Circassia

Circassia , historic region, encompassing roughly the area between the Black Sea, the Kuban River, and the Caucasus, now largely the Krasnodar Territory of SE European Russia. The Circassians are a Muslim people, whose Russian name is Cherkess and whose native name is Adygey. They are now officially classified as three peoples: the Kabarda, in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic; the Circassians or Cherkess, in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic; and the Adygey, in the Adygey Republic. The term Circassian has sometimes been incorrectly applied to all the mountain peoples of the N Caucasus. Known in antiquity, they inhabited the western side of the Caucasus and the Crimea and were known to the Greeks as the Zyukhoy. They were Christianized in the 6th cent. AD but adopted Islam in the 17th cent. after coming under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In 1829 the Ottoman Turks were forced to cede Circassia to Russia. At this time the Circassians occupied almost the entire area between the main Caucasian range, the Kuban River, and the Black Sea. In the many Russo-Turkish wars in the first half of the 19th cent., the Circassians bitterly fought the Russians. After the Russian conquest of the area, about 400,000 Circassians migrated to Turkey (1861-64). Circassian women were reputed to be great beauties, and many were sold into slavery in Turkey. There are today large Circassian groups in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.

Circassia, Russia See Karachay‐Cherkessia.

Krasnodar Territory administrative division (1995 pop. 5,004,200), 32,317 sq mi (83,701 sq km), SE European Russia, extending E from the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea into the Kuban steppe and straddling the northwestern end of the Greater Caucasus. Krasnodar is the capital. The territory includes the Adygey Republic . The main agricultural section is in the Kuban steppe and along the lower Kuban River. Most of the area has high quality black soil. The territory is one of Russia's principal tobacco-growing regions. The subtropical Black Sea littoral produces fruit, tea, and wine and is dotted with health resorts, of which Sochi is the best known. There are petroleum, gas, machinery, cement, and lumber industries. Krasnodar, Maykop, and Armavir are the chief industrial centers; Tuapse is the main port. More than 90% of the population is Russian and Ukrainian; their dialect is a mixture of the two languages. The rest of the population is Adygey or Circassian. The area N of the Kuban belonged to the Crimean Khanate and was annexed by Russia in 1783. The Kuban Cossacks, who settled there, gradually displaced the native nomadic Nogay Tatars. The Black Sea littoral was ceded to Russia by Turkey in the Treaty of Adrianople (1829). The remainder, known as Circassia , was annexed in 1864. Krasnodar Territory was formed in 1937.