North Ossetia-Alania

Subject of the Russian Federation Republic of North Ossetia – Alania Республика Северная Осетия – Алания Республикӕ Цӕгат Ирыстон – Алани flag coat of arms Federal district North Caucasus surface 7987  km² population 712,980 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) Population density 89 inhabitants / km² Capital Vladikavkaz Official languages Ossetian , Russian Ethnic composition Ossetians (64.5%) Russians (20.6%) Ingush (4.0%) Armenians (2.3%) Kumyks (2.3%) Georgians (1.3%) (as of 2010) head Vyacheslav Bitarov (acting) Founded July 7, 1924 Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone prefixes (+7) 867xx Postcodes 362000-363999 License Plate 15th OKATO 90 ISO 3166-2 RU-SE Website www.rso-a.ru

Coordinates: 43 ° 12 '  N , 44 ° 12'  E

Located in the North Caucasus located North Ossetia-Alania ( Ossetia Республикӕ Цӕгат Ирыстон-Алани Respublikæ Zægat Iryston-Alani , Russian Республика Северная Осетия-Алания Respublika Severnaya Ossetija-Alania ) is a republic within the 1991 Russian Federation .

geography

North Ossetia-Alania is located immediately north of the Greater Caucasus . It stretches from the mountains of the main Caucasus chain to the lowlands of the Terek , which is also the largest river in the country. A tributary of the Terek is the Ardon , which lies exclusively on the territory of the country. The Terek rises on the slopes of Mount Kazbek , which lies in the southeast corner of the country on the border with Georgia. North Ossetia-Alania borders the Russian Federation subjects Kabardino-Balkaria (in the west), the Stavropol region (in the north), and Ingushetia and Chechnya (in the east). In the south, the republic is separated from Georgia with the breakaway region of South Ossetia by the main ridge of the Caucasus , but there is a road connection through the Roki Tunnel, opened in 1984 .

Vegetation and wildlife

The southern parts of the country are determined by the Greater Caucasus, the slopes of which are dominated by alpine rock and snow fields over alpine meadows to the mountain forests of the lower elevations. In the north of the country are the fertile steppe regions of the Terek lowlands, where agriculture dominates today. The large animals found in the southern parts of the country in the central Caucasus include typical mountain ungulates such as the chamois and the East Caucasian ibex . The mountain forests are populated by maral deer , roe deer and wild boar . The large predators of the Caucasus region are wolves , brown bears and lynxes . In addition, individual leopards roam the region. In the North Ossetian nature reserve , there is also a small population of bison that has been reintroduced here.

population

The majority of the population is the titular nation of the Ossetians , who make up almost two thirds of the population. The Ossetians consist of two different groups, the Digors (minority) and the Ironen (majority). The written Ossetian language is based on the ironic dialect. The majority of the Ossetians practice Orthodox Christianity, a significantly smaller minority belong to Islam. The original Ossetian folk religion Uazdin has not completely disappeared to this day either.

The second largest population group in North Ossetia are the Russians , but their number has been falling for several decades. Russians live mainly in the northern region around Mozdok , where they form the relative majority of the population, as well as in the capital Vladikavkaz. The third largest population group in North Ossetia are the Ingush . Smaller ethnic groups are the Armenians , Kumyks and Georgians .

Ethnic group	VZ 1926 1		VZ 1939		VZ 1959		VZ 1970		VZ 1979		VZ 1989		VZ 2002		VZ 2010 2
	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%
Ossetians	141,723	49.6%	165.616	50.3%	215.463	47.8%	269,326	48.7%	299.022	50.5%	334.876	53.0%	445.310	62.7%	459,658	64.5%
Russians	68.192	23.8%	122,614	37.2%	178,654	39.6%	202.367	36.6%	200,692	33.9%	189,159	29.9%	164.734	23.2%	147.090	20.6%
Ingush	23,851	8.3%	6.106	1.9%	6,071	1.3%	18,387	3.3%	23,663	4.0%	32,783	5.2%	21,442	3.0%	28,336	4.0%
Armenians	9,185	3.2%	8,932	2.7%	12,012	2.7%	13,355	2.4%	12,912	2.2%	13,619	2.2%	17,147	2.4%	16,235	2.3%
Kumyks	3,153	1.1%	85	0.0%	3,921	0.9%	6.363	1.2%	7,610	1.3%	9,478	1.5%	12,659	1.8%	16.092	2.3%
Georgians	6,057	2.1%	6.312	1.9%	8,160	1.8%	10,323	1.9%	11,347	1.9%	12,284	1.9%	10,803	1.5%	9,095	1.3%
Turks	32	0.01%	91	0.03%	k.Ang.	?,?%	30th	0.01%	65	0.01%	158	0.02%	2,835	0.4%	3,383	0.5%
Ukrainians	19.101	6.7%	7,063	2.1%	9,362	2.1%	9,250	1.7%	10,574	1.8%	10,088	1.6%	5,198	0.7%	3,251	0.5%
Chechens	k.Ang.	?,?%	235	0.07%	339	0.08%	1,402	0.25%	1,760	0.3%	2,646	0.4%	3,383	0.5%	2,264	0.3%
German	1,502	0.5%	2,929	0.9%	789	0.2%	2,099	0.4%	2,527	0.4%	3,099	0.5%	964	0.14%	588	0.08%
Greeks	44	0.02%	2.006	0.6%	2,538	0.6%	2,957	0.5%	2,999	0.5%	2.986	0.5%	2,332	0.3%	1,880	0.3%
Cabardines	622	0.2%	357	0.1%	1.956	0.4%	2.168	0.4%	2.214	0.4%	2,770	0.4%	2,902	0.4%	2,802	0.4%
Other	12,490	4.4%	6,859	2.1%	11,316	2.5%	14,554	2.6%	16,617	2.8%	18,482	2.9%	20,566	2.9%	22.306	3.1%
Residents	285,952	100%	329.205	100%	450,581	100%	552,581	100%	592.002	100%	632.428	100%	710.275	100%	712.980	100%
1 Today’s territory 2 6,557 people could not be assigned to any ethnic group. These people are probably distributed in the same proportion as the ethnically classified inhabitants.

