Nogais through the eyes of the West: “A people who do not know the law and give superiority to the strong. Nogais: nationality, history, traditions and customs What language do the Nogais speak?

Nogais are a Turkic people of the North Caucasus. There are approximately 110,000 people living in the world. The ancestors of the Nogais are nomadic medieval Mongol-speaking and Turkic tribes.

The first state formation of the people - the Nogai Horde - was formed after the collapse of the last of the great nomadic powers of the Golden Horde. The Nogai Horde took an important part in political, trade and intermediary affairs with neighboring states, collecting tribute from the Kazan Tatars, some Siberian tribes, and Bashkirs. At the beginning of the 16th century it could field about 300,000 soldiers. A good military organization allowed the Nogai Horde to successfully defend and defend its borders, provide assistance to neighboring khanates, warriors, and the Russian state. Moscow provided her with economic and military assistance.

Where live

The people live in the North Caucasus in Dagestan, Nogai, Babayurt, Kizlyar, Tarumovsky districts, Makhachkala, Kizlyar, Stavropol Territory, Karachay-Cherkessia, Astrakhan Region, Chechen Republic, Khanty-Mansiysk, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. A small number of Nogais live in Bulgaria, Romania, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.

Name

The ethnonym “Nogai” is associated with the military-political Golden Horde figure Nogai, who lived in the 13th century. He consolidated his supporters from different ethnic groups of the Proto-Nogais, who received their name from the name of their ancestor. Nogai paid main attention to the clans of the Uzo-Pecheneg, Kipchak-Polovtsian, Alan-As circle, since the bulk of the Mongols went over to the side of Toktai. The earliest appearance of the ethnonym “Nogai” in the Golden Age was in 1436. Other names of the people: Nogai, Crimean steppe Tatars, Nogai Tatars. Self-names: nogai, nogaylar.

Language

The Nogai language belongs to the Turkic language group of the Altaic language family. As a result of the widespread geographical settlement of the people, 3 dialects were formed:

Karanogai
Nogai
Aknogai

Literary Nogai was created on the basis of the Nogai dialect and the Karanogai dialect. It publishes newspapers and broadcasts radio programs. The graphic basis of Nogai writing changed several times. Until 1298 it was based on the Arabic script, from 1928 to 1938 - on the Latin alphabet, from 1938 to the present - on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Religion

The bulk of the Nogais are Muslims and profess Sunni Hanafi Islam. Islam gradually began to penetrate into the territories inhabited by the Nogai ancestors in the 10th-11th centuries. In 1312, after the official introduction of Islam by Uzbek Khan, mass Islamization began in the Golden Horde. To this day, people have preserved to some extent ancient pagan beliefs about the spirit masters of the elements. With Islam came the image of the spirit of the genie. Among the Nogais of the Great Nogai Horde, the teachings of the Yasawiyya brotherhood (also Yasawiyya) were widespread. In other groups, Naqshbandi teachings predominated.

During the time of the Nogai Horde, people were very sensitive to the graves of prominent people, mostly rulers. The burials were entire architectural structures that were erected above the burial site.

The Nogais had two types of mosques:

Open, in the warm season they were hosted in the steppes by nomadic Nogais, who prayed in yurts in winter. They were cleared areas where all believing communities gathered and prayed;
Stationary covered ones, built in settled villages and winter huts.

The Soviet government caused great damage to the religious life of the people. All mosques were destroyed, the bulk of the mullahs, qadis, akhons, imams, effendis, and muezzins were repressed. Those who remained to live in their homeland were forced to stop their activities. At the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, only 2-3 mullahs remained in the Nogai steppe. A small number of Nogais from the older generation performed namaz, but since there were no mosques, everything was carried out individually. There was not even religious home schooling. The people tried to follow the rules of their religion, did not eat pork, and performed circumcision. Over the past few years, religious life has gradually begun to resume. Mosques are being built, imams and muezzins have appeared, and religious ceremonies are being held. Nogais celebrate the holiday of Mawlid - the birthday of the Prophet, the main Muslim holidays - Kurban Bayram, Eid al-Adha. Mektabs and madrassas are opened at mosques. Some Nogais profess Shafi'i Islam and Wahhabism.

Food

The cuisine of the people used to be dominated by meat and dairy dishes. Today, the Nogai diet has been significantly enriched by borrowing from neighboring peoples. They are prepared from horse meat, lamb, and various sausages are made. They bake flatbreads from flour, cook dumplings called inkal, dumplings, fry Turkish delight, bake brushwood, and katlama. Delicious, hearty porridges are prepared from cereals, and meat is added to them. Corn, wheat, and beans are used. It is customary to serve Nogai cheese Auyrsha with porridge. Soups occupy a special place in the kitchen; they are prepared with chicken noodles, meat, and dough products. Fermented milk and cheese soups are popular. Of the sweets, the most popular is soyk, which is made from millet and sour cream. Other Nogai delicacies:

baked pumpkin with raisins, cinnamon;
cow's colostrum casserole with honey;
sweet rice with ice cream and raisins.

The main national drink is kumiss; in addition to it, they drink ayran, the intoxicating drink buza, honey sherbet, and specially prepared Nogai tea. First, tea leaves are boiled in water, filtered, cream, homemade sour cream, salt, and black pepper are added. The drink is served in bowls with honey, butter, and cheese. It is believed that people have at least five types of tea.

Special dishes are prepared for weddings: boiled lamb brisket, baursak. Women in labor are fed chicken broth and poultry neck. For funerals, soups and meat dishes are always prepared. For guests they make an unusual dish “tuzlangan-koy bash” - boiled lamb head, pre-soaked in brine.

Appearance

Cloth

The traditional clothing of the Nogais is the ethnocultural historical heritage of the people, distinguished by its unique originality and beauty. The costume is based on elements of clothing of ancient nomads. Men spent a lot of time riding horses, which was reflected in their clothing. The boots had high tops and wide-cut trousers for comfortable riding. Shepkens and captals were sewn with a wraparound, open chest.

Men wore an undershirt (ishki koylek) to the knees. It was tucked into trousers and worn to graduation. A sleeveless jacket was put on top; it was usually worn while doing housework. A captal was worn as outer summer clothing. Some people call it beshmet. All men, regardless of age, wore long captals. Another piece of outerwear was the shepken. In bad weather and heat they wore a burka.

An important attribute of a man’s suit was the “belbau” waist belt - narrow, with belt pendants, a metal buckle, and plates with engravings made of gold and niello. The sash is an equally important detail of the costume; it was a folded or rolled strip of silk, 2 meters long.

The Black Sea Nogais wore three types of headdress:

fur hat kulak bork;
sleeping cap yat bork;
ritual hat adetli bork.

They also wore a round-topped hat made of ram skin, covered with cloth, and sometimes they wore a small “arakshyn” cap under it. Shoes worn were dudes, bapish with leather stockings, a kind of bast shoes - ydyryk, boots made of ox, camel, cow leather, with a curved toe, high-heeled leather boots, shoes, soft leather shoes, soft morocco boots without heels with galoshes. The man’s clothing was supplemented with savyt weapons and military armor. The nomad was armed with the following:

bow with arrows
battle ax
a spear
beautifully finished arrow quiver
case for a combat bow with ornament

Women wore pants tapered at the ankles, a tunic-like shirt, an undershirt, a short silk caftan that fitted the figure tightly, often without sleeves to make it easier to work. They wore a swinging long dress, a captal decorated on the chest with 10 patterned prismatic silver patterns. An apron used for housework was worn with outerwear. Women never go bareheaded. Traditional headdresses:

oka bork, covered with a scarf
hat made of thick fabric, trimmed with fur
Kyrym Bork cap
Kundyz Bork
headscarves

Life

For a long time, the main occupation of the people was nomadic and transhumance livestock farming; they bred horses, camels, sheep, and cattle. Agriculture occupied an insignificant place in life; they grew oats, millet, wheat, and were engaged in melon growing, gardening, and beekeeping. They raised poultry: geese, chickens, ducks. Hunting and fishing are ancient occupations of the Nogais. They went hunting with trained birds of prey: hawks, falcons, golden eagles, and also dogs.

Among the crafts, the processing of leather, sheepskin, and wood was developed; felt and cloth were produced, burkas, hats, boots, and arbabash carpets were made. Pillows, blankets, feather beds were made from goose down, and goose feathers were used for writing. The most important trade routes of the Caucasus passed through the Nogai steppes, including the Great Silk Road. Thanks to this, the people engaged in trade and sold their goods.

Housing

In Circassia, Nogais have been living in houses for a long time. The courtyards are surrounded by a wattle fence, stone fence, coated with clay. The house (uh) is built from mud bricks. The walls outside and inside are whitened with lime and chalk. The roof is mainly made of tiles. The home has a guest room and a cooking area where the whole family spends most of their time. All the houses stand sideways to the street, many have windows facing only the courtyard. Instead of ancient hearths, many installed stoves. Previously, they slept on adobe beds covered with felts. They are still found among the Karanogais. Today the decoration in houses is modern. The villages have electricity and radio.

Nomadic Nogais lived in tents. There was a fireplace in the center of the dwelling, and felt mats were laid around it for sitting. In the depths of the tent there was a sleeping place (ter). To the right of the entrance, things and household utensils were stored; to the left, a fence was installed where the young animals were placed. Harness and clothes were hung on the walls. The rich Nogais had a bed on which they laid their guests. The tent village was called “kup” and consisted of several groups of tents. In one village there were 40-60 such dwellings. They were placed in a circle, with livestock placed between them inside the circle. Once a month, people changed their place of residence, transporting their homes with all their property.

Another type of dwelling for the nomadic Nogais, the yurt, was of two types: collapsible (terme) and non-dismountable (otav). The frame of the dwelling was made of wooden folding bars, fastened at the top with domed wooden poles, in the center they converged into a rim. A lattice-type top was attached to it on top, which served as a window and a chimney. The door consisted of doors that opened outward. In winter it was insulated with pieces of felt. The outside frame of the yurt was covered with felt, the inside was insulated with mats in winter, and the wealthy used carpets. In bad weather, the chimney was covered with a piece of felt (sickle). Felt and carpets were laid on the floor. The hearth was located in the center of the dwelling; food was cooked on it and the yurt was heated in cold weather. On the hearth stood an iron tripod - an important attribute of the life of nomads. Rich Nogais covered the yurt with white felt in several layers and decorated it with red ribbons and braid.

The Nogai yurts stood in rows, each row coming from the same family. In the very center stood the yurt of the eldest relative; he was the head of the entire quarter. Inside the dwelling, the woman’s place was on the eastern side; provisions, dishes, and things were also located there. On the north side there was a place of honor, covered with pillows. The head of the family slept and sat here. The Nogais had polygamy; the eldest was always served by the other wives. To the right of the husband sit the men, to the left sit all the wives according to seniority.

Culture

Nogai musical instruments:

dombra
kobyz
sybyzgy
dutar
karnai
cabal
doulbaz
zurnay

The folklore of the people consists of various genres:

fairy tales
epics
sayings
proverbs
puzzles

Traditions

Previously, the people had a blood feud, which disappeared before the revolution. Maternity care was replaced by neighborly care in the 19th century. The custom of hospitality is still widespread; the Nogais welcome guests very cordially, treat them to the best dishes, and put them to sleep in the best place. It is believed that if a house does not have a guest room, it is a bad house. The first thing the guest is treated to is Nogai tea.

The birth of a child is important. The first 40 days after the birth of a baby are very significant; during this period, the stage of its “humanization” occurs. Before the 40th day, the child is given a name, placed in the cradle for the first time, his hair is shaved, old clothes are taken off, and he is dressed in a special shirt (it koylek). A baby who is more than 40 days old is called “kyrkynan shykkan bala”.

Rituals performed during childbirth open the cycle of human life. These include:

umbilical cord cutting;
burial of the placenta;
washing the newborn;
feeding;
naming;
cutting the bonds when the child gets to his feet.

The baby's body is considered raw so that it hardens as quickly as possible; the child is bathed in salted water for 40 days. The ceremony of shaving hair should be performed by the child’s maternal grandfather “nagash atasi”. He doesn’t come on his own; the newborn is brought home to him. The parents give the man a shirt, he gives the child a bull or a ram as a gift. The first hair is called karyn shash, which translates as “uterine hair.” The Nogais believe that if they are not shaved, the child will constantly be sick, he will have an evil eye, and his curses will come true. The boy's shaved hair is wrapped in a scarf or piece of cloth and tied to the horse's tail. This will make the child strong, fast, and as resilient as a horse. The girl’s hair is kept in a chest at home so that she will be a homemaker, hardworking, and economical. People say about boys who don’t live up to expectations: “They probably left his uterine hairs at home.”

The child’s first shirt is called “dog”, it is sewn from the hem of the father-in-law’s undershirt of the newborn’s mother or a venerable old man, so that the baby will accept their wisdom and have a long life. During the ritual of removing the old shirt, three loaves of bread are baked, with holes in the middle. One is given to the dog, the rest to the children. The first shirt is removed and threaded through a hole in the bread, which is tied around the dog's neck. The children chase her so that she will take away everything bad in the baby. After the ceremony, children are treated to sweets and tea. Among the Nogais, it is considered indecent to scold, caress, or feed children in public, especially in front of older relatives.

Every year before Easter, on Friday, children go to the high Maytobe hill for the Tepresh holiday. On this day, eggs are painted and rolled down the hill. People associate eggs with new life, the source of the universe, and are widely used to this day as a symbol of fertility.

A wedding is an important event among the people. The guy's wife was chosen by a family council headed by his father. No one asked the groom’s opinion; all issues were decided by the older brothers, men on the father’s side. The chosen one was chosen very carefully, their financial status, appearance, upbringing, and thriftiness were assessed.

When the bride is chosen, matchmaking takes place. Men come to the house, led by a venerable old man who knows all the traditions and rituals. Even if the family and the girl did not like the groom, they always received him with honor. It is not customary to give an answer right away; matchmakers should come one or two more times. At this time, the bride's family learns about the groom and evaluates him. If the parents agree, they give an answer, set the wedding day and the size of the bride price. It is noteworthy that the wedding date is set with the help of astrologers. The Nogais have a large bride price; in addition to it, the groom must also pay money on top. Due to the lack of large funds, sometimes the bride is stolen so that her relatives reduce the size of the bride price.

The bride and her mother prepare a dowry and sew clothes for members of their future family. This takes a lot of time and effort. After the engagement, a small wedding is held, during which the groom gives the bride price and the bride gives gifts to her husband’s relatives. The guests are treated to food, the bride says goodbye to her girlish outfit - a red scarf. Her wedding outfit has already been prepared, a white scarf, which she wears after marriage. Before the wedding, the bride came to the house of her future relatives, which meant an invitation to the celebration.

The wedding takes place in autumn or spring. At the celebration, they not only drink and eat, they also organize horse races, various competitions, and dancing. The newlyweds dance their first dance - Lezginka. During the dance, guests give gifts and money to the newlyweds. This is considered the first capital their new family earned together.

The Nogais are scattered across different parts of the country and represent a minority in each federal subject. Keeping in small enclaves distant from each other, the Nogais ceased to form a single ethnocultural massif. And since each enclave had its own history over the past two hundred years, mental differences between the Nogais became noticeable.

Fate decreed that the Astrakhan Nogais were recorded and almost became Tatars, the Kuban Nogais living in the mountains absorbed mountain culture, and the Dagestan Nogais, on the contrary, retained their originality to a greater extent. Most of the Chechen Nogais were forced to leave their homeland due to two destructive wars, and the Stavropol Nogais found themselves part of a region that did not provide them with either territorial or cultural autonomy, or even the opportunity to study their native language in schools. Of course, there are also unifying factors: Nogai identity, language, past - but is this enough to maintain unity? What turned out to be stronger: the history that divided the Nogais, or human efforts in the fight against injustice? Are the Nogais a living people or fragments of an already dead people dissolving into other cultures?

