The Republic of Dagestan (pronounced /dɑːɡɨˈstɑːn/ or /dæɡɨˈstæn/; Russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respublika Dagestan; also spelled Daghestan) is a federal subject (a republic) of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region, with a population of almost 3 million (2010). The capital and largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea.
Dagestan has great ethnic diversity, with several dozen ethnic groups and subgroups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks.[13] While Russians form only a small proportion (4.7%) of the population, Russian remains the primary official language.
Dagestan has been a scene of low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism since the 1990s. According to International Crisis Group, the militant Islamist organization Shariat Jamaat is responsible for much of the violence.[14] Much of the tension is rooted in an internal Islamic conflict between traditional Sufi groups advocating secular government and more recently introduced Salafist teachings preaching the implementation of sharia law in Dagestan.
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[edit] Toponymy
The word Daghestan or Daghistan means "country of mountains", it is derived from the Turkic word dağ meaning mountain and Persian suffix -stan meaning "land of".
[edit] Names of Dagestan in some official languages of the republic
Avar: Дагъистаналъул Республика Dagistanalul Respublika, Dargin: Дагъистанес Республика Dagistanes Respublika, Kumyk: Дагъыстан Республикасы Daƣistan Respublikasi, Lezgian: Дагъустандин Республика Dagustandin Respublika, Lak: Дагъустаннал Республика Dagustannal Respublika, Azerbaijani: Dağıstan Respublikası, Chechen: Дехaста-чоь Dexasta-çö, Tabasaran: Дагъустан Республика Daɣustan Respublika.
[edit] Geography
The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains. It is the southernmost part of Russia, and is bordered on its eastern side by the Caspian Sea.
- Area: 50,300 square kilometers (19,400 sq mi)
- Borders:
- internal: Republic of Kalmykia (N), Chechen Republic (W), and Stavropol Krai (NW)
- international: Azerbaijan (S), Georgia (SW)
- water: Caspian Sea (E)
- Highest point: Bazardyuzi Mountain (4,466 m)
- Maximum N->S distance: 400 kilometers (249 mi)
- Maximum E->W distance: 200 kilometers (124 mi)
[edit] Rivers
There are over 1,800 rivers in the republic. Major rivers include:
[edit] Lakes
Dagestan has about 400 kilometers (249 mi) of coast line on the Caspian Sea.
[edit] Mountains
Most of the Republic is mountainous, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains covering the south. The highest point is the Bazardyuzi peak at 4,466 m.
[edit] Natural resources
Dagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and many other minerals.
[edit] Climate
The climate is hot and dry in the summer but the winters are hard in the mountain areas.
- Average January temperature: +2 °C (35.6 °F)
- Average July temperature: +26 °C (78.8 °F)
- Average annual precipitation: 250 (northern plains) to 800 mm (in the mountains).
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] Demographics
Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. It is Russia's most heterogeneous republic. Unlike most other parts of Russia, Dagestan's population is rapidly growing.[15]
- Population: 2,576,531 (2002)
- Urban: 1,102,577 (42.8%)
- Rural: 1,473,954 (57.2%)
- Male: 1,242,437 (48.2%)
- Female: 1,334,094 (51.8%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,074
- Average age: 25.2 years
- Urban: 25.1 years
- Rural: 25.2 years
- Male: 24.0 years
- Female: 26.3 years
- Number of households: 570,036 (with 2,559,499 people)
- Urban: 239,338 (with 1,088,814 people)
- Rural: 330,698 (with 1,470,685 people)
- Vital statistics
- Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service
| Births | Deaths | Birth rate | Death rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 41,381 | 9,543 | 28.8 | 6.6 |
| 1975 | 42,098 | 10,292 | 27.3 | 6.7 |
| 1980 | 44,088 | 11,188 | 26.6 | 6.8 |
| 1985 | 50,053 | 12,010 | 28.7 | 6.9 |
| 1990 | 48,209 | 11,482 | 26.1 | 6.2 |
| 1991 | 47,461 | 12,062 | 24.9 | 6.3 |
| 1992 | 44,986 | 12,984 | 22.9 | 6.6 |
| 1993 | 41,863 | 14,777 | 20.8 | 7.3 |
| 1994 | 44,472 | 15,253 | 21.0 | 7.2 |
| 1995 | 45,680 | 15,700 | 20.7 | 7.1 |
| 1996 | 42,282 | 15,565 | 18.8 | 6.9 |
| 1997 | 41,225 | 15,662 | 17.9 | 6.8 |
| 1998 | 41,164 | 15,793 | 17.4 | 6.7 |
| 1999 | 38,281 | 16,020 | 15.8 | 6.6 |
| 2000 | 38,229 | 16,108 | 15.5 | 6.5 |
| 2001 | 38,480 | 15,293 | 15.3 | 6.1 |
| 2002 | 41,204 | 15,887 | 16.1 | 6.2 |
| 2003 | 41,490 | 15,929 | 16.0 | 6.1 |
| 2004 | 41,573 | 15,724 | 15.9 | 6.0 |
| 2005 | 40,814 | 15,585 | 15.5 | 5.9 |
| 2006 | 40,646 | 15,939 | 15.3 | 6.0 |
| 2007 | 45,470 | 15,357 | 17.0 | 5.7 |
| 2008 | 49,465 | 15,794 | 18.3 | 5.9 |
[edit] Ethnic groups
The people of Dagestan include a large variety of ethnic groups. According to the 2002 Census, Northeast Caucasians (including Avars, Dargins tabasaranins and Lezgins) make up almost 75% of the population of Dagestan. Turkic peoples, Kumyks, Nogais and Azeris make up 19%, and Russians 4% . Other ethnic groups each account for less than 0.5% of the total population.
