Geographical encyclopedia
Kabardino-Balkaria- Kabardino Balkaria. The numbers indicate: 1. Elbrus National Park 2. Kabardino Balkar Nature Reserve Kabardino Balkaria, Kabardino Balkar Republic, in the south of the European part of Russia, borders on Georgia. Included in the North Caucasus... ... Dictionary "Geography of Russia"
KABARDINO-BALKARIA- KABARDINO BALKARIA, Kabardino Balkar Republic, subject of the Russian Federation; in the south of the European part of Russia, bordering on Georgia. Included in the North Caucasus economic region. Pl. 12.5 thousand km2. Population 791.9 thousand people. (1998). The capital of the city ... Russian history
KABARDINO-BALKARIA- (Kabardino Balkar Republic) in the Russian Federation. 12.5 thousand km². population 786 thousand people (1993), urban 67%; Kabardians (363 thousand people; 1989 census), Balkars (71 thousand people), Russians. 8 districts, 7 cities, 7 villages... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Kabardino-Balkaria- noun, number of synonyms: 1 republic (21) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary
Kabardino-Balkaria- (Kabardino Balkar Republic), in the Russian Federation. 12.5 thousand km2. Population 791.9 thousand people (1998), urban 57.5%; Kabardians (49.2%), Balkars (9.6%), Russians (30.7%). 9 districts, 7 cities, 4 urban villages (1996). Capital... encyclopedic Dictionary
Kabardino-Balkaria- Kabardino Balkaria(Kabardino Balkaria)Kabardino Balkariaofficial name. Kabardino Balkar Republic, a republic within the Russian Federation; located in the North Caucasus, on the border with Georgia; pl. 12300 sq. km; 768,000 people… … Countries of the world. Dictionary
Kabardino-Balkaria- Sp Kabárda Balkãrija Ap Kabardino Balkariya/Kabardino Balkariya L RF respublika … Pasaulio vietovardžiai. Internetinė duomenų bazė
KABARDINO-BALKARIA- Kabardino Balkar Republic, part of Russia. Federation. Pl. 12.5 thousand km2. Us. 760 thousand people (1989), including 48.2% Kabardians, 9.4% Balkars. Capital Nalchik. In 1989 per 1000 people. The population aged 15 years and older accounted for 817 people. With… … Russian Pedagogical Encyclopedia
Kabardino-Balkaria- Kabardino Balkar Republic within the Russian Federation. The name of the republic is formed in Russian. names of the two most numerous peoples living in it: Kabardians (self-name Adyghe), in the XI-XIII centuries. populated the steppe and... Toponymic dictionary
Books
- Kabardino-Balkaria, Vorokov Z., New author's photo album “Kabardino-Balkaria. A New Look". The book consists of 300 pages of high-quality printing, which presents 160 panoramic photographs about Nalchik. By… Category: Classic and modern prose Buy for 4000 rub.
- Kabardino-Balkaria. Beauty will save the world. Photo album, Vorokov Zaur Vladimirovich, “Beauty will save the world”... It is no coincidence that the words of the great Russian writer were included in the title of a wonderful photo album. On its pages is living evidence that nature is generous... Category:
The settlement of Kabardino-Balkaria by Russians began in the mid-18th - second half of the 19th century, when the first villages appeared - Soldatskoye, Prokhladnoye - whose inhabitants were Russian and Ukrainian peasants, retired soldiers and others. In the 70-80s of the 18th century, during the construction of the Caucasian cordon line, a number of fortresses and villages were founded on the territory of Kabarda, (Ekaterinogradskaya) where the Don Cossacks were resettled. In 1818, the Nalchik fortress was founded, which later became a settlement. In the 20-30s of the 19th century, Russian villages on the territory of Kabarda were transformed into villages, and their inhabitants were assigned to the Terek Cossack army. During this period, military Cossack colonization prevailed, and one of the components of the Russian population in the region, the Terek Cossacks, was formed.
The second stage of settlement of the territory of Kabarda by the Russian population began after the peasant reform and the end of the Caucasian War. Russian land-poor peasants hoped to receive plots of fertile land. During the period from 1868 to 1880, the population of the North Caucasus increased by more than a million, and by 1892 it had already reached more than 3 million people. The tsarist government, interested in the growth of the Russian-speaking population in the Caucasus, did not interfere with the resettlement of peasants from various provinces of Russia to the south. According to the law of 1889, they could resettle in an organized manner, with the help of the government, or at their own peril and risk. The Terek region was populated by Russian peasants at a particularly rapid pace.
In the 80-90s of the XIX century, more than a thousand families moved to the Nalchik district and settlements were formed: Novo-Ivanovskoye (1886), Novo-Konstantinovskoye (1888), Nikolaevsko-Aleksandrovskoye (1895), Kremenchug-Konstantinovskoye (1896) and others.
According to the administrative reform of 1888 in the Terek region, the villages of Prokhladnaya and Soldatskaya, close to Kabarda, were included in the Pyatigorsk (Cossack) department, and Malaya Kabarda was assigned to the Sunzha department (returned to the Nalchik district in 1905). In connection with these transformations, the Russian population in the district decreased to 15 thousand people.
