Pskhu ( ka, ფსხუ, ''Pskhu''; ab, Ҧсҳәы, ''Ps'hwy''; russian: Псху, ''Pskhu'') is a village in the

Sukhumi District Sukhumi District is one of the districts of Abkhazia, One of Georgia’s two breakaway republics. It corresponds to the eponymous Georgian municipality. Its capital is Sukhumi, the town by the same name, which is also the capital of entire Abkhazi ...

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

, a disputed region on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast. Its population was about 150 (as of 2005) with ethnic

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

constituting a majority. The village is situated in the eponymous valley between the

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

and

Bzyb range Bzyb Mountain Range
GeoNames ...

s. The river Bzyb and several of its tributaries flow near the village. The valley was inhabited by the

Abazins The Abazin, Abazinians or Abaza (Abaza language, Abaza and Abkhaz language, Abkhaz: Абаза; Circassian language, Circassian: Абазэхэр; russian: Абазины; tr, Abazalar; ar, أباظة), are an ethnic group of the Caucasus, Nort ...

tribe which was one of the last peoples of the Caucasus to be conquered by Russia. After their subjection in 1864 almost all of them escaped to Turkey; many perished at the

Black sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast from hunger and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, during the transportation to Ottoman Empire. Pskhu was the only settlement in the

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

to be occupied by

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

during the

Battle of the Caucasus The Battle of the Caucasus is a name given to a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area on the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of t ...

of World War II in the autumn of 1942. The small hydro-electric power station supplies the energy to the village. Pskhu also has an airport with grass-covered surface. There are no regular flights although it is still used occasionally by tourists and by the local inhabitants. Several

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

s and the ruins of the medieval fortress remained near Pskhu. The nearby Inal-kuba (Pskhu-Nykha) mountain (1290 m) is one of the seven shrines of the

Abkhaz people Abkhazians (russian: Абхазы), or Abkhazs ( ab, Аԥсуаа, Aṕswaа, ), are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. A large Abkhaz diaspora population ...

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 Census, Pskhu had a population of 189. Of these, 91.0% were

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

and 9.0%

Abkhazians Abkhazians (russian: Абхазы), or Abkhazs ( ab, Аԥсуаа, Aṕswaа, ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. A l ...

.2011 Census results
/ref>

References

{{Administrative divisions of Abkhazia Populated places in Sukhumi District

Demographics

See also

References