There are many scattered and divided peoples in the world: history favors some peoples, while others, on the contrary, are crushed. The history of the Nogais over the past two centuries is the story of the almost complete destruction of the people.

In the second half of the 18th century, most of the Nogais lived in the Crimean Khanate, which included, in addition to the peninsula itself, also the territories of modern southern Ukraine, parts of the Rostov region, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories. The Nogais were the main ethnic group of the country, led a nomadic lifestyle and formed the basis of the Crimean cavalry. Another, significantly smaller part of the Nogais lived in the Russian Empire on the territory of the modern Astrakhan region and Dagestan.

The tragedy that occurred affected only the Crimean Nogais and did not affect the rest. It all started with the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, as a result of which the Crimean Khanate ceased to be a vassal of the Ottoman Empire and became a vassal of Russia. Although the latter won, the Nogais retained vast steppe nomadic territories, which means that Russia received a disloyal, freedom-loving and warlike population on its southern borders. Something had to be done about this, and the empire decided to settle a less problematic population on the new lands - Christians, mainly Cossacks, and, accordingly, expel the Nogais. They were offered to move across the Ural River (modern western Kazakhstan), but the Nogais refused and decided to fight - this led to catastrophic consequences.

There were several reasons for the huge losses of the Nogais. Firstly, they were inferior to the Russians in military terms - bows and sabers versus cannons and rifles. Secondly, the Nogais had nowhere to retreat, which means they faced a simple choice: victory or death. Thirdly, they were deceived by Suvorov. He offered peace and arranged a feast at which the Nogais got drunk, and he himself ordered the horses' hooves to be wrapped in felt, and at night his soldiers silently attacked the Nogais. Some believe that this is where the expression came from: a bullet is a fool, a bayonet is a good fellow. Fourthly, the Nogais rarely surrendered, therefore, when surrounded by Russians or Kalmyks, they themselves killed their women and children, and then entered into the last battle. In total, as a result of the war, post-war unrest and uprising, 300 thousand Nogais died, and the population of the steppe was halved. The survivors were not allowed to remain on their land. Therefore, the last day of the uprising (October 1, 1783) is considered the day of genocide of the Nogai people, and Suvorov is considered a national enemy. The survivors were divided: some went to the Ottoman Empire (modern Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey), others went beyond the Kuban River, along which the Russian border then passed, others accepted Russian citizenship and began to roam within the modern Stavropol Territory. But the suffering of the Nogais did not end there.

The territory of Stavropol is predominantly fertile black soil, and the Russian authorities did not want nomadic cattle breeding to take place on these lands. Therefore, they were given to the Cossacks, and most of the Nogais were resettled to the territory of southern Ukraine, but soon they were forbidden to roam there either. This time they didn’t kick me out, but simply transferred me to a sedentary lifestyle. Before the Crimean War of 1853-1856 (that is, for about 50 years), the Nogais lived more or less quietly on these lands, there was even a city of Nogaisk (modern Primorsk not far from Berdyansk). But after the war, the Nogais were accused of aiding the enemy and were eventually expelled to the Ottoman Empire. The reasons for the eviction of the Nogais are unclear. Some kind of collaboration on their part did take place, but, firstly, then many were dissatisfied with the war - for example, Russian peasants revolted en masse against the increased oppression. Secondly, the Nogais fought with dignity on the side of Russia, because breaking the oath was considered inappropriate in their military culture. Perhaps the empire that lost the war decided to assert itself at the expense of the Nogais. Be that as it may, southern Ukraine was completely cleared of the indigenous population.

Trans-Kuban Nogais were less fortunate. After the liquidation of the Crimean Khanate and before the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, Transkuban region (the southern part of the modern Krasnodar region) was formally part of the Ottoman Empire, but in fact it was independent: the Turks controlled only the fortresses of the Black Sea coast (Anapa, Sudzhuk-Kale, Poti and others). Most of the Trans-Kuban region (from the coast to the Laba River) was inhabited by Circassian tribes, and the Nogais lived between the Kuban and Laba rivers. This was the last fragment of the Crimean Khanate, outliving the Khanate itself by almost half a century. Also, some of the Nogais who survived the Russian defeat settled on the Circassian lands: Nogai villages were all over the left bank of the Kuban and near Anapa - to protect the fortress. Thus, the life of the Nogais became closely connected with the life of the Circassians: their villages were located next to each other, both peoples suffered equally from Cossack raids and together carried out raids on Cossack lands. The result of the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-1829 was that the Trans-Kuban region went to Russia, but the local residents did not consider themselves subjects of the Ottoman Empire, did not pay tribute to it, and were very surprised that their territories were transferred to another state. The Congress of Circassian Tribes decided not to accept Russian citizenship. Thus began (continued) the war in the Western Caucasus. Since Circassia was not an integral state, but a union of tribes and therefore did not have a single army, but many different armies and detachments, the war in the Western Caucasus became partisan. Russia, in turn, carried out punitive expeditions into enemy territory: it destroyed villages, burned crops and took away livestock. No one then separated the Circassian auls from the Nogais: both were called predators and were mercilessly destroyed - the Nogais shared the suffering of the Circassians. Due to massive resistance and guerrilla tactics, this war lasted for decades (until 1864) and became a disaster for the Circassians, Abazas and Nogais. According to the Russian historian Potto, 400 thousand highlanders died in the war, and another 500 thousand were expelled to the Ottoman Empire (of which 50 thousand were Nogais). For the Circassians, the date of the end of the Caucasian War (May 21, 1864) is the day of genocide. The survivors were not allowed to remain on their land, but were given the choice of moving to the Kuban plains or sailing to the Ottoman Empire. Most chose the latter, but not all made it to the Turkish coast: the ships were small and overcrowded, so they sank in the event of the slightest storm. As a result, the Western Caucasus was practically cleared of the indigenous population: the Circassians survived only in a few villages near Sochi and in the Republic of Adygea, and the Nogais in the Nogai region of Karachay-Cherkessia.

This whole long story is told for a reason. Both peoples - Nogai and Circassian - experienced a national tragedy. Both peoples have a specific commemoration date (October 1 and May 21). Yes, historically the Nogai tragedy stretched over a longer period of time, and October 1, 1783 does not formally include the subsequent events of the Crimean and Caucasian wars. But this is formal. In fact, both nations have dates on which it is imperative to remember the past. They remember, but they do it in different ways. On May 21, Circassians with national flags in national clothes take to the streets and hold mourning events and processions. You shouldn’t think that this day is politicized, it’s just that for the Circassians in their modern history, the most significant, turning point event was a tragedy, and a real national day is possible only on the basis of a significant event. Circassians use the day of the tragedy not just to remember the past, but to consolidate society - therefore, funeral processions take place all over the world, and the fragmented Circassian society gains unity.

On October 1, Nogais do not organize any events - usually the victims of the tragedy are commemorated at home. Someone will make a post on the Internet, someone will gather in a small campaign, someone will go to the mosque (they read prayers there and can give out alms), but to go out into the street in national clothes with national flags for a funeral procession, this does not happen . Of course, the question is not about going out into the street and shouting about something, but about the fact that a divided people does not have a national day - the one that would unite all Nogais.

I asked the Nogais why there is no such day, and whether they want it to appear.

"What for? Judge for yourself. Unity occurs, for example, at conferences, at round tables, when some international festivals take place. Why do we need to go outside? There are so many peoples, and if everyone sticks out themselves like that, it won’t lead to good,” says Rosa, a history teacher from Astrakhan.

“In Astrakhan they don’t pay much attention to this, but they know that this date exists and can read prayers. It’s not customary for the Nogais to wash dirty linen in public,” says Linara.

“On October 1st, young people look at something on the Internet, discuss it, but I myself do nothing,” says singer Magorbi Seitov from Karachay-Cherkessia.

It may seem that Nogais generally avoid mass events, but this is not so. For example, on May 9, Nogais go out into the streets and celebrate the holiday together with the whole country. There is also no need to talk about fear of the authorities - in the Caucasian republics, no one bothers the Circassians to organize funeral processions. Although people still have some concerns. “It turns out nationalistically: a great commander - and suddenly he did such things,” says Magomed Naimanov from Cherkessk.

Some Nogais did not think about the importance of the national day. Others believe that it is needed, but there are no initiatives among the Nogais aimed at its implementation.

“For the Circassians, this developed within the framework of a movement, but we don’t have a movement,” says Eldar Idrisov, leader of the Astrakhan Nogai Birlik society.

“The day of mourning will not be a unifying factor for the Nogais, because we do not have such a unifying force - the Circassians have three republics and the top officials of the republics participate in congresses,” says writer Murat Avezov.

You can hide behind the fact that Nogais do not like to remember bad things; or fear that someone may not like the people’s right to historical memory; or talk about the inappropriateness of street events. But the whole point is the lack of a unifying force - the initiative of ordinary people and the will of political leaders.

The introduction of a national day was discussed in the 90s - then there was a whole galaxy of cult personalities led by Srazhdin Batyrov, an artist and choreographer who revived Nogai dances and created the national ensemble “Ailanai”, which became one of the mouthpieces of the Nogai revival. Narbike Mutallapova, former head of the cultural department of the Nogai region of Dagestan, says: “Srazhdin wanted to declare October 1 a day of Nogai mourning, but did not have time. But no more attempts were made: some died, others fell ill, and others went into power. Now young people are organizing events, but I don’t see any fire to burn for the people. The next generation must give birth to such people, because we are getting old and many have already left. I really hope that a change will come.”

For Circassians, the memory of tragic events is not limited to funeral processions. The Circassian society calls those events genocide and seeks its recognition at the international level - this is how the Georgian parliament in 2011 recognized the Caucasian War as an act of genocide of the Circassians.

According to ethnologist Akhmet Yarlykapov, the Nogais have no desire to recognize the genocide. Akhmet himself does not really agree with the term “genocide” in relation to those events, he thought about what it would be better to call it, and said: “Recognize it with anything.” Also, according to him, it is important not only to acknowledge the fact, but also to truthfully describe the events. This is also the problem: the Nogai world is too small, it simply does not have so many historians to study this issue. And the Nogai mentality seems to be against this - the reluctance to remember the difficult past cannot be avoided. The world is not interested in the Nogais.

Attitudes towards the Suvorov events vary depending on the region of residence of the Nogais. Thus, among the Astrakhan Nogais, who were not affected by ethnic cleansing and deportation, the attitude towards Suvorov is relatively neutral. Some did not accuse him of anything, because it was a “sovereign decision”, and he was a “bonded man” and simply “followed orders.” Accordingly, “history” and “some circumstances” were to blame. In Astrakhan, I did not hear the term “genocide” from anyone, and I had the feeling that the local Nogais chose to forget the past of their people. The historian Victorin generally stated that the Nogais themselves were to blame for everything: they first accepted Russian citizenship, and then refused to move beyond the Urals; instead they attacked Suvorov, and then got it from him. Nothing new: Russians, of course, are noble, and their enemies, of course, are treacherous. But the Russian historian Victorin is one thing, and the Nogais themselves are another matter.

In Karachay-Cherkessia, on the contrary, I was surprised that people so easily use the term “genocide” - as if it were something generally accepted. This was done by administration workers, rural residents, a waitress in a cafe, and creative people. Thus, designer Asiyat Eslemesova, at the very beginning of the meeting, spoke about “unrecognized genocide,” and the grandmother, with whom we spent the night, reproached Suvorov: “And if they order you to shoot your own mother, will they do the same?”

“Genocide, I think, because the war was conducted incorrectly. This is no longer a war, this is the destruction of the population,” says Magomed Naimanov.

The newspaper “Nogai Davysy” in Cherkessk said that no one prohibits holding mass events, but they must be held if the genocide is recognized, and Russia does not recognize the genocide of the Nogais. Other peoples of the republic are holding mass events, because the Circassian genocide is recognized at the regional level (the republics of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia), and the Karachay (deportation of 1943) is recognized at the country level.

The Dagestani Nogais are more likely to be in solidarity with the Kuban, although the Suvorov events did not affect them either. But, firstly, in Dagestan there are many descendants of the Kuban Nogais who fled there during the Caucasian War. Secondly, Dagestan is the center of modern Nogai culture and social life, and it simply cannot distance itself from Nogai history.

When asked what unites the Nogais besides language, the answer was often “history.” Therefore, modern Nogais often look to the Nogai Horde and their great rulers Edig and Nogai as symbols of pride and identity. They are like Lincoln for Americans or Garibaldi for Italians. True, the Nogai khans were around too long ago. What relation they have to modern history and culture is a big question. At the same time, more recent history, albeit tragic, is in no way aimed at consolidating Nogai society.

Despite the fact that the Nogai tragedy is associated with the Russian Empire, the Nogais do not hold a grudge against the Russians. Perhaps this is a rare coincidence, but I have not met a single person who felt even irritation towards the Russians, not to mention hatred. Many were sincerely surprised by my question about negative feelings towards Russians and did not understand why they should exist.

“We have no hatred for Russia. We have the same attitude towards what is happening in the country as the Tambov man,” says Isa Kapaev.

The Soviet era did not affect the attitude of the Nogais towards Russians, although then the Nogais suffered quite a bit (as did other peoples). The Nogais were not spared Stalin's repressions, when the Nogai intelligentsia was expelled and the flower of the nation was destroyed. Then, in 1957, the division of the Nogai steppe took place, as a result of which the people were torn into three parts - Dagestan, Stavropol Territory and Chechnya. As a result, the Nogais not only did not receive their own republic or autonomy, unlike most other peoples of the country, but found themselves a minority everywhere.

“In the entire history of Soviet power in Karachay-Cherkessia, only one historian, Ramazan Kereytov, received reservations for graduate school; all the rest were applicants. After the Soviet Union collapsed, if you want, go to graduate school, if you want, go to doctoral studies, if you want, write 15 papers,” recalls Aminat Kurmanseitova.

“In Soviet times, the Nogais were treated with disdain due to the fact that people came from villages and knew Russian very poorly. Now everyone is fine with the Russian language. Aggression in society was common in the 90s, but now it is less common. There have been many interethnic marriages, spanning several generations, so everyone is accustomed to eating kainara and Easter with Easter cakes,” says Linara from Astrakhan.

The events of recent years also do not lead to embitterment of the Nogais, despite the growing Islamophobia in the country and the frequent attitude towards Asians as second-class citizens. Nogais note Russian chauvinism in Moscow or the Cossack regions of the country, but treat it with restraint, like old people treating troubled teenagers.

“At school, when some kind of conflict starts, Russian children call Nogai children korsaks - this is an offensive nickname for the Kazakhs. But on the part of the Nogai children there is some kind of confusion, and they do not say any nicknames of an offensive nature towards the Russians - it simply does not exist. Apparently, this comes from colonial times, and great-power chauvinism is still in the blood. Plus, now the TV amplifies everything,” Amir from the Astrakhan region shares his observations.

Some Nogais noted the positive contribution of modern Russia to the development of the Nogai world. “Today’s Russia is not to blame for what was done to the Nogais. Today's Russia has allowed us to get acquainted with all archival and museum materials - everything turned out to be accessible. Before this, people lived in darkness for many years. Some people trumpeted about it, some even laid down their heads. And to this day there is a war, if not with Russia, then with its rulers. Personally, I have no resentment towards Russians, there is bitterness, but there is no resentment – how many years ago was that,” says Narbike.

“Those who remained in Russia retained the language, territory, and the name “Nogais.” Those who went to Turkey are written as Turks. In Kazakhstan, Nogais are not called Nogais, there they are Kazakhs. Only in Russia we have survived precisely as Nogais, and this must also be recognized,” says Ismail Cherkesov.

