Saingilo

'''Saingilo ''' ({{lang-ka|საინგილო}}) is a 19th-century term that is used to indicate parts of the districts of [[Balakan]], [[Zaqatala Rayon|Zaqatala]] and [[Qakh]]—territory of 4,780 km²—currently parts of [[Azerbaijan]], populated by the ethnic [[Georgians]]—[[Ingiloy people|Ingiloi]]. ==History== Initially this territory was a province of [[Caucasian Albania]], 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 [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] 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 people|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 [[Republic of Dagestan|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 [[Kakheti]] and granted them to the [[Republic of Dagestan|Dagestan]]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 Georgia]] (DRG) and [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]] (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 SSR]] 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 [[Azerbaijan]] as it was put under Azerbaijan SSR by the central communist government in Moscow. Nowadays there are [[Georgians]]—Ingilos (ინგილოები in Georgian, ''Ingiloylar'' in Azeri)—living in this region of Azerbaijan (districts of [[Qax]], [[Balakan]] and [[Zaqatala (rayon)|Zaqatala]]). Ingilos (more than 11,000 as of 1999) are an ethnographic group of [[Georgian people]]. Most of the Ingilos residing in Qakh district remain Christians at present, those living in Balakan and Zaqatala are mostly Muslim. The incident took place on June 9, 2007, when the Georgian ministry of Education Alexander Lomaia visited Saingilo in order to give the local schoolchildren Georgian study books. 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. Currently, there 6 schools in Azerbaijan where education is taught in Georgian language. About 1200 children are studying in those schools.{{fact|date=April 2011}} == External links == *Nugzar Mgeladze (Translated by [[Kevin Tuite]]). [http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Ingilos.html Ingilos]. ''World Culture Encyclopedia''. Accessed on September 1, 2007. *Clifton, John M. ''et al.'' (2005). [http://www.sil.org/silesr/2005/silesr2005-008.pdf The Sociolinguistic situation of the Inghiloi of Azerbaijan]. ''SIL Electronic Survey Reports'' 2005-008: 12. *[http://saingilo.iatp.ge/zogadi_daxasiateba.htm]{{dead link|date=October 2009}} *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. {{coord missing|date=December 2010}}