The Caucasus in Russia is perhaps the most distinct ethno-demographic region. Here, and linguistic diversity, and the neighborhood of different religions and peoples, as well as economic structures.
According to modern demographic data, in the NorthThe Caucasus is home to approximately seventeen million people. The composition of the population of the Caucasus is also very diverse. The people living in this territory represent the most diverse peoples, cultures and languages, as well as religions. In Dagestan alone, there are more than forty peoples who speak different languages.
Наиболее распространенной языковой группой, represented in Dagestan, is Lezgin, in the languages of which about eight hundred thousand people speak. However, within the group there is a noticeably strong difference in the status of languages. For example, about six hundred thousand people speak the Lezghian language, while the inhabitants of only one mountain village communicate in Achinsk.
It is worth noting that many peoples living onthe territories of Dagestan have a thousand-year history, for example, the Udins, who were one of the state-forming peoples of Caucasian Albania. But such a fantastic diversity creates considerable difficulties in studying the classification of languages and nationalities, and opens up scope for all sorts of speculations.
Avars, Dargins, Chechens, Circassians, Digoys andLezgins have been living side by side for more than one century and have developed a complex system of relationships that allowed them to remain relatively calm in the region for a long time, although conflicts caused by the violation of folk customs did occur.
However a complicated system of containment and balancesIt began to move in the mid-tenth century, when the Russian Empire began to actively invade the territories of the indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus. The expansion was caused by the desire of the empire to enter the Transcaucasus and join the struggle against Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Of course, in the Christian Empire, Muslims,which was the absolute majority in the newly conquered lands, had a hard time. As a result of the war, the population of the North Caucasus was reduced by almost five hundred thousand only on the shores of the Black and Azov Seas.
After the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasusbegan a period of active construction of national autonomies. It was during the Soviet times that the following republics were distinguished from the territory of the RSFSR: Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Ossetia-Alania. Sometimes Kalmykia is also referred to the North Caucasus region.
Однако межнациональный мир продлился недолго и after the Great Patriotic War, the population of the Caucasus was subjected to new tests, the main of which was the deportation of the population living in the territories occupied by the Nazis.
As a result of the deportations, Kalmyks were resettledChechens, Ingushs, Karachays, Nogais and Balkars. Residents of the republics were announced that they should immediately leave their homes and recover to another place of residence. Peoples will be relocated to Central Asia, Siberia, Altai. National autonomy will be eliminated for many years and restored only after the dismantling of the cult of personality.
In 1991, a special decree was passed that rehabilitated peoples subjected to repression and deportations only on the basis of their origin.
Young Russian state recognizedunconstitutional resettlement of peoples and deprivation of their statehood. Under the new law, nations could restore the integrity of the borders at the time preceding their eviction.
Thus, historical justice was restored, but the trials did not end there.
However, the simple restoration of bordersOf course, not limited. The Ingush who returned from the deportation declared territorial claims against neighboring North Ossetia, demanding the return of the Prigorodny district.
In the autumn of 1992 in the territory of PrigorodnoyeIn the region of North Ossetia, a series of killings on national soil occurred, several of the Ingush became the victims. The killings provoked a series of clashes using large-sized machine guns, followed by the Ingush invasion of the Prigorodny district.
On November 1, Russian troops were brought into the republic in order to prevent further bloodshed, and a committee was created to save the Ingush population of North Ossetia.
Another important factor significantly influencedculture and demography of the region, became the first Chechen war, which is officially called the restoration of constitutional order. More than five thousand people were killed in the fighting and many tens of thousands lost their homes. Upon completion of the active phase of the conflict, a protracted crisis of statehood began in the republic, which led to another armed conflict in 1999 and, consequently, to a reduction in the population of the Caucasus.