Over the past two hundred years, the life of the Nogais has become closely connected with the life of Russians. And we are not just talking about mixed marriages, economic interaction and neighborly living. “Despite the fact that the Nogai statehood was broken precisely by Russia and the Nogais suffered a lot of evil from it, we remained patriots at all times. We are in fact patriots, because before us so many generations of Nogais fought in Russian wars. Why were Nogais attracted to Lithuania or Poland? Because we were the support of the throne, we constantly served the authorities. This is our way of life,” continues Ismail.

“The Russians and I fought at weddings, but we also acted together and defended our interests. I was a Soviet man, they didn’t call me Nogai, they called me Russian. Where are you going? I don’t have another homeland, they don’t choose it, whether she’s a mother or a stepmother. There are simply more beloved and less beloved children,” says Murat Avezov.

History has firmly tied the Nogais to Russia, so much so that they began to feel like an integral part of it. Once upon a time, the Nogais were forced to accept Russian citizenship. Today they cannot imagine themselves outside of Russian identity. That's why they don't go to Turkey or Kazakhstan. Therefore, they remain patriots of Russia, no matter how foreign it may be to them. And in this, Edige’s descendants are surprisingly united. Are we observing that the Nogai world has ceased to separate “us” from “strangers” and has entered a dying state? Or is this a way of survival for a small people, when the remaining forces are aimed at creation, and wasting time on the negative is an unaffordable luxury? Only time knows the truth.

Nogai writer Murat Avezov

In Karachay-Cherkessia, in the village of Erken-Khalk, there is the “Museum of History and Culture of the Nogai People”. This is an old two-story building with four sections, each of which is dedicated to a specific period in the history of the Nogais, from the Middle Ages to Soviet times. The head of the museum, Svetlana Ramazanova, gave us a personal tour and shared interesting thoughts and her experiences about the Nogai people.

“I don’t sleep well because my tongue is missing. After all, if there is no language, then there will be no culture, and if there is no culture, then the people will disappear. Any nation disappears - this is inevitable, and nothing can be done about it: the big swallows the small.

Why are the Nogais dying out? A few reasons:
1) Interethnic marriages;
2) Nogais speak Russian (especially in the North) or Papa’s language, although they continue to consider themselves Nogais;
3) This is a natural process of development of society, it is inevitable;
4) What kind of development can there be when you are small and stewing in your own juice.”

I agree with two of Svetlana’s theses, and I will try to refute two. Although even these refutations are unlikely to change the general conclusion.

Svetlana Ramazanova in the museum

Refutation No. 1.
The danger of interethnic marriages applies to a greater extent to Astrakhan, the North and large cities, in general, to places where Nogais do not live compactly. Due to the more secular and urbanized lifestyle, marriages between Russians and Nogais are more common there. Children in these marriages usually choose their own religion, unless of course there was a clear agreement between the parents, and the choice more often falls on Christianity - the religion of the majority. The Nogai language is also forgotten faster in a big city than in the Caucasus. As a result, children in such families find themselves under greater influence of Russian culture and lose touch with the Nogai world.

If children from Russian-Nogai marriages grow up in a Nogai village, then everything is not so simple. “Our people live together, there are no conflicts, even on a personal basis, because everyone got married. I have two students in my class, a boy and a girl, their fathers are Russian and their mothers are Nogais. The girl considers herself Russian, but at Nogai holidays she reads poetry in Nogai better than anyone else, and her pronunciation is very good. But the boy doesn’t show himself in any way at these holidays; he’s probably more Russian. And so, the mentality is normal, like everyone else,” says Gulnisa, a teacher in the village of Dzhanai, Astrakhan region.

In the Caucasus everything is different. Aminat Kurmanseitova says: “After all, this is the East, in the East nationality is determined by the father. Nationality based on the mother can only exist if the mother divorced her husband and lived with her child. In this case, she can not only change her nationality, but also change her last name. In the East, even a non-Muslim's ancestry goes through the paternal line. Therefore, 99% of the population born from a Circassian is recorded as a Circassian, from a Karachai - as a Karachai, from a Nogai - as a Nogai, from a Russian - as a Russian. If a Nogai woman marries a Russian, she has a Russian child; if she marries a Circassian, she has a Circassian child. Conversations about the mother giving her last name and rewriting it as her nationality are not considered at all. This is not even discussed, and the surname is always the father’s.”

This rule is observed among all eastern peoples, with rare exceptions. Therefore, in the same Astrakhan region, if the father is Nogai and the mother is Kazakh, then the child will be Nogai, and vice versa. The loss of national identity in such marriages is not terrible, unlike marriages with Russians.

“The Circassians say that we are beautiful because we mixed with them. There is some truth in this: the Nogais have Circassian clans, and the Circassians have Nogais. My great-grandmothers are Karachays, and this is not bad, it improves the blood. The Chechens and Karachais had a surge: they accepted everyone into their ranks and greatly renewed their blood in the 19th century. Among the Karachais, 70-80% of the population are newcomers: Abazas, Georgians, Nogais, Circassians. Therefore, they have strong potential, many cultural figures, educators, and writers. But we don’t mix en masse: 10-15% of families are acceptable, even necessary, which is why we have good development. There is nothing wrong with this, mixing is the path to the best. The blood always needs to be renewed, otherwise degradation will occur,” says Kerim from Cherkessk.

Interethnic marriages in themselves do not threaten the Nogais, but they become a problem for the diaspora. It turns out that to get rid of the problem, you just need to stop mass migration. Stop! Migration! Hmm... is Svetlana so wrong in her thesis?

Agreement No. 1.
The disappearance of small languages is truly an inevitability that unites all Nogais of the country. It’s just that this process goes faster in cities, slower in villages, but in the end everyone will come to a common denominator. It’s like with the Internet: yesterday it was only in the city, but today it is everywhere. Much has been said about the reasons for the disappearance of the language. The measures taken to preserve it will be described in a separate story. The philosophical question I asked the Nogais was: “If the language disappears, what will happen to the people: will it survive or will it also disappear?”

People's opinions were divided, and they were divided approximately equally.

“Colombians are one people. They are Spanish-speaking, but if you look inside ethnically, most of them are local Indians, some are descendants of the Spaniards. There are also many Arabs - the traders in the ports were Arabs. And so they all together became the Colombian people. This is clearly expressed in Marquez; he showed a new community, a new state. This situation will probably happen to us too. Although, because of religion, it will be more difficult to become a united people,” says writer Isa Kapaev.

Magomed Naimanov has a different opinion: “The Nogai people as a people will survive. In statistics. But he will not know his language. Without language, a people can easily be a people. For example, Belarus, where 95% do not know the Belarusian language, nevertheless, the Belarusian people exist.” Moreover, Belarus is not alone in this: the Irish also did not become English, although they all speak English.

At first glance, convincing evidence of resistance to assimilation is that children who do not know Nogai still consider themselves Nogai. But it's not that simple. “If a person does not know his language, does not speak his native language, then he is already an inferior Nogai, it is difficult to call him a 100% Nogai,” Ismail Cherkesov is convinced.

I think Ismail hit the nail on the head. What makes the Nogais more Nogais: their self-name or the opportunity to read Edige’s epic in their native language?

“We don’t speak our native language well, but when you read poems in Nogai, listen to old songs, hear wishes - you just feel melancholy! But we don't live by it. There is a lot of information coming out, but my family is somewhere deep inside. Children have even less of this - that’s why nations are leaving,” notes Svetlana Ramazanova.

Refutation No. 2.

Many Nogais take a philosophical look at the loss of language and assimilation that is happening before their eyes, because they are confident in the inevitability of the disappearance of the ethnic group. Their confidence is based on the theory of ethnogenesis and passionarity of Lev Gumilyov - during the expedition I heard this surname so many times that I got the impression that it had become a mantra for the Nogais. According to Gumilyov, each ethnic group goes through a life cycle from birth to death, and the Nogais today are precisely at the stage of dying. You can write a lot about the fact that this theory, despite its simplicity and seemingly logical nature, has not found support either among domestic or foreign scientists, causes a lot of controversy and is far-fetched at many points, but this is how a person works that he must -to believe. Svetlana Ramazanova did not say anything new about Gumilyov, she was simply another (5 or 6 in a row) interlocutor in a short period of time, talking about the inevitability of the disappearance of the Nogais.

I allow myself to disagree with both Gumilyov and the Nogais. After all, the “natural process of social development” is equally suitable both for explaining any patterns and for justifying mistakes and inaction. There are peoples older than the Nogais who are currently experiencing a stage of development. For example, the Mongols, who in 1990 got rid of ideology and set a course for building democratic institutions of society and developing modern Buddhist culture. Of course, one can argue that Mongolia is a separate state, and the Nogais are part of a large country, but this only confirms the role of the historical path and the unity of the people in the development of society and refutes the abstract stage of the dying of the ethnic group.

One of the keys to preserving culture is the presence of autonomy, which contributes to the consolidation of society. This does not guarantee the development of the ethnic group (the same Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia, who have their own republics, are rapidly assimilating and choosing Russian identity), but it gives a chance for development. Whether people will use it or not is another question. There are still signs of life in Nogai society: in addition to their own culture, which is manifested even among young people (all these dances, weddings, tamgas) and historical memory, among the Nogais there are many enterprising people who are trying to do something for the people. But only in conditions of autonomy can an initiative bear major fruit, otherwise it will not be heard or will be crushed.

Consent No. 2.

The Nogais find themselves small and scattered, and their society is heavily influenced by four more powerful cultures, each of which weakens the Nogai world.

Russian. The Nogais consider themselves part of Russia, live in a Russian-speaking environment and are strongly influenced by Russian culture. Despite the gradual loss of their native language, the Nogais do not believe that they are in danger of assimilation in Russia; on the contrary, barriers to it are Nogai appearance and religion, and the majority of Nogais live in conditions of a certain cultural autonomy. The threat from the Russian world is more pronounced in the Stavropol Territory and in the North - there the loss of the native language and the loss of culture are stronger. In addition, Russian chauvinism is growing in some regions: in the Stavropol region, for example, the Nogais are considered a diaspora, not an indigenous people, and are perceived unfriendly, which is, in principle, typical for the Cossack regions of the country in relation to the Muslim population (Nogais, Circassians, Meskhetian Turks).

“When they say that the Nogais will become Russian, I have a hard time believing it. One day I went to Orenburg to the archives. What turns of phrase are there: “dear sir” and so on! How beautifully everything is written - I’m telling you, I was brought up in Russian culture and for myself I don’t consider this a grief. I read it and it’s a balm for the soul. My wife scolds me and says that I am turning into a scoop. I have several identities: local – Karagash-Nogai, Astrakhan Nogai; the other is from Astrakhan; the next identity is Nogai, a representative of the Nogai people; and the next one is Russian, there is this identity, I don’t throw it away,” says historian Ramil Ishmukhambetov.

Kazakh. The long-awaited independence from the Russian and Soviet empires led to the national rise of the Kazakhs and the development of their culture, but an independent cultural policy inevitably gives rise to disputes with neighboring peoples. The confrontation with the Nogais occurred due to the proximity of languages, similar culture, the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Kazakhs and the fact that the Nogai Horde was almost entirely located on the territory of modern Kazakhstan. Therefore, who should be considered the nomadic poets of the 15-16 centuries - Nogais or Kazakhs? (the poets themselves in their works addressed the Nogais, and not the Kazakhs, but history knows examples when peoples changed their self-name). Are the Nogais a separate people or a subethnic group of Kazakhs? (most Nogais consider themselves to be a separate, albeit related, people - after all, there is a difference in language and in wedding and funeral rites). For the Kazakhs, victory in these disputes means receiving the Nogai inheritance. For the Nogais - that they are an equal people, albeit small in number. It is important to note that disputes take place exclusively on the Internet, so for some it is almost a matter of life, for others it is an abstract, inflated thing that has no relation to reality.

“There is no disdain on the part of the Kazakhs towards the Nogais, although there are disputes on the Internet. I adore Kazakhstan, we are too close, but I would not want to become part of the Kazakh nation. In 1992, we came to Kazakhstan for a symposium, and the singer Kumratova performed epic works in which the Nogais were mentioned. There were many scientists and various figures there, and they say about Kumratova: “She’s ours, she’s Kazakh.” Then they ask who we are. We answer that we are Nogais, and they say: “You are also Kazakhs, we are one tree.” I tell them: “Yes, but don’t forget that we are the roots, and you are the branches and leaves,” recalls Narbike.

“Many young Nogais sing Kazakh songs. When something familiar changes to something related but alien, I don’t like it,” says Murat Avezov.

“Some say that bringing Kazakh songs to Nogai weddings is wrong, but then give Nogai songs. Because Kazakh songs are suitable in terms of mentality and melody. We have few good composers, so we have to remake Kazakh and Kyrgyz songs. On the one hand, there are no songs because there are no performers. On the other hand, the performers do not appear because there is no broadcast system, no rotation, and this comes down to the fact that there is no autonomy,” says Ismail Cherkesov.

The problem is that the Nogai world is too small to reproduce its own culture, while Kazakhstan offers modern songs and films, literature and science, lullabies and national clothing. If a Nogai does not want to become completely Russified, but tries to preserve elements of the steppe mentality and nomadic culture, then he is simply forced to look towards Kazakhstan.

Tatar. The influence of the Tatars on the Nogais is felt only in the Astrakhan region, where the transitional Tatar-Nogai group (Yurts) lives and where the Nogais were previously recorded as Tatars. The Tatars are the second ethnic group in Russia after the Russians and, like the Kazakhs, are experiencing a national and cultural rise. Tatar organizations are numerous and have money to organize educational and cultural events. Therefore, it is not surprising that, seeing a powerful Tatar movement and a weak Nogai movement, many choose the Tatar identity.

“Our old people sing Tatar songs. My uncle calls himself a Tatar, knowing that he is not a Tatar. I love the Tatar language, it is my second language after Nogai. I can sing something in Tatar, my grandmother is Tatar. But by self-determination I am a Nogai. The Tatars and Kazakhs are most dangerous for us precisely because of their excessive rapprochement. If the feeling of “friend or foe” is lost, then we will disappear,” says historian Ramil Ishmukhambetov (pictured).

North Caucasian (mountain). Historically, the nomadic Nogai world and the mountain world belonged to different cultures, although they overlapped. This was especially typical for the Western Caucasus: the Crimean Khanate and Circassia depended on each other. Therefore, the Circassian coat and papakha are elements of clothing for both the Nogais and many mountain peoples. Therefore, in both cultures there was a practice of atalychestvo (when mountain children grew up in Nogai families, and vice versa) and kunakstvo (such close friendship between people that they actually became relatives). But after the Suvorov events and the mass expulsion, the Nogais survived only in a few villages adjacent to the mountain peoples, so the Nogai culture was partially subordinated to the mountain culture and began to develop along with it. Living alongside the highlanders gradually erased cultural differences, but at the same time contributed to resistance to Soviet culture: as a result, the Kuban Nogais retained horses and dog fighting, like other peoples of Karachay-Cherkessia. However, identity, Nogai tea, women's national costume - all this is not a thing of the past; and the Nogai language has not gone away, despite its proximity to the larger and very similar Karachay language. Therefore, at present, the Kuban Nogais are both Nogais and highlanders, no matter how strange it may sound.

Another thing is the Nogai steppe. She lived authentically for a long time and preserved her nomadic culture until the advent of Soviet power. The communists first led the Nogais to a sedentary lifestyle, and then divided the steppe, giving its two parts to Chechnya and Dagestan - so the local Nogais gradually came under the influence of mountain culture. Therefore, Sufism spread among them. Therefore, some people make the Dagestan accent “le”. That’s why all Nogais dance Lezginka.