The settlement of the North Caucasus by Russians and Ukrainians was of a voluntary nature. Some of the settlers settled in Cossack villages, while others fell into the category of non-residents who did not have the rights to own Cossack lands. More than 92 thousand such “nonresidents” lived in the Terek region in 1897, that is, 11% of the population. The third group of settlers settled on state and landowner lands. By 1897, Russians made up just over 42% of all immigrants, Ukrainians - about 34%.
In 1889, 250 thousand Russians, 182 thousand Chechens, 82 thousand Ossetians, and more than 5 thousand Jews lived in the Terek region. It should be noted that Russian and Ukrainian peasants moved to the Caucasus in search of land and salvation from hunger.
The Cossacks, who made up 19.5% of the total population of the Terek, owned 60% of the flat land, depriving the bulk of the local population of a source of subsistence - land. This caused not only food difficulties, but also interethnic confrontation. The highlanders lived on their ancestral land much worse than the Russian-speaking population. This was a state policy aimed both against the local population and at dividing the working Russian population into Cossacks and “non-resident” men. If “the Cossacks possessed the best lands - from 9 to 11 dessiatines per capita, then the non-resident population was forced to rent land from the Cossacks, and the highlanders even live in entire villages on lands rented from the Cossacks, for example, the Ingush village of Galashki. Many Cossack villages, just 50 years ago, belonged to the mountaineers.”
With the development of capitalism in Russia, the economy of the Russian-Cossack population also took the path of market relations, which led to increased economic and social contradictions. The richest non-residents and Cossacks rented land from Kabardian landowners. Nonresident residents of the Nalchik settlement annually rented about 230 acres. Subleasing and speculation based on it developed. In the village of Prokhladnaya, wealthy Cossacks rented state land for 30 kopecks per tithe, and rented it out to land-poor peasants and Cossacks for 20 rubles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 314 thousand people lived in the Terek region. From 1904 to 1914 their numbers increased by 30%. According to the 1897 census, about 33 thousand Russians were engaged in agriculture, 3,715 in construction, 2,922 in trade, 1,485 in carriage, 741 in livestock farming, 2 thousand Russians served railways, 6 thousand people served in the armed forces. They were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. Russians made up the majority of the population in cities, which were independent administrative-territorial units and centers of districts and departments.
Russians and Ukrainians made up a significant part of the urban population and industrial centers, and were significantly overrepresented. Most of them were officials and workers.
In the 60s of the 19th century, the population of Nalchik exceeded 1,100 people; in 1914 it increased 7 times and reached 7,589 people, including 1,418 Mountain Jews, 240 Kabardians, 100 Armenians, 62 Georgians, 52 Germans and 14 Balkars. In 1897, the newcomer population of Nalchik amounted to 1,898 people, including 1,166 Russians or 61.43%.
At the end of the 19th century, Russians lived in both Kabardian and Balkar villages. According to census materials, there were 72 people of the Orthodox faith in Balkar societies, and in Kabardian villages - 229.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the size of the Russian and Ukrainian population in the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria continued to increase. In 1903, 13,105 Russians and Ukrainians lived in the Nalchik district, i.e. 1.4 times more than in 1897.
Until the First World War, the Russian population of the district increased. Although new settlements almost did not appear during this period, or small farms appeared, for example, the Koldrasinsky farm near the village of Novoivanovsky. In 1914, 12,944 people lived in Russian villages and hamlets of Greater Kabarda. In 1913, 4,380 Russians and Ukrainians lived in Nalchik, so the total East Slavic population of Greater Kabarda in 1914 was approximately 17 thousand people. By this time, the boundaries of the Nalchik Okrug had changed, and Malaya Kabarda was included in its composition. About 2 thousand Russians and Ukrainians lived on its territory (modern borders), and in the Nalchik district as a whole - up to 19 thousand people.
About 35 thousand people still lived outside the district. (including 11,275 “non-residents who are not settled” or “temporarily living”), and the total number of the East Slavic population in the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria was close to 54 thousand people, which is 1.8 times more than in 1897. From There were less than 22 thousand Cossacks, i.e. less than half. The number of peasants and other classes in the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria exceeded the number of Cossacks, which was the result of peasant colonization in the late 19th – early 20th centuries.
According to the All-Russian Agricultural Census of 1916, about 181 thousand people lived in the Nalchik District, including 135 thousand Kabardians, about 15 thousand Russians and 1,327 Jews.
The growth of the Cossack and nonresident population is also observed in the villages of Prishibskaya, Kotlyarevskaya, Aleksandrovskaya and amounted to 2,779 Cossacks and 48 nonresidents in 1878; 6,346 and 843 people respectively in 1914.
The population has doubled. There has also been a noticeable increase in the non-Cossack population of the villages, which is associated with the cessation of registration in the Cossack class; the Cossacks were given the right to rent out their land, giving the same “non-resident” the opportunity to rent it and work.
The ruin of the peasants during the years of crisis of 1899 - 1903. intensified. The shortage of land grew every year, accompanied by crop failures and hunger of tens of millions of peasants. Kabarda and Balkaria also experienced a similar situation.
The head of the Nalchik district in the annual report for 1900 was forced to admit the uneven distribution of land between residents, because large owners have the best and most of the land, and the majority of the population suffers from land scarcity.
During this period, Russian settlers, the so-called “nonresidents,” found themselves in an extremely difficult situation, the influx of whom into the North Caucasus continued due to the ruin of the peasantry in the central provinces of Russia.
