Karachay-Cherkess Republic ' onMouseout='HidePop("62830")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Karachay-Balkar_language">Karachay-Balkar
The Karachay-Balkar language is a Turkic language spoken by the Karachays and Balkars. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay which pronounces two phonemes as and , and Balkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as and .- Alphabet :Modern Karachay-Balkar alphabet-Bibliography:*...
: Къарачай-Черкес Республика;
KabardianThe Kabardian language is closely related to the Adyghe language , both members of the Northwest Caucasian language family. It is spoken mainly in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia and in Turkey and the Middle East...
: Къэрэшей-Шэрджэс Республикэ), or
Karachay-Cherkessia is a
federal subjectRussia is a federation that consists of 83 subjects. These subjects are of equal federal rights in the sense that they have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council . However, they do differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy...
of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(a
republicThe Russian Federation is divided into 83 federal subjects , 21 of which are republics. The republics represent areas of non-Russian ethnicity. The indigenous ethnic group of the republic that gives the republic the name is known as the "titular nationality"...
). The direct
romanizationRomanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
of the republic's Russian name is
Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika or
Karachayevo-Cherkessiya.
Geography
- Area:
- Borders:
- internal: Krasnodar Krai
Krasnodar Krai is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Southern Federal District.-Geography:Krasnodar Krai encompasses the western part of the Forecaucasus and a part of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major...
(N/NE/E), Kabardino-Balkar RepublicThe Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus...
(E/SE), Stavropol KraiStavropol Krai is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol.-Geography:Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the Northern slopes of Caucasus Major...
(W/NW).
- international: Georgia
Georgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
(S/SW) (including AbkhaziaAbkhazia is a disputed region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Since its declaration of independence from Georgia in 1991 during the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict, it is governed as the partially-recognized Republic of Abkhazia.Georgia considers Abkhazia part of its territory and has designated...
).
- Highest point: Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's highest peak is the highest mountain in the Caucasus and in whole Europe. Mt. Elbrus stands at and is the highest...
(5,642 m)
- Maximum N->S distance: no data
- Maximum E->W distance: no data
Time zone
Karachay-Cherkessia is located in the
Moscow Time ZoneMoscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the 11 time zones of Russia....
(MSK/MSD).
UTCCoordinated Universal Time , ) is a time standard based on International Atomic Time with leap seconds added at irregular intervals to compensate for the Earth's slowing rotation...
offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).
Rivers
There are 172 rivers on the territory of the republic. Major rivers include:
- Aksaut River
- Bolshaya Laba River
- Bolshoy Zelenchuk River
- Daut River
- Kuban River
Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows through the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai, Krasnodar Krai, and the Republic of Adygea....
- Kuma River
The Kuma is an 802 km long river in southern Russia. Its drainage basin is 33 500 square km. Its source is in the Greater Caucasus, in the republic Karachay-Cherkessia, west of Kislovodsk...
- Kyafar River
- Bolshaya Laba River
- Maly Zelenchuk River
- Marukha River
- Podkumok River
Podkumok River is a river in Karachay-Cherkessia and Stavropol Krai, Russia, right tributary of the Kuma River. The length of the river is 160 km . The area of its basin is 2,220 km² . The Podkumok River originates in the Greater Caucasus. It is widely used for irrigation...
- Teberda River
- Urup River
Mountains
The landscape of the republic is mostly mountainous (~80% of the territory).
Mount ElbrusMount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's highest peak is the highest mountain in the Caucasus and in whole Europe. Mt. Elbrus stands at and is the highest...
, the highest mountain in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, is situated on the border with the
Kabardino-Balkar RepublicThe Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus...
.
Natural resources
Karachay-Cherkessia's natural resources include
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
,
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
,
clayClay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired...
s, and more.
Climate
- Average January temperature:
- Average July temperature:
- Average annual precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the Earth's surface. The main forms of precipitation include rain, snow, ice pellets, and graupel...
: (plains) to (mountains)
Administrative divisions
Demographics
- Population: 439,470 (2002)
- Urban: 193,531 (44.0%)
- Rural: 245,939 (56.0%)
- Male: 205,481 (46.8%)
- Female: 233,989 (53.2%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,139
- Average age: 33.2 years
- Urban: 33.4 years
- Rural: 33.1 years
- Male: 31.0 years
- Female: 35.2 years
- Number of households: 127,488 (with 437,338 people)
- Urban: 62,858 (with 192,642people)
- Rural: 65,130 (with 244,696 people)
- Vital statistics (2005)
- Births: 5,194 (birth rate 12.0)
- Deaths: 5,131 (death rate 11.9)
According to the
2002 CensusRussian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
,
KarachaysThe Karachays are indigenous people of the North Caucasus, mostly situated in the Russian Karachay-Cherkess Republic.-History:...
make up 38.5% of the republic's population, followed by
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(33.6%) and
CherkesCherkes are an ethnic group of the northwestern Caucasus region and are a part of the Adyghe nation. Principally inhabiting northern Karachay-Cherkessia as well as four villages of Adygeya: Khodz, Blechepsin, Koshekhabl, and Ulyap.They primarily speak the Cherkes dialect of Kabardian.The Cherkes...
(11.3%). Other groups include
AbazinsThe Abazins are a people who live mostly in Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygeya of Russia.An Abazin diaspora exists in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and other Islamic countries, most of which are descendants of refugees from the Caucasian War with the Russian Empire...