It should be noted that such groups as the Botlikh, the Andi, the Akhvakhs, the Tsez and about ten other groups were reclassified as Avars between the 1926 and 1939 censuses.[16]
| census 1926 | census 1939 | census 1959 | census 1970 | census 1979 | census 1989 | census 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avars | 177,189 (22.5%) | 230,488 (24.8%) | 239,373 (22.5%) | 349,304 (24.5%) | 418,634 (25.7%) | 496,077 (27.5%) | 758,438 (29.4%) |
| Dargins | 125,707 (16.0%) | 150,421 (16.2%) | 148,194 (13.9%) | 207,776 (14.5%) | 246,854 (15.2%) | 280,431 (15.6%) | 425,526 (16.5%) |
| Kumyks | 87,960 (11.2%) | 100,053 (10.8%) | 120,859 (11.4%) | 169,019 (11.8%) | 202,297 (12.4%) | 231,805 (12.9%) | 365,804 (14.2%) |
| Lezgins | 90,509 (11.5%) | 96,723 (10.4%) | 108,615 (10.2%) | 162,721 (11.4%) | 188,804 (11.6%) | 204,370 (11.3%) | 336,698 (13.1%) |
| Laks | 39,878 (5.1%) | 51,671 (5.6%) | 53,451 (5.0%) | 72,240 (5.1%) | 83,457 (5.1%) | 91,682 (5.1%) | 139,732 (5.4%) |
| Tabasarans | 31,915 (4.0%) | 33,432 (3.6%) | 33,548 (3.2%) | 53,253 (3.7%) | 71,722 (4.4%) | 78,196 (4.6%) | 111,152 (4.3%) |
| Nogais | 26,086 (3.3%) | 4,677 (0.5%) | 14,939 (1.4%) | 21,750 (1.5%) | 24,977 (1.5%) | 28,294 (1.6%) | 38,168 (1.5%) |
| Rutuls | 10,333 (1.3%) | 20,408 (2.2%) | 6,566 (0.6%) | 11,799 (0.8%) | 14,288 (0.9%) | 14,955 (0.8%) | 24,298 (0.9%) |
| Aguls | 7,653 (1.0%) | 6,378 (0.6%) | 8,644 (0.6%) | 11,459 (0.7%) | 13,791 (0.8%) | 23,314 (0.9%) | |
| Tsakhurs | 3,531 (0.4%) | 4,278 (0.4%) | 4,309 (0.3%) | 4,560 (0.3%) | 5,194 (0.3%) | 8,168 (0.3%) | |
| Russians | 98,197 (12.5%) | 132,952 (14.3%) | 213,754 (20.1%) | 209,570 (14.7%) | 189,474 (11.6%) | 165,940 (9.2%) | 110,875 (4.7%) |
| Azeris | 23,428 (3.0%) | 31,141 (3.3%) | 38,224 (3.6%) | 54,403 (3.8%) | 64,514 (4.0%) | 75,463 (4.2%) | 111,656 (4.3%) |
| Chechens | 21,851 (2.8%) | 26,419 (2.8%) | 12,798 (1.2%) | 39,965 (2.8%) | 49,227 (3.0%) | 57,877 (3.2%) | 87,867 (3.4%) |
| Others | 43,861 (5.6%) | 52,031 (5.6%) | 61,495 (5.8%) | 63,787 (4.5%) | 57,892 (3.6%) | 58,113 (3.2%) | 25,835 (1.0%) |
The indigenous ethnic groups of Dagestan are bolded.