With the increase in land scarcity, the conditions for renting land for nonresidents began to worsen every year; owners inflated rental prices or simply refused to lease land. This circumstance forced many nonresident peasants to leave Kabarda.
There were also other circumstances that forced the peasants to leave the lands of Kabarda - the tsarist bureaucracy (notary, court and others), supporting large land ownership, thereby created insoluble contradictions in land relations.
The situation of temporary mountaineers was much more difficult than that of non-resident Russians. This is also explained primarily by the general lack of land of the urban population, including indigenous residents, which made it difficult for temporary residents to rent land. The Cossack villages had excess land, which was rented by non-residents. It should also be noted that the mountain peoples were in a more powerless position than the Russian population, while temporary residents were even more powerless.
About their difficult situation, Tsagolov G. wrote: “The elders and other persons treat them as beings of a lower order. They charge for anything and everything. Almost for the fact that temporary residents breathe the same air as the gentlemen, the indigenous inhabitants.”
In the Terek region, 13,133 dessiatines were leased from nonresidents in 1903. reserve military land, 260,015 des. public village and 9,185 des. Cossack share land. Non-residents of the Terek Region rented state-owned and privately owned lands, so the peasants of a number of farms in the Nalchik District annually rented hundreds of acres of land from the mountain landowners Toglanov, Kazarshev and others for 20 years.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, changes also occurred among the Terek Cossacks in socio-economic terms. The support of tsarism, the Cossacks, was being destroyed; now they no longer represented a single whole, despite the preservation of medieval orders of communal and military life. The land question also became an acute social issue among the Cossacks. The Cossack poor intensified the struggle for land, for the destruction of large land ownership.
The lack of land in Kabarda and Balkaria increased every year both among the indigenous population and among nonresidents and Cossacks. This process of decomposition of the peasantry was inevitable in the conditions of the development of capitalism on the outskirts of tsarist Russia.
There is no doubt that the colonization of the North Caucasus, and in particular the Kabardian Plain by Russian settlers, had a progressive significance for the evolution of agriculture in Kabarda and Balkaria. It is enough to point out that until the end of the 19th century in Kabarda the main crops were millet (occupying 38.5% of the crop) and corn (27.8%). The rest came from wheat, barley and other grains. There were almost no winter crops. Everything was sown with spring crops. Vegetable gardening and horticulture were in their infancy, and their development was under the influence of Russian settlers.
The population of Russian villages and farms of Kabarda grew various field and garden crops, taking into account the needs of the market, and widely introduced winter crops - all this had a fruitful impact on the development of the agricultural economy of Kabarda and Balkaria. Capitalist elements began to penetrate more and more into the Kabardian and Balkar villages, disintegrating patriarchal-feudal relations.
Agrarian relations in the country at the beginning of the twentieth century became even more aggravated. The tsarist government, regardless of the lack of land in the Caucasus, took measures to populate the Caucasus with Russian settlers.
The governor of the Caucasus, Vorontsov-Dashkov, a faithful servant of tsarism, demanded that the government slow down the resettlement somewhat and insisted on caution in the resettlement policy in the Caucasus. He proceeded from the fact that the thoughtless resettlement of Russian peasants to the Caucasus could create many new troubles for the tsarist administration and prepare for the new year 1905.
The Governor of the Caucasus took great care of the settlement of the Caucasian region by Russian peasants and demanded large allocations for preparatory measures for the resettlement matter. He argued that for resettlement it is necessary to take people not from the internal provinces of Russia, that is, from among the peasants who are completely unsuited for life on the Caucasian outskirts. They should be recruited from the Russian population of the North Caucasus - the Kuban and Terek regions, where by 1907 up to 1 million 500 thousand souls of the landless peasantry had accumulated (up to 1 million tenants and 500 thousand agricultural workers). They talked about methods and forms of conducting a resettlement campaign and initial attempts to prevent interethnic conflicts.
Based on materials from 1897, it is quite difficult to accurately determine the total population in the territory of Kabarda and Balkaria, because only the total population by district was published. The bulk of the population of present-day Kabardino-Balkaria was part of the Nalchik district, and the rest was part of the Pyatigorsk and Sunzhensky districts and it is possible to distinguish them only indirectly and approximately on a national basis (villages with a predominance of one or another people). The total population of the Nalchik district according to the 1897 census was 102,915 people: Kabardians - 64,746, Balkars -23,184, Russians - 4,811, Ukrainians - 4,745, other nationalities - about 5 thousand.
The third stage of migration from central Russia begins already in Soviet times, when migration was more spontaneous than planned, despite all attempts by the state to streamline this process. Most of the Russian population of the republic appeared here during the period of expanding migration in the post-revolutionary and pre-war years (famine of the early 20s and early 30s, industrialization, collectivization).
If in 1913 there were 20,061 Russians in Kabarda, then in 1921 there were 24,942. According to the 1921 census, there were 151 thousand souls of both sexes in Kabarda, 27,535 in Balkaria. V. Khristianovich, such a high population growth (2 .05% per year) explains by such reasons as evasion of registration in the 1920 census or the fact that part of the population was then on the run and a significant influx of Russian immigrants evicted from Kabarda at the beginning of the revolution, their partial return to Kabarda after 1920.
