The question of the origin of the Chechen people still causes debate. According to one version, the Chechens are an autochthonous people of the Caucasus; a more exotic version connects the emergence of the Chechen ethnic group with the Khazars.
Difficulties of etymology
The emergence of the ethnonym “Chechens” has many explanations. Some scholars suggest that this word is a transliteration of the name of the Chechen people among the Kabardians - “Shashan”, which may have come from the name of the village of Bolshoi Chechen. Presumably, it was there that the Russians first met the Chechens in the 17th century. According to another hypothesis, the word “Chechen” has Nogai roots and is translated as “robber, dashing, thieving person.”
The Chechens themselves call themselves “Nokhchi”. This word has an equally complex etymological nature. Caucasus scholar of the late 19th – early 20th centuries Bashir Dalgat wrote that the name “Nokhchi” can be used as a common tribal name among both the Ingush and the Chechens. However, in modern Caucasian studies, it is customary to use the term “Vainakhs” (“our people”) to refer to the Ingush and Chechens.
Recently, scientists have been paying attention to another version of the ethnonym “Nokhchi” - “Nakhchmatyan”. The term first appears in the “Armenian Geography” of the 7th century. According to the Armenian orientalist Kerope Patkanov, the ethnonym “Nakhchmatyan” is compared with the medieval ancestors of the Chechens.
Ethnic diversity
The oral traditions of the Vainakhs say that their ancestors came from beyond the mountains. Many scientists agree that the ancestors of the Caucasian peoples formed in Western Asia approximately 5 thousand years BC and over the next several thousand years actively migrated towards the Caucasian Isthmus, settling on the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas. Some of the settlers penetrated beyond the Caucasus Range along the Argun Gorge and settled in the mountainous part of modern Chechnya.
According to most modern Caucasian scholars, all subsequent time there was a complex process of ethnic consolidation of the Vainakh ethnos, in which neighboring peoples periodically intervened. Doctor of Philology Katy Chokaev notes that discussions about the ethnic “purity” of Chechens and Ingush are erroneous. According to the scientist, in their development, both peoples have come a long way, as a result of which they both absorbed the features of other ethnic groups and lost some of their features.
Among modern Chechens and Ingush, ethnographers find a significant proportion of representatives of the Turkic, Dagestan, Ossetian, Georgian, Mongolian, and Russian peoples. This is evidenced, in particular, by the Chechen and Ingush languages, in which there is a noticeable percentage of borrowed words and grammatical forms. But we can also safely talk about the influence of the Vainakh ethnic group on neighboring peoples. For example, the orientalist Nikolai Marr wrote: “I will not hide that in the highlanders of Georgia, along with them in the Khevsurs and Pshavas, I see Georgianized Chechen tribes.”
The most ancient Caucasians
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Georgy Anchabadze is sure that the Chechens are the oldest of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus. He adheres to the Georgian historiographical tradition, according to which the brothers Kavkaz and Lek laid the foundation for two peoples: the first - Chechen-Ingush, the second - Dagestan. The descendants of the brothers subsequently settled the uninhabited territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga. This opinion is largely consistent with the statement of the German scientist Friedrich Blubenbach, who wrote that the Chechens have a Caucasian anthropological type, reflecting the appearance of the very first Caucasian Cro-Magnons. Archaeological data also indicate that ancient tribes lived in the mountains of the North Caucasus back in the Bronze Age.
British historian Charles Rekherton in one of his works moves away from the autochthony of the Chechens and makes a bold statement that the origins of Chechen culture include the Hurrian and Urartian civilizations. In particular, the Russian linguist Sergei Starostin points out related, albeit distant, connections between the Hurrian and modern Vainakh languages.
Ethnographer Konstantin Tumanov in his book “On the Prehistoric Language of Transcaucasia” suggested that the famous “Van inscriptions” - Urartian cuneiform texts - were made by the ancestors of the Vainakhs. To prove the antiquity of the Chechen people, Tumanov cited a huge number of toponyms. In particular, the ethnographer noticed that in the language of Urartu, a protected fortified area or fortress was called “khoy”. In the same meaning, this word is found in Chechen-Ingush toponymy: Khoy is a village in Cheberloy, which really had strategic importance, blocking the path to the Cheberloy basin from Dagestan.
Noah's people
Let’s return to the self-name of the Chechens “Nokhchi”. Some researchers see in it a direct reference to the name of the Old Testament patriarch Noah (in the Koran - Nuh, in the Bible - Noah). They divide the word “nokhchi” into two parts: if the first - “nokh” - means Noah, then the second - “chi” - should be translated as “people” or “people”. This was, in particular, pointed out by the German linguist Adolf Dirr, who said that the element “chi” in any word means “person”. You don't need to look far for examples. In order to designate residents of a city in Russian, in many cases it is enough for us to add the ending “chi” - Muscovites, Omsk.
Are Chechens descendants of the Khazars?
The version that Chechens are descendants of the biblical Noah continues. A number of researchers claim that the Jews of the Khazar Khaganate, whom many call the 13th tribe of Israel, did not disappear without a trace. Defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich in 964, they went to the Caucasus mountains and there laid the foundations of the Chechen ethnic group. In particular, some of the refugees after Svyatoslav’s victorious campaign were met in Georgia by the Arab traveler Ibn Haukal.
A copy of an interesting NKVD instruction from 1936 has been preserved in the Soviet archives. The document explained that up to 30% of Chechens secretly profess the religion of their ancestors, Judaism, and consider the rest of the Chechens to be low-born strangers.
It is noteworthy that Khazaria has a translation in the Chechen language - “ Beautiful country" The head of the Archive Department under the President and Government of the Chechen Republic, Magomed Muzaev, notes on this matter: “It is quite possible that the capital of Khazaria was located on our territory. We must know that Khazaria, which existed on the map for 600 years, was the most powerful state in eastern Europe.”
“Many ancient sources indicate that the Terek valley was inhabited by the Khazars. In the V-VI centuries. this country was called Barsilia, and, according to the Byzantine chroniclers Theophanes and Nikephoros, the homeland of the Khazars was located here,” wrote the famous orientalist Lev Gumilyov.
Some Chechens are still convinced that they are descendants of Khazar Jews. Thus, eyewitnesses say that during the Chechen war, one of the militant leaders Shamil Basayev said: “This war is revenge for the defeat of the Khazars.”
The modern Russian writer - Chechen by nationality - German Sadulayev also believes that some Chechen teips are descendants of the Khazars.
Another curious fact: in the oldest image of a Chechen warrior that has survived to this day, two six-pointed stars of the Israeli king David are clearly visible.
The question of the origin of the Chechen people still causes debate. According to one version, the Chechens are an autochthonous people of the Caucasus; a more exotic version connects the emergence of the Chechen ethnic group with the Khazars.
Difficulties of etymology
The emergence of the ethnonym “Chechens” has many explanations. Some scholars suggest that this word is a transliteration of the name of the Chechen people among the Kabardians - “Shashan”, which may have come from the name of the village of Bolshoi Chechen. Presumably, it was there that the Russians first met the Chechens in the 17th century. According to another hypothesis, the word “Chechen” has Nogai roots and is translated as “robber, dashing, thieving person.”
The Chechens themselves call themselves “Nokhchi”. This word has an equally complex etymological nature. Caucasus scholar of the late 19th – early 20th centuries Bashir Dalgat wrote that the name “Nokhchi” can be used as a common tribal name among both the Ingush and the Chechens. However, in modern Caucasian studies, it is customary to use the term “Vainakhs” (“our people”) to refer to the Ingush and Chechens.
Recently, scientists have been paying attention to another version of the ethnonym “Nokhchi” - “Nakhchmatyan”. The term first appears in the “Armenian Geography” of the 7th century. According to the Armenian orientalist Kerope Patkanov, the ethnonym “Nakhchmatyan” is compared with the medieval ancestors of the Chechens.
