The Akhvakhs (also known as Akhwakh, Akhvakhtsy or G'akhevalal; ''ГІахьвалал'' in Avar) are one of the Andi–Dido peoples of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

and have their own language. They call themselves Atluatii or Ashvado. Prior to 1930 Soviet ethnologists considered them to be a distinct ethnic group. Since that time they have often been classified as Avars.

Demographics

The Akvakh live in the

Akhvakhsky District Akhvakhsky District (russian: Ахвахский райо́н; av, Гӏахьвахъ мухъ) is an administrativeLaw #16 and municipalLaw #6 district (raion), one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. It is located in the wes ...

between the Avar and

Andi River Andi or ANDI may refer to: People and fictional characters * Andy (given name), including people and fictional characters with the name Andi * Andi people, an ethnic group of Dagestan, Russia Places * Andi, Guizhou, a town in Jinsha County, Gu ...

s. In 1926 they numbered 3,683. The Akhvakhs are mainly

Sunni Muslims Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

. They face continued assimilation by the Avars. By the early 1990s it was estimated that about 8,000 people were Akhvakh, although this number includes those who have been fully assimilated as Avars but still recognize that they have Akhvakh ancestry. They also live in Zagatala, Azerbaijan, the north-western part of Azerbaijan which is bordered on Russia and Georgia. The Akhakhdere ("Axəxdərə" in Azeri language) village is the only village that akhvahk people live. They don't consider themselves as avar, though their ID cards contain information about their nationality being "avar".

References

Sources

*Wixman, Ronald. ''The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook''. (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 1984) pp. 7–8 *Olson, James S., ''An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires''. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994) pp. 25–26 {{Peoples of the Caucasus Ethnic groups in Azerbaijan Ethnic groups in Dagestan Muslim communities of Russia Peoples of the Caucasus