Drought and crop failures in 1920-1921 caused famine in 34 Russian provinces with a total population of 30 million people. At the beginning of 1921, the total number of refugees from starving areas to the Mountain Republic was 30 thousand people. Dormitories were opened for them, but most of them were accommodated in the houses of the mountaineers. The mountaineers took in orphans for upbringing. In the villages of Kabarda and Balkaria, specially designated hunters shot game for the starving.
In 1920, about 25 thousand Russian residents of the villages of Sunzhenskaya, Aki-Yurtovskaya, Tarskaya, Ermolovskaya, Mikhailovskaya, Samashkinskaya, Feldmarshalskaya were resettled to the Tersky District (Essentuki, Mineralovodsk, Prokhladnensky, Mozdok districts) in connection with the land management of the Chechens and Ingush.
The All-Union Agricultural Census was carried out in August 1920 in the context of the still ongoing civil war. While hostilities in central Russia had already ceased, in the Don and North Caucasus they were still fierce. It was in August that Wrangel landed troops on the Don and Kuban. Therefore, a number of villages were not covered by the census.
In the Terek region, it was not possible to enumerate the residents of 159 settlements with more than 19 thousand households, especially in the mountainous area. In conditions of hostilities, the population was afraid of requisitions and hid information about their households. Thus, according to statements by census leaders in the Terek region, rural residents reduced the number of crops, agricultural implements, livestock, and poultry by approximately 10% in each district.
Territorial changes also made their own adjustments to the 1920 census data. The Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region seceded from the Mountain Republic on September 1, 1921; on January 16, 1922, Balkaria was annexed to it and the region received the name Kabardino-Balkarian. In fact, the merger took place only in August 1922 after the end of the Kabarda census. Until the fall of 1921, Kabarda and Balkaria together made up the Nalchik district of the Mountain Republic, and before the formation of the Mountain Republic.
Such frequent changes of administrative boundaries make it difficult to compare data; however, changes in territory and population were not significant. The post-revolutionary Nalchik district, and then (under the Mountain Republic) the Kabardian district differs from the pre-revolutionary one only in the annexation of three Cossack villages to Kabarda in 1921 - Kotlyarevskaya, Prishibskaya, Aleksandrovskaya with farmsteads and a population of 8,609 people (1921). In addition, in 1920, the Ossetian village of Lesken was removed from Kabarda and joined the Digorsky district of the Mountain Republic. There were 2,425 people in Lesken (1921).
Thus, the area of KBAO was 10.6 thousand km. km., and the area of the KBASSR is 12.8 thousand square meters. km. By 1933, since in 1932 the villages of Prokhladnaya, Ekaterinogradskaya and Soldatskaya were included in the KBAO.
In terms of nationality, the population of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Okrug looked like this: Kabardians - 64.5%, Balkars - 15.3%, Russians - 13.7%, Ossetians - 2.4%.
The beginning of the breakdown of the economic structure in the countryside, famine, the closure of plants and factories, which led to mass unemployment, the civil war, crop failures in 1920 and 1921, the Spanish flu and typhus epidemics - all this caused mass migrations of the population in the 1920s, mainly , to the Urals and Siberia, although the North Caucasus was not bypassed. A particularly powerful migration process was observed in 1925-1926. The following years are characterized by recession. Thus, in 1925/26 it was 10.7%, in 1926/27 - 3.3%, in 1927/8 - 1.3%, and in 1928/29 - 0.5%.
The area of Kabarda by 1921 increased by 27,840 acres compared to 1889 due to the inclusion of part of the former Sunzhensky department (Malaya Kabarda).
Further, the Russian population continues to grow moderately. According to 1921 data, there were 23,737 Russians in the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomy, in 1926 - 26,982, in 1931 - 107,243, and in 1939, according to the All-Union Census - 129,067 people.
In 1939, the census recorded an increase in the share of Russians in the North Caucasus to 68%, while the share of Ukrainians decreased from 30.5% to 3.1%. In the Terek province, the percentage of Russians decreased from 41.1 to 36.1 (due to lower natural growth and the small number of Ukrainians). Since 1867, Russians have been the largest ethnic group in the region, and in 1939 their share approached 70% of the total population.
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. all the peasants of the Stavropol region distinguished themselves from the Caucasian Cossacks, and from the “Russian” (as they said) peasants. The population of Russian and Ukrainian villages also distinguished themselves from each other, although this opposition was not antagonistic: in marriages and other contacts, ethnicity was never taken into account.
The tendency towards convergence of the culture of Russians and Ukrainians in the North Caucasus environment was reflected in the process of linguistic assimilation of Ukrainians. Apparently, here there was an “enlargement” of ethnic self-awareness on the basis of the East Slavic community in the condition of socio-psychological opposition to the surrounding foreign ethnic environment. Ukrainians were often classified by the local population as Russians, and in the statistical collection of the 1920 population census, they were not indicated at all. Information about them is found only in 1926. According to the 1926 census there were 10,244 people, and in 1939 there were 11,142 individuals with families.
There were quite a lot of Russians in all the republics, and they were in constant contact and communication with each other. The history and reality of Russia and the country as a whole have been largely identified in the mass consciousness of Russians. The national language, although it was not constitutional, was Russian. It was mandatory in the education system. The movement of nations towards independence in the republics cannot but complicate the position of the Russians here, since in the new situation they begin to feel “not at home” more acutely than before. And then you have to either adapt, isolate yourself, or emigrate.