Ethnic diversity
The oral traditions of the Vainakhs say that their ancestors came from beyond the mountains. Many scientists agree that the ancestors of the Caucasian peoples formed in Western Asia approximately 5 thousand years BC and over the next several thousand years actively migrated towards the Caucasian Isthmus, settling on the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas. Some of the settlers penetrated beyond the Caucasus Range along the Argun Gorge and settled in the mountainous part of modern Chechnya.
According to most modern Caucasian scholars, all subsequent time there was a complex process of ethnic consolidation of the Vainakh ethnos, in which neighboring peoples periodically intervened. Doctor of Philology Katy Chokaev notes that discussions about the ethnic “purity” of Chechens and Ingush are erroneous. According to the scientist, in their development, both peoples have come a long way, as a result of which they both absorbed the features of other ethnic groups and lost some of their features.
Among modern Chechens and Ingush, ethnographers find a significant proportion of representatives of the Turkic, Dagestan, Ossetian, Georgian, Mongolian, and Russian peoples. This is evidenced, in particular, by the Chechen and Ingush languages, in which there is a noticeable percentage of borrowed words and grammatical forms. But we can also safely talk about the influence of the Vainakh ethnic group on neighboring peoples. For example, the orientalist Nikolai Marr wrote: “I will not hide that in the highlanders of Georgia, along with them in the Khevsurs and Pshavas, I see Georgianized Chechen tribes.”
The most ancient Caucasians
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Georgy Anchabadze is sure that the Chechens are the oldest of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus. He adheres to the Georgian historiographical tradition, according to which the brothers Kavkaz and Lek laid the foundation for two peoples: the first - Chechen-Ingush, the second - Dagestan. The descendants of the brothers subsequently settled the uninhabited territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga. This opinion is largely consistent with the statement of the German scientist Friedrich Blubenbach, who wrote that the Chechens have a Caucasian anthropological type, reflecting the appearance of the very first Caucasian Cramanyons. Archaeological data also indicate that ancient tribes lived in the mountains of the North Caucasus back in the Bronze Age.
British historian Charles Rekherton in one of his works moves away from the autochthony of the Chechens and makes a bold statement that the origins of Chechen culture include the Hurrian and Urartian civilizations. In particular, the Russian linguist Sergei Starostin points out related, albeit distant, connections between the Hurrian and modern Vainakh languages.
Ethnographer Konstantin Tumanov in his book “On the Prehistoric Language of Transcaucasia” suggested that the famous “Van inscriptions” - Urartian cuneiform texts - were made by the ancestors of the Vainakhs. To prove the antiquity of the Chechen people, Tumanov cited a huge number of toponyms. In particular, the ethnographer noticed that in the language of Urartu, a protected fortified area or fortress was called “khoy”. In the same meaning, this word is found in Chechen-Ingush toponymy: Khoy is a village in Cheberloy, which really had strategic importance, blocking the path to the Cheberloy basin from Dagestan.
Noah's people
Let’s return to the self-name of the Chechens “Nokhchi”. Some researchers see in it a direct reference to the name of the Old Testament patriarch Noah (in the Koran - Nuh, in the Bible - Noah). They divide the word “nokhchi” into two parts: if the first - “nokh” - means Noah, then the second - “chi” - should be translated as “people” or “people”. This was, in particular, pointed out by the German linguist Adolf Dirr, who said that the element “chi” in any word means “person”. You don't need to look far for examples. In order to designate residents of a city in Russian, in many cases it is enough for us to add the ending “chi” - Muscovites, Omsk.
Are Chechens descendants of the Khazars?
The version that Chechens are descendants of the biblical Noah continues. A number of researchers claim that the Jews of the Khazar Khaganate, whom many call the 13th tribe of Israel, did not disappear without a trace. Defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich in 964, they went to the Caucasus mountains and there laid the foundations of the Chechen ethnic group. In particular, some of the refugees after Svyatoslav’s victorious campaign were met in Georgia by the Arab traveler Ibn Haukal.
A copy of an interesting NKVD instruction from 1936 has been preserved in the Soviet archives. The document explained that up to 30% of Chechens secretly profess the religion of their ancestors, Judaism, and consider the rest of the Chechens to be low-born strangers.
It is noteworthy that Khazaria has a translation in the Chechen language - “Beautiful Country”. The head of the Archive Department under the President and Government of the Chechen Republic, Magomed Muzaev, notes on this matter: “It is quite possible that the capital of Khazaria was located on our territory. We must know that Khazaria, which existed on the map for 600 years, was the most powerful state in eastern Europe.”
“Many ancient sources indicate that the Terek valley was inhabited by the Khazars. In the V-VI centuries. this country was called Barsilia, and, according to the Byzantine chroniclers Theophanes and Nikephoros, the homeland of the Khazars was located here,” wrote the famous orientalist Lev Gumilyov.
Some Chechens are still convinced that they are descendants of Khazar Jews. Thus, eyewitnesses say that during the Chechen war, one of the militant leaders Shamil Basayev said: “This war is revenge for the defeat of the Khazars.”
The modern Russian writer - Chechen by nationality - German Sadulayev also believes that some Chechen teips are descendants of the Khazars.
Another curious fact: in the oldest image of a Chechen warrior that has survived to this day, two six-pointed stars of the Israeli king David are clearly visible.
According to numerous studies, the Chechens are one of the oldest peoples of the Caucasus with an expressive anthropological type, a characteristic ethnic face, a distinctive culture and a rich language. Already at the end of the 3rd - first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The distinctive culture of the local population is developing on the territory of the Chechen Republic. The Chechens were directly related to the formation of such cultures in the Caucasus as early agricultural, Kuro-Araks, Maikop, Kayakent-Kharachoev, Mugergan, Koban. The combination of modern indicators of archaeology, anthropology, linguistics and ethnography has established the deeply local origin of the Chechen (Nakh) people. Mentions of the Chechens (under different names) as the indigenous inhabitants of the Caucasus are found in many ancient and medieval sources. We find the first reliable written information about the ancestors of the Chechens from Greco-Roman historians of the 1st century. BC. and the beginning of the 1st century. AD Archaeological research proves the presence of close economic and cultural ties of the Chechens not only with adjacent territories, but also with the peoples of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Together with the other peoples of the Caucasus, the Chechens participated in the fight against the invasions of the Romans, Iranians, and Arabs. From the 9th century The flat part of the Chechen Republic was part of the Alanian kingdom. The mountainous regions became part of the kingdom of Serir. The progressive development of the medieval Chechen Republic was stopped by the invasion in the 13th century. Mongol-Tatars, who destroyed the first state formations on its territory. Under the pressure of nomads, the ancestors of the Chechens were forced to leave the lowland areas and go to the mountains, which undoubtedly delayed the socio-economic development of Chechen society. In the 14th century The Chechens, having recovered from the Mongol invasion, formed the state of Simsir, which was later destroyed by Timur’s troops. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the lowland regions of Chechnya came under the control of Kabardian and Dagestan feudal lords. The Chechens, forced out of the lowland lands by the Mongol-Tatars until the 16th century. lived mainly in the mountains, dividing into territorial groups that received names from mountains, rivers, etc. (Michikovites, Kachkalykovites), near which they lived. Since the 16th century Chechens begin to return to the plain. Around the same time, Russian Cossack settlers appeared on the Terek and Sunzha, who would soon become an integral part of the North Caucasian community. The Terek-Grebensky Cossacks, which became an important factor in the economic and political history of the region, consisted not only of fugitive Russians, but also of representatives of the mountain peoples themselves, primarily the Chechens. In the historical literature, there is a consensus that in the initial period of the formation of the Terek-Greben Cossacks (in the 16th-17th centuries), peaceful, friendly relations developed between them and the Chechens. They continued until the end of the 18th century, until tsarism began to use the Cossacks for its colonial purposes. Centuries-old peaceful relations between the Cossacks and the highlanders contributed to the mutual influence of mountain and Russian culture. From the end of the 16th century. The formation of the Russian-Chechen military-political alliance begins. Both parties were interested in its creation. Russia needed the help of the North Caucasian highlanders to successfully fight Turkey and Iran, who had long tried to take possession of the North Caucasus. There were convenient routes of communication with Transcaucasia through Chechnya. For political and