Dagestan

Categories: Republics of Russia | Former countries in Europe | Dagestan | Caucasus

The Republic of Dagestan (Russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). The direct transliteration of the republic's name is Respublika Dagestan. It is the largest republic of Russia in the northern Caucasus, both in area and population.

The word Daghestan or Daghstan is Turkic for country of mounts. The spelling Dagestan is a transliteration of the Russian name and is rather modern.

Geography

The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains. It is the southernmost part of Russia.

• Area: 50,300 km².
• Borders:
  • internal: Kalmykia (N), Chechnya (W), and Stavropol Krai (NW)
  • international: Azerbaijan (S), Georgia (SW)
  • water: Caspian Sea (E)
• Highest point: Bazardyuzi Mountain (4,466 m).
• Maximum N->S distance: 400 km.
• Maximum E->W distance: 200 km.
• Average elevation: no data

Time zone

Dagestan is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).

Rivers

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

• Sulak River
• Samur River
• Terek River

Lakes

Dagestan has about 400 km of coast line on the Caspian Sea.

Mountains

Most of the Republic is mountainous, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains covering the south. The highest point is the Bazardyuzi peak at 4,466 m.

Natural resources

Dagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and more.

Climate

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

• Average January temperature: +2°C
• Average July temperature: +30°C
• Average annual precipitation: 200 (northern plains) to 800 mm (in the mountains).

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of Dagestan

Demographics

Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. Unlike most other parts of Russia, the population of Dagestan is rapidly growing, mostly because of migration.

• Population: 2,576,531 (2002)
  • Urban: 1,102,577 (42.8%)
  • Rural: 1,473,954 (57.2%)
  • Male: 1,242,437 (48.2%)
  • Female: 1,334,094 (51.8%)
• Females per 1000 males: 1,074
• Average age: 25.2 years
  • Urban: 25.1 years
  • Rural: 25.2 years
  • Male: 24.0 years
  • Female: 26.3 years
• Number of households: 570,036 (with 2,559,499 people)
  • Urban: 239,338 (with 1,088,814 people)
  • Rural: 330,698 (with 1,470,685 people)

Ethnic groups

There is no single ethnic group with the name Dagestani. The people of Dagestan include over a dozen sizeable groups, including:

• Dagestani Peoples — 80%, including:
  • people from the Northeast Caucasian language group 67%
    • Avars — 28%, around 500,000
    • Dargins — 16%, around 300,000
    • Lezgins — 12%, over 200,000
    • Laks — 5%, around 100,000
    • Tabasarans — 4%, around 70,000
    • Rutuls — 1%, around 15,000
    • Aguls — 1%, around 15,000
    • Tsakhurs — around 10,000
  • people from the Turkic languages 19%
    • Kumyks — 13%, over 200,000
    • Nogays — 2%, around 35,000
    • Azeris — 4%, around 85,000
• Russians — 9%, around 85,000
• Chechens — 3%, around 65,000
• Other — 8%, including
  • Tats — 1% around 10,000
  • Ukrainians — around 10,000
  • Tatars — less than 10,000
  • Ossetians — less than 5,000
  • Mountain Jews — likely less than 5,000

There are also tiny groups like the Balkars (who mostly live in Kabardino-Balkaria), or the Ginukh, numbering 200, members of a complex family of indigenous Caucasians — some 40 groups, including other little-known peoples such as the Akhwakh. Notable are also Lak people who immigrated after a Soviet population transfer, and the Hunzib or Khunzal people who live in only four towns in the interior.

The lingua franca in Dagestan is Russian. Over 30 local languages are also commonly spoken.

History

The oldest records about the region refer to the state of Caucasian Albania in the south, with its capital at Derbent. The northern parts, known as Avary, were ruled by a confederation of pagan tribes. Caucasian Albania ruled over what is present day Azerbaijan and the area occupied by the present day Lezghians. It was fought over in classical times by Rome and Persia and was early converted to Christianity. Persia prevailed and, with its conquest by the Arabs, Islam was introduced. Later, in the middle ages, it was a battleground between Persia and Turkey. With the demise of the Ottoman empire, Russia invaded, against fierce resistance, particularly in Avary. The famous Muslim leader Imam Shamil was from Dagestan. He was an Avar.

In November 1917, a Soviet was proclaimed and, after more than three years of fighting White reactionaries, the Dagestan ASSR was proclaimed on January 20th 1921. Dagestan became a republic of the modern Russian Federation in 1991.

In 1999, a group of Muslim fundamentalists from Chechnya under Shamil Basayev, together with local converts, staged an unsuccessful insurrection in Dagestan. This helped prompt the Russian decision to invade Chechnya later that year.

In 2005 Major General Magomed Omarov, the deputy interior minister, was assassinated in Makhachkala by armed gunmen. This came a month after authorities reportedly prevented an incident much like the Beslan school hostage crisis.

On July 1, 2005, ten Russian troops were killed and seven wounded in the capital by a bombing. It was either linked to the radical Islam Chechnyan rebels in the neighboring province or due to ethnical tensions, as there are over 100 distinct ethnic groups in the region.

On August 20, 2005, a remote-controlled bomb killed at least three police officers and wounded several more on a downtown street in the Dagestani capital. The bomb detonated as a four-man foot patrol walked past a grove of trees in Makhachkala.

Politics

The head of government in Dagestan is the President. As of 2004, the president is Magomedali Magomedovich Magomedov.

Economy

As of 2000, the economy of Dagestan was broken down as follows:

• Industry: 24%
• Agriculture: 35%
• Construction: 26%
• Transport and communications: 5%
• Trade and services: 9%
• Other: 1%

Important industries include food processing, power generation, oil extraction, machine building, chemicals, and instrument making. Dagestan's major exports are oil and fuel. Important agricultural products include fish from the Caspian Sea, wine and brandy, and various garden fruits.

Dagestan continues to be the least urbanized republic in the Caucasus.

Religion

Most of Dagestan's population is Muslim. As with much of the Caucasus region, Dagestan's native Islam consists of Sufi orders that have been in place for centuries. In recent years there has been tension and even violence between local Sufi orders and Wahabbi missionaries who have come to the region seeking converts.

See also

• Music of Dagestan

See also

• Former countries in Europe after 1815

External links

• Official Website of Dagestan (in Russian)
• Official Website of the President of the Republic of Dagestan (in Russian)
• Dagestan at the NUPI Center for Russian Studies (in English)
• History of Dagestan at the Daghestan State University (in English)
• University of Texas maps of the Dagestan region (in English)
• Sobaka's independent reporting on Dagestan (in English)
• BISNIS report - US government report on the economy of Dagestan (2000) (in English)
• Radio Free Europe discusses religious tension in Dagestan (in English)

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