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10 
 
than Mount Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps.
9
 Moreover, the entire length of the 
mountains there are only 4 mountain passes: Daryal, Krestovoy, Klukhor and 
Mamison. These are found in close proximity to each other. 
The Caucasus mountain range can be divided into three distinct sections: 
the western, central and eastern sections.
10
 The western section stretches from the 
Black Sea to the Elbrus and is densely covered in forest. With approximately 40 
peaks over 4,000 meters the central section is the highest part of the Caucasus. The 
eastern Caucasus, in contrast to the other sections, but in parallel with the plains 
and foothills, is much drier and more arid than the Caspian side. There are lots of 
isolated valleys and gorges. All these three sections are above the permanent snow 
line and hence their nickname is ‘snow’ or ‘ice’ mountains in Russian sources.
11
 
Because of these geographic and climatic conditions, the plains, and the 
foothills of the North Caucasus, especially the western section was the area where 
the native or indigenous peoples primarily settled. Thus, while densely populated 
large number of towns and urban settlements were emerging in the west, there is a 
relatively low rural density and sparsity of towns mainly in the east and the central 
parts. In Dagestan, in contrast to the western part of the North Caucasus, only the 
isolated valleys were populated, and thus compared to the plains and foothills, the 
mountain region supported a larger population. As a result, the eastern parts of this 
region remained predominantly a pastoral zone of extensive grazing, with only a 
small part of the land in cultivation.
12
 
                                                 
9
 Wixman, 52. 
10
 Baddeley, xxii. 
11
 Gammer, Muslim Resistance, 338. 
12
 Wixman, 55-56. 

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11 
 
All these features caused isolation and great ethnic heterogeneity in the 
North Caucasus region, specifically in Dagestan. 
 
2-Ethnic and Linguistic Formation:
13
 
Ethnically and linguistically the North Caucasian region is one of the most 
perplexing regions of the world. In the early Greek sources, such as Strabo, stated 
that the town of Dioskurias, (present day Sukhum) was frequented by people 
speaking no less than 70 different languages.
14
 Timosthanes put the number at 300 
and said, “afterwards we Romans conducted our affairs there with the aid of 130 
interpreters”.
 15
 Even in the early Arabic sources, such as in Abu’l Feda Dagestan is 
named as Jabal-al-alsun (the Mountain of the Languages).
16
 
Modern sources still give varying figures on the number of languages 
spoken in the region. In Dagestan alone, no fewer than 30 ethno-linguistic groups 
inhabited the area. Currently, people from the three main different linguistic 
families are living in the region (see Appendix 1). The people who belong to the 
Ibero-Caucasian language group, which were named as Kas or Kirkas (Circas) have 
inhabited the lowlands and the mountainous parts of the Caucasus since as early as 
the Palaeolithic period and thus they are considered to be the indigenous people in 
                                                 
13
 Alexandre Bennigsen and Enders Wimbush, 1985. Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide, 
London: C. Hurst. Shirin Akiner, 1986. Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, London: Keagan Paul. 
Amiram Gonen et al. (eds.), 1993. The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World, New York: Henry 
Holt. 
14
 Aert H. Kuipers, “Ethnic Groups,” in Tibor Halasi-Kun and et al., The Caucasus, 377-8. 
15
 Baddeley, xxiv-xxv. 
16
 Karl H. Menges, “Human Geography: Distribution of Settlements,” Tibor Halasi-Kun and et al., 
211. 

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the region.
17
 Berkok lists the tribes of the ancestors of today’s Mountaineers as: 
Meots, Kerkets, Akhei, Zikhs or Dzikhs, Hanokhs, Basks or Abasks and Sanokhs 
(western Caucasian or Kirkassian groups); Nakhs, Andellals, Laks, Lezgin, and 
Kas-Akha (Kas or central and eastern Caucasian groups).
18
 
The other groups had came to the region later. Long before the Christian 
era, Indo-European groups, notably the Armenians and some Iranian-speaking 
groups, began to settle in the southern parts of the Caucasus first. Then up until the 
4
th
 and 5
th
 centuries the Animist and Zoroastrianist Persians settled in the territory 
of the present day Azerbaijan. During the 5
th
 and 6
th
 centuries the Iranian speaking 
Alans, the ancestors of the Osetians moved into the central North Caucasus and 
remained in the area until the arrival of the Kipchak Turks in the 11-13
th
 centuries, 
when they were forced to move into the mountains. 
During the 5
th
 and 6
th
 centuries, the Hunnic tribes which admittedly 
included several Turkic speaking groups began to settle in the region, especially 
Kuban area and founded the Kingdom of the Greater Bulghar there. At roughly the 
same time, another group of Turkish speaking Jews, the Khazars moved into the 
North Caucasian territory and conquered and controlled the northern plain area of 
Dagestan as far north as the Volga River. These groups mixed with the indigenous 
                                                 
17
 For the early inhabitants of the region see M. O. Kosven, 1961. Etnografiia i Istoriia Kavkaza: 
Issledovaniia i Materialy, Mosow: Akademiia Nauk SSSR, Hereafter Etnografiia. İsmail Berkok, 
1958.  Tarihte Kafkasya,  İstanbul:  İstanbul Matbaası.  Şora B. Noghumuka, 1974. Adighe-Hâtikhe 
Çerkes Tarihi, Dr. Vasfi Güsar (trns.), İstanbul: Baha Matbaası. Ramazan Traho, 1991. 
“Circassians,” Central Asian Survey, 10(1/2), 1-63 and Ronald Wixman, 64-81. 
18
 Berkok, 132-146. Also see R. Traho, 1955. “Literature on Circassia and the Circassians,” 
Caucasian Review, (Munich), 1: 145. 

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