Abkhaz people.html



Abkhazians (Аҧсуа)
Total population
150,000 est
Regions with significant populations
Abkhazia 94,606 1  Georgia (without Abkhazia) 3,527 2  Turkey 39,000 3  Russia 11,366 4  Ukraine 1,458 5
Languages
Abkhaz, Turkish, Russian
Religion
Eastern Orthodox, Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Abazins, other Northwest Caucasian peoples

The Abkhazians or Abkhaz (Abkhaz: Аҧсуа, Apswa; Georgian: აფხაზი, Aphkhazi) are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Republic of Abkhazia. A large Abkhazian diaspora lives in Turkey who are descendants of Abkhazians who emigrated from the Caucasus in the late 19th century as part of Muhajirism. Many also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.⁶

Origins

The Abkhaz people have over 5000 years of history in north caucasus.In language, culture, and ethnic classification, Abkhazians are related to the Abazins (or Abaza), Adyghey, Kabardians, and Circassians. They have close cultural and linguistic ties with circassians(Adyge)of north Caucaus. The Abkhaz language belongs to the Northwest Caucasian languages group which is distinct from the Circassian languages family.Classical sources speak of several tribes dwelling in the region, but their exact identity and location remains controversial. The Abasgoi of the Graeco-Roman authors are sometimes considered as the predecessors of modern-day Abkhaz, but the identification is not universally accepted. The other tribal union - Heniochoi - extended from Colchis into the North Caucasus and was probably ethnically mixed including both proto-Adygean and Abasgian elements. The average number of children per family is two or three; a family with more than five children is rare. An Abkhazian baby belongs to the family as a whole—to the aunts, grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, and sisters. Family life, especially in rural areas, is governed by taboos that dictate everyday behavior. For instance, couples do not show affection in public or even in front of their own children. A man must not smoke or shave in his father's presence. A daughter-in-law may not speak in her father-in-law's presence unless he gives her permission.

Wedding ceremonies can involve hundreds of guests. First there is a feast at the bride's father's house. The wedding then takes place in the groom's home. No one from the bride's family attends the wedding. The bride and the groom remain hidden from all the guests in a separate room throughout the big feast

The integration of various smaller ethnic subgroups into the modern-day Abkhaz people was basically completed by the late 19th century, but some of these groups were deprived of their homeland when the Russian conquest of northwestern Caucasus forced them to become Muhajirs and emigrate to the Ottoman possessions.

Religion

See also: Religion in Abkhazia and Islam in Georgia (country)#Abkhazians

The Abkhaz people are principally divided into Orthodox Christian and Sunni Muslim communities but the indigenous non-Abrahamic beliefs have always been strong.⁷ Christianity was introduced, in the 6th century, by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and further enforced under the kings of Georgia in the high Middle Ages. The Ottoman takeover in the 16th century, missionaries such as Sufi preachers and the pressure from the Adyghe tribes (most of whom had converted to Islam) from the North precipitated the decline of Christianity and the region became largely Muslim until the 1860s when Muhajirism left Christians in majority.

History

When the Anchabadze dynasty established the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the 780s and freed themselves from the Byzantine hegemony, Abkhazia became a part of the Georgian cultural world. The local nobility, clergy and educated classes used Georgian as a language of literacy and culture. Georgian would remain the second language for many Abkhaz until Russian replaced it in the early 20th century. From the early 11th to the 16th century, Abkhazia was a part of the all-Georgian monarchy, but then became a separate Principality of Abkhazia only to be conquered by the Ottomans. The Russian acquisition of Abkhazia from the 1810s to the 1860s resulted in the significant decline of Abkhaz population and introduction of a strong Russification policy.

After the 1917 revolution, Abkhazia became a part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, but was conquered by the Red Army in 1921 and eventually entered the Soviet Union as an Soviet Socialist Republic associated with the Georgian SSR. The status of Abkhazia was downgraded in 1931 when it became an autonomous republic within Georgia. Under Stalin, a forcible collectivization was introduced and the native Communist elite purged.After the Soviet Union was dissolved in September 1991, the Abkhazians were involved in an armed conflict with the Georgians, a neighboring ethnic group. Thousands of Abkhazians were killed. The influx of Armenians, Russians and Georgians into the growing agricultural and tourism sectors was also encouraged, and Abkhaz schools were briefly closed. By 1989, the number of Abkhazians was about 93,000 (18% of the population of the republic), while the Georgian population numbered 240,000 (45%). The number of Armenians (15% of the entire population) and Russians (14%) also substantially grew.

The 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia left the Abkhaz in ethnic plurality of c. 45%, with Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and Jews comprising most of the remainder of the population of Abkhazia. There are about 200,000 ethnic Abkhazians in all, of whom 150,000 live in Abkhazia. However, the exact demographic figures for the region are disputed and alternative figures are available.⁸

Notes

References