The Grebensky Cossacks or Grebentsy was a group of Cossacks formed in the 16th century from Don Cossacks who left the Don area and settled in the northern foothills of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. The Greben Cossacks are part of the

Terek Cossacks The Terek Cossack Host (russian: Терское казачье войско, ''Terskoye kazach'ye voysko'') was a Cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks who resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. The local aboriginal Terek Cossack ...

. They were influenced by Chechen and Nogai culture and most were bilingual in the Russian language and the

Nogai language Nogai (; ''Ногай тили, Nogay tili, Ногайша, Nogayşa'') also known as Noğay, Noghay, Nogay, or Nogai Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken in Southeastern European Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and in T ...

Name

According to the article on Grebentsy in ЭСБЕ (1893), whose author is — a writer — referring to some historians, who, in turn, allegedly relied on materials from «» and the legend of the Grebensky icon, claimed that Grebensky Cossacks descended from the Don Cossacks who settled in the

, whose community originally lived in the interfluve

Seversky Donets The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets, is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv, Done ...

and near a hill called the ''Grebensky mountains'', hence the name of these Cossacks — ''Grebensky''.

General information

Settlement territory

Modern scholars don′t have information about settlement area of Grebentsy on the right side of the Terek River (old Russian ''Terka''/''Terki''). Basic facts about these Cossacks appear after relocation to the left bank of the river. In 1712 the Grebensky Cossacks moved to the left bank of the Terek River in the area of the fortification of the Terka/Terki (Sunzhensky fortification).

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Cite book , author = {{ill, V. E. Rudakov, ru, Рудаков, Василий Егорович , chapter = Гребенцы, или гребенскіе казаки , title = Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary , agency = Edited by K. K. Arsenyev и {{ill, F. F. Petrushevsky, ru, Петрушевский, Фёдор Фомич , location =

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, publisher = publishing house F. A. Brockhaus and {{ill, I. A. Efron, ru, Ефрон, Илья Абрамович , year = 1893 , volume = IX^A (Гравилатъ — Давенантъ) , pages = 585—586 , ref = {{harvid, ЭСБЕ. T. IX^A, 1893 * Wixman. ''The Peoples of the USSR'' p. 51. Cossack hosts