Circassia

Circassia, also known as Cherkessia in Russian, is a region in Caucasia. Historically it comprised the coast and all the interior of the current Krasnodar Territory, Stavropol Territory, but now only refers to a portion of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic, Adyghe Republic and Kabardey-Balkar Republic of the Russian Federation.

The historical region is named after the traditional inhabitants, the Circassians (they prefer Adyghe or Adiga), who now make up only a small minority of the population of the area. A larger population is in the tiny Republic of Adygea of the Russian Federation which is entirely surrounded by Krasnodar Krai.

The Circassian diaspora is a community of people (and their descendants) who were expelled from the historical Circassia in the late 19th Century after a series of uprisings against Russian Imperial rule are found in various areas of the old Ottoman Empire. There are also large communities in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, community in Kosovo (until they were repatriated in 1998, after receiving threats from the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army), Egypt (Circassians were part of the Mamluk armies), Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rihaniya, since 1880) and as far afield as Upstate New York and New Jersey in the United States.

See also

• Circassians
• Circassian beauties

References

• Jaimoukha, Amjad, The Circassians: A Handbook, London: Routledge, New York: Routledge & Palgrave, 2001.

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