The Caucasus is the southern border of Europe and Asia; more than 30 nationalities live here. The Greater Caucasus Range divides the region in half: its northern slopes (North Caucasus) are almost entirely part of Russia, while its southern slopes are shared by Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. For centuries, the Caucasus remained an arena of rivalry between world powers: Byzantium, Persia, and the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, the Caucasus almost entirely became part of the Russian Empire. At the end of the twentieth century, with the collapse of the USSR, the Transcaucasian republics gained independence, and the North Caucasian peoples remained part of Russia.
From the Taman Peninsula along the Black Sea coastline to Sochi, the western part of the Caucasus Range stretches - this is the historical homeland of the Circassians (another name is the Adyghe), a group of related peoples who speak the Adyghe language. After the Crimean War of 1853-1856, in which the Circassian Circassians supported the Turks, most of them fled to the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the Russians occupied the coast. The Western Circassians, who remained in the mountains and accepted Russian citizenship, began to be called Circassians. Today they live on the territory of Adygea, the westernmost North Caucasian republic, surrounded on all sides like an island by the Krasnodar Territory. To the east of Adygea - on the territory of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic live the Circassians, the eastern part of the Adyghe ethnic group, and even further - the Kabardians, also a people related to the Adygs. Adyghe, Kabardians and Circassians speak languages belonging to the same language family: Abkhaz-Adyghe. Like many North Caucasian peoples, the Circassians, originally pagans, adopted Christianity around the 6th century (almost four centuries before Rus'); there even existed their own episcopal sees, however, with the fall of Byzantium, under the influence of Persian and later Ottoman influence, most of the Circassians converted to Islam by the 15th century, so now the Circassians, Adygeans and Kabardians are Muslims.
To the south of the Circassians and Kabardians live two close Turkic-speaking peoples: the Karachais and the Balkars. Ethnically, the Karachais form a single people with the Balkars, divided purely administratively: the former, together with the ethnically dissimilar Circassians, form Karachay-Cherkessia, the latter, with the Kabardians, form the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The reasons for this bizarre administrative division are unclear. Like the Circassians, these peoples once professed Christianity, but, having fallen out of the circle of Byzantine influence, they converted to Islam.
Ossetia is located east of Kabardino-Balkaria. The ancient Christian kingdom of Ossetians (a people of Iranian origin) - Alania - was one of the largest Christian states in the Caucasus. Ossetians still remain the only North Caucasian people who have retained the Orthodox religion. By the time of general Islamization, the Ossetians had managed to become sufficiently strong in their faith to withstand external onslaught and conjuncture, while other peoples, having not completely eliminated pagan beliefs, in fact, never fully becoming Christians, converted to Islam. At one time, the ancient Alanian kingdom included the lands of the Karachais, Circassians, Balkars and Kabardins. There are still surviving communities of Mozdok Kabardians who have retained their Orthodox self-identification. Until the end of the 19th century, Muslim Balkars, who settled many Alanian lands after the fall of medieval Alania, retained “remnants” of Christianity in the form of veneration of churches and the sign of the cross.
Even further east live two related peoples: the Ingush and the Chechens. Only in the early 90s of the twentieth century did these two peoples form two separate republics on the site of the once united Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The overwhelming majority of Ingush and Chechens are Muslims; Christianity is professed only by Chechens living in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia.
From the eastern border of modern Chechnya to the Caspian Sea is Dagestan, on whose territory more than ten nationalities live, of which the people closest to the Chechens are those belonging to the so-called Nakh-Dagestan language family: Avars, Lezgins, Laks, Dargins, Tabasarans and Aguls. All these peoples live in mountainous areas. On the Caspian coast of Dagestan there are Turkic-speaking Kumyks, and in the northeast there are also Turkic-speaking Nogais. All these peoples profess Islam.
I'll tell you right away. This post is a purely personal subjective feeling that does not claim to be the absolute truth in the last instance (there is no such goal) and is based solely on my own experience. The goal is an attempt to “grope” the national mentality. The author understands everything and adheres to the point of view that each person is individual and any discrimination on any basis is evil. The “quality” of a person depends on himself, and gender, nationality, religion and origin do not affect this “quality” in any way.
