The Mamkhegh or Mamheg ( ady, Мамхыгъ or ; russian: Мамхеги ) were one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of the twelve stars on the green-and-gold

Circassian flag The Circassian flag (or the Flag of Adygea) is the national flag of the Circassians. It consists of a green field charged with twelve gold stars, nine forming an arc resembling a bow and three horizontal, also charged with three crossed arrows i ...

. Originally, the Mamkhegs lived in the territory between the Belaja and Kurdžips Rivers, in the territory of modern

Majkop Maykop (russian: Майкоп, p=mɐjˈkop mɐj'kop); ady, Мыекъуапэ, Mıéquapə ) is the capital city of the Republic of Adygea in Russia, located on the right bank of the Belaya River (a tributary of the Kuban River). It borders Ma ...

and environs in the Russian republics of

Adygea The Republic of Adygea (; russian: Республика Адыгея, Respublika Adygeya, p=ɐdɨˈɡʲejə; ady, Адыгэ Республик, ''Adıgə Respublik''), also known as the Adyghe Republic, is a republic of Russia. It is situated ...

and

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of t ...

. Due to the

Caucasian War The Caucasian War (russian: Кавказская война; ''Kavkazskaya vojna'') or Caucasus War was a 19th century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the R ...

, the Mamkheghs were forced to leave their territories in the

expulsion of the Circassians The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the Russian Empire's systematic mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion of 80–97% of the Circassian population, around 800,000–1,500,000 people, during and after the Russo-Circassian War (1 ...

. Most of the survivors left for the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Those who remained took Russian citizenship and founded a village called Mamxeg, which survives today in the

Shovgenovsky District Shovgenovsky District (russian: Шовгеновский район, translit=Šovgenovskij rajon; ady, Шэуджэн къедзыгъо, translit=Ṩəwdjən qyedzığo) is an administrativeLaw #171 and a municipalLaw #272 district (raion), one ...

of modern Adygea.

History

Legends say that they moved from the Black Sea Coast to the upper reaches of the . At first, Mamkhegs were just three big families: Shnah, Mami, and Tlizhho. When the population significantly increased (naturally and after immigration from Abadzeh lands) they moved to a territory between the Belaja and Kurdžips Rivers near modern

, where they remained till 1862 and formed about 16 villages. According to most

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

s, the number of Mamkheghs in the middle of the 19th century was about 3,500 people. Yet some sources indicate that they were about 15,000 people. Aleksandr D′jačkov-Tarasov (А.Н. Дьячков-Тарасов) reported the following Mamkhegh villages in the 19th century: *Tlevceževy (Тлевцежевы)- on the Kubiok River, a tributary of the White; *Patukay (Патукай)- six

verst A verst (russian: верста, ) is an obsolete Russian unit of length defined as 500 sazhen. This makes a verst equal to . Plurals and variants In the English language, ''verst'' is singular with the normal plural ''versts''. In Russian, the no ...

s from Majkop on the Kuro River; *Duxxabl′ (Духхабль)- less than a verst from the above on the Kurdžips River; *Hačemzy (Хачемзий)- on the site of the present village of

Tula River The Tula River ( es, Río Tula) is a river in Hidalgo State in central Mexico, and a tributary of the Moctezuma River. Geography It runs through the city of Tula de Allende and begins as a drainage channel for the Valley of Mexico, which contai ...

; *Dačehabl′ (Дачехабль)- between Kurdžips and Belaja Rivers; *Kural′ (Кураль)- central village mamhegov, on the watershed between the Belaja and Kurdžips. Other villages recorded were: Xoretli (Хоретли), Bardžukaj (Барджукай), Badženaj (Бадженай), Uordane (Уордане), Kujže (Куйже), Tag″anaj (Тагъанай), and Xakunaj (Хакунай). After a

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

in 1823, however, the number of villages dramatically decreased as many Mamkheghs sought refuge among Abadzekhs.Книга «Сокровища культуры Адыгеи» Due to the

, the Mamkheghs were forced to leave their territories in the

. The majority of the survivors left for the

. The remaining Mamkheghs took Russian citizenship and founded a village called Mamxeg in the lower part of

Fars River The Fars (russian: Фарс) is a river of southwest Russia, a left tributary of the Laba. It flows through the Republic of Adygea. The Fars is 197 kilometer long. It has a catchment area of 1450 square kilometers. The Psefir The Psefir (russi ...

(in the

Kuban Oblast The Kuban Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of the Kuban and Circassia regions. It was created in 1860 out of Kuban Cossack territories that had once been part of ...

). Another group of Mamkheghs joined Circassian villages nearby. In 1884 1,258 Mamkheghs remained in the Kuban region of Russia composed people, 715 of them in Mamxeg village.

Culture

The Mamkhegh spoke a special dialect of the

Adyghe language Adyghe ( or ; ady, Адыгабзэ, Adygabzə, ), also known as West Circassian ( ady, link=no, кӏахыбзэ, khaxybzə), is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians. It is spoken mainly in Russia, a ...

, closest to that of the

Temirgoy Temirgoy or Chemirgoy or Kemgui ( ady, КIэмгуй, '; or , '; or , '; russian: Темиргоевцы, ') are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of the twelve stars on the green-and-gold Circassian flag. They lived be ...

, yet in their traditions and lifestyle were the closest to that of the

Abadzekh The Abzakh ( Circassian: Абдзэх, ''Abdzekh''; Russian: абадзехи; also known as Abdzakhs or Abadzekhs) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of the twelve stars on the green-and-gold Circassian flag. Histo ...

people. According to sources, the Mamkheghs had classes of nobles, freemen, servants and slaves. They, did not however. have the highest class of prince who usually controlled villages, like most Circassian tribes. Rural administration was in the hands of elected elders from the freemen class.

References

{{authority control Circassians History of Kuban Ethnic groups in Russia Krasnodar Krai Circassian tribes Adygea

History

Culture

See also

References