The official languages ​​are Ossetian and Russian . Ossetian is an Iranian language . The most important religions are Christianity in the Russian Orthodox version and Islam .

Cities

Almost half of the residents live in the capital of Vladikavkaz . Other larger cities are Mosdok , Beslan and Alagir . There are a total of six cities and one urban-type settlement in North Ossetia-Alania .

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Cities and urban settlements

City * / City settlement	Russian	Ossetian	City district / Rajon	Residents (October 14, 2010)	coat of arms	location
Alagir *	Алагир	Алагир	Alagir	20,949		43 ° 2 '  N , 44 ° 13'  E
Ardon *	Ардон	Ӕрыдон	Ardon	18,774		43 ° 10 '  N , 44 ° 17'  E
Beslan *	Беслан	Беслӕн	Pravobereschny	36,728		43 ° 11 '  N , 44 ° 32'  E
Digora *	Дигора	Дигорӕ	Digora	10,856		43 ° 9 '  N , 44 ° 9'  E
Mosdok *	Моздок	Мӕздӕг	Mosdok	38,768		43 ° 45 '  N , 44 ° 39'  E
Zavodskoi	Заводской	Заводской	Vladikavkaz District	16,792		43 ° 6 '  N , 44 ° 39'  E
Vladikavkaz *	Владикавказ	Дзӕуджыхъӕу	Urban district	311,693		43 ° 1 '  N , 44 ° 41'  E

history

Map of North Ossetia-Alania

The region has been populated since ancient times. In the 7th century BC Iranian tribes related to the Scythians immigrated . In the 9th century AD, the state of Alania came into being under the Alans , the direct ancestors of the Ossetians. Some buildings from this period are still there today, including a. Defense towers.

In the 13th century Alania was devastated by the Mongols , later the region was under pressure from the Ottomans and Tartars , so that Alania oriented itself towards Russia and voluntarily joined the Russian Empire in 1776. This made the Ossetian area among the first in the Caucasus region to come under Russian sovereignty. In the tsarist times it belonged to the Terek Oblast , which is named after the Terek River and which also includes today's Chechnya , Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia .

The Vladikavkaz fortress - now the capital - was the first Russian military outpost in Ossetia.

At the time of the Soviet Union , North Ossetia was part of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Mountain Republic until 1924 . On July 7, 1924, the "North Ossetian Autonomous Region " was created in the Russian Federation with its seat in Vladikavkaz, which was renamed North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) with the 1936 constitution .

Post Soviet time

The collapse of the Soviet Union also led to ethnic conflicts there, mainly in the Prigorodny district . The eastern part of this district belonged to Ingushetia or Checheno-Ingushetia until 1944 . After Stalin had the Ingush and Chechens deported in 1944, this area was attached to North Ossetia and thousands of Ossetians settled there. Nikita Khrushchev officially rehabilitated the Ingush and Chechens after Stalin's death and restored their autonomous republic, but the change of territory in favor of the Ossetians was explicitly not reversed. Over the years, more and more nationally-minded Ingush moved back to Prigorodny Raion and more and more openly demanded that the district be spun off from North Ossetia. In 1989, around 75,000 people lived in the entire Prigorodny district, of whom 58.9% Ossetians, 22.1% Ingush and 15.7% Russians. According to other information, the Ingush population in Prigorodny is said to have been significantly higher than the official statistics and could have been over 40%. In the summer of 1992, when the Soviet Union had already been dissolved, the tensions between Ingush and Ossetians increased. In October 1992, open war finally broke out between Ingush rebels and Ossetians in Prigorodny district. When Russian security forces intervened a week later and separated the conflicting parties, over 600 people had already been killed and thousands more, especially Ingush, had been displaced. The conflict ended with Prigorodny remaining near North Ossetia.