Circassians
Commitment to belonging to a nationality is developed. They do not like Karachais. Due to relative national poverty, they are cunning and sometimes greedy. They don’t finish talking, they “probe” for a long time, they don’t trust outsiders. They tend to create fog and work opaquely. Nevertheless, they themselves understand Russians much better than they do, because they are located very close. I didn’t communicate often enough and for a long time, I could be seriously wrong.
Dagestanis
The kind of person who sells sand in the desert. Natural businessmen. They think big, ambitiously, and sometimes it seems insanely unrealistic. But no, when you get closer, you understand the thoughtfulness of the plans. They honor and flatter those who are higher and stronger than them (but in their hearts they hate), they despise and humiliate those lower. If you make a concession once, consider it broken. They believe that everything can be bought, so they try to buy everything and everyone. Fanatically religious. Community clanism (belonging to a tukhun) is very strong. Laws don't work, traditions and customs do. Age plays a big role in the degree of respect. External attributes (show-off) are extremely developed. There may be poverty and a catastrophic lack of space in the house, but there will be a jeep at the gate (a modern interpretation of the idea that every horseman should have a good horse) and a satellite dish in front of the house). Women are mostly powerless. The word plays a big role. The business is shady, built on personal relationships and agreements. Guests of the Dagestanis can rest assured - security will be ensured, they will never let you splurge, you will leave with a bunch of gifts, no matter how much you resist. Honor and appreciate what is being done for you. If you are not a guest or unaccompanied, staying on the territory of the republic is extremely dangerous. Trust in people who know traditions and culture increases greatly. The use of the name Rasul Gamzatov will play a very strong role on you.
Kabardians
Calm, reasonable, clean. They are slow in everyday life. Arrogant. Respect and authority are the highest values. A woman is respected, but she is completely subordinate to a man. They do not tolerate being subordinated by women and those inferior by their standards. Along with the Circassians, they are the calmest and most non-aggressive nation in the Caucasus today. There are a lot of educated and adequate people.
Chechens
External attributes and status are extremely important. Clan plays a primary role. Warriors from the brain and bones. There is a generation that knows nothing but to hold a weapon in their hands and kill. Intolerant of enemies and people of other faiths. Complete submission to people of higher rank, complete disregard for those below. Women are completely powerless. The guest will be provided with everything possible (even better than Dagestan), but as soon as you leave the threshold (you will lose your official status as a guest) you can expect any troubles, even from the recent owner. Very dangerous for non-locals. Crazy money is circulating on the territory of the republic. Crazy salaries, construction projects, projects. A complete dictatorship of the president, without whom not a single more or less worthwhile thing can be done.
Alans
The most tolerant of religion and nationality. They are business oriented and defend their monetary interests very strictly. They respect elders and traditions very much. They are calm, know how to listen and speak, and convince. Tricky. The older generation is trying to impute their business to the younger ones, the continuity of everything. Lobbying and business cronyism are thriving.
P.S. I plan to continue the series.
The Caucasus in Russia is perhaps the most distinctive ethno-demographic region. Here there is linguistic diversity, and the proximity of different religions and peoples, as well as economic structures.
Population of the North Caucasus
According to modern demographers, approximately seventeen million people live in the North Caucasus. The composition of the population of the Caucasus is also very diverse. The people living in this territory represent a wide variety of nations, cultures and languages, as well as religions. Dagestan alone is home to more than forty peoples speaking different languages.
The most widespread language group represented in Dagestan is Lezgin, whose languages are spoken by approximately eight hundred thousand people. However, within the group there is a noticeable difference in the status of languages. For example, about six hundred thousand people speak Lezghin, but residents of only one mountain village speak Achinsk.
It is worth noting that many peoples living on the territory of Dagestan have a history of thousands of years, for example, the Udins, who were one of the state-forming peoples of Caucasian Albania. But such fantastic diversity creates significant difficulties in studying the classification of languages and nationalities, and opens up scope for all kinds of speculation.
