Saingilo is a 19th-century term that is used to indicate the eastern part of the historic region of
HeretiHereti was a historic province in Kakheti which itself was part of Georgia. It roughly corresponds to the southeastern corner of the Kakheti region, Eastern Georgia . Part of the province commonly known as Saingilo is now in Azerbaijan...
. Saingilo includes districts of
BalakanBalakan is a rayon of northwestern Azerbaijan, located between Georgia and Russia. It borders Georgia to south and Dagestan of Russia to east and north. There is an Azerbaijan-Georgia border crossing at Postbina in the rayon that is open to both local residents and foreigners.-Ethnic...
,
ZaqatalaZaqatala may refer to:*Zaqatala Rayon, a political subdivision in Azerbaijan*Zaqatala , the principal city in the rayon...
and
QakhQakh , also Kakhi or sometimes Gakh , is a rayon in the north of Azerbaijan, on the border with Georgia.-History:...
– the territory of 4,780 km2 the presently parts of
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
.
Initially this territory was a province of IberiaThe name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
, until it ended its existence and united with Kolkheti and Svania to make up republic of Georgia in around 4BC.
Saingilo is a 19th-century term that is used to indicate the eastern part of the historic region of
HeretiHereti was a historic province in Kakheti which itself was part of Georgia. It roughly corresponds to the southeastern corner of the Kakheti region, Eastern Georgia . Part of the province commonly known as Saingilo is now in Azerbaijan...
. Saingilo includes districts of
BalakanBalakan is a rayon of northwestern Azerbaijan, located between Georgia and Russia. It borders Georgia to south and Dagestan of Russia to east and north. There is an Azerbaijan-Georgia border crossing at Postbina in the rayon that is open to both local residents and foreigners.-Ethnic...
,
ZaqatalaZaqatala may refer to:*Zaqatala Rayon, a political subdivision in Azerbaijan*Zaqatala , the principal city in the rayon...
and
QakhQakh , also Kakhi or sometimes Gakh , is a rayon in the north of Azerbaijan, on the border with Georgia.-History:...
– the territory of 4,780 km2 the presently parts of
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
.
History
Initially this territory was a province of IberiaThe name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
, until it ended its existence and united with Kolkheti and Svania to make up republic of Georgia in around 4BC. After that, the region was a separate kingdom within Georgian cultural and political influence.There are data that support the assertion that in the fourth to fifth centuries Hereti was already a political component of Georgia; this is corroborated by surviving Georgian cultural monuments dating to the sixth to eighth centuries. The territory took part in establishing united Georgian Kingdom after it was incorporated into 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...
in the 8th century. For ages, the territory now called Saingilo has been a historic part of Georgia. During the medieval era what later became known as Saingilo was mostly controlled by the kingdom of Georgia.
In the Middle Ages seven Georgian schools operated in Saingilo which included the courses of theology, philosophy, orthography, church history, and the history of Georgia and for the students. These schools played an essential cultural and educational. They put a vital contribution in establishing cultural relations among the peoples of the Caucasus. Literary materials were prepared in the schools for diffusion in the northern Caucasus. In the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries the use of the Georgian alphabet and Georgian Christian literature spread from Saingilo to the neighboring province of Daghestan, and churches were founded there, remnants of which can be seen today. for a long time, beginning in the fifth century, a significant part of Daghestan was within the sphere of Georgian political influence.
In the early 17th century, Shah Abbas I of Safavid of Persia took these lands from the king of
KakhetiKakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabitant by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and mountain-range of Greater Caucasus to the north, Azerbaijan to the east and the south, and the Georgian province of...
and granted them to the
DagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject—republic—of the Russian Federation, located in the North Caucasus region....
i feudal clans who enjoyed a degree of autonomy (Djar-Beylakan society, the sultanate of Ilisu). Northern Caucasian mountaineeres established there Avarian (in the Ch'ar-Belakan District) and Tsakhurian "free communes." As a result of raids conducted by bands of Avar and Tsakhur warriors in Saingilo, the Ingilos became serfs of the Daghestanian rulers, who forced them to make pay tribute. Some Daghestanian families hired themselves out as temporary workers on Ingilo farms. In this way, gradually, by peaceful or hostile means, these tribes settled in Saingilo and colonized it. Already after the foundation of the sultanate of Elisu the conquerors had, by a concerted effort, undertaken the Islamicization of the region.
After 1801, when the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti (eastern Georgia) became part of the Russian empire the region ended up in the Imperial Russian conquest in 1803. From 1918 to 1920 both
Democratic Republic of GeorgiaThe Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
(DRG) and
Azerbaijan Democratic RepublicThe Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
(ADR) claimed its territory as theirs, but the dispute never led to an armed confrontation. After the fall of the ADR in 1920, Soviet Russia and
Azerbaijan SSRThe Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
recognized it part of Georgia whose government granted these lands a degree of internal autonomy. Following the Sovietization of Georgia in 1921, the area officially became part of
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
as it was put under Azerbaijan SSR by the central communist government in Moscow. Nowadays there are
GeorgiansThe Georgians are a South Caucasian people and nation mainly centered in Georgia. They also live in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries....
- Ingilos (ინგილოები in Georgian,
Ingiloylar in Azeri) living in this region of Azerbaijan (districts of Qax,
BalakanBalakan is a rayon of northwestern Azerbaijan, located between Georgia and Russia. It borders Georgia to south and Dagestan of Russia to east and north. There is an Azerbaijan-Georgia border crossing at Postbina in the rayon that is open to both local residents and foreigners.-Ethnic...
and
ZaqatalaZaqatala is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The capital and principle town of the rayon is Zaqatala. The rayon is an appendix of Azeri territory wedged between Georgia and Dagestan...
). Ingilos (more than 11 000 as of 1999) are an ethnographic group of Georgian people. Some part of Ingilos managed not to lose their original religion - Georgian Orthodox Christianity, but part of them became Muslims. Most of the Ingilos residing in Kakhi District are Christians at present. The other part of them makes the Muslim community.
The incident took place in June 9 2007 when the Georgian ministry of Education Alexander Lomaia visited Saingilo in order to give the Georgian study books to the local schoolchildren. As the ingilo Georgians claimed the Azeri police forces had forcefully took away the books from the Georgian schoolchildren. That information is denied by the Azeri ministry of Education.
External links
- Nugzar Mgeladze (Translated by Kevin Tuite
Kevin Tuite is a full Professor of Anthropology at the Université de Montréal.Born in South Bend, Indiana, USA, Tuite is a citizen of the U.S. and Ireland and a Landed immigrant of Canada. He specializes in the languages and cultures of the Caucasus, especially those of Georgia, where he has...
). Ingilos. World Culture Encyclopedia. Accessed on September 1, 2007.
- Clifton, John M. et al. (2005). The Sociolinguistic situation of the Inghiloi of Azerbaijan. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2005-008: 12.
- http://saingilo.iatp.ge/zogadi_daxasiateba.htm
- http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Ingilos-History-and-Cultural-Relations.html
- Original source: The Cambridge Ancient History, volume XIV, chapter 22b, page 662,
Chapter: Armenia in the fifth and sixth century by R.W. Thomson.
Original map: The map of Armenia and its neighbours on page 666.