The Sadz or Asadzwa, also Jigets, are a subethnic group of the

Abkhazians The Abkhazians or Abkhazes 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 large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, th ...

. They are sometimes purported to have originated from the Sanigoi tribe mentioned by the Classic authors. In the 6th century, they formed a tribal principality, which later commingled with the Abasgoi, Apsilae and Missimianoi into the Kingdom of Abkhazia. Until 1864 Sadz lived at the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

coast north to Gagra until the Khosta River (Khamysh River). They formed the Sadzyn area, which consisted of the possessions of Kamysh, Arydba, Amarshan and Gechba clans, under the hegemony of Tsanba clan. The Ubykh princes Oblagua, Chizmaa and Dziash also originated from the Sadz. Some think that in the 12-14th centuries a part of the Sadz have been forced to resettle to the northern mountainside of Caucasus Major under the Ubykh pressure. They formed there Abazin people. This is only one of the theories explaining the migration from Abkhazia of the ancestors of what is now the Abaza people. After the Russian-Circassian War ended in 1864 most of the Sadz were forced to turn muhajir, moving to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Some of them settled in Adjara (then under the Ottoman possession). Now the Sadz dialect of the

Abkhaz language Abkhaz, also known as Abkhazian, is a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian language most closely related to Abaza language, Abaza. It is spoken mostly by the Abkhazians, Abkhaz people. It is one of the official languages of Abkhazi ...

is spoken only in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It consists of Akhaltsys and Tswyzhy subdialects. The Sadz, Aibga and Akhchipsou tribes of Abkhazia were the last ethnic groups to have offered the resistance to the Russian advances during the Caucasus War. The last tribes conquered by Russians were Ahchypsy and Aibga, who lived in and around of what is now Krasnaya Polyana.

References

* Анчабадзе З. В. ''Из истории средневековой Абхазии''. Сухум, 1959. * Анчабадзе П. Д. Абаза. (К этно-культурной истории народов Северо-Западного Кавказа). КЭС, 1984, т. 8. *Анчабадзе Ю. Д., Волкова Н.Г. Этническая история Северного Кавказа XVI-XIX вв. // ''Материалы к серии "Народы и культуры"''. Выпуск XXVIII. «Народы Кавказа». М., 1993. Книга 1. * Волкова Н. Г. ''Этнонимы и племенные названия Северного Кавказа''. М., 1973. * Инал-Ипа Ш. Д. Садзы. // ''Материалы к серии «Народы и культуры»''. Выпуск XXVIII. «Народы Кавказа», М., 1995. Книга 2. * Чирикба, В.А. Расселение абхазов в Турции. Annex to: Инал-Ипа Ш. Д. ''Садзы. // ''Материалы к серии «Народы и культуры»''. Выпуск XXVIII. «Народы Кавказа», М., 1995. Книга 2'', p. 260-277. * Chirikba, V.A. Sadz, an Abkhaz Dialect in Turkey. In:Howard A. Aronson (ed.). ''NSL.8. Linguistic Studies in the Non-Slavic Languages of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic Republics'', Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1996, p. 67-81. * Chirikba, V.A. Distribution of Abkhaz Dialects in Turkey. In: A. Sumru Özsoy (ed.). ''Proceedings of the Conference on Northwest Caucasian Linguistics, 10–12 October 1994. Studia Caucasologica III. Novus forlag - Oslo, Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning, 1997,'' p. 63-88. * Chirikba, V.A. ''A Grammar of Sadz Abkhaz'' (Forthcoming). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sadz History of ethnic groups in Russia Abkhaz diaspora Sub-ethnic groups Abkhazian people