Population of the Caucasus: peoples and languages
Avars, Dargins, Chechens, Circassians, Digois and Lezgins have been living side by side for centuries and have developed a complex system of relationships that has made it possible to maintain relative peace in the region for a long time, although conflicts caused by violations of folk customs still occurred.
However, a complex system of checks and balances came into play in the mid-19th 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 empire's desire to enter Transcaucasia and fight Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Of course, in the Christian empire, Muslims, who were the absolute majority in the newly conquered lands, had a hard time. As a result of the war, the population of the North Caucasus on the shores of the Black and Azov Seas alone decreased by almost five hundred thousand.
After the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus, a period of active construction of national autonomies began. It was during the USSR that the following republics were separated from the territory of the RSFSR: Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Ossetia-Alania. Sometimes Kalmykia is also included in the North Caucasus region.
However, interethnic peace did not last long and 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, Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Nogais and Balkars were resettled. it was announced that they must immediately leave their homes and go to another place of residence. The peoples will be resettled in Central Asia, Siberia, and Altai. National autonomies will be liquidated for many years and restored only after the cult of personality is debunked.
In 1991, a special resolution was adopted that rehabilitated peoples subjected to repression and deportation only on the basis of origin.
The young Russian state recognized the resettlement of peoples and the deprivation of their statehood as unconstitutional. Under the new law, peoples could restore the integrity of their borders to the moment before their eviction.
Thus, historical justice was restored, but the trials did not end there.
In Russian federation
However, the matter, of course, was not limited to simply restoring borders. The Ingush who returned from deportation declared territorial claims to neighboring North Ossetia, demanding the return of the Prigorodny district.
In the fall of 1992, a series of murders on ethnic grounds occurred in the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia, the victims of which were several Ingush. The killings provoked a series of clashes using heavy machine guns, followed by an Ingush invasion of the Prigorodny region.
On November 1, Russian troops were brought into the republic in order to prevent further bloodshed, and a committee was created to save North Ossetia.
Another important factor that significantly influenced the culture and demography of the region was the first Chechen war, which is officially called the Restoration of Constitutional Order. More than five thousand people became victims of the fighting and many tens of thousands lost their homes. At the end 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.
In the Northern Caucasus, more than 50 distinctive national ethnic groups live in compact groups on the lands of their ancient ancestors. For centuries, during the eventful historical process in this region, completely different peoples had a common destiny, and the so-called pan-Caucasian ethnographic unity gradually formed.
In total, 9,428,826 people live in the North Caucasus Federal District, of which the vast majority are Russians - 2,854,040 residents, but in the national regions and republics the share of Russians is noticeably smaller. The second largest people in the North are the Chechens, their share is 1,355,857 people. And the third largest nation in the North Caucasus is the Avars, with 865,348 people living here.
Adyghe people
Adyghe people belong to the Adyghe ethnic group and call themselves “Adyghe”. Today, the Adyghe people represent an ethnically independent community and have an administrative territory of residence in the Adyghe Autonomous Okrug in the Krasnodar Territory. They live, numbering 107,048 people, in the lower reaches of the Laba and Kuban on an area of 4,654 square meters. km.
The fertile lands of the vast plain and foothills with a moderately warm climate and chernozem soils, oak and beech forests are ideal for the development of agriculture. The Adygs have long been the aborigines of this North Caucasian region. After the separation of the Kabardians from the single community of Adygs and their subsequent resettlement, the tribes of Temirgoys, Bzhedugs, Abadzekhs, Shapsugs, and Natukhais remained in their native lands in the Kuban, from which a single Adyghe nation was formed.
The number of all Circassian tribes by the end of the Caucasian War reached 1 million people, but in 1864 many Circassians moved to Turkey. Russian Circassians concentrated on a small area of ancestral lands on the Labe. After the revolution in 1922, the Adyghe people were separated according to their nationality into an autonomous region.
In 1936, the region was significantly expanded by the annexation of the Giaginsky district and the city of Maykop. Maykop becomes the capital city of the region. In 1990, the Adyghe Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was separated from the Krasnodar Territory, and a little later in 1992, an independent republic was formed. Since the Middle Ages, the Adyghe people have maintained a traditional economy, growing wheat, corn, barley, orchards and vineyards, and settled livestock breeding.