There are also forty or so tiny groups such as the Hinukh, numbering 200, or the Akhvakhs, who are members of a complex family of indigenous Caucasians. Notable are also the Hunzib or Khunzal people who live in only four towns in the interior.
The lingua franca in Dagestan is Russian[citation needed]. Over thirty local languages are also commonly spoken.
[edit] Economy
The major industries in Dagestan include oil production, engineering, chemicals, machine building, textile manufacturing, food processing, and the timber. Oil deposits are located in the narrow coastal region. The Dagestani oil is of high quality, and is delivered to other regions. Dagestan's natural gas production goes mostly to satisfy local needs. Agriculture is varied and includes grain-farming, viticulture and wine-making, sheep-farming, and dairying. The engineering and metalworking industries own 20% of the republic's industrial production assets and employ 25% of all industrial workers. Dagestan's hydroelectric power industry is developing rapidly. There are five power plants on the Sulak River providing hydroelectric power. It has been estimated that Dagestan's total potential hydroelectric power resources are 4.4 billion kW. Dagestan has a well-developed transportation system. Railways connect the capital Makhachkala to Moscow, Astrakhan, and the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. The Moscow-Baku highway also passes through Dagestan, and there are air links with major cities.[17][18]
Conditions for economic development are favorable in Dagestan, but – as of 2006 – the republic's low starting level for a successful transition to market relations, in addition to rampant corruption, has made the region highly dependent on its underground economy and the subsidies coming from the central Russian government.[18][19] Corruption in Dagestan is more severe than in other regions of the former Soviet Union, and is coupled with a flourishing black market and clan-based economic system.[14]
[edit] Religion
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011) |
90.6% percent of Dagestan's population is Muslim, with Christians accounting for much of the remaining 9.4%.[20]
Dagestanis are largely Sunni Muslims, of the Shafii rites, that has been in place for centuries. On the Caspian coast, particularly in and around the port city of Derbent, the population (primarily made of the Azeris) is Shia.
A relatively large number of native Tati speaking Jews, designated by the Soviet state censuses as the "Mountain Jews" were also present in this same coastal areas, but since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union they have migrated to Israel and the United States. These were an extension of much larger Jewish community across the border in Azerbaijan (districts of Quba and Shimakha).[21]
The appearance of Sufi mysticism in Dagestan dates back to the 14th century. The two Sufi tariqas that spread in the North Caucasus were the Naqshbandiya and the Qadiriya (the Naqshbandiya is particularly strong in Dagestan and eastern Chechnya, whereas the Qadiriya has most of its adherents in the rest of Chechnya and Ingushetia). The mystic Tariqas preached tolerance and coexistence between the diverse people in the region. In fact, from the middle of the 19th century, the national liberation movement against the Russian takeover was led by a Sufi/Tariqa leader, the famed Imam Shamil. So was Mansur Ushurma—a Chechen Naqshbandi Sufi Sheikh, who fought for the liberation of North Caucasus from the Imperial Russian occupation. The Communist total intolerance for any religion after the Communist Revolution of 1917 also suppressed the Sufi movements.
After the Russian occupation of Dagestan from Persia in 1813 (see Russo-Persian Wars), and the gradual decline of native values in the region, Islam became a rallying point for all those who wished to preserve their native identity. Resul Magomedov, a contemporary writer of Dagestan, writes about the unifying role of Islam:
- Before Islam, all Daghestan tribes were divided in respect of language, religion, ethnic structure and geography like all other Caucasian peoples. This situation caused severe hostility and conflicts. After all native tribes became Muslims, a unity in belief could be sustained among Dagestani tribes which also stopped ethnic conflicts among them. If these conflicts continued, our homeland would face great disasters. This unity could only be established by medressehs spread out all the country. The scientists, scholars, imams graduated from these medressehs had an important role in stopping these conflicts in this multinational region and they helped tribes to establish friendly relations. Islam should also serve such a goal today.[22]
The number of Christians among the non-Slavic indigenous population is very low, with estimates between 2,000 and 2,500. Most of these are Pentecostal Christians from the Lak ethnic group.[23][24] The largest congregation is Osanna Evangelical Christian Church (Pentecostal) in Makhachkala, with more than 1,000 members.[25]
[edit] History
| | This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011) |
The oldest records about the region refer to the state of Caucasian Albania in the south, with its capital at Derbent and other important centres at Chola, Toprakh Qala, and Urtseki. The northern parts were held by a confederation of Dagestani tribes. In the first few centuries AD, Caucasian Albania continued to rule over what is present day Azerbaijan and mountains of Dagestan. It was fought over in classical times by Rome and the Persian Sassanids and was early converted to Christianity.