At the same time, many Dagestani Nogais emphasize that they are not mountaineers. At a meeting of a youth organization in Terekli-Mekteb, the following phrase was heard: “We imitate the mountaineers a little, but we are not the mountaineers.” And this was what Murat Avezov said: “Look at me, what a Dagestani I am. They just took me and sent me to Dagestan - forcibly the groom, forcibly the bride.”

Regarding the Lezginka, opinions are divided: some have a bad attitude towards it and even believe that it needs to be fought, while others consider it as part of modern Nogai culture. “Some people say that this is not our dance and should not be danced. Well, then replace it with other dances, traditional Nogai ones. Now we have Lezginka as a given. In many ways, this is even a Nogai dance, because some elements are purely Nogai. But the mountaineers dance it with jumping, raising their hands - this is not ours,” says Murza, a member of the Revival youth organization.

“I lived in Moscow for 12 years, I had all sorts of friends: Russians, Armenians, Georgians. But for some reason there were no Dagestanis. Here’s a paradox: it’s not because I have a bad attitude towards them, it’s just that our mentality is different. And we get along with the Russians very easily, right away.”

Also, the Dagestan Nogais were influenced by Caucasian Sufism - a mixture of Islam and mountain customs. Sufism became especially popular in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, so “East Caucasian Islam” differs from “ordinary” Islam characteristic of the Volga region and Western Caucasus. Historically, the Nogais abandoned Sufism back in the 18th century, but in modern Dagestan Sufism has become so widespread that if you are against Sufism, then you are almost a Wahhabi. As a result, some “ordinary” Nogai imams were forced to leave the republic, Sufi imams appeared in Nogai mosques, and Sufism began to gain popularity among the Dagestani Nogais. This led to contradictions between Nogai believers. In general, Sufis are more conservative, and this is striking: in Astrakhan, Nogai women dress in a European style, in Karachay-Cherkessia they wear headscarves (and not all of them), in Dagestan a woman without a headscarf is rare, moreover, many leave Only the face and hands are exposed.

Is it necessary to counteract more powerful cultures or is it already useless? Everyone decides for themselves. Some Nogais say that the main thing is to be a Muslim, and nationality does not matter. This choice is reasonable in conditions of close interaction between the Caucasian peoples. Others believe that Kazakhs and Nogais are one people. In the context of globalization, this is also a good formula for conservation. Still others leave for large cities and marry Russians, which means a separation from the Nogai world, if not for those who left, then certainly for their children. But this is also an inevitability of modern society. However, there is a fourth option - Narbike voiced it best:

“Today, give me the opportunity to choose another nation, even the greatest, I would not be able to. For me, the Nogais are my great people. I always tell aspiring singers: forget the past, live in the present, make your own history. And you praise Edige, the words in the songs are pathetic. The Nogai was speechless, scattered, living in the dark, under pressure. But if we survived then, we cannot disappear now. Although this struggle should be every day. Everyone must remember the components of a people: language, history, culture. If this disappears, then the people will disappear.”

The fragmentation of the Nogais led to the fact that in Soviet times there was minimal communication between regions, and communication with the foreign diaspora did not occur at all. For example, many in Astrakhan did not even know that the Nogais lived somewhere else. In the late 80s, it became possible to create national organizations and free movement around the country - and Nogais from different regions began to gradually interact with each other.

First of all, cultural events and all-Nogai congresses began to be held on a variety of topics: thus, it turned out to be possible not only for the appearance of the Nogai ensemble “Ailanay” in Dagestan, but also for its tours to other regions of the country. Then educational and sporting events were added to them. Despite the limited access to administrative resources, the interaction of the Nogais turned out to be possible thanks to the “initiative from below.” And although all these conferences and congresses meant little to the common man, the Nogai intelligentsia began to represent the interests of the entire people, and not its individual parts.

“When Nogais from other regions came to us for the first time, they went to the cultural center and were amazed that Nogais still live somewhere in Russia and speak their language. They showed a performance, performed dances, told proverbs and sayings. As I remember now, they begin to tell the proverb, and our audience continues - it was so pleasant,” Gulnisa, a teacher from the Astrakhan region, shares her memories.

“But all this is on a voluntary basis. That is, our guys come together, cooperate, and collect money. Often they send us on a shift, hire some kind of car and we go out,” says Aminat Kurmanseitova.

However, regional boundaries were erased for ordinary people as well. There were several reasons. The first, oddly enough, was the difficult economic situation and the subsequent migration to the North: the communities that emerged included all Nogais, regardless of regional affiliation. Likewise, Astrakhan became a place of learning for Nogai youth from all over the country.

The second reason is the Chechen war, because of which 10 thousand Nogais left their native villages. “Many “Chechens” left for Astrakhan, found work, and are engaged in business. Nogais living among other nationalities are more resilient. We are a mononation here, infantile, calm, only the youth have been doing something lately. In Chechnya, life itself taught the Nogais to survive. Entire families moved here because the village there was bombed - there was a tip that militants were hiding there,” says Narbike from Dagestan.

And the third reason is the Internet, which not only strengthened communication, but united the Nogais. His role is especially important for this people, because in Russia there is no TV channel in the Nogai language and a general Nogai newspaper (although there are still two regional ones). Proof of the power of the Internet was the increased number of marriages between Nogais from different regions of the country, which previously happened extremely rarely.

For a long time, the connection between Russian Nogais and the foreign diaspora was completely lost. The Nogais who found themselves in Turkey, due to the similarity of languages and the policies of the authorities, gradually adopted a Turkish identity, and now they can be spoken of more as Turks of Nogai origin. However, from 100 to 300 thousand people in Turkey and another 100 thousand in Europe still consider themselves Nogais. Now they come to Russia for cultural events, “international” marriages have appeared, and even football took place between Nogais from different countries. Once a Nogai came from Austria - he began to look for his family and ended up in the Astrakhan region. There was also such a case: a “Turkish” family found direct relatives in Dagestan, despite a 150-year gap in communication.

“Our goal is to awaken the population in Crimea, the yurt Nogais. And our task is to conduct educational work in Turkey so that they register as Nogais,” says Kerim from Cherkessk.

However, interstate interaction is complicated by the fact that there is no organization that would unite Nogais from all over the world and represent them in the international arena, such as the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people or the International Circassian Association.

Despite the international level, the Nogai movement often rests on human enthusiasm alone, and therefore suffers from a lack of money. “Now, if you register a public organization, you need a specific postal address, premises, a lease agreement, and video materials must be provided monthly. But we do not have the opportunity for this. We have nowhere to hide, so we seem to be in an unofficial position,” says Magomed Naimanov from Cherkessk.

“There is no center in Astrakhan where you can buy a national costume. Therefore, like some kind of interethnic competition at school, everyone goes around looking for costumes, they don’t know where or from whom to find them,” says Linara. “If any holidays pass, we fold. There is no specific fee, everything is as possible - this is how we hold concerts and all events.”

Recently, young people have begun to show greater initiative. “There is a revival, people are interested in books, music, poetry, this did not exist before. A month ago, KVN was held here for the first time in history, then it was held in Karachaevsk. If not for this, I would be depressed,” says Murza from Terekli-Mekteb. In addition to cultural events, youth organizations contributed to the emergence of mobile applications for learning the Nogai language, and translated some cartoons into Nogai, for example, “The Lion King.”

The Dagestan youth organization “Vozrozhdenie” is developing sports among the Nogais, trying to transfer dombra from traditional culture to modern culture, held a KVN, and wants to launch its own newspaper. It is not known whether everything will work out for them, but the very fact that many young people in the village do not sit still is surprising. There is no alcohol or discos in this environment; instead - sports, sushi bar, Sony PlayStation. “I kick, you kick – we help each other.” By the way, children aged about 16, whom we managed to talk to in a local cafe, also said that alcohol is no longer fashionable (although they drank energy drinks instead). Of course, this way of life is not typical for all Nogais, but this is increasingly becoming the rule rather than the exception.

: 22 006 (2010)

Neftekumsky district: 12,267 (trans. 2002)
Mineralovodsky district 2,929 (per. 2002)
Stepnovsky district 1,567 (trans. 2002)
Neftekumsk: 648 (trans. 2002)

Karachay-Cherkessia: 15 654 (2010)

Astrakhan region: 7 589 (2010)

Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug: 5 323 (2010)

Chechnya: 3,444 (2010)

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug: 3 479 (2010)

Ukraine: 385 (2001 census)

Language Religion Racial type Included in Related peoples Origin

Nogais(self-name - kick, plural - nogaylar listen)) are a Turkic-speaking people in the North Caucasus and the Volga region. They speak Nogai, which belongs to the Kipchak group (Kypchak-Nogai subgroup) of Turkic languages. The literary language was created on the basis of the Karanogai dialect and the Nogai dialect. The writing is related to the ancient Turkic, Uighur-Naiman scripts; from the 18th century Until 1928, the Nogai alphabet was based on Arabic script, from 1928-1938. - in Latin script. Since 1938, the Cyrillic alphabet has been used.

The number in the Russian Federation is 103.7 thousand people. ().

Political history

In the middle of the 16th century, Gazi (son of Urak, great-grandson of Musa) took part of the Nogais who wandered in the Volga region to the North Caucasus, where there were traditional old nomadic Mangyts, founding Small Nogai.

The Nogai Horde between the Volga and Emba fell into decline as a result of the expansion of the Moscow state in the Volga region and wars with neighbors, of which the most destructive was the war with the Kalmyks. The descendants of the Nogais who did not move to Malye Nogai disappeared among the Bashkirs, Kazakhs and Tatars.

Anthropology

Anthropologically, the Nogais belong to the South Siberian small race, transitional between the large Mongoloid and Caucasoid races

Settlement

Currently, the Nogais live mainly in the North Caucasus and Southern Russia - in Dagestan (Nogaisky, Tarumovsky, Kizlyarsky and Babayurtsky districts), in the Stavropol Territory (Neftekumsky district), Karachay-Cherkessia (Nogaisky district), Chechnya (northern Shelkovsky district) and Astrakhan region. From the name of the people comes the name Nogai Steppe - an area of compact settlement of Nogais on the territory of Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory and the Chechen Republic.

Over the past decades, large Nogai diasporas have formed in other regions of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

Language

In the cultural heritage of the Nogais, the main place is occupied by musical and poetic art. There is a rich heroic epic (including the poem “Edige”)

Religion

Nogai girls in national costumes. Beginning of the 20th century.

Cloth

Housing

Story

The Nogais are one of the few peoples of modern Russia that have centuries-old traditions of statehood in the past. Tribes from state associations of the Great Steppe of the 7th century took part in the long process of Nogai ethnogenesis. BC e. - XIII century n. e. (Sakas, Sarmatians, Huns, Usuns, Kanglys, Keneges, Ases, Kipchaks, Uighurs, Argyns, Kytai, Naimans, Kereits, Kungrats, Mangyts, etc.).

The final formation of the Nogai community with the supra-tribal name Nogai (Nogaily) occurred in the 14th century as part of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde). In the subsequent period, the Nogais ended up in different states formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde - Astrakhan, Kazan, Kazakh, Crimean, Siberian Khanates and the Nogai Horde.

Nogai ambassadors first arrived in Moscow in 1489. For the Nogai embassy, the Nogai courtyard was allocated beyond the Moscow River not far from the Kremlin in a meadow opposite the Simonov Monastery. A place was also allocated in Kazan for the Nogai embassy, called the “Mangyt place”. The Nogai Horde received tribute from the Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs, and some Siberian tribes, and played a political and trade-intermediary role in the affairs of neighboring states. In the 1st half of the 16th century. The Nogai Horde could field more than 300 thousand warriors. The military organization allowed the Nogai Horde to successfully defend its borders, help the warriors and neighboring khanates, and the Russian state. In turn, the Nogai Horde received military and economic assistance from Moscow. In 1549, an embassy from the Turkish Sultan Suleiman arrived in the Nogai Horde. The main caravan road connecting Eastern Europe with Central Asia passed through its capital, the city of Saraichik. In the first half of the 16th century. Moscow moved towards further rapprochement with the Nogai Horde. Trade exchange has increased. The Nogais supplied horses, sheep, livestock products, and in return received cloth, ready-made clothing, fabrics, iron, lead, copper, tin, walrus ivory, and writing paper. The Nogais, fulfilling the agreement, carried out cordon service in the south of Russia. In the Livonian War, on the side of the Russian troops, Nogai cavalry regiments under the command of the Murzas - Takhtar, Temir, Bukhat, Bebezyak, Urazly and others acted. Looking ahead, we recall that in the Patriotic War of 1812, in the army of General Platov there was a Nogai cavalry regiment that reached Paris, about what A. Pavlov wrote.

Crimean period XVII-XVIII centuries.

After the fall of the Golden Horde, the Nogais wandered in the lower Volga region, but the movement of Kalmyks from the east in the 17th century led to the migration of the Nogais to the North Caucasian borders of the Crimean Khanate).

As part of Russia since the 18th century.

The Nogais scattered in scattered groups throughout the Trans-Kuban region near Anapa and throughout the North Caucasus up to the Caspian steppes and the lower reaches of the Volga. About 700 thousand Nogais went to the Ottoman Empire.

By 1812, the entire Northern Black Sea region finally became part of Russia. The remnants of the Nogai hordes were settled in the north of the Tauride province (modern Kherson region) and in the Kuban, and were forcibly transferred to a sedentary lifestyle.

Nogaevists

Notes

Official website of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. Information materials on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census
All-Russian Population Census 2010. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation 2010
All-Russian population census 2010. National composition of Russian regions
Ethnic composition of the population of Dagestan. 2002
Ethnic composition of the population of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. 2002
Ethnic composition of the population of Chechnya. 2002
All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001. Russian version. Results. Nationality and native language.
Minahan James One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups. - Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. - P. 493–494. - ISBN 978-0313309847
Peoples of the world. Historical and ethnographic reference book. Ch. ed. Yu.V. Bromley. Moscow "Soviet Encyclopedia" 1988. Article "Nogais", author N.G. Volkova, p. 335.
KavkazWeb: 94% of respondents are in favor of creating the Nogai district in Karachay-Cherkessia - referendum results
Nogai district was officially created in Karachay-Cherkessia
Nogai district was created in Karachay-Cherkessia
The Nogai district was created in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic
Esperanto news: Conference on the future of the Nogai people
Traditional clothing and uniform of Terek, Kuban Cossacks
Nogais
Nogais
Russian military and diplomats on the status of Crimea during the reign of Shagin-Girey
Vadim GEGEL. Exploring the Wild West in Ukrainian
V. B. Vinogradov. Middle Kuban. Countrymen and neighbors. NOGAI

Literature

Yarlykapov, Akhmet A. Islam among the steppe Nogais. M., Inst. ethnology and anthropology, 2008.
Nogais // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8
Peoples of Russia: pictorial album, St. Petersburg, printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, December 3, 1877, Art. 374

Glukhov M. S..
Nogai, Nogai and Nogai.

In fact, the Nogai Horde as a state entity arose at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries. It was created by the intense activity of no less a great temnik than Nogai, a temnik from the Mangyts of Idegei. So the question arises: who already remembered Nogai, who died almost 100 years ago, and why didn’t the horde take its name after the then-living leader, Idegei? After all, Idegei is the pride of the Nogai and Tatar peoples even now. A folk epic has developed about him; all the Nogai beklyaribeks known in history originate from him. Why don’t they take the ethnonym “Idegeans” as their self-name? It would sound no less impressive.