Armenians
There are 190,825 Armenians living in the region, and although the Armenian ethnic group was historically formed much further south in the Armenian Highlands, part of this people lives within the North Caucasus Federal District. Armenians are an ancient people who appeared on the historical scene in the 13th-6th centuries. BC e. as a result of the mixing of a large number of multilingual tribes of Urartians, Luwians and Hurrians in the Armenian Highlands. The Armenian language belongs to the large Indo-European family of languages.
The historical process of statehood of the Armenians dates back 2.5 millennia; Armenia Minor was known even under Alexander the Great, then in 316 BC. e. Airarat kingdom, later Sophene kingdom. In the III-II centuries. BC e. The political and cultural center of the Armenians moved to Transcaucasia to the Ararat Valley. From the 4th century n. e. Armenians adopted Christianity, and the Armenian Apostolic Church, respected in the Christian world, was formed here. Most Armenians, after the terrible genocide of 1915 by the Ottoman Turks, today live outside their historical homeland.
Circassians
The indigenous inhabitants of Karachay-Cherkessia, Adygea and some areas of Kabardino-Balkaria are the Circassians, a North Caucasian people numbering 61,409 people, of whom 56.5 thousand live densely in 17 high-mountain villages of Karachay-Cherkessia. Ancient Greek historians called them "kerket".
According to archaeologists, this ethnic group includes the ancient Koban culture, dating back to the 13th century. BC e. “Pro-Adygs” and “Provainakhs” could have participated in the formation of the ethnographic group of Circassians. Scientists deny the participation of the ancient Scythians in the formation of the Circassian ethnic group.
In 1921, the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, and later in 1922, the national Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug was formed in the RSFSR. That is why the Circassians were called Circassians for a long time, and a lot of time passed before the Circassians were defined as an independent people. In 1957, the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug, a separate ethnic group, was formed in the Stavropol Territory.
The main traditional occupations of the Circassians have long been transhumance mountain cattle breeding, breeding cows, sheep, horses, and goats. Since ancient times, orchards and vineyards have grown in the valleys of Karachay-Cherkessia, barley, weight and wheat have been grown. The Circassians were famous among other peoples for making high-quality cloth and making clothes from it, blacksmithing and making weapons. 
Karachais
Another indigenous Turkic-speaking people who have lived for centuries in Karachay-Cherkessia along the valleys of the Kuban, Teberda, Urup and Bolshaya Laba are the rather small Karachais. Today, 211,122 people live in the North Caucasus Federal District.
The “Korachee” or “Karochae” people were first mentioned in the notes of the Russian ambassador Fedot Elchin to Mergelia in 1639. Later, the “Kharachai” living on the high peaks of the Kuban and speaking the “Tatar” language are mentioned more than once.
In the formation of the Karachay ethnic group in the 8th-14th centuries. Local Alans and Kipchak Turks participated. The closest peoples to the Karachais in terms of gene pool and language are the Circassians and Abazas. After negotiations and the decision of the elders in 1828, the lands of the Karachais entered the Russian state.
During the Second World War, Karachay Autonomous Okrug for a long time 1942-1943. was under fascist occupation. Due to complicity with enemies, showing the fascists passes in Transcaucasia, mass joining the ranks of the invaders, and harboring German spies, in the fall of 1943, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued a decree on the resettlement of 69,267 Korochaevites to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The Karachays were searched for in other regions of the Caucasus, and 2,543 people were demobilized from the army.
For a long time, over the course of three centuries from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the process of Islamization of the Karachay tribes went on; in their beliefs they still retained a certain mixture of paganism, worship of the highest spirit of nature Tengri, belief in natural magic, sacred stones and trees with Christian teachings and Islam. Today, the majority of Karachais are Sunni Muslims.
Balkars
One of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the region living in the foothills and mountains in the center of the region in the upper reaches of Khaznidon, Chegem, Cherek, Malki and Baksan are the Balkars. There are two versions of the origin of the ethnonym; some scientists suggest that the word “Balkar” is modified from “Malkar”, a resident of the Malkar Gorge, or from the Balkan Bulgarians.
