Schapsugen

Historical settlement areas of the Circassian tribes 1750 and allied language groups (more thickly delimited). Third tribe from the west, the Schapsugen.

The Schapsugen or Schapsughen ( Adygeic Шапсыгъ-адыгэ ) are a historical tribe, an ethnic group of the Circassians with origins in the North Caucasus . Some of them are officially considered a separate nationality in Russia, which is recorded separately in statistics to this day, formerly the titular nation of a formally autonomous "Schapsugian National Rajons" near Tuapse on the Russian Black Sea coast , which was abolished in 1945 .

Historical tribe

Circassian minority in Turkey (green), s = Schapsugen.

In Russia they live mainly in the Adygea Republic , as well as on the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory ( Sochi , Tuapse ). The majority of Schapsugen now live outside the Caucasus : in Turkey , in the Jordanian cities of Amman , Na'ur and Marj al-Hamam , in Syria , Israel , the USA and the states of the EU .

The Schapsugen have their own dialect. As a written language, they have been using the Adygeic language since the Soviet era , which has been written with Cyrillic script since the late 1930s . There are also some peculiarities to other tribes in the traditions of the Schapsugen.

The majority of the Schapsugen are Sunni Muslims .

The mother of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II with the name Tîr-î-Müjgan Kadınefendi was a Schapsugin.

Originally the Schapsugen lived on the lower reaches of the Kuban , but expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries. Century south in the direction of the Black Sea coast (previously called "Klein-Schapsugien"), where they perhaps pushed the Circassian tribe of the Ubychen to the south and integrated the formerly independent tribe of the Hakutschen.

With the end of the Caucasus War in 1864, most of the Schapsugen who had put up a strong resistance to the expansion of Russia were deported to the Ottoman Empire ; only a small minority remained in the lower Kuban. A third group hid in the mountains of the western Caucasus and was only allowed to found new villages near Tuapse after 1878.

Nationality in Russia (former titular nation)

Today's settlement areas of the Circassians (green) in the Russian Caucasus, s = Schapsugen, in the south those on the Black Sea coast near Tuapse, in the northwest also some in Adygeja.

From 1923 to 1945 there was a formally autonomous Schapsugian National Rajon near Tuapse, whose titular nation , i.e. H. eponymous nationality, under the official name "Schapsugen" was recorded separately in official nationality statistics. Even after the dissolution of the National Rajon, the practice has continued to this day. According to the census in Russia in 2010, there were 3882 members of the official nationality of the Schapsugen. This official nationality does not include all members of the Schapsugen tribes. Those in the Russian Republic of Adygeja are counted to the titular nation of the "Adygejer". Both nationalities use the Adygeic written language. However, there are considerably more members of the Schapsugen tribe in the successor states of the Ottoman Empire.

literature

• B. Vvedensky et al: Bolshaya sovetskaya enziklopedija: Tom 47 . Isd-wo Bolshaya sovetskaya enziklopedija, Moscow 1957, p. 528.
• James Stuart Olson : An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires . Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994, ISBN 978-0-313-27497-8 , p. 592.

Web links

• Sochi Olympics time for true locals to shine , article at rt.com (English)
• The Schapsugen report of the radio station "Voice of Russia"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetayV3&ArticleID=1052451&Date=11.06.2011&CategoryID=79
2. ↑ WA Dimitriew: Die Westlichen Adygen: Socium and distribution from the 18th century - first half of the 19th century. (Russian).
3. ↑ Excel table 5 , line 194.