(7.4%),
NogaisThe Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in northern Dagestan and neighbouring areas of Chechnya and Stavropol Krai. They speak the Nogai language and are descendants of Kipchaks who formed the Nogai Horde...
(3.4%),
OssetiansThe Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group indigenous to Ossetia, a region that spans the Caucasus Mountains. The Ossetians mostly populate North Ossetia-Alania in Russia, and South Ossetia which is now de facto independent from Georgia. They speak Ossetic, an Indo-European language of the Iranian...
(3,333, or 0.8%),
UkrainiansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...
(3,331, or 0.8%),
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
(3,197, or 0.7%),
TatarsTatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. They numbered 10 million in the late 20th Century, which includes all subgroups of Tatar people, such as...
(2,021, or 0.5%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.
|
census 1926 |
census 1939 |
census 1959 |
census 1970 |
census 1979 |
census 1989 |
census 2002 |
KarachaysThe Karachays are indigenous people of the North Caucasus, mostly situated in the Russian Karachay-Cherkess Republic.-History:...
|
52,875 (52.0%) |
70,932 (29.2%) |
67,830 (24.4%) |
97,104 (28.2%) |
109,196 (29.7%) |
129,449 (31.2%) |
169,198 (38.5%) |
| Cherkess |
16,186 (15.9%) |
17,667 (7.3%) |
24,145 (8.7%) |
31,190 (9.0%) |
34,430 (9.4%) |
40,241 (9.7%) |
49,591 (11.3%) |
AbazinsThe Abazins are a people who live mostly in Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygeya of Russia.An Abazin diaspora exists in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and other Islamic countries, most of which are descendants of refugees from the Caucasian War with the Russian Empire...
|
13,731 (13.5%) |
14,138 (5.8%) |
18,159 (6.5%) |
22,896 (6.6%) |
24,245 (6.6%) |
27,475 (6.6%) |
32,346 (7.4%) |
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
|
2,593 (2.6%) |
118,785 (48.8%) |
141,843 (51.0%) |
162,442 (47.1%) |
165,451 (45.1%) |
175,931 (42.4%) |
147,878 (33.6%) |
NogaisThe Nogai people are a Turkic ethnic group in northern Dagestan and neighbouring areas of Chechnya and Stavropol Krai. They speak the Nogai language and are descendants of Kipchaks who formed the Nogai Horde...
|
6,263 (6.2%) |
6,869 (2.8%) |
8,903 (3.2%) |
11,062 (3.2%) |
11,872 (3.2%) |
12,993 (3.1%) |
14,873 (3.4%) |
| Others |
9,961 (9.8%) |
14,810 (6.1%) |
17,079 (6.1%) |
19,957 (5.8%) |
21,917 (6.0%) |
28,881 (7.0%) |
25,584 (5.8%) |
History
Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast was created on January 12, 1922. It was split into
Karachay Autonomous OblastKarachay Autonomous Oblast was an Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union created 1926-04-26....
and Cherkess National District on April 26, 1926. Cherkess National District was elevated to an autonomous oblast status on April 30, 1928. In 1943, Karachay Autonomous Oblast was abolished and the Karachay population was deported to
KazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...
and
UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
accused in collaboration with the Nazis. Most of the Karchay territory was split between
Stavropol KraiStavropol Krai is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol.-Geography:Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the Northern slopes of Caucasus Major...
and
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
. The remaining territory populated by the Cherkessians was known as
Cherkess Autonomous OblastCherkess Autonomous Oblast was created in 1943....
until January 9, 1957 when it was re-established into Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast in its former borders due to the re-habilitation of the Karachay. On July 3, 1991, the autonomous oblast was elevated to the status of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia (under the jurisdiction of the
Russian SFSRThe Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Soviet republics of the Soviet Union and became the Russian...
). With the dissolution of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
in December 1991, the words "Autonomous Soviet Socialist" was dropped from the name.
Politics
The head of government in Karachay-Cherkessia is the President. As of summer 2008, the president is Boris Safarovich Ebzeyev, a former judge of the Constitutional Court of Russian Federation.
Ethnic tension is a considerable problem in the republic. In May 1999 Karachay-Cherkessia conducted its first ever free regional presidential election. When Vladimir Semyonov, a Karachay, won the election over Stanislav Derev, a Circassian, there were protests by supporters of Derev, with widespread allegations of fraud. A court ruling later upheld the election result, prompting thousands of Derev's supporters to march in protest, many advocating partition of the republic.
A car-bomb that killed two people in March 2001 was blamed on Chechen separatists. In September 2007, the FSB killed Abubakar, the chief Islamic extremist of the republic.
Economy
Industry is mostly concentrated in the capital of the republic,
CherkesskCherkessk is a city in Southern Russia, North Caucasian Region. It is the capital of Karachay-Cherkess Republic, as well as the political, economic and cultural center of Russians and ethnic minorities residing in Karachay-Cherkessia. It is located at...
. Chemical, wood, and food industries are the most developed.
Science
The republic is the home of what was the largest telescope of the world when it was built, a very large radiotelescope (600 meters in diameter), and the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science dedicated to the study of astronomy. These facilities are located on the bank of the Zelenchuk river, between the villages of Zelenchukskaya and Arkhyz.
External links
Official website of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic Collection of images of Karachay-Cherkessia Images of Karachay-Cherkessia An account of the disputed 1999 election Collection of images of Karachay-Cherkessia, with a focus on caves Ulu Cami: A Karachay Mosque serving Muslim Community in Northern Jersey