The conflict in neighboring Chechnya also severely affected North Ossetia. There were also several attacks by Chechen separatists here, mostly in Vladikavkaz and Mozdok . Russian armed forces are stationed in Mozdok for use in Chechnya. In 1999, 52 people died in an attack in Vladikavkaz, and another 50 in an attack in 2003 in Mozdok. The wave of terrorism reached its peak in the period from September 1 to September 3, 2004. Chechen terrorists attacked a school in the city of Beslan in order to take hostages . At least 331 people, mostly children, were killed during the hostage-taking and violent termination by Russian security forces.

In November 2008 there was an attack on a shared taxi in Vladikavkaz by so-called “black widows”, female suicide bombers from Chechnya. 12 people were killed and up to 40 injured. In September 2010, Vladikavkaz was the scene of another suicide bombing when terrorists blew themselves up in a busy city market during the holy month of Ramadan on the Islamic lunar calendar . 12 people died and 80 others were injured. Since then, North Ossetia has been spared major attacks. In contrast to some other North Caucasian peoples in Russia, there was no significant support for secession from Russia under Ossetians. The region maintains close ties with neighboring South Ossetia , which split off from Georgia in the 1990s. North Ossetia is now the most industrialized region in the North Caucasus.

economy

Most of the industry is located in the capital of Vladikavkaz . Some of the rivers are used for power plants, and spring water is often bottled and sold as mineral water. The black earth soils predominate in agriculture in the north and alpine pastures in the south. There are several nature parks in the mountains.

Administrative division

The Republic of North Ossetia-Alania is divided into eight Rajons and an urban district comprising the capital (highlighted in gray in the table):

Soot. Surname	Osset. Surname	German Surname	Administrative headquarters	surface	Residents	Population density
Transliteration	Transliteration			in km²	source	in E / km²
Алагирский район Alagirski rajon	Алагиры район Alagiry rajon	Alagir district	Алагир / Алагир Alagir / Alagir	2.135	34,361	16
Ардонский район Ardonski rajon	Æрыдоны район Ærydony rajon	Ardon district	Ардон / Ӕрыдон Ardon / Ærydon	376.5	27,728	74
Владикавказ Vladikavkaz	Дзæуджыхъæу Dzæudšychjæu	Vladikavkaz	-	291	329,872	1,134
Дигорский район Digorski rajon	Дыгуры район Dygury rajon	Digora district	Дигора / Дигорæ Digora / Digoræ	640	19,229	30th
Ирафский район Irafski rajon	Æрæфы район Æræfy rajon	Iraf district	Чикола / Цыкола Čikola / Cykola	1,376	15,242	11
Кировский район Kirovski rajon	Кировы район Kirovy rajon	Kirov Raion	Эльхотово / Елхот Ėl'chotovo / Elchot	360	27,629	77
Моздокский район Mozokski rajon	Мæздæджы район Mæzdædžy rajon	Mosdok district	Моздок / Мæздæг Mozdok / Mæzdæg	1,080	86,921	81
Правобережный район Pravoberežny rajon	Рахизфарсы район Pachizfarsy rajon	Pravobereschny district	Беслан / Беслæн Beslan / Beslæn	441.29	56,049	127
Пригородный район Prigorodny rajon	Горæтгæроны район Gorætgærony rajon	Prigorodny district	Октябрьское / Октябрыхъæу Oktjabr'skoje / Oktjabrych æu	1,460	103,827	71

Web links

Commons : Republic of North Ossetia-Alania  - Collection of images

• Official portal of the republic
• North Ossetia website
• English and Russian short messages from Kawkaski Usel from North Ossetia-Alania
• Ossetia - history, culture, politics, news (Russian)
• Image galleries at darial-online (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Administrativno-territorialʹnoe delenie po subʺektam Rossijskoj Federacii na 1 janvarja 2010 goda (administrative-territorial division according to subjects of the Russian Federation as of January 1, 2010). ( Download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
3. ↑ Nacional'nyj sostav naselenija po sub "ektam Rossijskoj Federacii. (XLS) In: Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Rosstat, accessed on June 30, 2016 (Russian, ethnic composition of the population according to federal subjects , results of the 2010 census). 
4. ↑ VG Heptner: Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume I Ungulates. Leiden / New York, 1989, ISBN 90-04-08874-1 .
5. ↑ Species portrait: Caucasian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor). (PDF) WWF Germany , January 2007, accessed on April 29, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Population of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania 1926-2010 (in Russian) [1]
7. ↑ Population of the Russian territorial units by nationality 2010 (Russian) [2]
8. ↑ ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru
9. ↑ memo.ru
10. ↑ Michael Ludwig, Moscow: Assassination attempt in North Ossetia: The return of the . In: FAZ.NET . November 7, 2008, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed December 27, 2017]).
11. ↑ dpa: North Caucasus: dead in attack in Vladikavkaz . In: The time . September 9, 2010, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed December 27, 2017]).
12. ↑ bbc.com
13. ↑ Federal Service for State Statistics of Russia, population figures as of January 1, 2010 , Excel worksheet (549 kB), accessed on August 31, 2010