economic reasons, the Chechens were also vitally interested in an alliance with Russia. In 1588, the first Chechen embassy arrived in Moscow, petitioning for the Chechens to be accepted under Russian protection. The Moscow Tsar issued a corresponding letter. The mutual interest of the Chechen owners and the tsarist authorities in peaceful political and economic relations led to the establishment of a military-political alliance between them. According to decrees from Moscow, Chechens constantly went on campaigns together with Kabardians and Terek Cossacks, including against the Crimea and Iranian-Turkish troops. It can be said with all certainty that in the XVI-XVII centuries. Russia in the North Caucasus did not have more loyal and consistent allies than the Chechens. About the emerging close rapprochement between the Chechens and Russia in the mid-16th - early 17th centuries. The fact that part of the Terek Cossacks served under the command of the “Okotsk Murzas” - Chechen owners - also speaks for itself. All of the above is confirmed by a large number of archival documents. In the second half of the 18th century, and especially in the last two decades, a number of Chechen villages and societies accepted Russian citizenship. The largest number of oaths of citizenship occurred in 1781, which gave some historians reason to write that this meant the annexation of the Chechen Republic to Russia. However, in the last third of the 18th century. New, negative aspects have also appeared in Russian-Chechen relations. As Russia strengthens in the North Caucasus and its rivals (Turkey and Iran) weaken in the struggle for the region, tsarism increasingly begins to move from allied relations with the mountaineers (including the Chechens) to their direct subordination. At the same time, mountain lands are captured, on which military fortifications and Cossack villages are built. All this meets with armed resistance from the mountaineers. From the beginning of the 19th century. There is an even more dramatic intensification of Russia's Caucasus policy. In 1818, with the construction of the Grozny fortress, a massive attack of tsarism on Chechnya began. Governor of the Caucasus A.P. Ermolov (1816-1827), discarding the previous, centuries-old experience of predominantly peaceful relations between Russia and the highlanders, began to quickly establish Russian power in the region using force. In response, the liberation struggle of the highlanders rises. The tragic Caucasian War begins. In 1840, in the Chechen Republic, in response to the repressive policies of the tsarist administration, a general armed uprising took place. Shamil is proclaimed Imam of the Chechen Republic. The Chechen Republic becomes an integral part of Shamil's theocratic state - the Imamate. The process of annexation of the Chechen Republic to Russia ends in 1859, after the final defeat of Shamil. The Chechens suffered greatly during the Caucasian War. Dozens of Chechen villages were completely destroyed. Almost a third of the population died from hostilities, hunger and disease. It should be noted that even during the years of the Caucasian War, trade, political-diplomatic and cultural ties between Chechens and Russian settlers along the Terek that arose in the previous period were not interrupted. Even during the years of this war, the border between the Russian state and Chechen societies represented not only a line of armed contact, but also a kind of contact-civilization zone where economic and personal (kunic) ties developed. The process of mutual knowledge and mutual influence between Russians and Chechens, which weakened hostility and mistrust, has not been interrupted since the end of the 16th century. During the years of the Caucasian War, the Chechens repeatedly tried to peacefully, politically solve emerging problems in Russian-Chechen relations. In the 60-70s of the nineteenth century. Administrative and land-tax reforms were carried out in the Chechen Republic, and the first secular schools for Chechen children were created. In 1868, the first primer in the Chechen language was published. In 1896, the Grozny City School was opened. Since the end of the nineteenth century. Industrial oil production began. In 1893 Railway connected Grozny with the center of Russia. Already at the beginning of the twentieth century. The city of Grozny began to turn into one of the industrial centers of the North Caucasus. Despite the fact that these transformations were carried out in the spirit of establishing colonial orders (it was this circumstance that caused the uprising in the Chechen Republic in 1877, as well as the resettlement of part of the population within the Ottoman Empire), they contributed to the involvement of the Chechen Republic into a single Russian administrative, economic and cultural and educational system. During the years of revolution and civil war anarchy and anarchy reigned in Chechnya. During this period, the Chechens experienced revolution and counter-revolution, an ethnic war with the Cossacks, and genocide by the White and Red Armies. Attempts to create an independent state, both religious (the Emirate of Sheikh Uzun-Haji) and a secular type (the Mountain Republic), were unsuccessful. Ultimately, the poor part of the Chechens chose in favor of the Soviet government, which promised them freedom, equality, land and statehood. In 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee declared the creation of the Chechen Autonomous Region within the RSFSR. In 1934, the Chechen and Ingush autonomies were united into the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region. In 1936 it was transformed into the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945), fascist German troops invaded the territory of the autonomy (in the fall of 1942). In January 1943, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was liberated. Chechens fought courageously in the ranks of the Soviet Army. Several thousand soldiers were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. 18 Chechens were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1944, the autonomous republic was liquidated. Two hundred thousand soldiers and officers of the NKVD and the Red Army carried out a military operation to deport over half a million Chechens and Ingush to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. A significant part of the deportees died during the resettlement and in the first year of exile. In 1957, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was restored. At the same time, some mountainous regions of the Chechen Republic remained closed to Chechens. In November 1990, a session of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty. On November 1, 1991, the creation of the Chechen Republic was proclaimed. The new Chechen authorities refused to sign the Federal Treaty. In June 1993, under the leadership of Soviet General D. Dudayev, a military coup was carried out in the Chechen Republic. At the request of D. Dudayev, Russian troops withdrew from the Chechen Republic. Uncertainty and a struggle for power reigned in the republic, resulting in open confrontation. Thus, in August 1994, the opposition Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic announced the removal of D. Dudayev from power. The fighting that unfolded in the Chechen Republic in November 1994 ended in the defeat of the opposition. On December 11, 1994, on the basis of the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin “On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic,” the entry of Russian troops into the Chechen Republic began. Despite the capture of Grozny by federal forces and the creation of the Government of National Revival, the fighting did not stop. Died during the fighting a large number of civilians, a significant part of the population was forced to leave the republic and live in refugee camps in the regions neighboring Chechnya. The first Chechen campaign ended with the signing on August 30, 1996 in Khasavyurt of an agreement on the cessation of hostilities and the complete withdrawal of federal troops from the territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. After the withdrawal of Russian troops, Aslan Maskhadov became the head of Ichkeria. Soon the Sharia system of government was proclaimed in the republic. Instead of an independent state, Ichkeria became a place of concentration of gangs, chaos and complete anarchy reigned in the republic itself. The Khasavyurt agreements were violated by high-profile terrorist attacks, and after the invasion of Basayev’s gangs in August 1999 into the territory of neighboring Dagestan, the second stage of hostilities began in the Chechen Republic. By February 2000, the main phase of the combined arms operation to destroy the gangs was completed. In the summer of 2000, Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov was appointed head of the Provisional Administration of the Chechen Republic. The difficult process of reviving the Chechen Republic began. On March 23, 2003, a referendum was held in the Chechen Republic, in which the population overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Chechen Republic being part of Russian Federation. A new Constitution of the Chechen Republic was adopted, and laws on the elections of the President and Government of the Chechen Republic were approved. In the fall of 2003, Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov was elected the first President of the Chechen Republic. On May 9, 2004, A.A. Kadyrov died as a result of a terrorist attack. On April 5, 2007, Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov was confirmed as President of the Chechen Republic. Under his direct leadership, dramatic changes took place in the Chechen Republic in a very short time. Political stability and security have been restored in the region, the cities and villages of the republic, the healthcare and education systems have been completely restored. Today, the Chechen Republic is one of the most stable and dynamically developing regions of Russia.