Nogais

Links

Glukhov, Maxim Stepanovich // Wikipedia
Nagaibaki // Wikipedia
Kryashens // Wikipedia
Nogais // Wikipedia

This interethnic class, once quite numerous and, perhaps, the most energetic in the Turkic world, left its mark not only in the name of the city of Kazan. The Nogai Kazys founded Astrakhan (originally Kazy-Tarkhan), the now Ukrainian city of Cherkassy (at its founding - Kazbet). The first builders of Starocherkassk (after strife on the Don, which became the capital of the Don Cossacks (now a large village), were also Cherkasy, and at the founding this settlement was called Akhas, or Akas. Nogai fortresses were formerly Akkerman (now Belgorod-on-Dniester), Karakerman (now Ochakov)... The Sea of Azov, on the shores of which the Nogais lived, they called in their own way Azak-dingez, or simply Azau (at one time there was even a Nogai poet-knight Dosmambet, who with open pride called himself Azauly, i.e. Azov). They also gave a new name to Taurida - Crimea...

These and others " obvious improbabilities"will be revealed below as we go along. But now it is necessary to give an explanation of the concept we are introducing into scientific circulation “ interethnic class" Here we mean nogaev, and I would really like readers to pay attention to this. For in the literature there is an identification of the term “Nogai” with the ethnonym “Nogai”, which is why many misunderstandings arise.

As far as I know, until now none of the researchers of the Tatar-Nogai issues have somehow paid attention to the very significant difference between these two words. Unfortunately, a great sin is mine too: in the book "The Fate of the Seyumbeki Guards" where a lot is said about Nogai and Nogais, I, too, apparently could not clearly distinguish between these concepts. Then, however, the goals were different. To correct this unfortunate omission, let me dwell on the following points.

It is believed that the ethnonym " Nogais"appeared during the years of the emergence of the Great Nogai Horde * 1 as an independent state (mid-15th century). We can agree with this, especially since the first mention of them in written sources dates back to the beginning of the 16th century * 2 . In addition, Eastern authors of the time, such as Jannabi (d. 1590), believed “ head of the Nogai generation» Idegeya * 3 .

But experts in folk studies still claim that this ethnonym comes from the name of Nogai, the most influential person in all of Eurasia in the second half of the 13th century. N.M. Karamzin was also inclined to think this way. But him " History of the Russian state“Experts still attributed and still classify it as fiction. In Russian historical literature, if I’m not mistaken, this opinion was firmly established, perhaps, after the publication of N. A. Firsov “ The situation of foreigners in northeastern Russia in the Moscow State"(Kazan, 1866). Us. 19 of his work he directly stated: "The name "nogai"-on behalf of their leader Nogai"(d. 1300).

However, back in 1877, this opinion aroused quite reasonable doubt on the part of the professor of Novorossiysk (Odessa) University G.I. Peretyatkovich, who, based on his own observations and surveys, wrote: “ ... The Bashkirs have preserved a legend that they were once with their fellow tribesmen-The Nogais were one people under the name Nogai. In addition, the Nogais themselves still have a legend about their fatherland-Great Tatary, about its ancestor-Uzbek(my breakdown - M. G.), about the khan under whose leadership they moved to the Volga"(Volga region in the 15th and 16th centuries. - St. Petersburg, 1877, p. 124).

As we see, not everything in this matter is so simple and clear. But once the identification of the term “Nogai” and the ethnonym “Nogai” made by Firsov was accepted by most historians. In any case, I have not met anyone in the specialized literature, except Peretyatkovich, who would doubt the legitimacy of such an identification.

The problem is complicated by the fact that modern researchers of the ethnogenesis of the Nogai people, I. Kh. Kalmykov, R. Kh. Kereytov and A. I. Sikaliev, do not object to Firsov’s point of view. Since they themselves are Nogais and the authors of the main academic work about this people (see: Nogais. - Cherkessk, 1988), the question that interests me, it seems, should have already been removed from the agenda. But imagine, although the academician I respect M. A. Usmanov confirms the same Firsov hypothesis: “ Nogai-Turkic-speaking people belonging to the Kipchak group, formed in the 14th-15th centuries. as a result of the mixing of various Turkic tribes (Polovtsians and mainly Mangyts and Kungrats) in the southern part of the Horde, in the territory former possession of Temnik Nogai, to whose name this ethnonym goes back"(Commentary 639 to the book: Sigismund Herberstein. Notes about Muscovy. - M., 1988, p. 342), I would not like to agree with such a conclusion of my research in this area.

Once, during the preparation of the book " Tatarica. Encyclopedia"(1997), I met at my home with a great expert on Nogai folklore and history Z. A. Saitov from the village of Terekli-Mekteb, in Dagestan, who almost convinced me that they, the Nogais, under their current ethnic name existed even before the Tatar-Mongol invasion. And Saitov had his own, quite convincing, arguments.

He argued, for example, that the Nogais are essentially Polovtsians. He said that they, that is, the Nogais, like other peoples, resisted the conquerors and did not want to assimilate with the Tatar-Mongols. There could be no objections. He believed that by the time of the Tatar-Mongol conquest, the Nogais were no longer absolutely all nomadic pastoralists, but a significant part had already led a sedentary lifestyle and were engaged in agriculture, etc., etc. But the time has come to ask one question:

This means that you do not connect the ethnonym in any way “ Nogai"with the name Nogay?

Why... Nogai as a person is a fairly well-known figure in history,” my interlocutor became confused. - Perhaps he conquered and... But we are direct descendants of the Polovtsian tribes!

I, understanding him, tried to soften the formulation of the question:

Yes, of course, Polovtsy is a generalized name for the Turkic tribes that lived in the vastness of the North Caucasus, in the lower reaches of the Volga and Don long before the Tatar-Mongol invasion. This is a chronicle name given from the outside. Among the Polovtsians there could be Cumans, Kipchaks, Nogais or some other tribes. At the same time, neither you, nor I, nor anyone else can claim that the ethnonym “ Nogai"existed long before the Tatar-Mongol conquest and is originally the natural self-name of the people. Moreover, there is no indication of this in historical sources. That is...

Saitov was silent. It felt like I wasn’t trying to convince him in any way, unless I was just confusing the person. And I myself felt embarrassed. I wanted to immediately make amends for mutual embarrassment, but with what and how?..

But the visit of an original scientist from Dagestan quite unexpectedly made significant adjustments to the order of my thoughts, although it still did not derail me from the course of reasoning I had taken. Yes, he read my " The fate of the Seyumbeki guards“, he received her well, but he still considered the Kazan Tatars to be the direct heirs of the Golden Horde. The Nogais still don’t see much kinship with them. And in my book, without denying the direct connection of the Kazan people with the Horde, I tried to look for kinship with the modern Nogai - the descendants of the Polovtsians. It turns out that my efforts were in vain...

That’s enough, all normal people would say after that. However, readers must not have forgotten that I am a Nogaybek myself, and, therefore, - “ I don’t look at other princes at all" But there is a God who is above us. At His prompting, obviously, I at one time drew attention to the remark of M. Gainutdinov that appeared in the press, admittedly very timid and inconsistent, (see: Crusade from the East. - “ Idel”, 1991, No. 8-9), which now, after meeting with Saitov, I would like to expand and comment somewhat.

So: Gainutdinov also doubted that the name of the Nogai people comes from the name of the temnik Nogai. In his publication, he makes a very appropriate warning about the fact that connecting the ethnonym “Nogais” “ directly only with the name Nogaya(as the founder of the movement) and his ulus would be a strong simplification"(Indicative work, p. 77). By “movement” M. Gainutdinov meant the emergence of separate communities of people, “ who, without officially leaving the Golden Horde, ceased to obey the center and took the path of independence"(Ibid.). At the same time, the author of the article believed that the initiator of the movement of the peoples of the Golden Horde for independence was Nogai, and the participants in this movement “ began to be called Nogais"(Ibid.).

We will dwell on the characterization of Nogai as a historical figure, but here we will limit ourselves to a simple disagreement with Gainutdinov about the fact that from the second half of the 13th century some kind of “ peoples' movement for independence“, although the very fact of the presence of separatism in the uluses of the Golden Horde cannot be denied. And you, dear readers, probably will not classify Nogai among the cohort of revolutionaries and initiators of the national liberation movement. We know that not only Nogai, but also Alexander the Great was a great commander, and yet “ didn't break any chairs».

For now, we are concerned about something else: where did the ethnonym come from? Nogais"? So R.Kh. Kereytov, one of the authors of the already mentioned book “Nogais,” began to have doubts after its release. " According to many scientists,- he writes in “Polovtsian Moon” (No. 1, 1992, pp. 24-25), - The name of the Nogai Horde is given by the name of Khan Nogai. But this is controversial. And they're probably right» . Do you feel it? It's getting warmer...

In fact, the Nogai Horde as a state entity arose at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th centuries. It was created by the intense activity of no less a great temnik than Nogai, a temnik from the Mangyts of Idegei. So the question arises: who already remembered Nogai, who died almost 100 years ago, and why didn’t the horde take its name after the then-living leader, Idegei? After all, Idegei is the pride of the Nogai and Tatar peoples even now. A folk epic has developed about him; all the Nogai beklyaribeks known in history originate from him. Why don’t they take the ethnonym “Idegeans” as their self-name? It would sound no less impressive.

Ethnic studies specialists have developed criteria for classifying the origins of various ethnonyms. Thus, in the Soviet atlas of the peoples of the world, 1,600 names were identified. Now we can say with confidence: there are many more of them, since small nationalities were not reflected in the atlas, and some peoples have several ethnonyms. Already during the democratic transformations in Russia, the Nagaibaks, Besermens, Sebers, etc. again declared themselves as nationalities. And all the existing ethnonyms, according to the method and time of formation, are divided by experts into three categories.

First. The most ancient ethnonyms, formed, as a rule, from the names of the area plus the word “people” in one or another tribal language. These include ethnonyms associated with the development of self-awareness and the beginning of the isolation of various tribal groups. They most often express the idea of dividing people into “us” and “strangers”.

The second category can conditionally include ethnonyms formed according to economic and cultural types of lifestyle, as well as those associated with the socio-economic status of various groups of people. This category includes, for example, names that reflect the main occupations of the population, the basis of its existence and living conditions.

Third category. These are ethnonyms " manifestational nature, arising mainly in the mature feudal period" Until recently, these included “Uzbeks” - supposedly by the name of the Golden Horde Khan Uzbek, “Nogais” - supposedly from Nogai’s temnik. And, perhaps, that's all. It was believed that the transfer of the name of a feudal lord or dynasty to the people was characteristic of times of military democracy. Or they turned into a self-name " due to conscious choice and spread as a result of political choice».

About what conscious political choice“One can speak in relation to, say, the Uzbeks or Nogai of the 14th-15th centuries, when there was no trace of any media. The lack of political culture is a problem even today.

After all, it is obvious: the Golden Horde Khan Uzbek (reign 1312-1342) from Sarai did not give any reason for renaming the Central Asian Sarts into Uzbeks, but “ his“There has never been a more authoritative Uzbek in Samarkand. In addition, I am inclined to think that the Sarajevo Khan was an Uzbek only by social status and, most likely, “ Uzbek" - this is one of the titles of the khan, for his real name is Giazetdin, and his full name is Giazetdin-Sultan Muhammad-Uzbek.

The same can be said regarding the origin of the ethnonym " Nogais" After all, the temnik, known in literature as Nogai Emir, also had its own natural name - Akkaz(according to other sources - Okkas or Vakkas), and according to church records as a Christian he was listed under the name Iesu* 4 .

Consequently, in this case, we have the right to assert that the common noun “nogai” (some authors, based on orthoepic criteria, correlate this word with the Mongolian designation of a dog, others with the ancient Turkic “ greenery") was assigned to the temnik Iesu, again because of his real social origin. It seems that no one will dispute the widely known fact that Temnik in his youth was the noger of Sartak, and then of the most powerful khan Berke. Noger (Eastern vowel: noker, nuker) is a warrior. All the khan’s squads were formed in the early stages of the development of the Dzhuchiev ulus * 5 according to a long tradition, exclusively from noyon-keraits (according to the southwestern vowel - geraits).

Noyons in Mongolian society were called representatives of the highest aristocracy from minor tribes. And since the time of Genghis Khan, noyon has been a hereditary title of military leaders and ulus princes * 6 . With the expansion of the Mongol Empire, when the population of its western and northwestern uluses consisted mainly of Turks, representatives of other Turkic tribes also became noyons. And the Keraits (the ethnonym until recently was preserved as a tribal name among the Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kara-Kalpaks and Nogais in the forms Kerey-kirei, grey-kettlebell etc.) with the beginning of the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan were usually identified with the Tatars * 7 . Meanwhile, it should be remembered that both Nogai’s father, named Tatar, and his grandfather Buval were direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Based on this, Nogai had a natural right to occupy the khan’s throne in the Golden Horde. But he didn’t. Because the line of succession to the throne simply did not reach Buval, who himself was the seventh son of Jochi. In addition, apparently, in legal settings “ Chinggis jar“There were some notes and exceptions that we don’t know about. We only know that from a young age Akkaz Tatarinov was assigned as a noger to Batu Khan, but already under him he was in the special position of bakhatur-noyon; in the European campaigns of the late 1230s he commanded the left wing of the troops. Researchers have not yet specifically addressed this rather interesting case. And I think it would be appropriate to make some logical assumptions at the appropriate place in our further discussions.

Officially given names were obviously not very popular in medieval semi-pagan society. As for high-ranking officials, when addressing them they were never called by name. Temujin, for example, remained Temujin only for his mother, but for everyone else he was Genghis Khan. So Giazetdin, who began to build mosques in the Golden Horde, for those around him could only be “ highly respected Uzbek Khan».

This custom was very widespread. In the everyday life of the Turkic peoples, even now, people older in age or position are almost never called by name, not only when addressed, but even when mentioned in the third person. Usually such terms as hoja, khҗya, үze, aga, biy, bek, etc. are used. But these terms are nothing more than titles that have now lost their social significance. There are even cases when the speaker does not know the given name of the person he is addressing or talking about, although he seems to have known him for a long time. For him he is simply " fuck" or " yeah", but only. And these life observations also say something...

Although we clearly understand that the title is transmitted hereditarily, and the title is assigned only to a certain person, due to his social status, education and personal merits, the same term could carry different meanings. Sometimes it even depended on how, in what order the term itself was used: without a proper name, before a name, or after it. For example, in the Golden Horde society there were such titles as: batyr-noyon, mergen-noyon, bilge-noyon. These were the names given to a few people, and they determined the nature of the merits of these people. In this case, this is: a warrior of warriors, the most accurate shooter, an aristocrat of mind (sage). It is clear that these distinctive human characteristics were not inherited. And the son of a noyon-kerait (and later not necessarily a kerait) hereditarily became a noger (noker, nuker, nogay, nougay, etc.)

« But there are many exceptions to this in Asia., - M.D. Karateev writes about this, - for the names of hereditary titles in certain cases are also used as personal titles, and vice versa, sometimes a title is inherited, thus turning into a title. In addition, some titles change their meaning depending on the form in which they are associated with the bearer's own name"(Indicative work, p. 243). One could add to what has been said that titles and titles sometimes supplant proper names themselves...

Meaning of the word " Uzbek"seems quite transparent already at a first approximation, however, this is far from the case. Historical science until the beginning of the twentieth century did not know such a people. Today's Uzbeks, classified by language as belonging to the Turkic world, as noted, were called Sarts quite recently. One thing is clear: this word consists of two parts - bek (variants: bey - biy, bye - fight) - a tribal prince, master, a person of aristocratic origin, and “ bonds", apparently once truncated, goes back to the Turkic word " uzen"- low river bank, depression, lowland. Let us recall, for example, the Big and Small Uzen rivers in the Caspian lowland, Uzboy, which dries up every summer, and the city of Uzgen (Uzgend), located in the same region. In the old days, part of the Sarts roamed there, who were sometimes called “ nomadic Uzbeks».

