Shahdagh people (also spelt ''Shah Dagh'', ''Shakhdag'', ''Shakhdagh'' and ''Shadag''; ''Şahdağ'' in Azerbaijani orthography) is a generic term for several small ethnic groups living in the vicinity of

Mount Shahdagh Mount Shahdagh ( az, Şahdağ; lez, Кас сув) is a mountain peak of the Greater Caucasus range, located in the Qusar District of Azerbaijan, close to the border with Russia. The elevation of the peak is above sea level. Among the earth rock ...

in northern

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, particularly in three major villages of the district of Konakhkent (

Quba Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...

) near the Daghestani border. The Shahdagh ethnic groups generally speak

Samur languages The Lezgic languages are one of seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgian are literary languages aside from being extant (currently spoken). Classification * Peripheral: Archi – 970 speakers * SamurLezgic The Lezgic languages are one of seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgian language, Lezgian are literary languages aside from being extant (currently spoken). Classification * Peripheral: ...

branch of the

Northeast Caucasian The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or ''Vainakh-Daghestani'', is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in ...

language family.

Ethnic groups

Several ethnic groups are included within the term "Shahdagh people". The name of each ethnic group's village has historically corresponded to the name of the ethnic group: * The Budukh (also spelt ''Budug'' or ''Buduq'') (2,000 in the

1926 Soviet census The 1926 Soviet Census took place in December 1926. It was an important tool in the state-building of the USSR, provided the government with important ethnographic information, and helped in the transformation from Imperial Russian society to Sov ...

) live mainly in the village of

Buduq Buduq () is a village and municipality in Quba District of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country locat ...

but also live in Deli Gaya and Guney Budug (South Buduq) as well as scattered groups in

Khudat , native_name = , pushpin_map = Azerbaijan , pushpin_mapsize = 300 , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = District , subdivision_name1 = Kh ...

, Ismailly, Khachmass, Kuba, Kutkashen and Zardob. Budukhs are

Sunni Muslim 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 disagree ...

and speak the

Budukh language Budukh or Budugh (Будад мез, ''Budad mez'') is a Samur language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in parts of the Quba Rayon of Azerbaijan. It is spoken by about 200 of approximately 1,000 ethnic Budukhs. Budukh is a s ...

, a Southern Samur language. * The Dzhek (also spelt ''Jek'' or ''Get'') (2,600 in the 1926 Soviet census) live mainly in the village of Kryz but also live in

Alik Alik may refer to: People Given name *Alik Arakelyan (born 1996), Armenian footballer *Alik Cavaliere (1926–1998), Italian sculptor *Alik Gershon (born 1980), Ukraine-born Israeli chess grandmaster *Alik Gunashian or Gyunashyan (born 1955), Armen ...

, Jek and Gapuk (Haput). Like the Budugs, Dzheks could also be found in Khudat, Ismailly, Khachmass, Kuba, Kutkashen and Zardob. Ethnolinguists have identified three subgroups of the Dzhek: the Dzhek, Kryz and Gaput. The Dzhek are

, specifically favouring the Shafi school, and speak the

Jek language Cek, also known as Jek or Dzhek, is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 1,500 to 11,000 Jek people in the village of Jek in the mountains of northern Azerbaijan. The Jek language is not a written language and Azeri serves as the lite ...

, a Southern Samur language. * The

Khinalug Khinalug, Khynalyg, or Khinalyg ( az, Xınalıq; Khinalug: ''Kətş''; also rendered as Khanaluka, Khanalyk, Khinalykh, or Khynalyk), is an ancient Caucasian village going back to the Caucasian Albanian period. It is located high up in the mountain ...

(also spelt ''Khinalugh'' or ''Khinalugh'') (100 in the 1926 Soviet census) live in the village of

. They call themselves the ''Kattitturdur'', ''Ketsh'' or ''Khalkh''. The Khinalug are Sunni Muslims also of the Shafi school and speak the

Khinalug language Khinalug (also spelled Khinalig, Khinalugi, Xinalug(h), Xinaliq or Khinalugh) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 3,000 people in the villages of Khinalug and Gülüstan, Quba in the mountains of Quba Rayon, northern Azerbaijan. It ...

, an

isolate Isolate may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Isolate'' (film), a 2013 Australian film * ''Isolate'' (Circus Maximus album), 2007 * ''Isolate'' (Gary Numan album), 1992 Language * Isolating language, with near-unity morpheme/word ...

within the Northeast Caucasian language family. * The Yerguj (also spelt ''Yergyudzh'' or ''Ergyudzhtsy'') people live in Yergüc.

History and culture

The supposed ancestors of these peoples are the

Caucasian Albanians Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among t ...

, and each group has its own specific traditions, culture and language. Shahdagh peoples have specific characteristic family and cultural traditions. It is possible to find many similarities and varieties between the wedding and mourning traditions of Shahdagh people and those of other historical groups, especially

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, ''Oγuz'', ota, اوغوز, Oġuz) were a western Turkic people that spoke the Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, Turkic language family. In th ...

. The economic lifestyle of the people of Konakhkent (Quba) district is based on animal husbandry (sheep and goats in the highlands, cattle in the lowlands), gold and silver smithing, weaving, pottery and rug manufacturing. Because of the need to trade goods within the region 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 ...

, many Shahdaghs had to learn to speak

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

. Traditionally, the Shahdaghs were governed by rigid

endogamous Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultu ...

patriarchal clan systems, in which young people were encouraged to marry first or second cousins. That sense of clan cohesion was strengthened by the fact that all land was owned communally by the extended family unit. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet government also succeeded in establishing cooperatives and collectivising many Shah Dagh herds and pasture lands; this policy aroused resentment among the local people. Even though many Shahdaghs are still aware of their heritage, the Budugs, Khinalugs and Dzheks did not appear in the Soviet censuses of

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and 1979. Ever since the 1920s, they have listed their nationality as Azerbaijani, even though they spoke their own native languages. The fact that they were bilingual in Azeri and were surrounded and vastly outnumbered by Azerbaijanis contributed to their assimilation. Most

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 ...

n ethnologists today believe that the Shahdaghs have been all but completely assimilated by Azerbaijanis.

Gallery

File:Ceklilər Cek kəndində, 1880 (kişilər)-Yermakov Dmitriy Ivanovich.jpg,

Jek people Jek people ( also spelt Jeks, Jeklilar ( az, Ceklilər), Jack or Dzhek people) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group in Azerbaijan. The Jeks are one of the numerically small Shahdag peoples.Wixman, Ronald''The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnograph ...

, 1880 File:Ceklilər Cek kəndində, 1880 (qadınlar)-Yermakov Dmitriy Ivanovich.jpg,

, 1880 File:Ceklilər (20 avqust, 2012).JPG,

, 20 August 2012 File:Xınalıq kəndinin atlı sakinləri.jpg, Khinalug residents of the village of Quba, Azerbaijan File:My adventure in Xinaliq.JPG, Khinalugs in the village of Khinalug, Azerbaijan File:Хыналыг 522.jpg, Khinalug resident of the village of Quba, Azerbaijan File:Khinalugian Suleyman 2007.jpg, Khinalugian Suleyman 2007 File:Хыналыг 401.jpg, Khinalug resident of Quba District File:Women from Buduq.jpg, Budukh women from the village of Buduq File:Buduq kəndi XX əsrin əvvəllərində. Buduqlular milli geyimdə.png, Buduq village at the beginning of the 20th century

References

{{Ethnic groups in Azerbaijan Ethnic groups in Azerbaijan