Историческая этнология (Nov 2016)
Floating identities. From Kasogs and Zichians to Circassian and Kabarda
Abstract
This paper is dedicated to the study of the role of Circassians in the political history of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus in the 9th–17th centuries. The task of this study is to analyze the evolution and change in ethnic and confessional identities in Circassian lands, as well as international relations in the region. Circassian tribes were known to contemporaries by several names and these names masked the existence of different tribes. Circassians to some extent coexisted with nomads. The Khazar Khanate and the Golden Horde dominated part of the Circassian tribes who lived on the plains. Pechenegs were allies of the Circassians and the Oguz were their opponents. We can argue that there was a certain Circassian period of domination of the Taman Peninsula in the 18th century. In the 12th century, the local Circassians recognized the authority of the Byzantine Empire. Circassians were poorly integrated into the political life of Rus’, far more modest though was their influence in Georgia. Some Circassians were ruled by Georgian kings and the archibishops of Zichia. Shapsugs may be identical to the mysterious Papagi. Circassians actively maintained contacts with both the Genoans and the Tatars in the 13th–15th centuries. The appearance of the Turks in Crimea contributed to the pushing Circassians to the east and closed their connection with the West.