BRIEF ETHNIC HISTORY OF THE VAINAH
The ethnic history of the Vainakhs (Chechens, Ingush, Tsovatushins) goes back thousands of years. In Mesopotamia (between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), in Sumer, in Anatolia, the Syrian and Armenian highlands, in Transcaucasia and on the banks Mediterranean Sea majestic and mysterious traces of Hurrian states, cities, and settlements dating back to the 4th-1st millennia BC remained. e. It is the Hurrians who are singled out by modern historical science as the most ancient ancestors of the Nakh peoples.
The right of the Nakhs to inherit the genetic, cultural and historical memory of their distant ancestors is evidenced by numerous data in the field of language, archeology, anthropology, toponymy, chronicle and folklore sources, parallels and continuity in customs, rites, and traditions.
We are talking, however, not about a one-time process of resettlement of Hurrian tribes from Western Asia to the northern foothills of the Greater Caucasus Range, where Chechens and Ingush now live compactly. Numerous and majestic Hurrian states and communities in the past: Sumer, Mitanni (Naharina), Alzi, Karahar, Arrapha, Urartu (Nairi, Biaini) and others - at different historical times dissolved into new state formations, and the bulk of the Hurrians, Etruscans, Urartians, was assimilated by the more numerous nomadic tribes of Semites, Assyrians, Persians, Turks and others.
A sensational report about the close connection of the ancient Nakhs with the Western Asian civilizations was made in the mid-sixties by the outstanding Caucasian scholar, professor, Lenin Prize laureate Evgeniy Ivanovich Krupnov:
“...The study of the past of the multinational Caucasus is also associated with the problem of ethnogenesis of a certain circle of ancient and original peoples, forming a special linguistic group (the so-called Iberian-Caucasian family of languages). As is known, it is sharply different from all other language families in the world and turned out to be associated with the ancient peoples of Western and Minor Asia even before the Indo-European, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples entered the historical arena.”
For the first time in Soviet historiography, materials on the close relationship of the Hurrian-Urartian language with the Nakh languages were published in 1954 by the Polish linguist J. Braun and the Soviet linguist A Klimov. Later, this discovery was confirmed in the works of prominent scientists and local historians: Yu. D. Desherieva, I. M. Dyakonov, A. S. Chikobava, A. Yu. Militarev, S. A Starostin, Kh. Z. Bakaeva, K. Z Chokaeva, S.-M. Khasiev, A. Alikhadzhiev, S. M. Dzhamirzaev, R. M. Nashkhoev and others.
Among the foreign scientists who drew attention to the ethnolinguistic closeness of the Chechens with the ancient population of Western Asia was the German linguist Joseph Karst. In 1937, in his work “The Beginning of the Mediterranean. Prehistoric Mediterranean peoples, their origin, settlement and kinship. Ethnolinguistic Research" (Heidelberg) he wrote:
“The Chechens are not actually Caucasians, but ethnically and linguistically: they are sharply separated from the other mountain peoples of the Caucasus. They are the descendants of the great Hyperborean-Paleo-Asian (Nast Asian) tribe moved to the Caucasus, which stretched from Turan (Turkey - N.S.-Kh.) through Northern Mesopotamia to Canaan. With its euphological vocalism, its structure, which does not tolerate any accumulation of consonants, the Chechen language is characterized as a member of a family that was once geographically and genetically closer to the proto-Hamitic than to the Caucasian languages proper.”
Karst calls the Chechen language “the leapfrogged northern offspring of the parent language,” which once occupied much more southern territory in pre-Armenian-Alarodian (i.e., Urartian) Western Asia.
Of the Russian pre-revolutionary authors, Konstantin Mikhailovich Tumanov wrote with amazing scientific insight about the origin of the Vainakhs back in 1913 in his book “On the Prehistoric Language of Transcaucasia,” published in Tiflis. Having analyzed numerous materials in the field of language, toponymy, written sources and legends, the author came to the conclusion that even before the current Transcaucasian peoples entered the historical arena, the ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush were widely settled here.
Tumanov even then suggested that the famous “Van inscriptions” - Urartian cuneiform texts - were made by the ancestors of the Vainakhs. This assumption was subsequently completely confirmed. Scientists today have no doubt that of all the known languages of the world, the language of modern Chechens and Ingush is closest to Urarto-Hurrian.
Of course, the aborigines who lived from ancient times on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range and the steppe zone, stretching to the lower reaches of the Volga in the north and the shores of the Caspian Sea in the east, also took part in the ethnogenesis of modern Chechens and Ingush.
On the territory of modern Chechnya, in the area of Lake Kezenoy Am in the Vedeno region, traces of people who lived here 40 thousand years ago were discovered. Thus, we can state that modern Chechens, Ingush, Tsovatushins are the descendants of the founders of the ancient Near East and Transcaucasian civilizations, and their current homeland is their habitat ancient people, where many material and spiritual cultures are layered one above the other.
Witnesses to the dramatic, heroic history of the Novonakhs in the North Caucasus are various cyclopean structures made of huge stone blocks, Scythian mounds rising in the flat zone of Nakhistan, ancient and medieval towers, which impress even today with their grace and the skill of their creators.
How did the distant ancestors of the Vainakhs cross the Main Caucasus Range and settle on its northern foothills and valleys? Many sources shed light on this process. The main and most reliable of them is “Kartlis Tskhovreba” (Life of Georgia) - a set of Georgian chronicles attributed to Leontiy Mroveli.
These chronicles, going back to prehistoric depths, note the role of the Dzurdzuks - the ancestors of the Vainakhs who moved from the Western Asian society of Durdukka (around Lake Urmia) in the historical processes of Transcaucasia in the 1st millennium BC. Obviously, the main of these chronicles arose at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. , after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, although they tell of events both preceding the campaign dating back to the time of the state of Urartu, and of events much later.
The legendary form of the narrative, in which, as usual, events of different eras are confused, clearly indicates that the distant ancestors of the Vainakhs played a very active political role throughout Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus. The chronicles note that the most famous and powerful of all the children of Caucasus (the mythical ancestor of all Caucasian peoples) was Dzurdzuk. It was the first Georgian king Farnavaz who turned to the Dzurdzuks at the turn of the new era with a request for help when he wanted to establish himself on the throne in the fight against the fragmented eristavs (feudal principalities).
The alliance of the Dzurdzuks with the Iberians and Kartvelians was strengthened by the marriage of Farnavaz with a Dzurdzuki woman.
The eastern Hurrian tribes of the state of Urartu, who lived near Lake Urmia, were called Matiens. In the “Armenian geography” of the early Middle Ages, the ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush are known as Nakhchmateans.
On the shore of Lake Urmia there was the city of Durdukka, by this ethnonym the Nakh tribes that migrated from there to Transcaucasia began to be called. They were called dzurdzuks (durduks). Matiens, Nakhchmateans, Dzurdzuks are the same Nakh tribes, which remained visible for a long historical period, preserved their material and spiritual culture, mentality, and ensured the continuity of traditions and way of life.
Other related tribes and communities were a similar historical and ethnic bridge between the population of the ancient Hurrito-Urartian world and the Vainakhs themselves from the Central Caucasus.
The Urartians were not completely assimilated by the Armenians; for centuries they continued to live an independent life both in the Central Transcaucasus and in Black Sea coast. Some of the Urartian tribes merged over time with the dominant ethnic groups. The other part preserved itself, remaining relict islands, and managed to survive to this day. Today’s Chechens, Ingush, Tsova-Tushins, and other peoples and nationalities who managed to survive by the will of God in the gorges of the ancient Caucasus are precisely such relict ethnic groups.
Little studied, but replete with reliable data, the history of the Nakhs between the Hurrian-Urartian kingdoms in Western Asia and the Novonakh state formations during the Mongol-Tatar invasion indicates that the Nakhs were practically the basis for the emergence of new peoples and ethnic groups in the Central Caucasus, which until then did not exist in nature at all. The Nakh ethnic group underlies the emergence of the Ossetians, Khevsurs, Dvals, Svans, Tushins, Udins and other tribes and peoples.
