Dependence of Karachais and Balkars on Circassians

Since their appearance in the North Caucasus in the first half of the 17th century, Karachay and Balkars immediately fell under the despotic rule of neighboring Circassian societies, in particular Besleney and Kabarda.

Dependence of Karachais and Balkars on Circassians
Part of Circassian-Turkic conflict
Date 1600-1834 Location Kabarda Result Circassian victory Karachais and Balkars were subordinate to the Circassian princes until 1834, after which they became Russian subjects
Belligerents
Circassia	Karachay Balkar

History

Tribes more distant, for example, Ingush, Karabulaks, Kistins, Tagaurians and Digorians, were tributaries of the Kabardian princes, and the closest ones, such as Karachay, Chegem, Khulam and Bezennevtsy, were almost in a state of slavery with them. The degree of dependence of the last four tribes on the Kabardian princes is illustrated by the following custom: if a princely serf laid a stone at the door of a mountaineer's sakli, or on his arable or mowing place, then this action was quite enough to prohibit the owners of the sakli from entering and exiting it, and the owners of plowing and mowing from using them.

Circassians looked at the Karachai people as cash cows, and squeezed out everything they could, and sometimes robbed them in the most unscrupulous way.

The princes of Karachay have the title bi, and their three main clans are the Crimean Shokals, Urusbi and Mudari. Nevertheless, the people do not pay any tribute to them, nor to the uzdeni, nor to the petty local nobles... Kabardian princes, on the other hand, whom they call beks, are obliged to pay certain taxes... They treat their rulers, the Kabardian princes, with the utmost respect and obedience, willingly and accurately fulfilling all their orders.

The transformation of the Karachay people from a free people, by force, into tributaries of the Kabardian feudal lords, begins the cruel exploitation of them by the latter, who in their arbitrariness reached the point that they no longer began to take into account any limits. In addition to the dues collected by them, established according to custom (an annual payment of 300 sheep from everyone, a bag of wheat and a large jug of cow oil from each yard), any rogue from Kabardian princes could send their representatives to Karachay at any time and take as much as he pleased (it was practiced to send princely sons, to whom all the inhabitants of Karachay Karachays from the "black people" were obliged to give: who had a herd of horses – a horse, who did not have a herd-a cow, bull or ram).

Kabarda was also inhabited from ancient times by Bassians and Karachays; pursued by Circassians, they were forced to seek refuge in the high, inaccessible, snow-covered mountains of the Caucasus, where they settled, still remaining tributaries of their eternal pursuers...

They depend mainly on two Kabardian princely families: Kurgok and Kaituk, to which each family is obliged to pay an annual tax consisting of one sheep...

Karachay "black streams", and not" Karauttsy", are called Circassians" Karshaga kushkha", Mingrelians and Imeretians — Karachioli. The Tatars call them Kara-Circassians, or "black Circassians", since they are subjects of the Circassians. The country known as the Great Kabarda is bounded in the east by the Baksan Mountains and the river of the same name; in the north by the right bank of the Malka; in the west-northwest by the Kuban River; in the south it ends at the foot of the Caucasus, where some Tatar tribes live, subordinated to the Kabardins and paying them an annual tribute, for example, the Balkars tribe on the river Pshugan, consisting of 1000 families. In the east, the Bissingi tribe, numbering 300 surnames, lives; in the west, on the Sherik River, there are 114 huts of the Shakman tribe, and further west there are 400 Chegem dwellings on the Gshegs River. The Oruspi, a poor tribe of 160 souls, also lives in the Baksan Mountains. The top leadership over these tribes, as in Bolshaya Kabarda, is divided and named after Kabardian princely families. The Hadogshuko family owns the area along the Baksan River to the Chegrev River; the Dzhambulatov family extends its power from here to the Send River and to Elbrus.

Since ancient times, the Kabardins ... being stronger than other mountain peoples ... subjugated them with raids and plunder and obliged them with an annual tax, including the Karachays. In order to avoid their plunder and oppression, they undertook to divide them into principalities: Krymshamkhalova surname – Misostova, Karabashevs-Dzhembulatova, Dudovs – Atazhukina, why, in order to protect them from the violence of both their own princes and other peoples, one prince was evicted from each of the mentioned names of Kabardian princes for three years, who, in addition to such protection, were obliged to accompany those who went to different places according to their needs.

To find from them only what was stolen or obviously taken away by someone, for which they paid 1,500 rams and 100 pieces of cattle to the three princes named for three years ' protection from all violence and insults; and in addition to the one who knew how to protect them better, special respect was given to him at his request, and in addition they gave the eldest to the prince of all Kabarda, whatever he may be, from each house one ram.

Chegemtsy and urusbiyevtsy "belonged" to the Khatokshokovs and no one had the right to interfere in relations between them. Khulamtsy and bezengievtsy paid taxes in turn to all the princes of Greater Kabarda. Especially intensive was the non-economic exploitation of some Balkar societies, which were subject to a number of in-kind taxes, and in some cases – to extraordinary levies.

According to legend, the resettlement of the Karachai people to Baksan occurred as follows. The Karachai people, unable to withstand the onslaught of strong Circassian tribes, left the valley of the Dzheguta River and settled in the Baksan gorge. According to folklore materials, the leader of Karachai was Karcha, and the ancestors were Budyan, Tram, Adurkhai, Nauruz. By the time the Karachai people appeared here, the lands along Baksan were considered the hereditary possessions of the Kabardino-Circassian princes, and the Karachai people were taxed with tribute when they came to Baksan

Clashes, especially with the Kabardian princes, continued and even intensified more and more. But the Kabardian princes were stronger. They planted in Karachay their vassals (Taubi) in the person of the Crimean Shamkhalovs, Karabashevs, Dudovs, etc., who later became the masters of Karachay, dictating their will to the people.The influence of feudal Kabarda, which imposed tribute on Karachay, which the Kabardian princes collected through their vassals, grew.

For a long time, the Kabardins dominated not only the Karachays, but also all the other neighboring peoples. With the conquest of Kabarda and Karachay by the Russian tsars, this national oppression and domination passed to the economic soil. Taking advantage of the landlessness of the Karachay people, the Kabardians mercilessly exploited the former, renting out their land and arranging various unbearable levies for the benefit of the owners among the downtrodden and dark Karachay kosheviks. At the same time, the Karachay cattle were often stolen by Kabardian bandits. And this long age-old oppression caused the secret hatred of the Karachays towards their oppressors.

Being thus enclosed in mountain gorges by a very strong Kabardian tribe, mountain societies in former times were more or less heavily dependent on the Kabardian princes, without whose protection they could not do without, because only by unconditionally submitting themselves to the Kabardian princes, whose will was respected by the people, did the mountaineers gain protection from the predatory raids of the Kabardians and quietly grazed their flocks on the plane, regularly only paying their patrons the agreed tribute.

With the publication in 1822 of the proclamations of General Yermolov, which tended to curb the self-will of the Kabardian princes, the highlanders were freed from princely dependence and they were given patronage.

The Karachai people, who speak the Tatar language, occupy rocky gorges along the upper Kuban and the Teberdy River; they are not a warlike people, they are more engaged in cattle breeding and the manufacture of cloth and borax, which they trade. In 1834, the Karachai people voluntarily submitted to the government and accepted the bailiff. The Karachai people have one noble surname - the Crimean Jackal, which, like the people, pays tribute to the Kabardian princes Atazhukin.