A characteristic feature of the economic and social structure of the densely populated Kabardino-Balkaria was the significant predominance of small-scale production. In 1921, 92.6% of the population (Kabardians, Russians, Ukrainians) were engaged in agriculture, about 5.5% - in crafts. In the mountainous regions of Kabarda and Balkaria there were a large number of subsistence farms.
During his stay in Kabardino-Balkaria, Mikoyan A.I. noted: “One of the important achievements of Soviet power is national peace between Kabardians, Russians and Balkars and mutual trust between these peoples, the desire to devote themselves to peaceful labor.”
According to archival data, in 1926 the absolute number of the population of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region was 196,943 people: of which 127,619 were Kabardians, 28,163 Balkars, 26,982 Russians. However, A.M. Gonov. provides slightly different data - “according to the results of the 1926 census, there were 230,932 people in KBAO. The size of the entire population has increased with the development and strengthening of state formations. And in 1929, there was a slight decrease in the population, which, obviously, was explained by the same political measures on the part of the state (collectivization, dispossession, etc.) and amounted to 215,500 people. And already in 1935 the population of the region was 316,900 people.”
Along with more numerous peoples (Kabardians, Russians, Kalmyks, Ossetians, Jews), in 1928 there were 33,121 Balkars living in the region, and by the end of the 30s - 38,776 Balkars.
In the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region in 1926, the majority of the population lived in rural areas and were engaged in their peasant farming. The village population was 93.7%. The population growth rate from 1926 to 1928 was quite high and amounted to about 4.5%. Representatives of fifty nationalities lived in the region, the most numerous of them: Kabardians, Balkars, Russians and Ukrainians, accounting for 92.6%, the share of other nationalities accounted for 7.4%.
Thus, in Kabardino-Balkaria at the end of the 20s, Kabardians (60.1%), Balkars (16.3%), Russians (11.5%), Ukrainians (0.5%) dominated.
Caucasus. The edge is beautiful and strict. A world where everything is constantly changing and unchanged for centuries. Here, like nowhere else, there is a strong feeling of the infinity of time and the moment of existence. The earth here reaches out to the sky, and nature takes the soul captive. It is also a unique region in terms of ethnic diversity. The land of the mountaineers. It’s amazing how peoples have managed to preserve, over centuries of living side by side, each their culture, identity, historical traditions, and languages.We have in our hands the “calling card” of Kabardino-Balkaria.
“...On the edge of the horizon stretches a silver chain of snowy peaks, starting with Kazbek and ending with the double-headed Elbrus... It’s fun to live in such a land! Some kind of gratifying feeling flowed through all my veins. The air is clean and fresh, like a child's kiss; the sun is bright, the sky is blue - what would seem to be more?”
(Mikhail Lermontov)
REPUBLIC OF KABARDINO-BALKARIA
|
|
Republic within the Russian Federation. Located mainly in Population- approximately 895 thousand people. Kabardino-Balkaria is a multinational republic where representatives of more than a hundred nationalities live. Of these, Kabardians make up about 55 percent, Balkars - 11.6 percent, Russians - 25.1 percent, Ukrainians, Ossetians, Tats, Georgians and representatives of other nationalities - 8.3 percent Capital of the republic- city of Nalchik. The population is about 300 thousand people. |
Flag and coat of arms of Kabardino-Balkaria |
Biography of one of the main resort centers The south of Russia and the city of military glory began in 1724, when the auls of the main princes of Kabarda - Aslanbek Kaitukin, Dzhambot Tatarkhanov, Kuchuk Dzhankhotov - appeared at the foot of the mountains of the Main Caucasus Range.
Nalchik is located in a semicircle of mountains and resembles a horseshoe. Maybe that's where the name comes from? From both Balkar and Kabardian the word “nal” is translated as horseshoe.
There is another version. According to historians, in the old days there was viscous, impassable mud in this place - such that horseshoes were torn off horses. One way or another, today the horseshoe is on the emblem of the city, and in place of that legendary mud there are swift avenues that run into the mountains.
The main decoration of Nalchik- a park that is rightfully considered one of the best in Russia and the largest in Europe. The shady alleys of the park merge with the surrounding forests. There are 156 species of trees and shrubs in the park, including rare and even relict ones. Such, for example, as Gingko Biloba.
Speaking of Gingko: in the German city of Weimar there is a museum whose employees keep a register of all the miracle trees preserved on Earth. Nalchik specimens are also included in this “red book”.
NATURE
Pearl of the Republic- double-peaked Elbrus, rising into the sky at its highest point at 5642 meters. It is not surprising that the image of its snow-capped peaks adorns the flag and coat of arms of Kabardino-Balkaria.
In addition, it emphasizes the long-term connection between two close peoples, Kabardians and Balkars. But to the Creator, when he created this region, it was as if Elbrus alone was not enough.
Within the republic there are five more mountain giants, the height of which is more than 5000 meters: Dykh-Tau, Koshtan-Tau, Shkhara, Dzhangi-tau, Pushkin Peak.
Sparkling glaciers, picturesque gorges, noisy waterfalls, emerald lakes - Kabardino-Balkaria has everything to fall in love with these places for the rest of your life.
