Circassia at the peak of its power Map: Circassia at the peak of its power at the end of 17th century AD, beginning of 18th century AD. Guillaume de lIsle, 1706. [Download full-blown map from the Library of Congress: loc.gov/item/99446168/] Guillaume de lIsle, (1675-1726) was a French cartographer known for his popular and accurate maps of Europe. He was a fellow of the French Royal Academy of Sciences [Académie Royale des Sciences]. Apogee of Circassia’s power By the end of the Middle Ages, Circassia had become a formidable state. The Circassians established a strong state in the 16th and 17th centuries in the North Caucasus. This was only possible after the demise of the Golden Horde, when a power vacuum was created by the defeat of Tokhtamysh, a descendant of Genghis Khan and last khan of the White Horde (part of the Golden Horde), at the hands of the mighty Tatar Tamerlane in 1395 by the Terek River. The Kabardians gradually reclaimed their lands in East Circassia starting in the 15th century. Circassia spread its hegemony over the whole of the North Caucasus, reducing the Ossetes and various Turkic peoples, remnants of the Kipchaks, to vassalage. At times its power extended to the shores of the Caspian. Alliances were struck with the Shamkhals of Daghestan. These achievements would have supposed some degree of co-ordination and co-operation between the plethora of princes, the occasional civil strife notwithstanding. At the zenith of its power, Circassia had an area exceeding 200,000 sq km – becoming the largest country in the Caucasus and a formidable regional power. It extended from the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east, and from the Don River in the north to Abkhazia, Mingrelia, and Georgia in the south. The Don formed the frontier with Russia. Major cities included Taman, Temriuk, Kuban, Giana, Cadicoi, Bolettecoi, Besinada, Qeberdey, and Terki on the Caspian. At its apogee, Circassia was so dominant that all powers with vested interests in the area, namely Moscovy and the Ottoman Port, sought to court and bestow honours upon its princes in order to further their interests. This culminated in the betrothal of Tsar Ivan IV to Prince Temryuk Idarov’s (Идар и къуэ Темрыкъуэ; Yidar Teimriqwe) daughter Gwascheney (later baptized Princess Maria), in 1561 AD. This marriage of alliance was intended to bolster the so-called “Union” between Russia and Kabarda; an alliance between equals. In Soviet times, a bronze statue of Princess Maria was erected in the centre of Nalchik to mark the event. In this period, the Cherkasskys, Kabardian princes in the Russian court, as an aristocratic family formed whose descendants played a significant role in the Russian military and politics. The feudal princes of Circassia dominated the whole of the North Caucasus up to the beginning of the 18th century.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 21:18:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015