Perhaps there is some relation to the appearance of the ethnonym “ Uzbek"also have the words Usun (the name of one of the most ancient peoples of Central Asia), Uysun (a tribe that took an active part in the formation of modern Nogais), Uysu (Tat. - lowland, depression) and even Uzden - in the Golden Horde past, a class category among some mountaineers peoples of the Sulfur Caucasus.

Of considerable interest in the context of what has been said is the attitude of the Uzbeks to the ethnic history of the Tatars. Written sources record the fact of residence at the end of the 14th century by some “ Uzbek brave men"in the steppes between the Don and Dnieper. The last river was then called Uzi in Turkic, and “ Uzbek brave men"- these are, apparently, people subject to the Tatar prince Kuyurchak-oglan, who joined the notorious “world shaker” Tamerlane (Timur) during his punitive expedition against the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh * 8 .

In the Dnieper ulus of Kuyurchak-oglan, remnants of the so-called people probably lived at that time. "Akkas Tatars". In the source " Uzbek brave men“are defined as Tatar warriors who, in the 1370s, ended up in Timur’s army along with their leader Idegei. But the warriors of Idegei, as we know, are part of those “ Akkas Tatars”, which, after the departure of Emir Akkas Tatarinov from the historical scene, were resettled by Khan Tokhta beyond the Volga.

The fate of these " Uzbeks"emerges in connection with the activities of the Tatar prince Abulkhair (c. 1412-69) - the ruler of the ulus of the northwestern wing of the Blue Horde, who in the early 1430s, with the help of the local nobility and the Nogai Murzas, seized power in the Siberian Khanate. When describing Abulkhair’s campaign against Khorezm (1431), contemporaries call it “ king of Uzbekistan", and in relation to the subjects of the "king" they use the phrases " Uzbek army», « Uzbek people and ulus» ( Tizengauzen V. G.. Decree. work with the. 171, 176). In Central Asia itself, Uzbeks meant the nomadic population of the eastern part of the Golden Horde, which included Kipchaks, Mangits, Karakalpaks, Naimans, Kanglys, Dulats, Keraits (Kereys), Alchins and other Turkic tribes.

The Uzbek Union of Abulkhair, which, according to Hafiz al-Tashkendi, was a military-political association “ various peoples and tribes"By the mid-1440s, it occupied a vast territory from the eastern slopes of Alatau to the mouth of the Syr Darya ( Tizengauzen V. G. Decree. work with the. 198). It is clear that such an alliance could not be particularly strong, and Abulkhair himself made enough enemies, and after his death “ civil strife began in the Uzbek ulus, everyone who could, left, seeking safety to Girey Sultan and Janibek Sultan. As a result, the latter have intensified significantly. Since first they themselves, and then most of the people gathered around them(approx. two hundred thousand - M. G.), at one time they were fugitives who left their own people and wandered without shelter, they were called Uzbek Cossacks" * 9 (Velyaminov-Zernov V.V. Decree. work, part II, p. 152).

But, what is especially interesting in the context of presenting the topic, among a fairly significant part of the population of the same territory controlled by Abulkhair, even during his lifetime, the idea arose to revive the former “ the power of the Mangit yurt from the times of Idegei" (cm.: Safargaliev M. G. Collapse of the Golden Horde. - Saransk, 1960, p. 226-269). After the death of the hero, this yurt began to gradually fade away, but Idegei’s direct heirs were still strong. His son, Nuratdin, in order to “substantiate” his claims to leading roles in the Uzbek union, developed his own version of the genealogy of his father, who is allegedly a descendant of the famous Central Asian theologian Khoja-Akhmet Yasawi, who in turn was allegedly a relative of the Prophet Muhammad himself.

Concrete steps towards the isolation of the Mangit yurt in the Uzbek union of tribes were taken by Idegei’s grandson, Vakkas (Akkas), who was the senior emir of Abulkhair. In 1447, at the kurultai of representatives of the Mangit Yurt with the participation of eminent Murzas of other tribes, he was officially proclaimed Beklyaribek of Nogai. It is clear that the weakening Abulkhair could not forgive such separatism. After some time, Vakkas was killed, but the place of Beklyaribek, with the support of tribal leaders, was very soon taken by his brother Abbas, who showed a strong determination to defend the independence of his fellow tribesmen and the part of the Kipchaks, Naimans, Kungrats, Mins, Keraits and other tribes who joined the Mangits.

Noting that the Nogai Horde was formed by practically clans of the same tribes, some of which later became part of the Kazakh Sultanate, let’s say: the rest of the population of the Uzbek union that finally collapsed scattered across the villages and cities of Central Asia, but did not disappear without a trace. And what’s surprising is the ethnic name “ Uzbek“surfaced almost three hundred years later and began to be assigned to one of the largest peoples of Central Asia only at the beginning of the twentieth century, i.e. more than 600 years after the death of Giazetdin Uzbek Khan!

Needless to say, this new ethnonym has nothing to do with the name of the Golden Horde Khan, who, by the way, was baptized at his birth. It is known that Uzbek’s parents and his famous grandfather Mengu Temir Khan were Christians, and he himself married the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos the Younger. And this fact in itself suggests that the name, or one of the titles of the Golden Horde Khan, could not become the self-name of the modern Muslim people.

What has been said about the Uzbeks is fully consistent with the scientific criteria for the formation of ethnonyms and, I think, is fundamentally applicable to the ethnonym “ Nogaybek“- this is the name of one of the ethnographic groups of baptized Tatars.

It is also logical to assume that Akkas, who received the highest military rank of Temnik under Khan Berka (Berkai), no longer befits to bear such a “simple” natural name. Presumably, he could not boast in front of the khan, who unexpectedly became a fan of Islam, and his Christian name Iesu, although it was familiar and highly revered among literate Muslims (according to the Koran, Isa - Joseph). But in people’s memory it was not attached to the legendary temnik Akkas. And, quite obviously, here’s why.

Akkas’s titular nickname, Nogai, which, as we already know, goes back, as we already know, to the class term “ noger" At the same time, in historical literature one can find the term “ Akkasov Tatars", for example, in the works of I. G. Peretyatkovich, already mentioned by us, but you will never come across something seemingly equivalent to him - " Nogaev Tatars" In the first case, we are talking about the people of Akkas, his legs - this is understandable. And only outsiders and some historians of the past called them that. A " Nogaev Tatars“as if they did not exist at all, although they took place in history. How so?

To answer this question you need to know: firstly, the social psychology of the noguera; secondly, the patterns of formation of the names of various groups of Nogai Tatars. I didn’t make a reservation: exactly “ Nogai Tatars", but not " Nogaevs“, because the first ones are the essence of nogueras, and the second ones could be anyone. And this is not my innovation. The term “Nogai Tatars” is often used, for example, in the mentioned work of N. I. Veselovsky.

Nogai (in the class rather than ethnic sense of the word) as “ people of long will"(I borrowed this expression from L.N. Gumilyov) never idolized mortals, although they deeply revered their ancestors. They, as noted, " didn’t look at the prince at all“, for each of them was both a prince and a judge to himself. The senior in rank for him, even if the temnik Akkas himself is, is only senior when he leads on a campaign. Nogay was an authority figure for the Noghers on a campaign, but in peacetime he was just a Nogay or Nogher for them, as his entourage was. This is the essence of interpersonal relations in a military-democratic society. These traditions will be adopted later in the Cossack freemen. So could such people call themselves “ Nogais"? Never! Akkas members, if you like, could have done so for a certain period of time. In the sense that they are people (noghers) from the squad or detachment of Akkas (Akkas keshelyare). That's exactly it, and no other way.

If the modern ethnonym “Nogai” in the meaning in which it is understood by Russians was translated into the Nogai or Tatar language, then it would literally sound like this: “ nogayshylar" or " nogaychilar" But self-name modern(precisely modern ones, because in the old days they identified themselves only as Mangits, Naimans, etc.) Nogais - Nogaylar. The Tatars and other related peoples call them the same. Regarding the term " Nogai Tatars"(in Turkic: Nogaily Tatarlar - this is how the Tatars of the Lower Volga region are often called), then it is still in use. " Nogailisky"(Nogai) call all Tatars, including Nogais, Altai Turks.

And here's the most important thing. In those years, when some part of the Golden Horde population began to realize itself “ Nogais“In the ethnic sense of the word, she, this part, already professed the Muslim religion. And Nogai (aka Akkaz, Vakkas, Okkas; aka Iesu), as we remember, was a Christian. Is it worth commenting on this extremely important point?

Yes, L.N. Gumilyov and some others considered Nogai “ hidden Muslim" But where did this come from? The question is not idle, and it should be answered. Moreover, I have no reason to distrust what the great Gumilyov said. It is quite possible that he saw some papers concerning the stability of Nogai’s faith (say, denunciations of spies addressed to the Pope or the Patriarch of Constantinople), but I do not undertake to look for such “documents.” Since it is impossible to prove a person’s hidden beliefs with any documents (another person’s soul is in the dark), I will proceed from the following considerations.

The year and place of Nogai’s birth have not been established. The chronological framework of his life is 1256-1299, determined by M. Gainutdinov ( "Idel", 1991, No. 8-9, p. 73) cannot correspond to reality. After all, it is known that already under Batu (d. 1255) he had his own ulus between the Don and the Dnieper, and during the reign of Khan Berkay (d. 1266) he became the sovereign master not only of the Crimea, but also of the entire northern and northern -western Black Sea region. Based on these facts, but most importantly, based on information that Nogai participated in the review of Batu’s troops on the Danube back in 1241 ( "Miras" 1996, no. 3, p. 96), with a certain degree of accuracy we can say that he was born around the early 20s of the 13th century. Perhaps a little earlier, since many sources emphasize his advanced age on the eve of his death (September 28, 1299). His father, named Tatar (according to genealogical records), came to Christian Crimea in the vanguard of Subedey's troops after the famous battle on Kalka (1223). Tatar himself was probably a Nestorian by faith * 10 .

Akkaz (in various sources - Akkas, Okkas, Vakkas), being the son of the Nestorian Tatar, as we already know, belonged to the highest aristocracy (noyonism) of the Keraites. " The Kerait tribes were one of the cultural tribes within Mongolia» ( Gordeev A. A. History of the Cossacks. Part 1. - M., 1992, p. 55). For a long time they owned a writing system based on the ancient Uyghur script. And from the very moment of the rise of Temujin (Genghis Khan), they occupied a privileged position in all uluses of the Great Empire. Moreover, Temujin himself’s rise to power was also largely determined by his closeness to the Keraits. His mother was a Keraite, and his father was an andoy (brother) of the head of the then powerful union of Keraite tribes, Van Khan * 11 .

To maintain their advantageous position in society, Kerait noyons from generation to generation provided their children with proper education and upbringing. Therefore, it is quite understandable that our Akkaz-nogai received everything from his parents so as not to get lost in life.

Remember, when characterizing Nogai as “the founder of the movement for independence,” M. Gainutdinov did not take this definition to its logical conclusion? So, in the same article “Crusade from the East,” he introduces the term “Nogaiism” into scientific circulation, obviously meaning by this a kind of “movement.” Meanwhile, Nogai is the entire complex of lifestyle of the steppe aristocrats, the core of which was traditions.

Genghis Khan himself attached great importance to the traditions of his family and bequeathed to his heirs to carefully preserve these traditions coming from the Keraits. Persian historian Rashid al-din, served in 1240-1257. chronicler of the Mongol imperial court, noted: “The custom of the Mongols is such that they keep the genealogy of their ancestors and teach and instruct in (the knowledge of) the genealogy of every child born... The father and mother explain to each child born the legends about the clan (kabile) and genealogy» ( Collection of chronicles. Volume 1, book. 2. - M. -L., 1952, p. 13 and 29).

When organizing his state, Genghis Khan made extensive use of the “ institution of nukerstvo in order to organize a proper system of vassalage obligated by military service» ( Vladimirtsov B. Ya. Social system of the Mongols. - L., 1934, p. 104). After ascending the throne, he immediately ordered to increase his personal guard to 10 thousand people. Those selected for the guard were required to arrive at the khan's headquarters with their armor and horses. The guard units were staffed primarily by the sons of noyon-temniks, thousand-man officers and centurions, as well as some capable, savvy and “ strong build» people from free arats ( Kozin S. A. A secret story. Mongolian Chronicle 1240 Volume 1. - M. -L., 1941, p. 168).

Centurions, thousanders and temniks were appointed, and later chosen from the ruling feudal lords who had a certain amount of land and dependent people who also had practical military experience - initially mainly from the Keraits. Since the titles of centurion, thousand-man and temnik were hereditary, and those who bore them received the general title “ noyon", then the entire institution of nukerism (nogership) ends up in the hands of the Keraits (see: Vladimirtsov B. Ya. Decree. work with the. 104).

From the above it follows: the Akkaz temnik, better known by his titular name Nogai, never was and could not be the “starter of the movement” of the various tribal associations and ethnic groups subject to him. Being a hereditary noyon from the Keraits, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, he knew well and remembered the order of his great ancestor " always cherish the ten thousandth corps of his Keshketins as a memory of him» ( Kozin S. A. Decree. work with the. 173) and was proud of his position. Nogai had no reason to be ashamed of his belonging to the Christian world.

He married a high-ranking person - the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael Palaeologus, Euphrosyne, who, as is known, was distinguished by religious orthodoxy and did not change her faith in her marriage. True, there is information that Euphrosyne became the wife not of Nogai, but of the Golden Horde Khan Tulabuga (reign 1287-1290). This is according to " Genealogy of the Mongol and Tatar khans", given as an appendix to the book by V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov " Research on the Kasimov kings and princes"in two parts (St. Petersburg, 1863-64). It also states that Nogai’s wife’s name was Irina, who was also the daughter of Emperor Michael Paleologus. Let the reader decide for himself who to give preference to, Euphrosyne or Irina, but I am inclined to believe the historian Mikhail Paleologus - Pacamera (1242-1308).

After all, Nogai reached his greatest power and glory in the early 70s of the 13th century, when, having strengthened his nominee, the Christian Menka Temir (Mintemir), on the Golden Horde throne, he himself rushed to the west and southwest, to the walls of Constantinople. It was at this time, writes Pacamer, that the Byzantine emperor proposed “ darling of fate“I marry my daughter Euphrosyne and thereby save the capital from destruction by the “Vlachs.” (Quoted: Uspensky F. Byzantine historians about the Mongols and Egyptian Mamluks. - " Byzantine temporary", vol. XXIV, 1926, p. 348). Determining the significance of the emperor’s agreement with Nogai, Pacamer further notes: “ They achieved such benefits through friendship that they could hardly have acquired through the accidents of war."(Ibid., p. 349).

As befits a Christian, Nogai was not a polygamist. He married Euphrosyne after the death of his first wife, with whom he had a son, Chokan. Apparently, he also loved his second, God-given wife. It is no coincidence that he allowed her to keep wandering monks, blessed and other godly people at court. He named his only daughter Anna, who married Grand Duke Fyodor Rostislavich (Yaroslavsky). But her life turned out to be short. She died in 1289 and still managed, apparently, to leave her grandson to her father (Nogai’s grandchildren are not listed in the said genealogy attached to the book by V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov). An interesting fact is that Fyodor Rostislavich and his wife Anna Yesovna were canonized as saints of the Russian Orthodox Church * 12 . The image of Anna is captured in a number of hagiographic icons of the 14th century, now stored in the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve ( "Motherland"", 1997, No. 3-4).