LANGUAGE
Kabardino-Balkaria says in three state languages: Russian, Kabardian and Balkar.
The Kabardian language belongs to the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of Caucasian languages. Writing in this language was created after the October Revolution. The literary language arose on the basis of the dialect of Greater Kabarda.
The Balkar language belongs to the northwestern branch of the Turkic languages. He preserved the purity of the ancient Turkic roots - with his help, oriental scientists study the ancient written languages of the Turkic system. It received its modern name in the 1950s - before that time it was called Mountain-Tatar, Mountain-Turkic, Tatar-Jagatai.
At the celebration of the 450th anniversary of joining Russia. Nalchik, September 2007
RELIGION
Sunni Islam- About 75% of the population professes Islam in the republic. Islam came to the territory of the republic in the 14th century - it is known that the Kabardian and Adyghe princes swore allegiance to the Russian prince “according to their faith and Muslim law.”
Since the first half of the 19th century, Islam became the dominant religion of the Kabardians and Balkars. In addition to Islam, Christianity and Judaism are represented in the republic. There are representatives of other faiths.
TRADITIONS
Hospitality. Kabardino-Balkaria, like other Caucasian republics, is distinguished by its hospitality. In the house of every mountaineer, the traveler will be fed and warmed. However, the treat is not the same for everyone. For example, instead of the national drink, buza, women will be served sweet tea. For men it’s the opposite. National halva is not prepared for a random guest, but it will definitely be put on the table if the visit was known in advance.
Wedding. The groom, leaving for the bride, is seen off with an evening feast, to which the entire village gathers. The procession with the bride along the way is met by friends and relatives of the groom - in the field they arrange a feast, raise toasts, and dance. After this, the guests are escorted into the house and walk until the morning. The rider who manages to enter the bride’s room on horseback is treated to a large bowl of buza, lakum, and meat. The most authoritative woman of the family smears her daughter-in-law’s lips with honey and oil so that the new family will be just as sweet and pleasant for her.
Birth of a child. Kabardians and Balkars celebrate this event on a grand scale. But special celebrations are held in the family in which a boy is born - the successor of the family. Many guests are invited.
The person who is entrusted with slaughtering a ram or bull for sacrifice says a prayer. He asks God to make the boy strong, strong, to give him many years of life.
A pole with a crossbar is dug into the courtyard of the house, from which a round smoked cheese is suspended - you need to reach it along an oiled rope and bite off a piece. The winner is awarded a prize.
PRIDE
Kabardian horses. One of the best mountain horse breeds. According to legend, the breed originated from an Alpine stallion that emerged from the foamy sea waves.
As a result of the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War, the number of Kabardian horses sharply decreased; restoring it took enormous effort.
These horses are distinguished by good memory, lively temperament, and caution in the mountains. The breed is worthy of its homeland.
KITCHEN
Buza(makhsyma) is a low-alcohol, ancient and most popular drink in the republic. Usually made from corn or millet flour, sugar or honey, and barley malt. It is brewed for weddings, on the occasion of major holidays and ritual events.
Lakuma- soft and airy dough product. Each housewife has her own recipe, which, as a rule, is not disclosed.
Halva- a favorite delicacy of Kabardians and Balkars. Not everyone can prepare real halva. Often, a special craftswoman who is famous for preparing halva is specially invited to a family where a big feast is planned.
Khychiny- a dish of Balkar cuisine, thin pies made from unleavened dough with all kinds of fillings: potatoes with cheese, cottage cheese, fresh mint, meat. To visit the republic and not try Khychin means to learn nothing about these places.
You will also find recipes for khichins and lakoums in our magazine in the section
(“Feast with a double-headed mountain”).
The business card was designed by Alexander Lastin
Photo: Sergey Klimov, Zhanna Shogenova
Territory and population - historical information, current state
The area occupied by the republic is 12,470 sq. km, which, of course, is not much, but it is larger than such states as Qatar, Luxembourg, Monaco, etc. Among the 21 republics of the Russian Federation, Kabardino-Balkaria ranks 18th in terms of territory, and among the eight republics of the North Caucasus it ranks fifth, inferior in area to Dagestan, Kalmykia, Chechnya and Karachay-Cherkessia. North Ossetia-Alania, Adygea and Ingushetia are inferior to the KBR.
The once powerful Kabarda, which extended in the 18th century. from the Bolshoy and Maly Zelenchuk rivers (tributaries of the Kuban) in the west to the Sunzha River (tributary of the Terek) in the east, occupied an area of 46.2 thousand sq. km. Unfortunately, as a result of the Russian-Caucasian War and the subsequent administrative redrawing of the territory of the Caucasus by the Tsarist and Soviet administrations, the area of Kabardino-Balkaria is only 27.7% of the territory that was considered in the 18th century. Kabarda.
According to the 2002 census, 901.5 thousand people live in Kabardino-Balkaria. The most numerous people of the republic are Kabardians, who number 499 thousand people (55.3%). They call themselves “Circassians,” and abroad all Circassians are called “Circassians.” Peoples related to Kabardians live in neighboring republics. In Karachay-Cherkessia - Circassians, who were previously called Beslaneevites, and Abazas; in Adygea - the Adygeis, who were previously divided into Bzhedugs, Shapsugs, Abadzekhs, Natukhais, Mamkhegovs and a number of other nationalities. In total there are about 700 thousand Circassians in Russia. Most of the Circassians (Circassians), unfortunately, live outside of Russia: in Turkey - more than 2.5 million people, in Syria - 90 thousand, in Jordan - 70 thousand, in Germany - 25 thousand and in more than 40 countries around the world all the way to Australia.
