Realm · approximate borders · 1427–1864

Circassia

Land of the Adyghe (Circassian) princes and free communities between the Kuban, the Black Sea and the Caucasus crest, with Kabarda on the upper Terek to the east. Circassian tradition credits Inal the Great with uniting the principalities in the first half of the 15th century (Inal's own dates are legendary and Nogmov gives 1427 as the year of his death); afterwards they were a loose confederation, often paying tribute to the Crimean khans and Ottomans but never governed by them.

The Kuban formed the northern edge; Taman and Anapa were Crimean and Ottoman footholds. Russia claimed Kabarda from the 1770s and subdued it in 1822. Sources: Wikipedia 'Circassia', 'Inal the Great', 'Kabardia', 'Russo-Circassian War'. Western Circassia (Natukhai, Shapsug, Abadzekh, Ubykh, Bzhedug, Temirgoy, Besleney and smaller communities) between the Kuban and the Black Sea, after Russia subdued Kabarda (1822). Russia fortified the Kuban as the Caucasus Line from the 1790s, claimed the coast under the treaty of Adrianople (1829) and built Black Sea forts in the 1830s, but most of the country stayed outside its control until the final campaign of 1859–1864, which ended with the expulsion of most of the Circassians to the Ottoman Empire. Eastern limit (the Urup and upper Kuban, beyond which lived the Karachays) is approximate. Sources: Wikipedia 'Circassia', 'Russo-Circassian War', 'Circassian genocide'.

See Circassia on the map in 1427 →

On the map

1427–1864

Capital

none fixed