According to the Nogai writer Isa Kapaev, Nogai’s grandson was imprisoned for some time by the Grand Duke (Tsar) in Tarnovo (Danube Bulgaria). Quite possible, but the famous historian E. Khara-Davan confidently asserts: the royal throne in Orthodox Tarnov for two years - in 1299-1301. - occupied by Nogai's son - Chokan, he is also the son-in-law of the Bulgarian Tsar Yuri Terter * 13 .

Here, perhaps, it should be said that the period of Tatar domination in the Balkans (1241-1301) is generally poorly covered. That is why in this case it is necessary to often use introductory words “apparently”, “possibly”, etc. But modern Bulgarian historians bashfully keep silent about this issue. This is understandable: the Tatar yoke here was drowned out by the even more severe centuries-old Turkish domination. In addition, Asen’s sons very easily gave power to the elected boyar Yuri Terter, who, however, himself was from a Polovtsian family. The latter became related to Nogai, but this did not save himself from the fate of an outcast...

Speaking about medieval Tatar-Bulgarian relations, we have to refer only to the already mentioned Byzantine Pacamer and also, perhaps, to the only Bulgarian researcher of our topic, Nikola Nikov * 14 .

But we, it seems, already have enough arguments in favor of the true Christian Iesu Tatarinov, that is, the temnik from the Keraites of Akkaz. While he walked in power, he placed only Christians devoted to him on the Golden Horde throne. With Archbishop Feognost of Sarai and Pereyaslavl, who was the ruler of all Christians of the Golden Horde since the creation of the Orthodox bishopric there in 1261 * 15 . Nogai knew how to get along. And this was of great importance at that time, for Theognost was the nephew of Batu himself and was often used as an extraordinary ambassador to Christian countries. There is information that the Bishop of Sarai and Pereyaslavl participated in the Lyon Council of 1274, and there, as we know, the question of the reunification of all Christian churches was raised.

In this regard, I recall the lines from the book just named “ For your friends...”, published today with the blessing of Archbishop Isidore of Ekaterinodar and Kuban. Realizing that this will be a bit long, I will nevertheless quote two paragraphs: “... The victory of the Tatar-Mongols, if you think about it, was very relative. In the first decade of Batu’s invasion, a reverse “conquest” of the Mongols by the Russians took place. The conquest is cultural. It could not have been otherwise, because the Mongolian speech (they did not have a written language) consisted of only a few words, and the Pechenegs who were part of the Horde (later called Nogai) were so wild that they could not distinguish between spring and autumn and counted the year from the beginning grass growing. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Mongols adopted the culture and language of the Russians, adopting new customs. But what is even more important, many of them began to be baptized into the Orthodox faith when they came to Rus'. It is no coincidence that an Orthodox church was built at the khan’s headquarters literally from the first years of the formation of the Horde. Batu's son Sartak and his wife became Christians(here the authors should still note that the latter was the daughter of the “ever-memorable saint of the Russian Land” Alexander Nevsky - M. G.), and the conqueror's nephew was ordained bishop.

Even when the Mongol ruling elite turned to Mohammed and converted to Islam(from the middle of the 14th century, approximately from this moment, according to the great Eurasianist G.V. Vernadsky, the decline of the Golden Horde began - M. G.), she still respected the Orthodox clergy. Example-healing of the wife of Khan Janibek Taidula by Saint Alexy. Christians believe that it was in her honor that the city of Tula was built not far from Moscow (the name of the toponym itself comes from the abbreviated-Taidula), where the wife of the ruler of the Golden Horde, who was originally a Christian, lived out her last years. That is why, throughout the entire period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan enjoyed much greater authority in the Golden Horde, and therefore power, than all the princes combined." (Indicative work, p. 31).

You can be dumbfounded! In the above passage, everything enclosed in brackets, except for what I specifically stated, belongs to the authors of the book - Hierodeacon Andrey (A. M. Gnedenko) and Priest Vyacheslav (V. M. Gnedenko). The authors’ illiteracy as historians is obvious from the above passage: Pechenegs = Nogai, "toponym name“- from Taidula, etc. The book is literally filled with such absurdities and absurdities, and it could be ignored altogether. But the book itself was published not just anywhere, but in Moscow, and not by just anyone, but by a reputable international foundation! Printed on first-class paper in an edition of 50 thousand copies and recommended as a teaching aid! Incredible!

But the main thing is this: “Mongolian speech... consisted of only a few words", A “The Pechenegs... were so wild that they could not distinguish between spring and autumn", etc. Let's discard the delicate scientific dispute in this case. And in an everyday, purely human way, let’s ask each other:

But how did this nephew of Batu - Theognost - without any awareness accept such a sonorous church name? How could one master the most complex Christian dogmas and philosophical categories with only “a few words” in one’s vocabulary?

However, I approach what was quoted as a historiographer and do not intend to sue anyone at all, but simply ask again: how were such “limited” people in a matter of days and months able to master the most complex theological dogmas of Orthodoxy, and some of them even became rulers of Christian shower? Eh, woeful shepherds! They do not have the scourge of God, the scourge of Nogai (punishment with a whip was often compared with this very thing, the punishment of God)...

Nogai's last protege was Tokhta (reign 1290-1312), who, under the patronage of his emir, was married to the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus the Elder, Maria. It was from this Christian couple that the future Khan Uzbek (reign 1312-1342) was born, who, following his father’s example, married Balynya, the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos the Younger. What happened then, I don’t know. But Uzbek Khan, taking for himself the Muslim name Giazetdin-Muhammad, began to build mosques in Sarai...

All these details about Nogai, of course, could not have been known to the Turkic tribal associations between the Volga and Ural rivers, when they came to the realization of the need to unite into a single nation under a common state authority. Even the most educated descendant of Idegei, Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, said nothing about Nogai in his book “On the Family of Princes Yusupov”. And we must assume that he had every opportunity and enormous means to find out everything about his glorious family (no matter what you say, the Yusupov house was the richest not only in Russia, but throughout Europe). And perhaps he knew the whole truth, but did not discard the legendary. After all, Nuradin’s invention, for example, about the almost divine origin of Idegei’s ancestors, could not interfere with Prince Yusupov’s social position. What about ordinary people of the early 15th century? Even if they had some information about Nogai as their famous ancestor, then even then they would never have called their young state the Great Nogai Horde. However, they never called him that. Homeland for them, the big Father's house as it was called Mangit yurt, and remained so until complete ruin. « Bolshaya Nogai...” - that’s what historians and politicians wanted. Don't forget: Idegei and his companions were Muslims by that time. And quite strict towards Christians.

But we had to say about all this in order to thoroughly support our point of view: the ethnonym “ Nogais" has nothing to do with the title name " Nogai", it is not connected with the word " noyon" What is the original meaning of the ethnonym? - a question whose answer will have to be postponed for now.

The Christian past of the Nogais (in this case, the Nogais) * 16 no one doubts it. It was introduced into their consciousness in different conditions, in different historical situations, encountering both obstacles and favorable circumstances on its way to human souls. Whether the steppe people needed religion and in what form - such a question was never raised by the man himself (and, of course, by the Nogai). But his concepts and beliefs gradually changed depending on space-time relations, expanding or narrowing his spiritual needs. In the course of changing the way of life, something acquired, including in the spiritual sphere, was lost and degraded. After all, development does not necessarily have a positive meaning.

It was with this experience of development that the Tatar-Mongols entered Eastern Europe. This was in 1223. They could not be called barbarians in the Greco-Roman sense of the word. Who knows, maybe they, immigrants from the East, introduced new concepts and ideas into the then Western way of life, in no way inferior in humanistic significance and value to Eurocentric ones. Although, it must be admitted, neither the first nor the second can be a priority, and they deserve each other...

The first ones whom the Tatar-Mongols encountered then, having stepped over, I emphasize: threshold of the Iron Gate (Derbent), there must have been North Caucasian Cumans and remnants of Khazar-Bulgarian tribes. Here we say: " there must be“, because the period of 1223-1237, i.e. the eve of the decisive offensive of the Central Asian conquerors to the west, is still very poorly covered in our historical literature. And in all cases concerning this dark period, we can only speak at the level of assumptions. So, it is still not clear: where did the conquerors go after the Battle of Kalka? If they were destroyed, their absolute physical destruction is still excluded. If you came out victorious, then for what? To disappear without a trace for many years? Have you gone to your homeland? Yes, may be. But not all! Otherwise, why fight and win? Who killed the Tatar Nestorian ambassadors in 1223 - the Polovtsians, Phanagorian Muslim Bulgarians or Orthodox Russians? How did small detachments of Subedei’s troops manage to gain a foothold in the Chalcedonian Crimea without much noise?...

The most reliable written sources documenting the period of activity of the first rulers of Crimea after the Tatar-Mongol conquest belong to the already mentioned Pacamer and Nikifor Grigora. So, Pacamer noted that Nogai’s army consisted mainly of “Vlachs”. We, in turn, note: in that period Byzantine historians called the ancestors of the Moldovans, Rusyns, Romanians, as well as the Torks - the Pechenegs and Polovtsians who had been Christianized by that time - as Vlachs. In addition to them, the Urums (Tatar-language Greeks), Armenians (for a long time the most loyal allies of the Tatar-Mongols), and, from the 70s of the 13th century, the Italians who settled in the Crimea were also conscripted into the Nogai army (" Sourozh guests- Genoese and Venetians). So this army can only be called a “Tatar horde” with great reservations. It was hardly possible to maintain discipline in it only thanks to the devotion of some noggers. This means there was some kind of cementing force. Religion?

I would not say that it was uniform for the entire population of the region. Indeed, under the rule of Nogai in the second half of the 13th century. It turned out not only the Black Sea steppes, inhabited by the remnants of the Pecheneg and Oguz tribes, and the multi-ethnic Crimea, but also the Danube Bulgarians, almost all the peoples living south of the Carpathians, and the southern Russian principalities.

Akkaz-Nogai himself, being a Nestorian, felt due to the above circumstances (the murder of Tatar ambassadors and the orthodoxy of the local clergy) hostility on the part of Orthodox Rus' and the distrust of Constantinople, although he was the son-in-law of the Byzantine emperor, and his daughter Anna (died in 1289 .) with the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople, she was married to the Yaroslavl prince Fyodor Rostislavich * 17 .

Relations with the Golden Horde center - Sarai, which was not at all interested in strengthening the ulus emir and ruining the north-eastern Russian principalities due to his unauthorized raids, also became strained. There were signs of disobedience on the part of the Hungarian king Béla. Under these conditions, it was necessary to use some kind of “third force”. To understand what we are talking about, we will again have to make a small digression.

Almost everyone who has ever written about the Dzhuchi ulus, or the Golden Horde, noted that the territory of this state entity extended from the spurs of the Altai in the east to the Danube in the west, the lower reaches of the Kama in the north and the Aral Sea in the south. If you don’t go into historical details, then overall there is no big sin here. Within the indicated limits, from the 40s of the 13th century until the collapse of the Golden Horde, it was indeed the Tatar-Mongols who ruled. Yes, but only since the 40s...

But Nogai, whom we are accustomed to consider simply an emir from the Keraits or “just” an ambitious temnik, was himself a Juchid with all the rights that flow from such a pedigree. The fact that he did not belong to Batu’s house did not matter much. Genghis Khan assigned the western territories of the Great Empire he was creating not to Batu, but to Jochi, who had yet to conquer these lands.

And the first to reach the Crimea and the banks of the Danube, if not Nogai’s father - Tatar, then his grandfather Jochid Teval - that’s for sure! Batu, who appeared in Eastern Europe only in 1237, and even more so his sons and grandsons, were already late for the division of the Crimean pie and the northern Black Sea region. Here, representatives of the house of Teval were full-fledged in Genghis Khan's jar. And it is not just words.

Let us remember in this regard: where have the Tatar-Mongols reached in Europe? Absolutely right: along the line Vienna - Zagreb - Split to the shores of the Adriatic Sea. After receiving news from Karakorum about the death of Ogedei in December 1241, Batu withdraws his troops without any preconditions from Central Europe and hurries to Kurultai to elect a new emperor. At the same time, the left wing of the conquering troops under the command of Nogai remains in the southeast of Europe, in Bulgaria and Wallachia (Moldova), i.e. in the most difficult region in terms of situation, where it was much more difficult to gain a foothold than in the center of Europe. Why would this be?

The thing is that by that time the southeast of Europe was already “theirs” for the Tatar-Mongols. In any case, Subedei-bagatur and Jebe-noyon in 1223. they did a deep raid from Persia to the Black Sea region not for fun. This was reconnaissance in force. And after such raids, the Tatar-Mongols on the newly “discovered” lands left a wide agent base in the form of merchants, wandering monks, informants, couriers, etc. This network of agents prepared the ground in advance for the development and thorough conquest of the region where the Mongols had thrown the military - marching fate. This is described in detail in the book of military historian E. Khara-Davan “ Genghis Khan as a commander and his legacy"(M., 1995, "DI-DIK").

Thus, it can be considered that, along with the Crimea, the northwestern coast of the Black Sea was initially developed by the house of Tevala immediately after 1223. For some reason this extremely important point was not taken into account by those who assigned Nogai a secondary role in the Golden Horde and looked at him only as “ darling of fate».

Fate is fate, and medieval political games had their own rules. By the decision of the Kurultai in 1241, the entire Black Sea region and adjacent countries were given to Nogai, and a house of its own, independent of Batu’s, was formed here. Nogai Horde", diverse in ethnic composition, but practically monotheistic in worldview.

Look at the geopolitical situation that has developed in Eurasia since the second half of the 13th century. Sarai was not at all the center of the Tatar-Mongol empire and was subordinate to Karakorum, and later Khanbalyk (Beijing), as well as Samarkand, Kafa (Feodosia), Khorasan, Tabriz and other ulus centers. Sarai was not the capital even in relation to the headquarters of Nogai - Cafe, since the ruler of Taurida, quite legally, absolutely did not take into account the Golden Horde khans and, being among the Tatar-Mongols a pioneer in the development of European lands, he himself decided on the question of who to put on the throne. It was only from the Northern Russian lands that all roads then led to Sarai. And Galicia, Volyn, Tarnovo and even Byzantium and Hungary looked with alarm only at the Crimean Highway.

Nogai was confident in his policy also because he relied on the support of his relative Hulagu, who, after the Yellow Crusade (1258) in the Middle East, settled in Tabriz, and found understanding with the elder of the Genghisids, Emperor Kublai, who was dissatisfied at that time with Berkai’s advances and his supporters in the Golden Horde with the Muslims. To further strengthen his position, Nogai, strongly influenced by supporters of the Union of Lyons and Western-oriented sentiments, turned his face to the Pope.

This refers to the agreement adopted at the Second Council of Lyons (1274), according to which all Christian churches (including the Nestorian) that recognized the primacy of the Pope were allowed to conduct worship in local languages on the basis of traditional cults. And this kind of worship, as we saw above and will see again below, was actually carried out in the uluses of the Golden Horde. This ensures harmony in the Nogai ulus for about a dozen years, support from Rome, and economic assistance from Genoese and Venetian merchants, to whom Nogai in the same 1274 gives the port cities of Southern Crimea at their disposal.

But by doing this, he significantly complicates relations with the northeastern Russian principalities, and after the death of Menku Temir in 1280, with the ruling circles of Sarai. At the same time, the Nestorian priests, suddenly remembering the events of almost half a century ago (the murder of the Nestorian Tatar ambassadors by the Russians in 1223), again began to deny the Orthodox Christians church communion, although Catholics were allowed to receive the Eucharist * 18 . Only thanks to his developed ability to predict events, Nogai manages to maintain contacts with Khanbalyk, bypassing Sarai, and in his interests establish fairly close contacts between Christians of the West and Christians of the Far East and Central Asia. It was through his efforts and with his mediation that a mutual exchange of embassies was organized between the empire of the Yuan dynasty, on the one hand, and Holy Rome, on the other. And it was during the reign of Nogai that the first shifts in mutual understanding between East and West appeared.

