The Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рская Респу́блика, ''Kabardino-Balkarskaya Respublika''; kbd, Къэбэрдей-Балъкъэр Республикэ, ''Ķêbêrdej-Baĺķêr Respublikê''; krc, Къабарты-Малкъар Республика, ''Qabartı-Malqar Respublika''), or Kabardino-Balkaria (russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рия, ''Kabardino-Balkariya''), is a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

) located in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 904,200 on . Its capital is

Nalchik Nalchik (russian: Нальчик, p=ˈnalʲtɕɪk; Kabardian: //; krc, Нальчик //) is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwe ...

. The area contains the highest mountain in Europe,

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus ( rus, links=no, Эльбрус, r=Elbrus, p=ɪlʲˈbrus; kbd, Ӏуащхьэмахуэ, 'uaşhəmaxuə; krc, Минги тау, Mingi Taw) is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the we ...

, at . Mount Elbrus has 22 glaciers that feed three rivers — Baksan, Malka and

Kuban Kuban (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Кубань; ady, Пшызэ) is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Pontic–Caspian steppe, ...

. The mountain is covered with snow year-round.

Geography

The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part. The republic shares an international border with

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. *''Area'': *''Borders'': **''internal'':

Stavropol Krai Stavropol Krai (russian: Ставропо́льский край, r=Stavropolsky kray, p=stəvrɐˈpolʲskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a Krais of Russia, krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the North ...

(N/NE),

North Ossetia–Alania The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania; os, Республикӕ Цӕгат Ирыстон — Алани, ''Respublikæ Cægat Iryston — Alani'', ) is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. Its population acco ...

(E/SE/S),

Karachay–Cherkessia The Karachay-Cherkess Republic (russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, ''Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika''; krc, Къарачай-Черкес Республика, ''Qaraçay-Çerkes Respublika''; Cir ...

(W/NW) **''international'':

(

Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ( ka, რაჭა-ლეჩხუმი და ქვემო სვანეთი, ''Rach’a-Lechkhumi da Kvemo Svaneti'') is a region (Mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), mak ...

, Zemo Svaneti) (S/SW) *''Highest point'':

(5,642 m) *''Maximum N->S distance'': *''Maximum E->W distance'': Kabardino-Balkaria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.

Rivers

Major rivers include: *

Terek River The Terek (; , Tiyrk; , Tərč; , ; , ; , ''Terk''; , ; , ) is a major river in the Northern Caucasus. It originates in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia (country), Georgia and flows through North Caucasus region of Russia into the Casp ...

(623 km) *

Malka River The Malka (), also known as Balyksu (), is a river in Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia, which forms the northwest part of the Terek basin.Baksan River The Baksan, also known as Azau (russian: Баксан, Азау) is a river in Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia. It flows east northeast and joins the Malka just before that river joins the northwest bend of the Terek. The Baksan is long, with a dr ...

(173 km) *

Urukh River The Urukh (russian: Урух, os, Æрæф, ''Æræf'', Digor: Ирæф, ''Iræf''), known as Kharves in its upper reaches,У ...

(104 km) * Chegem River (102 km) *

Cherek River The Cherek (russian: Черек) is a river in Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia, a right tributary of the Baksan ( Terek basin).

(76 km) * Argudan River * Kurkuzhin River * Lesken River

Lakes

There are about 100 lakes in the Republic, none of which is large. Just over half (55) are located between the Baksan and Malka Rivers, the largest each of an area of no more than . Some of the lakes are: * Tserikkel Lake (area 26,000 m²; depth 368 m) * Lower Goluboye Lake * Kel-Ketchen Lake (depth 177 m) * Upper Tserikkel Lake (depth 18 m) * Sekretnoye Lake * Tambukan Lake (area 1.77 km²; depth 1.5 to 2 m), partially within Stavropol Krai.

Mountains

(5,642 m), a volcanic mountain and the highest peak in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and the

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

Other major mountains include: * Mount Dykhtau (5,402 m) * Mount Koshtantau (5,151 m) *

Mount Shkhara Shkhara ( ka, შხარა) is the highest point in the nation of Georgia It is located near the Russian-Georgian border, in Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria region on the northern side, and the Svaneti region of Georgia in the south. Shkhara lies ...

(5,068 m) * Pushkin Peak (5,033 m) * Mount Mizhergi (5,025 m)

Natural resources

Kabardino-Balkaria's natural resources include

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

, and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

Climate

The republic has a continental type climate. *''Average January temperature'': (mountains) to (plains) *''Average July temperature'': (mountains) to (plains) *''Average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

'': 500–2,000 mm.

History

Politics

The head of government in Kabardino-Balkaria is the

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

. The current Head is Kazbek Kokov. The legislative body of the Republic is the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

comprising 72 deputies elected for a five-year term.Constitution, Article 94. The republic adopted a new constitution in 2001 which prevents the republic from existing independently of the Russian Federation.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Life expectancy in Russian subject -Kabardino-Balkaria

Population

Population: Life expectancy:

Vital statistics

:Source
Russian Federal State Statistics Service
Note: TFR 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 source.

Ethnic groups

Kabardino-Balkaria includes two major ethnic communities, the

Kabardins The Kabardians (Kabardian Adyghe dialect, Highland Adyghe: Къэбэрдей адыгэхэр; West Adyghe dialect, Lowland Adyghe: Къэбэртай адыгэхэр; russian: Кабардинцы) or Kabardinians are one of the twelve ma ...

(Circassians), who speak a North-West Caucasian language, and the

Balkars The Balkars ( krc, Малкъарлыла, Malqarlıla or Таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Casp ...

who speak a

Turkic language The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...

. According to the 2010 Census, Kabardins make up 57.2% of the republic's population, followed by

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

(22.5%) and Balkars (12.7%). Other groups include

Ossetians The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...

(1.1%),

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

(1.6%),

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

(0.6%),

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

(0.6%),

Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply refe ...

(0.5%),

Chechens The Chechens (; ce, Нохчий, , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe. "Europ ...

(0.2%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.

Religion

According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people, 70.8% of the population of Kabardino-Balkaria adheres to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, 11.6% to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

, 1.8% to Adyghe (Kabardian) folk religion and other indigenous faiths, 3.8% are unaffiliated generic

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. In addition, 12% of the population declares to be "

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable ...

", 5.6% is

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

or follows other religions including Jehovah's Witnesses.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

Official website of the Head of the Republic
*

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

Kabardino-Balkaria Profile
{{Use mdy dates, date=September 2011 North Caucasus States and territories established in 1936 1936 establishments in the Soviet Union Russian-speaking countries and territories Regions of Europe with multiple official languages North Caucasian Federal District