The historian Vakhushti (1696-1770) also argued that the Kakhetians consider the Dzurdzuks, Glivovs and Kists to be theirs, “but they have not known about this since the time they fell away.”
The Nakh tribes, unions of tribes and kingdoms, located in the center of the Caucasus on both sides of the ridge at the beginning of the first half of the new era, are the Dzurdzuks, Eras, Kakhs, Ganakhs, Khalibs, Mechelons, Khons, Tsanars, Tabals, Di-aukhs, Myalkhs, Sodas .
The Hurri-Nakh and tribes and communities close to them ended up in Central and Eastern Transcaucasia not only after the collapse of Urartu, the last, most powerful kingdom of the Hurrians. Academician G. A. Melikishvili argues that “the rapid development of these lands (Transcaucasian), their transformation into an organic part of the empire is to a large extent due to the fact that the Urartians here had to deal with a population that was ethnically close to the population of the central regions of Urartu "
And yet, we find reliable, unambiguous traces of the residence of the Hurrian-Nakh tribes in Transcaucasia with their names and specific locations only after the collapse of the Urartian kingdom. Perhaps this is explained by the lack of written sources at that distant time. But in the most ancient written source from Leontiy Mroveli we find a phrase from the era of Alexander the Great (IV century BC): “After this (i.e. after the invasion of Alexander the Great on Kartli) the Chaldean tribes came again, and they also settled in Kartli."
Historian Hasan Bakaev has proven that the Urartian Eras, one of the largest tribes in the state, belong to the Hurrito-Nakhs. It is with the eras, which were perhaps the most powerful in Urartu, that the names Erebuni (the dwelling of the eras, “bun” - in the Chechen language - dwelling) are associated; the name Yeraskh (and) is the river Erov. “Khan” is a Hurri-Nakh special formant that forms hydronyms,” says Kh. Bakaev.
The Tigris River was called Arantsakhi in Hurrian, which means “plain river” in Chechen. The river that flowed through the territory of the Black Sea Hurrians (Mahelons, Khalibs and others) was and is still called Chorokhi, which in the Chechen language means “internal river”. In ancient times, the Terek was called Lomekhi, i.e. “mountain river”.
Modern Liakhvi in South Ossetia is called Leuakhi by Ossetians, i.e. in Nakh, “glacial river”. The name Yeraskha semantically complements this series and allows for the following translation - “eras river”. Leonty Mroveli named the “Orets Sea” as one of the boundaries of the “country of Targamos”.
In the ancient Armenian version of the work of Leonti Mroveli, this name is rendered as “the sea of Eret” (Hereta). It is clear from the text that this name does not mean Black and not Caspian Sea, the “Sea of Eret” meant Lake Sevan in ancient times.
In those areas where the Araks (Yeraskh) flowed through the habitat of the Eras, already in the era of the Armenian kingdom there was a Govork (district) of Yeraz, there was the Eraskh gorge (Yeraskhadzor, where dzor means “gorge”) and the “peak of Eraskhadzor” was also located there). It is curious that not far from this peak the Nakhchradzor community is mentioned, i.e. the community of the Nakhchra gorge. Obviously, “nakhchra” echoes the self-name of the Chechens – nakhche, as Bakaev rightly asserts in his latest research.
At the turn of the new era, the largest Kakheti society was surrounded on all sides by Nakh-speaking tribes and communities. From the south it was adjoined by the Nakh-speaking Tsanars, from the west by the Nakh-speaking Dvals, from the east by the Nakh-speaking Eras (who lived in Kakheti itself), and from the north by the Nakh-speaking Dzurdzuks. As for the Kakh tribe, which gave the name to Kakheti, this is part of the Nakh-speaking Tushins, who lived in the flat part of historical Tusheti and called themselves Kabatsa, and their territory Kah-Batsa.
The Transcaucasian tribes Tabals, Tuali, Tibarens, and Khalds were also Nakh-speaking.
The flourishing of stone construction in the Nakh mountains dates back to the early Middle Ages. All the gorges of the upper reaches of Daryal, Assy, Argun, Fortangi were built up with complex stone architectural structures, such as military and residential towers, castles, crypts, temples, and sanctuaries.
Later, entire settlements appeared - fortresses, which still amaze with their splendor and the skill of the architects. Many battle towers were erected on the peaks of rocks and were practically inaccessible to the enemy. Such architectural structures, which are considered as works of art, could only appear when high level production, with a highly developed socio-cultural life.
At the time of the great historical upheavals, which included the epic with the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the kingdom of Alania was located in the western part of Chechnya, and the Chechen kingdom of Simsir was located in the eastern part of the flat and foothill Chechnya, in the area of the current Gudermes and Nozhai-Yurt regions. The peculiarity of this kingdom (in history the name of the most influential ruler of Simsir is known - Gayurkhan) was that it was one of the Islamic states and had close relationships with the neighboring Dagestan principalities.
ALANYA
In the early Middle Ages, in the lowland regions of Ciscaucasia, a multi-tribal and multi-lingual union began to take shape, which began to be called Alania.
This union included, as archaeologists, linguists, anthropologists and other specialists testify, both Sarmatian nomads and the original inhabitants of these places, mainly Nakh-speaking ones. Obviously, these were lowland Nakhs, known to the Greek geographer Strabo as gargarei, which in the Nakh language means “close”, “relatives”.
The steppe nomads, who formed part of the tribal union of Alania, adopted a sedentary lifestyle from the Nakhs, and soon their settlements and settlements (fortified settlements) multiplied along the banks of the Terek and Sunzha.
Travelers of those years noted that Alan settlements were so close to each other that in one village they could hear roosters crowing and dogs barking in another.
Around the villages there were huge burial mounds, some of which have survived to this day. Traces of Alan settlements have also been preserved, one of which is the Alkhan-Kalinskoe settlement in the Grozny region, 16 km west of Grozny, on the left bank of the Sunzha. Most likely, as Caucasian scholars suggest, the capital of Alania, the city of Magas (Maas), was located here at one time, which in the Vainakh language means “capital”, “ main city" For example, the main settlement of the Cheberloev society - Makazha - was called Maa-Makazha.
Valuable finds obtained there during archaeological excavations at one time received not only all-Union, but also world fame.
MEDIEVAL NAKH TRIBES AND KINGDOMS
The Chechens and Ingush of the first half of the 1st millennium AD, who lived on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Range, are known under the names “Nakhchmatyans”, “Kists”, “Durdzuks”, “Gligvas”, “Melkhs”, “Khamekits”, “Sadiki”. To this day, in the mountains of Chechnya and Ingushetia, the tribes and family names of Sadoi, Khamkhoev, and Melkhi have been preserved.
One and a half thousand years ago, the population of Chechnya and Ingushetia (Nakhistan), living in the border areas with Georgia and in Georgia itself, professed Christianity.
To this day, the ruins of Christian churches and temples have been preserved in the mountains. Almost entirely preserved christian temple Thaba-Erda near the village of Targim in the Assinovsky Gorge. Experts say that the temple was erected during the early Middle Ages.
Intensive ties between the highlanders and neighboring and distant developed countries and states date back to the same period. As evidenced by the research of the Abkhaz scientist Guram Gumba, the Myalkh king Adermakh, for example, was married to the daughter of the Bosporan king from the northern Black Sea region. Relations with Byzantium and Khazaria were intense. In the struggle of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav with Khazaria and Prince Igor with the Polovtsians, the Chechens and Ingush obviously sided with their Slavic allies. This is evidenced, in particular, by the lines from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” where Igor, captured by the Polovtsians, is offered to flee to the mountains. There the Chechens, the people of Avlur, will save and protect the Russian prince.
In the 8th-11th centuries, large caravan routes passed through the territory of Chechnya from the Khazar city of Semender, which was supposedly located in Northern Dagestan, to the Black Sea, to the Taman Peninsula and further to European countries.