As is known, Plano Carpini (1245) and Wilhelm Rubruk (1246), sent to the east to collect information about the Tatar-Mongols, did not bring comforting news for Europe and only contributed to the spread in the west " black legend"about them and inciting fear of the Tatar-Mongols. But the established friendly relations with Genoese and Venetian merchants, among whom were famous travelers Marco Polo and Baldo Doria, had their positive consequences. Doria, for example, is considered one of the first Italian settlers in the Crimean Cafe and, apparently, while in Damascus, he first introduced the then famous geographer, Syrian al-Omari, to the situation in the Golden Horde and was his adviser in describing the countries not only of Apennique, but also the Crimean (then Tauride Chersonese) peninsulas, as well as the lands adjacent to the Black Sea from the north. (Cm.: Markov S. N. Earth circle. - M., 1976, p. 51)

By the way, most court scholars in the Middle Ages and much later, for example, the just mentioned al-Omari, compiled their treatises not on the basis of their own observations and materials collected during personal travels, but on the basis of stories of experienced merchants, interrogations of prisoners of war, and reports of missionaries etc. Hence the arbitrary interpretations of many events of that time, which are not easy for modern historians to understand.

And Marco Polo, sent to China with instructions to persuade Kublai Kublai to cooperate with the Catholic Church, having lived in Khanbalik from 1271 to 1295, in essence, himself turned into “ Ambassador of the Great Khan to Indochina, India, Persia and the Christian kingdoms of the West"(Ibid., p. 584). Later he would write a book about Christianity in Central Asia, and, in particular, about Genghis Khan’s relationship with “ priest Ivan» * 19 . His reports and books already at that time contributed to an objective assessment of the state of affairs in Central Asia and the Far East.

Around the same years, in 1278, quite possibly at Nogai’s suggestion, Kublai sent two Uighur Nestorian monks to Rome - Saum and Marcos. They lived in the vicinity of Khanbalik, became famous for their righteousness and were highly revered by the Europeans living in China. Their route ran overland, through Kashgar and Talas. They spent some time in the cities of Central Asia and Persia. We visited Baghdad, where one of the Uighurs, Marcos, received the patriarchal title. Sauma, accompanied by alternating porters and interpreters, receiving new safe-conduct from local rulers (the ambassadors of the Great Khan from the Yuan dynasty were then considered by everyone), moved on.

The details of this long journey of the Uyghur wanderer are set out in the work of an anonymous Syrian author (apparently a Nestorian by faith) - a contemporary of Sauma - “ History of Mar Yabalakh III and Rabban Sauma"(M.-L., 1958). For us, it is important to emphasize that Europe learned the truth about the Tatar-Mongols from the lips of the envoy of the Great Empire, one of the most respected and authoritative representatives of Eastern Christianity, Saum, whose words were listened to by the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II, Pope Nicholas IV, the French king Philip the Fair, the English king Edward I. It turned out: the devil is not so terrible as he is painted: you can come to an agreement with the Tatars and live in harmony.

Without owning the khan's throne in Sarai, without formalizing his independence from the Dzhuchiev ulus, Nogai, nevertheless, was the de facto ruler of the entire western and southwestern part of the Golden Horde, having a headquarters in the Crimea. By the way, in the same way, regardless of Sarai, in the east of the Dzhuchiev ulus the sons and grandsons of Orda-Ichen lived, forming their Blue Horde, and the territory directly subject to the house of Batu was then called the White Horde (according to Russian sources, it is also the Golden Horde) . Both the fates of the khans themselves and the rulers of the vassal states adjacent to the Golden Horde depended on Nogai’s decisions.

But the same cannot be said in relation to the many beks and murzas who surrounded him and closely monitored his well-being. The peculiarities of Nogaiism, or more precisely, the institution of Nogerstvo, were such that an offended chief of thousands and even a centurion, not to mention the Noradyns (direct heirs of the Temnik), could challenge him, their leader, to a national martial arts on the Maidan. The aging Nogai understood this well and constantly made concessions to the Nogher clans. Having never experienced a misfire in numerous battles, Nogai grew decrepit, and the Genoese merchants, to whose mercy the cities of Crimea were given, meanwhile grew rich and gradually fought back from the hands of the overlord. Simple exhortations no longer helped, and again I had to resort to force.

In 1298, Nogai sent his “faithful” people to Kafa with a warning. The power of money takes the messengers into its intricate circulation, and in one of the noisy feasts they are killed. In response to this, Nogai organizes a terrible pogrom in the Crimean cities, Europeans flee the peninsula. This causes irreparable harm to Nogai’s relations with Western allies, which in turn changes the balance of power in protracted civil strife both within the Horde itself and in the Russian principalities dependent on it. Serious conflicts arose in relations with Tokhta, who had long been waiting for an opportune moment to tame the obstinate emir. Yes and " their Murzas now did not look at the prince at all» ( Peretyatkovich G. I. Decree. work with the. 129). Nogai found himself isolated and “quietly rested” (according to some sources, in battle, as befits a Noger) in the Black Sea steppes.

This could not but affect the strength of the unity of his horde, which continued to lead a nomadic lifestyle, and the sedentary population of the cities of Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region. And soon after the death of Nogai (1299), his horde was divided into separate nomadic camps (koshas): Dzhedikul, Budzhak, Dzhedisan, etc.

1 Great Nogai Horde(from the 2nd half of the 16th century - Nogai Large) - state the image arose. at the end of the 14th century. as a result of the independent policy of the Golden Horde temnik Idegeya, eager rely on ancient Tatar clans Nogaev. It existed between the Volga and Ural rivers. until the 30s XVII century, when, as a result of increasing natural disasters (drought and loss of livestock) and the beginning. expansion of the Dzungars (Kalmyks) means. part of the population moved to the right bank of the Volga, North. The Black Sea region and the North Caucasus, where they united with the remnants of the population Kazyevsky ulus, but for the most part fixed in their former habitats, gradually “tatarized” and “bashkirized”. Frequently became part of the Kyrgyz-Kaisaks (Kazakhs). But even the most persistent Nogai, under the pressure of circumstances, led by the latter, presented themselves. Idegei's house eventually began to grow. citizenship (princes Yusupovs And Urusovs, etc.) - (cm.: M.G. - KRL, p. 76).

2 Matvey Mekhovsky. Treatise “On the Two Sarmatias”, 1517.

3 Cm.: Tizengauzen V. G. Collection of materials related to the history of the Golden Horde. Volume 1. - St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 456.

4 Cm.: Veselovsky N. I. Khan from the temniks of the Golden Horde Nogai and his time. - Petrograd, 1922.

5 Dzhuchiev ulus- territory in Asia and East. Europe from the spurs of Altai to the Danube, allotted according to plans of conquest Genghis Khan to his son Jochi (d. 1227). In this territory in the 40s. XIII century At first, two independent state formations (wings) arose - left - Kok Urda(Blue Horde) included the lower reaches of the Syr Darya with a center in Sygnak, and the right - all other lands with a center in Sarai - Ak Urda(White Horde), which in turn at the end of the 13th century. was divided into two relatively independent territories with watered. centers in the Northern Black Sea region (ruled Nogai) and in the Volga region (subordinated directly to Sarai). From the 2nd half. XIV century throughout the territory of D. u. as a result of the internecine struggle and the withdrawal of beks, temniks and murzas from subordination to Sarai and Sygnak, smaller appanage uluses began to appear - Togai, Narovchat, Bulgar, Khorezm, Shiban etc. Under Khan Tokhtamysh they were all combined into Great Horde, however, Samarkand managed to maintain its independence. Geographically, the Great Horde included “ Russian ulus" (cm.: Urys olysy), but he always had a special position: he retained autonomy, the old princely dynasties and Orthodoxy. Chronicles usually did not reflect these changes in names, but the entire D. in history literature (since the 17th century) was called Golden Horde. It finally collapsed at the beginning of the 16th century, when a little earlier (under Ivan III) the North gained complete independence. -East. Rus' and the Samos emerged from the Great Horde. Great Nogai Horde and khanates: Crimean, Kazan, Astrakhan And Siberian, and also under the protectorate of Moscow - Kasimovskoe khanate. - Lit.: Grekov B. D., Yakubovsky A. Yu. The Golden Horde and its fall, M. -L., 1950; Safargaliev M. G. The collapse of the Golden Horde. - Saransk, 1960(cm.: M.G. - KRL, p. 142).

6 Karateev M. D. Muslim titles and titles. - on Sat. " Arabesque stories" - M., 1994, p. 241-242.

7 For example, L. N. Gumilyov considers Genghis Khan’s mother to be a Keraite, and at the same time, many historians call her a Tatar. It is interesting to note in this regard that Nogai’s father’s name was Tatar. (see: appendix to the book. V. V. Velyaminova-Zernova“Research on the Kasimov kings and princes. Parts I and II. - St. Petersburg, 1863-64). First the word " kerite" (possibly in the form " kerchin" - from Sanskrit: " ker" - mountain and whale: " rank" - man) served as the self-name of the people of the once powerful Christian Kerait state in Central Asia, conquered by Genghis Khan at the very end of the 12th century (For more information on this, see: Sandag Sh. The formation of a unified Mongolian state and Genghis Khan. - In: Tatar-Mongols in Asia and Europe. - M., 1970, p. 22-45; Vladimirtsov B. Ya. Social structure of the Mongols. - L., 1934, p. 104; Kozin S. A. A secret story. Mongolian Chronicle of 1240. T. 1. - M. -L., 1941, p. 108; and etc.). And this same ethnonym, in our opinion, in a somewhat deformed form as a relic of historical memory, serves as the self-name of one of the groups of modern Kryashen Tatars (lit.: Kereshen). In any case, modern ethnologist D.M. Iskhakov claims that the Keraits reached the lower reaches of the Kama and their descendants still live in the eastern regions of Tatarstan.

8 Other cm.: Tizengauzen V. G. Collection of materials related to the history of the Golden Horde. Volume 1. - St. Petersburg, 1884.

9 We are talking about the Turkic tribes (Kereys, Naimans, Mangits, etc.), known under the general name of Kyrgyz-Kaisaks (Cossacks; modern: Kazakhs), who, having united, by the 1470s. founded the Kazakh (Kazakh) Sultanate.

10 See about this in the chapter on Christianity among the Turks.

11 Cm.: Sandag Sh. The formation of a unified Mongolian state and Genghis Khan. - In the collection: “ Tatar-Mongols in Asia and Europe" - M., 1970, p. 22-45.

12 Cm.: Poluboyarinova M. D. Russian people in the Golden Horde. - M., 1978.

13 Cm.: " Miras", 1996, No. 3, p. 98.

14 See his short article in “ Yearbook of Sofia University"for 1920

15 See about this: Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary. Volume II. - M., “Renaissance”, 1992; Sat. " For our friends, or all about the Cossacks"M., International Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture, 1993, p. 31.

16 According to the writer Isa Kapaev, even the icon of the Nogai Mother of God was known, which patronized the entire population of the region. With what thoughts did our distant ancestors bow before this image?

From the medieval monument of Turkic writing, known as the “Codex Cumanicus” (1303), apparently compiled by people from the Apennines who settled in the Crimea, we learn how the prayer “Our Father” sounded in the Old Nogai (Polovtsian) language: “ Atamyz, kim kokte Sen, algyshly bolsun Senin atyn! Kanlykyn kelsin! Bolsun Senin tilemegin, Natsik kin kokte, alai yerde! Kundege itmekimizni bizge bugun bergil! Dagi yaziklarymyzny bizge boshatkyl, netsik biz boshatyrbys bizge yaman etkenlerge! Dagi yeknin sonmakyna bizni kurmagyl! Base bartsa yamandan kutgargyl! Amen." Christians know what this means in other languages. In compliance with all canons, prayer “ Our Father"has been translated into almost all languages of the world.

17 The circumstances of Fyodor's marriage to Nogai's daughter were reflected in the Simonov Chronicle (1277) were admitted.

18 Cm.: Gumilyov L. N. Black legend. Friends and foes of the Great Steppe. - M., “Ekopros”, 1994, p. 429.

19 The leader of the Keraites, Van Khan. - See: “Arabesques” of history. Vol. 2- M., 1995 .

: 22 006 (2010)

Neftekumsky district: 12,267 (trans. 2002)
Mineralovodsky district 2,929 (per. 2002)
Stepnovsky district 1,567 (trans. 2002)
Neftekumsk: 648 (trans. 2002)

Karachay-Cherkessia: 15 654 (2010)

Astrakhan region: 7 589 (2010)

Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug: 5 323 (2010)

Chechnya: 3,444 (2010)

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug: 3 479 (2010)

Ukraine: 385 (2001 census)

Language Religion Racial type Included in Related peoples Origin

The number in the Russian Federation is 103.7 thousand people. ().

Political history

Anthropology

Anthropologically, the Nogais belong to the South Siberian small race, transitional between the large Mongoloid and Caucasoid races

Settlement

Over the past decades, large Nogai diasporas have formed in other regions of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

Language

In the cultural heritage of the Nogais, the main place is occupied by musical and poetic art. There is a rich heroic epic (including the poem “Edige”)

Religion

Nogai girls in national costumes. Beginning of the 20th century.

Cloth

Housing

Story

Crimean period XVII-XVIII centuries.

As part of Russia since the 18th century.

Nogaevists

Notes

Official website of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. Information materials on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census
All-Russian Population Census 2010. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation 2010
All-Russian population census 2010. National composition of Russian regions
Ethnic composition of the population of Dagestan. 2002
Ethnic composition of the population of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. 2002
Ethnic composition of the population of Chechnya. 2002
All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001. Russian version. Results. Nationality and native language.
Minahan James One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups. - Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. - P. 493–494. - ISBN 978-0313309847
Peoples of the world. Historical and ethnographic reference book. Ch. ed. Yu.V. Bromley. Moscow "Soviet Encyclopedia" 1988. Article "Nogais", author N.G. Volkova, p. 335.
KavkazWeb: 94% of respondents are in favor of creating the Nogai district in Karachay-Cherkessia - referendum results
Nogai district was officially created in Karachay-Cherkessia
Nogai district was created in Karachay-Cherkessia
The Nogai district was created in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic
Esperanto news: Conference on the future of the Nogai people
Traditional clothing and uniform of Terek, Kuban Cossacks
Nogais
Nogais
Russian military and diplomats on the status of Crimea during the reign of Shagin-Girey
Vadim GEGEL. Exploring the Wild West in Ukrainian
V. B. Vinogradov. Middle Kuban. Countrymen and neighbors. NOGAI

Literature

Yarlykapov, Akhmet A. Islam among the steppe Nogais. M., Inst. ethnology and anthropology, 2008.
Nogais // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8
Peoples of Russia: pictorial album, St. Petersburg, printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, December 3, 1877, Art. 374

​Nogais through the eyes of the West: “A people who do not know the law and give superiority to the strong. Nogais: nationality, history, traditions and customs What language do the Nogais speak?

Where live

Name

Language

Religion

Food

Appearance

Cloth

Life

Housing

Culture

Traditions

Political history

Anthropology

Settlement

Language

Religion

Cloth

Housing

Story

Crimean period XVII-XVIII centuries.

As part of Russia since the 18th century.

Nogaevists

Notes

see also

Links

Literature

see also

Links

Political history

Anthropology

Settlement

Language

Religion

Cloth

Housing

Story

Crimean period XVII-XVIII centuries.

As part of Russia since the 18th century.

Nogaevists

Notes

see also

Links

Literature

Nogais through the eyes of the West: “A people who do not know the law and give superiority to the strong. Nogais: nationality, history, traditions and customs What language do the Nogais speak?