Balkars in 2002 made up 105 thousand people (11.6%). They call themselves "taulu", which means "highlander". The Karachais, a people related to the Balkars, live in neighboring Karachay-Cherkessia. A significant part of the Balkar-Karachais (up to 25 thousand) also lives in Turkey, and a small number of them live in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The Russian population also stands out in terms of numbers - 227 thousand people (25.1%). The remaining nationalities were: Ossetians - 9.8 thousand, Meskhetian Turks - 8.8, Ukrainians - 7.6, Armenians - 5.3, Koreans - 4.7, Germans - 2.5, Jews - 1.1 thousand people . The number of the remaining 90 nationalities is approximately 31 thousand.
Due to the rapid migration processes of the 90s. XX century, the composition of the population, in comparison with the 1989 census, has changed somewhat. In the numerical composition, the percentage of the indigenous population (Kabardians and Balkars) has increased, since most of the Tats (Mountain Jews), Germans, and Ukrainians, Georgians, and Belarusians left the republic for the far abroad. Many Russians and other Russian-speaking peoples have left for other territories and regions of Russia.
The territory of Kabardino-Balkaria is divided into 10 administrative districts: Zolsky (center - the village of Zalukokozhe), Baksansky (city of Baksan), Chegemsky (city of Chegem), Elbrussky (city of Tyrnyauz), Chereksky (village of Kashkha-tau) , Urvansky (Nartkala town), Leskensky (Anzorey village), Tersky (Terek city), Maysky (Maysky city), Prokhladnensky (Soldatskaya village). There is also a territory subordinate to the city of Nalchik (suburban zone), which includes the villages of Khasanya, Belaya Rechka, Kenzhe and the village of Adiyukh. There are 8 cities in the republic, which for the most part (except Nalchik) belong to the group of small cities. Of these, three are republican subordinates: Nalchik (300.4 thousand inhabitants), Prokhladny (61.8), Baksan (56.2). The rest are cities of regional subordination: Chegem (17.9), Nartkala (33.8), Terek (20.3), Maisky (27.0), Tyrnyauz (21.1).
Nalchik- see the section “City of Nalchik”.
Chill(61,772 people) - a city of republican subordination, until 2003 - the center of the district of the same name. The second (after Nalchik) city in the republic in terms of population and economic importance, it is a large railway junction through which the Moscow-Baku highway passes. Located on the left bank of the Malka River, 60 km northeast of the city of Nalchik. The main composition of the population is Russian.
Prokhladny is a former village of Terek Cossacks, founded in 1765 as a village of state peasants-Little Russians, during the initial colonization of the Caucasus by Russia. Since 1937 it received city status. It is the center of a fairly large industrial production, but at the same time a cultural center. Among the industrial enterprises, the Kavkazkabel plant and the car repair plant stand out. Prokhladny is famous for the House of Children's and Youth Creativity (many winners of various competitions), sporting achievements in the field of athletics and the Kavkazkabel football team, which plays in the second division of the country. The famous Admiral Arseny Golovko, the young (33 years old) commander of the Northern Fleet during World War II, was born here.
There is an interesting legend about the origin of the city's name. Allegedly, Catherine II, during her inspection trip to the Caucasus, stopped to rest under the trees growing above the numerous springs of this area, and after an exhaustingly hot journey across the Caucasian steppe, she liked this place so much that she exclaimed: “Ah! How cool! Prince Grigory Potemkin Tauride, who accompanied Catherine, immediately gave the order to found a settlement here and call it “Cool,” which was carried out. Whether this is true or not has not been reliably established, but the residents of Prokhladny love their city and this legend, and the springs around Prokhladny really flow, and it is really pleasant to relax near them on a hot day under the shade of hundred-year-old trees.
Baksan(56,160 people) - a city of republican subordination, the center of the Baksan region. Located on both banks of the river of the same name, 25 km north of Nalchik. The highway from Nalchik and the Kavminvod resorts to the Baksan Gorge (in the Elbrus region), as well as the Rostov-Baku highway, passes through it.
Baksan, composed of the former villages of Kuchmazokovo, Staraya Fortress and Dugulubgey, was founded in 1822 as a Russian fortification during the period of the final conquest of Kabarda. In 1967 it was transferred to the category of cities.
Baksan and the Baksan region are the birthplace of such famous historical figures as the Kabardian princes Atazhukins (Lermontov’s poem “Izmail-Bey” was written about one of them, Ismail Atazhukin), poets Ali Shogentsukov and Adam Shogentsukov. And the birthplace of the first President of the KBR, B. M. Kokov, is Baksan. The population is mainly engaged in agriculture and processing of agricultural products. The only large industrial enterprise in the city is the Avtozapchast plant, which produces mufflers for all types of Russian cars. The main population of both the city and the region are Kabardians.