Probably thanks to this path, household items and works of art of rare beauty and excellent craftsmanship became widespread in Chechnya.
Another important route connecting the Nakhs with the outside world was the Daryal Pass. This route connected the Chechens with Georgia and with the entire Western Asian world.
INVASION OF THE TATAR-MONGOLS
During the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the kingdom of Alania, which was located in the western part of Chechnya, was completely destroyed by the nomadic hordes of two generals of Genghis Khan - Jebe and Subedei. They broke through from the direction of Derbent, and the plain population of Nakhistan turned out to be vulnerable to the army of the steppes.
The Tatar-Mongols did not spare anyone. The civilian population was either killed or taken into slavery. Livestock and property were looted. Hundreds of villages and settlements were turned to ashes.
Another blow to the foothills of the Caucasus. It was inflicted by the hordes of Batu in 1238-1240. In those years. nomadic hordes of Tatar-Mongols swept across the countries of Eastern Europe, inflicting heavy damage on them. Chechnya did not escape this fate either. Its economic, political, social and spiritual development was set back by centuries.
The population of the Nakhistan plain partially managed to escape by fleeing to the mountains, to their relatives. Here, in the mountains, the Vainakhs, knowing full well that the Tatar-Mongol invasion threatened them with complete destruction or assimilation, offered stubborn, truly heroic resistance to the Tatar-Mongols. Thanks to the fact that some of the Nakhs went high into the mountains, the people managed not only to preserve their language, customs, and culture, but also to protect themselves from the inevitable processes of assimilation by numerous steppe inhabitants. Therefore, from generation to generation, Chechens passed on traditions and legends about how their ancestors, in an unequal struggle, preserved the freedom and identity of their people.
ALERT
In the mountains there was a well-thought-out warning system about the appearance of the enemy. Stone signal towers were built on the tops of the mountains, clearly visible from each other. When nomads appeared in the valley, fires were lit at the top of the towers, the smoke from which warned the entire mountain region of danger. Signals were relayed from tower to tower. Smoking towers meant alarm and preparation for defense.
Everywhere they announced: “Orts dala!” - from the words “Ortsakh dovla” - that is, go to the mountains, to the forest, save yourself, your children, livestock, property. Men instantly became warriors. The developed defense system is evidenced by military terminology: infantry, guards, horsemen, archers, spearmen, orderlies, sword-bearers, shield-bearers; commander of a hundred, commander of a regiment, division, leader of an army, etc.
In the mountains, in the Nashkha region, a system of military democracy was established for many centuries. Numerous folk traditions also testify to the strict laws of military discipline of that time.
EDUCATION OF DISCIPLINE
Periodically, the Council of Elders (Mehkan Khel) checked the military discipline of the male population. It was done this way. Unexpectedly, most often at night, a general gathering was announced. The one who came last was thrown off the cliff. Naturally, no one wanted to be late...
The Chechens have such a legend. There lived two friends. One of them was in love. It so happened that the alarm was announced that night when the lover went on a date with a girl to a distant village. Knowing this, feeling that he would be late, the friend hid in the grove to be the last to approach the gathering place. In order to let in first someone who is late coming from a date.
And then, finally, a friend rushed home from a date. They wanted to throw him off the cliff, but then a lurking man appeared. - "Do not touch him! I'm the last one!
The elders figured out what was happening and, they say, left both alive. But this was an exception to the strict rules.
Starting from the 15th century, settlements of Chechens descending from the mountains began to grow into the lowland Nakh societies. They waged a fierce struggle with the Kumyk, Nogai and Kabardian khans and princes, who, in alliance with the Horde, exploited the Chechen lowland arable lands and pastures, those that the Chechens were forced to leave as a result of the unequal struggle.
S-H. NUNUEV
Gord Grozny
Chechen Republic
Reviews
5000 years ago, the Caspian Sea went far beyond present-day Vladikavkaz. People lived only in the mountains. Those same giants who were definitely not Vainakhs. The Caspian Sea moved away about 3.5-4 thousand years ago. Unfortunately, official science claims that writing appeared 3.5 thousand years ago and they don’t look deeper. Only DNA can clarify something. Although for historical science DNA does not play a role, since a people is a territorial, cultural, linguistic, economic community. DNA does not fully determine anthropology , therefore, it is impossible to accurately judge by DNA. However, DNA can say a lot about continuity and origin. So the DNA of the Trojans and the Vainakhs do not coincide, and the Luwian language that the Trojans spoke and conducted business with the modern Vainakh does not coincide. Our DNA is significantly present in Greece , a little in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, Venice, Scotland, southern France, Basquiat, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland. Moreover, according to European data, about 3-4 thousand years ago they were the first to populate Europe. Language Vainakh converges 20-30% with Khuritian, includes a layer of ancient Uyghur and Mongolian, Turkish, Arabic and Iranian, as well as Germanic and Vainakh itself. In the last period, the influence of Russian is noticeable. Academician Bunak, an anthropologist, after conducting excavations, came to the conclusion that the bony path Vainakhs to the Caucasus begins with Asia Minor. Professor Krupnov came to the conclusion that the Vainakhs once lived close to the enlightened peoples of Asia Minor. Although at that time there were no unenlightened peoples in Asia Minor. Of course, the Vainakhs are people from an ancient large civilization located in the ancient Asia Minor, but the name of this civilization has not yet been announced or is deliberately kept silent. One interesting fact: employees American University managed to decipher the ancient toponymy of Europe only from Vainakh. Another fact: it is now known for certain that 15 thousand Vikings settled in the northern Caucasus in ancient times. Look at the DNA of the Vainakhs and the DNA of the Akkin people, they are different. Of course I would like to put an end to the study of Vainakh history, but it’s still early. There are still many unresolved questions. Our historians often cover it patriotically and this is understandable, but it is not clear why they are looking in Armenian, Georgian, Arab, Turkish, Russian, Greek and even Roman sources for answers to questions, digging in the archives , and do not use their own sources, which, although they were destroyed during the eviction, still exist. It is known that neither the Chechens nor the Ingush have their own epic collection folk stories about the valiant campaigns and exploits of ancient heroes. However, there is a Nart-Orsthoev epic, which can fully be called Vainakh, and references to which you will not notice when studying history by our or other researchers. Many correct answers can be found from the lips of the elders. The value of these stories is in no way does not decrease due to the fact that they were not once written down on paper. If you look at the map of the current Caucasus, it becomes obvious that the Vainakhs have occupied both the southern and northern Caucasus since ancient times and are now squeezed on all sides by non-Vainakh peoples.
In recent decades, Chechen and Ingush historians, collecting references from ancient sources, are trying to create their own history, always and deliberately hiding the fact that the main historical events took place on the plane. Calling the plane Vainakhs Chechens and Ingush creates confusion and provokes territorial disputes between Chechens and Ingush. And the Mongol- the Tatars and Timur and the Russians during the Caucasian War wanted to have control over the plane, and not the impassable mountains. The exception is the Georgian military road, which was built after 100 years of requests from the Armenians and Georgians, since they were oppressed by the Turks. The indigenous inhabitants of the plane are the Vainakh-Orstkhoevs territorially and numerically exceeded the mountain Vainakhs tens of times. It was they who resisted the invaders and therefore only they have their own heroic epic. Neither the Chechens nor the Ingush have their own heroic epic. The flat Vainakhs-Orstkhoevites made the heroic history of the Vainakhs, they died in thousands on the battlefield , it was they who preserved the Vainakhs as an ethnic group, it was Russia who resettled them in Turkey after the 100-year war when 80% of them died, and the Chechens and Ingush were brought down from the mountains and placed between the Cossack villages. We know what Russia did with them later. However, we still know There are disputes about the ownership of the so-called Sunzhensky district. Before the eviction, the nationality was recorded in the passport: Karabulak, after returning, Russia canceled this entry. The Ingush have preserved 13 Orstkhoev teips, the Chechens have even more. They exist, they live on their native plane and in Chechnya and in Ingushetia and are called Chechens and Ingush. The national-territorial division that suits Russia cannot suit us Vainakhs. We are satisfied with even greater integration, even greater rapprochement and unification into one Vainakh territorial entity. All the blood was shed just for this.