Today, the main population of Balkars, 110,215 people, lives in Kabardino-Balkaria. Balkars speak the Karachay-Balkar language, which is practically not divided into dialects. The Balkars live high in the mountains and are considered one of the few high-mountain peoples in Europe. Alan-Ossetian, Svan and Adyghe tribes took part in the long ethnogenesis of the Balkars.
For the first time he mentions the ethnonym “Balkar” in his notes of the 4th century. Mar Abas Katina, this invaluable information was preserved in the “History of Armenia”, recorded in the 5th century by Movses Khorenatsi. In Russian historical documents, the ethnonym “Basian”, referring to the Balkars, first appeared in 1629. Ossetian Alans have long called the Balkars Ases.
Kabardians
More than 57% of the population of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria is made up of the Kabardians, who are quite numerous for this region. Within the Russian part of the region, representatives of this ethnic group live 502,817 people. The closest people in language and cultural traditions to the Kabardians are the Circassians, Abkhazians and Adygeis. Kabardians speak their own Kabardian language, which is close to Circassian, which belongs to the Abkhaz-Adyghe language group. Besides Russia, the largest diaspora of Kabardians lives in Turkey.
Until the 14th century, the closest Adyghe peoples had a common history. Much later, different of these peoples acquired their own history. And antiquity from the 4th millennium BC. e. under the common ethnonym Adygs were descendants of representatives of the original Maikop culture, it was from this culture that the North Caucasian, Kuban and Koban cultures subsequently emerged.
The country of the Kosogs, modern Kabardians, was first mentioned by the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 957. According to many researchers, the Scythians and Sarmatians participated in the enthogenesis of the Kabardians. Since 1552, the Kabardian princes, led by Temryuk Idarov, began a policy of rapprochement with Russia, so that it would help them protect themselves from the Crimean Khan. Later they participated in the capture of Kazan on the side of Ivan the Terrible; the Russian Tsar even entered into a political marriage with the daughter of Temryuk Idarov.
Ossetians
The main population of North Ossetia, Alania and South Ossetia are the descendants of the fearless warriors of ancient times, the Alans, who opposed and were never conquered by the great Tamerlane - the Ossetians. In total, 481,492 people live in the North Caucasus and feel that they belong to the Ossetian ethnic group.
The ethnonym “Ossetian” appeared after the name of the region where representatives of this people “Oseti” had long lived. This is what the Georgians called this region in the Caucasus Mountains. The word “Axis” comes from the self-name of one of the Alan clans “Ases”. In the well-known code of warriors “Nart Epic” there is another self-name of Ossetians “allon”, from which the word “alan” comes.
The Ossetian spoken language belongs to the Iranian group and is the only language among the world that is closest to the ancient Scythian-Sarmatian language. In it, linguists distinguish two related dialects according to two subethnic groups of Ossetians: Ironsky and Digorsky. The lead in the number of speakers belongs to the Iron dialect; it became the basis for the literary Ossetian language.
The ancient Alans, descendants of the Pontic Scythians, took part in the ethnogenesis of the Ossetians; they mixed with local tribes. Even in the Middle Ages, the fearless Alans posed a great danger to the Khazars, were interesting as valiant warriors and allies for Byzantium, fought on equal terms with the Mongols and opposed Tamerlane.
Ingush
The indigenous people of Ingushetia, North Ossetia and the Sunzhensky region of Chechnya are the “Gargarei”, mentioned by Strabo - the North Caucasian Ingush. Their ancestors were carriers of the Koban culture, native to many Caucasian peoples. Today, 418,996 Ingush live here in their native lands.
In the medieval period, the Ingush were in an alliance of Alan tribes, along with the ancestors of the Balkars and Ossetians, Chechens and Karachais. It is here in Ingushetia that the ruins of the so-called Ekazhevsko-Yandyr settlement are located, according to archaeologists, the capital city of Alania - Magas.
After the defeat of Alania by the Mongols and the clash between the Alans and Tamerlane, the remnants of related tribes went to the mountains, and the formation of the Ingush ethnic group began there. In the 15th century, the Ingush made several attempts to return to the plain, but during the 1562 campaign of Prince Temryuk they were forced to return to the mountains.
