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Dagestan
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The Republic of Dagestan (; , ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic).
direct romanization of the republic's name is Respublika Dagestan. It is the largest republic of Russia in the North Caucasus, both in area and population.
The word Daghestan or Daghistan means "country of mountains", it is derived from the Turkic word dag meaning mountain and Persian suffix -stan meaning "land of".
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Encyclopedia
The Republic of Dagestan (; , ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic).
Terminology
The direct romanization of the republic's name is Respublika Dagestan. It is the largest republic of Russia in the North Caucasus, both in area and population.
The word Daghestan or Daghistan means "country of mountains", it is derived from the Turkic word dag meaning mountain and Persian suffix -stan meaning "land of". The name is written in Arabic alphabet as ???????. The spelling Dagestan is a transliteration of the Russian name and is rather modern.
Geography
The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains. It is the southernmost part of Russia.
- Area:
- Borders:
- Highest point: Bazardyuzi Mountain (4,466 m)
- Maximum N->S distance:
- Maximum E->W distance:
Time zone
Dagestan is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).
Rivers
There are over 1,800 rivers in the republic. Major rivers include:
Lakes
Dagestan has about of coast line on the Caspian Sea.
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.
Natural resources
Dagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and many other minerals.
Climate
The climate is hot and dry in the summer but the winters are hard in the mountain areas.
- Average January temperature:
- Average July temperature:
- Average annual precipitation: 200 (northern plains) to 800 mm (in the mountains).
Administrative divisions
Demographics
Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. Unlike most other parts of Russia, the population of Dagestan is rapidly growing.
- 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 (2005)
- Births: 40,814 (birth rate 15.5)
- Deaths: 15,585 (death rate 5.9)
Birth rate was 15.2 in the first half of 2007.
Ethnic groups
The people of Dagestan include a large variety of ethnic groups. According to the 2002 Census, Northeast Caucasians (including Avars, Dargins and Lezgins) make up almost 75% of the population of Dagestan. Turkic peoples, Kumyks, Nogais and Azeris make up 20%, and Russians 5% . 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.
| 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%) | | 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 (4.3%) | 101,152 (4.3%) | | 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%) | | 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%) | | 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%) | | 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%) | 120,875 (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%) |
There are also forty or so tiny groups such as the Hinukh, numbering 200, or the Akhwakh, 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. Over thirty local languages are also commonly spoken.
Religion
90.7% percent of Dagestan's population is Muslim, with Christians accounting for much of the remaining 9.3%.
As with much of the Caucasus region, Dagestan's native Islam consists of Sunni Sufi orders that have been in place for centuries. Resul Magomedov, who is a contemporary writer of Daghestan, 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 Daghestan 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.”
There is a millennia-old presence of a Jewish community, the "Mountain Jews," in Dagestan. Their influx from Babylonia and Persia occurred from the seventh century B.C. to the sixth century A.D.
Sources
See also
External links
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