The toponymy of this name is interesting. The word consists of two Kabardian words “bakha” - steam and “sana” - drink, which together translates as “above water”. And indeed, the Baksan river is such a turbulent river, especially during the period of melting glaciers (July, August), that small splashes reminiscent of steam constantly hang over it, formed from the rapid flow over the stones. (For other versions of deciphering the toponym, see the chapter “Toponymy”). In August 1942, German-Romanian troops were stopped here, on the approaches to Nalchik, and Nalchik was not occupied until the end of October.
Tyrnyauz(21,092 people) - the center of the Elbrus region, built as a city of miners extracting tungsten and molybdenum. Located at an altitude of 1300 m above sea level, 90 km southwest of the city of Nalchik. When in 1938, as a result of geological exploration work, it became clear that tungsten and molybdenum ores (“bad lead,” as the local population, the Balkars, called these ores) were suitable for industrial development, a decision was made to build a tungsten-molybdenum plant. Near the small villages of Girkhozhan, Totur, Kamuk, construction began on the village of Nizhny Baksan, transformed in 1955 into the city of Tyrnyauz. During Soviet times, the plant operated, providing life to the entire city, i.e. was a city-forming enterprise. At present, attempts to revive the plant, unfortunately, are leading nowhere, because... The tungsten and molybdenum mined here are very expensive. In addition to the tungsten-molybdenum plant, the city has factories for low-voltage equipment and reinforced concrete products.
The city's population is international, although in recent years, due to the partial shutdown of the plant and the migration of the Russian-speaking population and Kabardians, the number of Balkars has been growing, because and the Elbrus region can conditionally be called Balkar.
The toponym is divided into two components: “tarny auuzu”, which translated means the entrance to the gorge. Behind Tyrnyauz, indeed, a gorge begins, and Tyrnyauz itself is not located in a wide valley. Some scientists suggest that the name remains from those that appeared here in the 17th-18th centuries. from time to time Karachais and the toponym is based on the word “turnu” - crane, and not “tarny”. Someone translates this toponym as “gorge of the winds.” While they are figuring it out.
Nartkala(33,775 people) - since 1937 a village, since 1955 the city of Dokshukino, in 1967 renamed the city of Nartkala - the center of the Urvansky district. It was founded in the middle of the 19th century, when the Russian government, carrying out administrative reform (1865), consolidated the settlements of Kabarda. It was here that the authorities indicated a place for the settlement of the Dokshukins princes and their subjects. Located 15 km east of Nalchik.
The region is agricultural, therefore the center of the region is mainly aimed at processing agricultural products, as well as the production of building materials: crushed stone, screenings, asphalt. There are also several powerful industrial enterprises in the city: a chemical plant, a tire repair plant, and a distillery. A railway line to Nalchik passes through the city, and the railway station is called Dokshukino to this day. Currently, it is a dynamically developing city in the flat part of Kabardino-Balkaria.
The main population of both the city and the region are Kabardians. The toponym “Nartkala” consists of two words: “Nart” - the epic hero of the epic “Narts” and “kala” - a city, a fortress, i.e. literally “Nart city” or “city of Narts”.
Terek(20,255 people) - until 1967, the village and railway station of Murtazovo was the center of the district of the same name and of Malaya Kabarda as a whole, located on the right bank of the Terek. The village of Murtazovo was founded in the middle of the 19th century, when the Russian government, carrying out administrative reform (1865), consolidated the settlements of Kabarda. Here the authorities indicated a place for the settlement of the Murtazov nobles and their subjects. The city is located 60 km east of Nalchik on the right bank of the Terek River. The Moscow-Baku railway passes through the city.
Like Urvansky district, Tersky is an agricultural region, so the processing industry is developing in the city. The main industrial enterprise is a diamond tool plant, which produces diamond bits for drilling rigs used in geological exploration work. The majority of the population of both the city and the region are Kabardians. The toponym is associated with the Terek River (see section “Toponymy”).
May(27,037 people) is the center of the same name, the smallest district in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, inhabited mainly by Cossacks and Russian settlers who founded villages, villages and farmsteads in the region during and after the Russian-Caucasian War. In the 20s In the 19th century, when this settlement was founded as a fortification, it was called Prishibsky. The fortification allegedly received the name “Maysky” because A.S. stayed here in May 1829. Pushkin on the way to Erzurum. The legend is beautiful! Until 1967, the settlement was a village. Both the region as a whole and the city are located on the left bank of the Terek. Maysky is located 45 km from the city of Nalchik in the northeast direction.
Main enterprises: the Sevkavrentgen plant and various agricultural products processing plants.
Chegem(17,893 people) - the youngest (formed in 2001) city of Kabardino-Balkaria, previously a former urban-type settlement - Chegem 1. The center of the district of the same name. Located 9 km north of the city of Nalchik on the right bank of the flat part of the Chegem River. In tsarist times it was called Kudenetovo I and was the ancestral village of the first-degree nobles of the Kudenetovs. The city mainly operates enterprises of the processing industry and construction materials. In 2003, a railway line was built from Nalchik to Chegem, which will allow the area to develop more dynamically.
The mountainous part of the region is inhabited by Balkars, and the flat part by Kabardians. The toponym “Chegem” goes back centuries and some scientists refer to the Old Turkic language, breaking it down into two words: “chek” - boundary, border and “tem” - river, water, i.e. "border river" True, it is currently unclear the border between whom (or what) this river was.