The resettlement of the Ingush to the Tara Valley ended after joining Russia only in the 19th century. The Ingush have been part of Russia since 1770 after the decision of the elders. During the construction of the Georgian Military Road through the Ingush lands in 1784, the Vladikavkaz fortress was founded on the banks of the Terek.
Chechens
The indigenous population of Chechnya are Chechens, the self-name of the Vainakh tribe is “Nokhchi”. For the first time, a people with the name “Sasan”, identical to “Nokhcha”, was mentioned in the chronicle of the Persian Rashid ad-Din of the 13th-14th centuries. Today, 1,335,857 Chechens live in the region, most of them in Chechnya.
Mountainous Chechnya became part of the Russian state in 1781 by the decision of the honorary elders of 15 villages in the southern part of the republic. After the protracted and bloody Caucasian War, more than 5 thousand Chechen families went to the Ottoman Empire, their descendants became the basis of the Chechen diasporas in Syria and Turkey.
In 1944, more than 0.5 million Chechens were resettled in Central Asia. The reason for the deportation was banditry; up to 200 gangs numbering up to 2-3 thousand people operated here. Few people know that a serious reason for the deportation was the work since 1940 of the underground organization of Khasan Israilov, whose goal was to separate the region from the USSR and destroy all Russians here.
Nogais
Another Turkic people of the region are the Nogais, the self-name of the ethnic group is “Nogai”, sometimes they are called Nogai Tatars or Crimean steppe Tatars. More than 20 ancient peoples took part in the formation of the ethnos, among them the Siraks and Uighurs, the Neumanns and Dormens, the Kereits and Ases, the Kipchaks and Bulgars, the Argyns and Keneges.
The ethnonym “Nogai” belongs to the name of the Golden Horde political figure of the 13th century, Temnik Beklerbek Nogai, who united all the disparate proto-Nogai ethnic groups into a single ethnic group under his leadership. The first state association of Nogais was the so-called Nogai Horde; it appeared on the historical arena with the collapse of the Golden Horde.
The formation of the Nogai state continued under the Golden Horde temnik Edyge, the legendary and heroic ruler and preacher of Islam continued to unite the Nogais. He continued all the traditions of Nogai's rule and completely separated the Nogais from the power of the khans of the Golden Horde. The Nogai Horde is mentioned in chronicles and Russian ambassadorial books for 1479, 1481, 1486, letters of European rulers, King of Poland Sigismund I, in charters and letters of Rus' and medieval Poland, Crimean khans.
Caravan routes between Central Asia and Europe passed through the capital city of the Nogai Horde, Saraichik, on the Ural River. The Nogais became part of the Russian state by the decision of the elders of the clans in 1783, which was confirmed by the Manifesto of Catherine II. In separate groups, the Nogais still fought for independence, but the leadership talent of A.V. Suvorov did not leave them a chance. Only a small part of the Nogais took refuge in the area between the Terek and Kuma rivers, on the territory of modern Chechnya.
Other peoples
Many other ethnic groups and nationalities live in the foothills of the Caucasus. There are 865,348 Avars living here, 466,769 Kumyks, 166,526 Laks, 541,552 Dargins according to the latest census results, 396,408 Lezgins, 29,979 Aguls, 29,413 Rutuls, 127,941 – Tabasarans and others.
According to the 2010 population census, 142 people live in the North Caucasus (Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Stavropol Territory). Of these, only 36 are indigenous, that is, they have lived in this territory for centuries. The rest are newcomers.
In this regard, by the way, the question arises: how long do you need to live in a certain area to become an “indigenous people”? And is it possible, for example, to include Jews who have lived in the North Caucasus for millennia under this definition? Or, say, the Karaites, who are considered to have come from the Hittite kingdom? There are few of them, but they are also represented in the region.
Indigenous peoples
The indigenous peoples of the Caucasus prefer to live on their lands. The Abazins settle in Karachay-Cherkessia, where their number exceeds 36 thousand. Abkhazians live there or in the Stavropol Territory. But most of all in this republic are Karachais (194,324 people) and Circassians (56,446). There are also 15,654 Nogais living in Karachay-Cherkessia.