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Chechens are the oldest people of the Caucasus. They appeared on the territory of the North Caucasus in the 13th century as a result of the division of several ancient cities and are the largest ethnic group living in this territory. This people made their way along the Main Caucasus Range through the Argun Gorge and eventually settled in the mountainous part of the Republic of Chechnya. This people has its own centuries-old traditions and unique ancient culture. In addition to the name Chechens, the people are called Chechens, Nakhche and Nokhchi.
Where live
Today, the majority of Chechens live on the territory of the Russian Federation in the Chechen Republic and Ingushetia; there are Chechens in Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, Kalmykia, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Tyumen, Saratov regions, Moscow, North Ossetia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Number
As a result of the 2016 population census, the number of Chechens living in the Chechen Republic amounted to 1,394,833 people. There are about 1,550,000 Chechens living in the world.
Story
Several settlements took place in the history of this people. About 5,000 Chechen families moved to the territory of the Ottoman Empire after the Caucasian War in 1865. This movement is called Muhajirism. Today, the bulk of the Chechen diasporas in Turkey, Jordan and Syria are represented by the descendants of those settlers.
In 1944, half a million Chechens were deported to Central Asia; in 1957 they were allowed to return to their former homes, but some Chechens remained in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
After the two Chechen wars, many Chechens left their homeland and went to Arab countries, Turkey and Western European countries, regions of the Russian Federation and countries of the former USSR, especially Georgia.
Language
The Chechen language belongs to the Nakh branch of the Nakh-Dagestan language family, which is included in the hypothetical North Caucasian superfamily. It is distributed mainly in the territory of the Chechen Republic, in Ingushetia, Georgia, some regions of Dagestan: Khasavyurt, Kazbekovsky, Novolaksky, Babayurt, Kizilyurt and other regions of Russia. Partial distribution of the language occurs in Turkey, Syria and Jordan. Before the 1994 war, the number of Chechen speakers was 1 million.
Since the Nakh group of languages includes Ingush, Chechen and Batsbi languages, Ignush and Chechens understand each other without an interpreter. These two peoples are united by the concept “Vainakh”, which translates as “our people”. But these peoples do not understand Batsbi, since it was heavily influenced by the Georgian language due to the residence of the Batsbi in the gorges of Georgia.
In the Chechen language there are a number of dialects and the following dialects:
- Shatoisky
- Cheberloevsky
- planar
- Akkinsky (Aukhovsky)
- Sharoi
- Itum-Kalinsky
- Melkhinsky
- Kistinsky
- Galanchozhsky
Residents of the vicinity of Grozny speak the Chechen language using the flat dialect; literature, including fiction, newspapers, magazines, scientific research and textbooks, is written in it. Works of classical world literature have been translated into Chechen. Chechen words are difficult, but they sound very beautiful.
Written language until 1925 was based on Arabic. Then, until 1938, it developed on the basis of the Latin alphabet, and from this year to the present, the Chechen written language is based on the Cyrillic alphabet. There are many borrowings in the Chechen language, up to 700 words from Turkic languages and up to 500 from Georgian. There are many borrowings from Russian, Arabic, Ossetian, Persian and Dagestan. Gradually, foreign words appeared in the Chechen language, for example: rally, export, parliament, kitchen, dance, mouthpiece, avant-garde, taxi and broth.
Religion
Most Chechens profess the Shafi'i madhhab of Sunni Islam. Among the Chechens, Sufi Islam is represented by the tariqas: Naqshbandiya and Qadiriya, which are divided into religious groups called vird brotherhoods. Their total number among the Chechens is 32. The largest Sufi brotherhood in Chechnya is the Zikrists - followers of the Chechen Qadiri sheikh Kunta-Hadzhi Kishiev, and the small species that descended from him: Mani-sheikh, Bammat-Girey Khadzhi and Chimmirzy.
Names
Chechen names include three components:
- Names borrowed from other languages, mainly through the Russian language.
- Originally Chechen names.
- Names borrowed from Arabic and Persian languages.
A large number of old names are derived from the names of birds and animals. For example, Borz is a wolf, Lecha is a falcon. There are names containing the structure of the verb form, names in the form of independent participles, formed from adjectives and qualitative adjectives. For example, Dika is translated as “good”. There are also compound names in the Chechen language, which are made up of two words: soltan and bek. Mostly female names are borrowed from the Russian language: Raisa, Larisa, Louise, Rose.
When pronouncing and writing names, it is important to remember the dialect and its differences, since a name pronounced differently can have different meanings, for example, Abuyazid and Abuyazit, Yusup and Yusap. In Chechen names, the stress always falls on the first syllable.
Food
Previously, the basis of the diet of the Chechen people was mainly corn porridge, shish kebab, wheat stew and homemade bread. The cuisine of this people is one of the simplest and most ancient. The main products for cooking remain lamb and poultry; the main components of many dishes are hot seasonings, garlic, onions, thyme, and pepper. An important component of dishes is greens. Chechen dishes are very satisfying, nutritious and healthy. A lot of food is prepared from cheese, wild garlic, cottage cheese, corn, pumpkin and dried meat. Chechens love meat broths, beef, boiled meat, and do not eat pork at all.
The meat is served with dumplings made from corn or wheat flour and garlic seasoning. One of the main positions in Chechen cuisine is occupied by flour products with various fillings from potatoes, cottage cheese, pumpkin, nettles and wild garlic. Chechens bake several types of bread:
- barley
- wheat
- corn
Siskal cakes are baked from corn flour, which were previously carried along with dried meat and taken on the road. Such food always satisfied hunger well and nourished the body.
Life
The main occupation of the Chechens has long been cattle breeding, hunting, beekeeping and arable farming. Women were always responsible for household work, weaving cloth, making carpets, burkas, felt, and sewing shoes and dresses.
Housing
Chechens live in auls - villages. Due to the natural conditions of the area, the dwellings differ. Chechens living in the mountains have houses built of stone and are called sakli. Such sakli were also built from adobe; they can be erected in a week. Unfortunately, many had to do this when villages were often attacked by enemies. On the plains, mostly turluch houses were built, neat and bright inside. Wood, clay and straw were used for construction. The windows in the houses are without frames, but are equipped with shutters to protect against wind and cold. There is a canopy at the entrance that protects from heat and rain. The houses were heated by fireplaces. Each house has a kunatskaya, which consists of several rooms. The owner spends the whole day in them and returns to his family in the evening. The house has a yard surrounded by fence. A special oven is built in the yard in which bread is baked.
During construction, it was important to take into account safety and reliability, the ability to defend themselves if the enemy attacked. In addition, there had to be hayfields, water, arable land and pastures nearby. The Chechens took care of the land and even chose places on rocks to build houses.
The most common in mountain villages were one-story houses with flat roofs. The Chechens also built houses with 2 floors, towers with 3 or 5 floors. The residential building, tower and outbuildings together were called estates. Depending on the mountain topography, the development of estates was horizontal or vertical.
Appearance
In anthropology, Chechens are a mixed type. Eye color can range from black to dark brown and from blue to light green. Hair color - from black to dark brown. The nose of Chechens is often concave and upturned. Chechens are tall and well-built, the women are very beautiful.
Everyday clothing of a Chechen man consists of the following elements:
- checkmen, sewn from gray or dark fabric;
- arkhaluks, or beshmets, of various colors, were worn in white in the summer;
- narrowed trousers;
- cloth leggings and chiriki (shoes without soles).
Elegant dresses are trimmed with braiding, and special attention is paid to the decoration of weapons. In bad weather they wore a bashlyk or burka, which Chechen women sewed very skillfully. Shoes were mainly made from rawhide. Many wore Caucasian soft boots. The rich wore boots and leggings made of black morocco, to which soles of buffalo leather were sometimes sewn.
