The Hunzibs are an indigenous people of
Dagestan,
North Caucasia
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
living in three villages in the
Tsuntinsky District
Tsuntinsky District (russian: Цунти́нский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #16 and municipalLaw #6 district (raion), one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the republic. The are ...
in the upper regions of the
Avar-Koysu river area. They have their own language,
Hunzib, and primarily follow
Sunni Islam, which reached the Hunzib people around the 8th or 9th century. Islam became consolidated among the Hunzib around the 16th and 17th centuries. The land where the Hunzibs inhabit was part of the Avar Khanate.
The only time that the Hunzibs were counted as a distinct ethnic group in the Russian Census was in 1926, when 105 people reported to be ethnic Hunzibs. Subsequently, they were listed as
Avars in the Russian Censuses. In 1967, it was estimated that there were about 600 ethnic Hunzibs (E. Bokarev).
References
The peoples of the Red Book: Tindis
Ethnic groups in Dagestan
Muslim communities of Russia
Peoples of the Caucasus
{{Russia-stub