In Dagestan live 850,011 Avars, 490,384 Dargins, 385,240 Lezgins, 118,848 Tabasarans, 40,407 Nogais, 27,849 Rutuls (southern Dagestan), almost 30 thousand Aguls and a little more than 3 thousand Tatars.
Ossetians (459,688 people) settle on their lands in North Ossetia. About 10 thousand Ossetians live in Kabardino-Balkaria, a little more than three thousand in Karachay-Cherkessia and only 585 people in Chechnya.
The majority of Chechens live in Chechnya itself - 1,206,551 people. Moreover, almost 100 thousand know only their native language. About 100 thousand more Chechens live in Dagestan, and about 12 thousand in the Stavropol region. About 3 thousand Nogais, approximately 5 thousand Avars, almost one and a half thousand Tatars, and the same number of Turks and Tabasarans live in Chechnya. 12,221 Kumyks live there. There are 24,382 Russians left in Chechnya, 305 Cossacks.
Balkars (108,587) inhabit Kabardino-Balkaria and almost never settle in other places in the North Caucasus. In addition to them, half a million Kabardians and about 14 thousand Turks live in the republic. Among the large national diasporas we can distinguish Koreans, Ossetians, Tatars, Circassians and Gypsies. By the way, the latter are most numerous in the Stavropol Territory, there are over 30 thousand of them there. And about 3 thousand more live in Kabardino-Balkaria. There are few gypsies in other republics.
Ingush numbering 385,537 people live in their native Ingushetia. In addition to them, 18,765 Chechens, 3,215 Russians, and 732 Turks live there. Among the rare nationalities there are Yezidis, Karelians, Chinese, Estonians and Itelmens.
The Russian population is concentrated mainly on the arable lands of Stavropol - 223,153 people. Another 193,155 people live in Kabardino-Balkaria, about 3 thousand in Ingushetia, a little more than 150 thousand in Karachay-Cherkessia and 104,020 in Dagestan. There are 147,090 Russians living in North Ossetia.
Alien peoples
Among the alien peoples, several groups can be distinguished. These are people from the Middle East and Central Asia, for example, Pakistanis, Afghans, Persians, Turks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds.
The second group is people from various regions of Russia: Mansi, Khanty, Mari, Mordovians and even Mordovian-Moksha, Nenets, Tatars, Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks, Tuvans, Buryats, Kalmyks, Karelians, Komi, Komi-Permyaks, Chuvash, Shors , Evenks and Evenki-Lamuts, Yakuts (the most of them are in the Stavropol region - 43 people, and none at all in Ingushetia), Aleuts, Kamchadals, Yukaghirs, Koryaks (9 people live in the Stavropol region and one in Dagestan), Sekulpi (a rare northern people ), Kereks and one representative of the Ket people from the banks of the Yenisei.
There is a fairly large German diaspora in the Stavropol region - 5,288 people. Germans also live in Dagestan, Ossetia and Chechnya.
Among the population of the North Caucasus there are also those who came from the CIS countries. The largest number of Ukrainians is in the Stavropol Territory – 30,373 people. Of all the republics, the largest diaspora is in North Ossetia - there were just over three thousand Ukrainians here in 2010. By the way, in connection with recent events, their number there may significantly increase.
Azerbaijanis settled throughout the region. Most of them are in Dagestan - 130,919, in Stavropol - 17,800, in Ossetia - 2,857, in Chechnya - 696, in Kabardino-Balkaria - 2,063, in Karachay-Cherkessia - 976 people.
Armenians also spread throughout the North Caucasus. In the Stavropol region there are 161,324 people, in North Ossetia - 16,235 people, in Kabardino-Balkaria - 5,002 people and in Dagestan - 4,997 people.
Moldovans also live in the North Caucasus, a total of about one and a half thousand people.
Guests from distant countries are also represented in the North Caucasus. These are Serbs and Croats, Slovenes and Slovaks, Romanians, Finns, French, British, Americans, Spaniards, Italians, Indians, Cubans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and even Mongols. But, of course, there are few of them - only a few people.