In the 5th century AD, the Sassanids gained the upper hand and constructed a strong citadel at Derbent, known henceforward as the Caspian Gates, while the northern part of Dagestan was overrun by the Huns, followed by the Caucasian Avars. It is not clear whether the latter were instrumental in the rise of the Christian kingdom in the Central Dagestan highlands. Known as Sarir, this Avar-dominated state maintained a precarious existence in the shadow of Khazaria and the Caliphate until the 9th century, when it managed to assert its supremacy in the region.
In 664, the Persians were succeeded in Derbent by the Arabs who clashed with the Khazars. Although the local population rose against the Arabs of Derbent in 905 and 913, Islam was eventually adopted in urban centres, such as Samandar and Kubachi (Zerechgeran), from where it steadily penetrated into the highlands. By the 15th century, Albanian Christianity had died away, leaving a tenth-century church at Datuna as the sole monument to its existence.
Due to Muslim pressure and internal disunity, Sarir disintegrated in the early 12th century, giving way to the Khanate of Avaristan, a long-lived Muslim state that braved the devastating Mongol invasions of 1222 and 1239, followed by Tamerlane's raid in 1389.
As the Mongol authority gradually eroded, new centres of power emerged in Kaitagi and Tarki. In the sixteenth and 17th centuries, legal traditions were codified, mountainous communities (djamaats) obtained a considerable degree of autonomy, while the Kumyk potentates (shamhals) asked for the Tsar's protection. Russians intensified their hold in the region in the 18th century, when Peter the Great annexed maritime Dagestan in the course of the First Russo-Persian War. Although the territories were returned to Persia in 1735, the next bout of hostilities resulted in the Russian capture of Derbent in 1796.
The 18th century also saw the resurgence of the Khanate of Avaristan, which managed to repulse the attacks of Nadir Shah of Persia and impose tribute on Shirvan and Georgia. In 1803 the khanate voluntarily submitted to Russian authority, but it took Persia a decade to recognize all of Dagestan as the Russian possession (Treaty of Gulistan).
The Russian administration, however, disappointed and embittered the highlanders. The institution of heavy taxation, coupled with the expropriation of estates and the construction of fortresses (including Makhachkala), electrified highlanders into rising under the aegis of the Muslim Imamate of Dagestan, led by Ghazi Mohammed (1828–32), Gamzat-bek (1832–34) and Shamil (1834–59). This Caucasian War raged until 1864, when Shamil was captured and the Khanate of Avaristan was abolished.
Dagestan and Chechnya profited from the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878, to rise together against Imperial Russia for the last time (Chechnya rose again various times throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries).
After the Bolshevik Revolution, Ottoman armies liberated Azerbaijan and Dagestan and the region became part of the short-lived Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. After more than three years of fighting White movement reactionaries and local nationalists, the Bolsheviks achieved victory and the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on 20 January 1921. Nevertheless, Stalin's industrialization largely bypassed Dagestan and the economy stagnated, making the republic the poorest region in Russia.
As with its neighbors Georgia, Azerbaijan and Chechnya, Dagestan developed a renewed nationalist movement in the late 1980s. Dagestani nationalism, however, rested on very unstable foundations, as the republic was (and is) extremely multiethnic, with many of its regions being recent additions, and even the existence of a unified Dagestan was relatively new with little historical context (previously, Avaria had been a separate entity, and most areas were completely unrelated to any sort of centralizing government). Dagestan's new elite, composed overwhelmingly of Avars, Dargins and Russians founded and consolidated its power. To this day, Dagestan is a very troubled region. There are various underground Wahhabist/Islamist movements (some more moderate than others, there was also a constitutional Islamizationist party before it was banned), originating as early as the late 80s.
