Abazins

*Population estimates for 1994

The Abazin (the self designated name “Abaza”) people live in the Karachai-Cherkess Autonomous Region; separate groups are found in the Adyg Autonomous Region and in Kislovodsk as well. A small group of the Abazins also live in Turkey; while, since the nineteenth century, other groups are found in the Arabic countries.

The two main Abazin sub-groups are the Tapanta and the Shkaraua. Each are representatives of the Balcan-Caucasian race. They speak Abazin; however, there are other dialects well spread such as Japanese, Ashkhar, Russian, and Kabardin-Cherkess. The written language is based upon the Russian script.

The Abazin ancestors lived on the eastern coasts of the Black Sea. During the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, most of them moved to the North Caucasus and settled there.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the traditional occupations, culture, and mode of life did not differ from the neighbouring peoples. The Abazin believers were Muslims-Sunnites, and the family relations were of the Arabic type. The main occupations were agriculture, gardening, and breeding of cattle and sheep.