. Derbent, Tsakhur, Akhty, Kumukh, Khunzakh, Kalakoreish and others become such centers. The process of Islamization of Dagestan continued into the 15th century. It was accompanied by the construction of mosques, schools, the spread of the Arabic language and writing. Arabic-language literature is gaining great popularity. Gradually, Dagestan is drawn into the orbit of the influence of the Muslim East and the richest Islamic culture, which has great achievements in Dagestan.