The main headdress of a Chechen is a cone-shaped papakha, which ordinary people made from sheepskin, and the rich made from the skins of Bukhara lamb. In the summer they wore a felt hat.
Bone gaztris were sewn onto men's suits as decoration, and a belt with silver plaques was worn. The image was completed with a dagger made by local craftsmen.
Women wore:
- long shirts to the knees, blue or red;
- wide trousers that were tied at the ankles;
- On top of the shirt they put on a long dress with wide and long sleeves;
- young women and girls wore dresses gathered at the waist with a belt made of fabric. Elderly women's dresses are wide and without pleats or belts;
- the head was covered with a scarf made of silk or wool. Elderly women wore bandages under a scarf that tightly fit their heads and went down their backs in the form of a bag. Braided hair was placed in it. Such a headdress was also very common in Dagestan;
- Women wore dudes as shoes. Rich families wore galoshes, shoes and shoes made locally or in the city.
Women's clothing from a wealthy family was distinguished by sophistication and luxury. It was sewn from expensive fabrics and trimmed with silver or gold braid. Rich women loved to wear jewelry: silver belts, bracelets and earrings.
In winter, Chechens wore a wool-lined beshmet with metal or silver clasps. The sleeves of clothing below the elbow were split and fastened with buttons made of simple or silver threads. Beshmet was sometimes worn in the summer.
During Soviet times, Chechens switched to urban clothing, but many men retained the traditional headdress, which they rarely parted with. Today, many men and old people wear a hat, Circassian coats and beshmets. In Chechnya, men wear Caucasian shirts with a stand-up collar.
Women's national costume has survived to this day much more. And now older women wear chokhta, dresses with trousers and homemade dudes. Young women and girls prefer urban-cut dresses, but they are made with long sleeves and a closed collar. Scarves and shoes today are worn in urban areas.
Character
Chechens are cheerful, impressionable and witty people, but at the same time they are distinguished by severity, treachery and suspicion. These character traits were probably developed among the people during centuries of struggle. Even the enemies of the Chechens have long recognized that this nation is brave, indomitable, dexterous, resilient and calm in the fight.
The ethical code of honor of Konahalla is important for Chechens, which is a universal code of conduct for any man, regardless of his religion. This code reflects all the moral standards that a believer and a worthy son of his people possesses. This code is ancient and existed among the Chechens back in the Alan era.
Chechens never raise a hand against their children because they do not want them to grow up to be cowards. These people are very attached to their homeland, to which various touching songs and poems are dedicated.
Traditions
Chechens have always been distinguished by their hospitality. Even in ancient times, they always helped travelers, giving them food and shelter. This is customary in every family. If a guest liked something in the house, the owners should give it to him. When there are guests, the owner takes a place closer to the door, thereby showing that the guest is the most important in the house. The owner must remain at the table until the last guest. It is indecent to interrupt a meal first. If a relative, even a distant one, or a neighbor comes into the house, younger family members and young men should serve him. Women should not show themselves to guests.
Many people think that women's rights are violated in Chechnya, but in fact this is far from the case. A woman who was able to raise a worthy son, along with other family members, has the right to vote during decision-making. When a woman enters the room, the men present must stand up. When a woman comes to visit, special ceremonies and customs are also held in her honor.
When a man and a woman walk side by side, she must lag behind one step, the man must take on the danger first. The young wife must first feed his parents and then himself. If there is even the most distant relationship between a girl and a guy, marriage between them is prohibited, but this is not a gross violation of traditions.
The father is always considered the head of the family, the woman looks after the household. The husband and wife do not call each other by name, but say “my wife” and “my husband”, “the one in the house”, “the mother of my children”, “the owner of this house”.
It is humiliating and insulting for a man to interfere in women's affairs. When a son brings a daughter-in-law into the house, she bears the main responsibilities of the household. She has to get up earlier than everyone else, do the cleaning and go to bed later than everyone else. Previously, if a woman did not want to follow the family rules, she could be punished or kicked out.
The daughters-in-law are raised by the husband's mother, who is called nana. A young wife should not speak freely with her mother-in-law, nor should she appear in front of her with her head uncovered and in an unkempt appearance. Nana can shift some of her responsibilities to her eldest daughter-in-law. In addition to housekeeping, the husband's mother must observe all traditions and family rituals. The eldest woman in the family was always considered the keeper of the hearth.
It is considered very uncultured to interrupt an elder and start a conversation without his request or permission. Younger people should always let the older ones pass and greet him politely and respectfully. It is a great insult for a man if someone touches his hat. This is tantamount to a public slap in the face. If children get into a fight, the first thing parents do is scold their child and only then begin to figure out who is wrong and who is right. If a son starts smoking, the father, through the mother, must instill in him that this is very harmful and unacceptable, and he himself must give up this habit.
This people has a custom of avoidance that prohibits showing feelings in public. It applies to all family members. Everyone should behave with restraint in public. The Chechens still preserve the cult of fire and hearth, the tradition of oaths and curses by fire.
Many rites and rituals are associated with weapons and war. It was considered a shame and cowardice to draw a sword from its sheath in front of an enemy or offender and not use it. At 63, a man reached the age of untying his belt and could go out without a weapon. To this day, the Chechens have preserved such a custom as blood feud.
A Chechen wedding consists of many rituals and traditions. The groom was forbidden to see the bride before the wedding and for some time after the celebration. A wedding dress is at the same time a festive outfit for girls and young women. It is sewn from bright or white silk; there is a continuous slit in the front of the dress. A decoration in the form of silver buttons made in Kubachi is sewn on both sides of the chest area. The dress is complemented by a silver belt of the Caucasian type. A white scarf is put on the head, which completely covers the bride's head and hair. Sometimes a veil is worn over the scarf.
Culture
Chechen folklore is diverse and includes genres that are characteristic of the oral folk art of many peoples:
- everyday tales, fairy tales, about animals;
- mythology;
- heroic epic;
- lyrical songs, labor songs, ritual songs, heroic-epic songs, lullabies;
- legends;
- puzzles;
- sayings and proverbs;
- children's folklore (riddles, tongue twisters, counting rhymes, songs);
- religious folklore (stories, songs, nazms, hadiths);
- creativity of tulliks and zhukhurgs;
Chechen mythology, the names of deities who personified natural elements, have been preserved in rather fragmentary ways. Musical folklore The Chechens are bright and original, they amazingly dance the national Chechen dance Nokhchi and Lezginka (Lovzar). Music is of great importance to this people. With its help, they express hatred, look to the future and remember the past. Many of the national musical instruments are still common today:
- dechig-pondar
- adhyokhu-pondar
- zurna
- pipe shiedag
- bagpipes
- drum vota
- tambourine
The instruments were used for ensemble and solo performance. During the holidays, people play different instruments together.
Famous personalities
Among the Chechen people there are many outstanding personalities in politics, sports, creativity, science and journalism:
Buvaysar Saitiev, 3-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling - Movsar Mintsaev, opera singer;
- Makhmud Esambaev, People's Artist of the USSR, master of dance;
- Umar Beksultanov, composer;
- Abuzar Aydamirov, poet and writer, classic of Chechen literature;
- Abdul-Khamid Khamidov, playwright, brilliant talent of Chechen literature;
- Katy Chokaev, linguist, professor, Doctor of Philology;
- Raisa Akhmatova, national poetess;
- Sherip Inal, screenwriter and film director;
- Kharcho Shukri, calligraphy artist;
- Salman Yandarov, surgeon, orthopedist, candidate of medical sciences;
- Buvaysar Saitiev, 3-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling;
- Salman Khasimikov, 4-time freestyle wrestling champion;
- Zaurbek Baysangurov, boxer, twice European champion, world champion in first and welterweight;
- Lechi Kurbanov, European champion in Kyokushinkai karate.