Dagestan's poor population, often displeased with the "official" clergy (who they deem as government puppets, either of the Dagestani government or of Russia), is occasionally drawn to these groups as a form or reaction against the government (not in the least because of the unifying power of the common Muslim religion in a highly multiethnic area paired with the promises of the Islamists to "end inequality, patriarchalism and corruptions of the true faith" paired with their occasional assistance to poor communities). However, attraction to Islamism varies between sectors of the population. People from Southern Dagestan, poorer people, people with a lower education level and people from certain ethnic groups are more inclined to support Islamist tendencies.[citation needed] Whilst people from Northern Dagestan, Russians (who are not Muslim), Turkic peoples (who are often highly syncretic in their practice and often drawn instead to Turkic nationalism as a revolt against the authorities), more wealthy people, people from the hundred-or-so "governmental families", people with a higher education, and groups who are officially "not-native" to Dagestan (Russians, Azeris, Chechens, etc, regardless of actual nativeness they are not "titular groups") are less inclined.[citation needed] Separatism is also prominent: various groups resent the dominance of Dargins, Avars and Russians in government and revolt against this by calling Dagestan an artificial nation and demanding higher self-determination (i.e. secessionism). This is most noticeable among the Kumyks.[citation needed]
In 1999, a group of Muslim fundamentalists from Chechnya, led by warlords Shamil Basayev and Ibn Al-Khattab, launched a military invasion of Dagestan, with the aim of creating an "independent Islamic State of Dagestan". Although Basayev and Khattab had expected that they would be welcomed as liberators, the Dagestanis instead saw them as occupiers and unwelcome religious fanatics, and the initial resistance against the invasion was provided by the Dagestani police, spontaneous militias and villagers.[citation needed] Once Russian military help arrived, the invaders were beaten and driven back to Chechnya. As a retaliation, Russian forces subsequently reinvaded Chechnya later that year.[citation needed]
[edit] Dagestani conflict
Since 2000, Dagestan has been the venue of a low-level guerilla war, bleeding over from Chechnya; the fighting has claimed the lives of hundreds of federal servicemen and officials – mostly members of local police forces – as well as many Dagestani national rebels and civilians.
More recently, among other incidents:
- On May 15, 2008, two MVD officers were killed and one police officer heavily wounded during an ambush on their vehicle in Gubden.
- On September 8, 2008, Abdul Madzhid and several rebels were killed in an ambush by Russian special forces.
- On October 21, 2008, rebels ambushed a Russian military truck, killing five troops and wounding nine others.
- On January 6, 2010, a suicide bomber attempted to blow up a police station in Makhachkala, killing six officers and wounding 14 others.
- On March 31, 2010, 12 people were killed and 18 wounded by two suicide bombings in the town of Kizlyar outside the offices of the local interior ministry and the FSB security agency. The second bomb went off twenty minutes after the first, as a crowd had gathered. In the early hours of the next morning two people died as a bomb went off in their car, apparently prematurely, near the village of Toturbiikala.
- On July 15, 2010, Pastor Artur Suleimanov, a Muslim convert to Christianity, was murdered by a gunman. The pastor was killed in his car as he was leaving the Hosanna House of Prayer in Makhachkala, Dagestan in the North Caucasus region, according to a religious persecution watchdog group, Voice of the Martyrs, report. Pastor Suleimanov's church is one of the largest Protestant churches in Dagestan. Christians in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, which borders Chechnya, face harassment and intimidation from various groups. Pastor Suleimanov's life had been threatened on several previous occasions.[26]
[edit] Politics
The Parliament of Dagestan is the People's Assembly, consisting of 72 deputees elected for a four year term. The People's Assembly is the highest executive and legislative body of the republic.
The Constitution of Dagestan was adopted on July 10, 2003. According to it, the highest executive authority lies with the State Council, comprising representatives of fourteen ethnicities. The members of the State Council are appointed by the Constitutional Assembly of Dagestan for a term of four years. The State Council appoints the members of the Government.
The ethnicities represented in the State Council are Aguls, Avars, Azeris, Chechens, Dargins, Kumyks, Laks, Lezgins, Russians, Rutuls, Tabasarans, Tats, and Tsakhurs.
Formerly, the Chairman of the State Council was the highest executive post in the republic, held by Magomedali Magomedovich Magomedov until 2006. On February 20, 2006, the People's Assembly passed a resolution terminating this post and disbanding the State Council. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the People's Assembly the candidature of Mukhu Aliyev for the newly established post of the President of Dagestan. The nomination was accepted by the People's Assembly, and Mukhu Aliyev became the first President of Dagestan.
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