The Nogai people break all the existing stereotypes about the Caucasian people
By Nikolai Starikov, for gidepark.ru
We know so little about our own country that we become prisoners to the widespread stereotypes. It became clear to me after I visited Dagestan. We usually imagine Dagestani peoples as typical mountain dwellers, and we can’t be more wrong as far as the Nogai people (one of the native ethnic groups of Dagestan) are concerned. The Nogai people break all the existing stereotypes about the Caucasian people, even though they are an integral part of the Caucasus just like the Caucasus is an integral part of Russia.
Some 120 ethnic groups live in Dagestan today, so this Republic is often called a ‘miniature Russia’. Only 14 of these peoples, however, can be called ‘native’, including the Nogai. There is a whole Nogai district in Dagestan. And it happens so that this very people show us how ignorant we are about the native inhabitants of our country.
The Nogai people do not look at all like ‘mountain dwellers’. They are a Turkic people. And it is not surprising as there are no mountains in the Nogai district of Dagestan, it is a steppe, and the Nogai used t be nomads in the past.
If you remember Russia’s early history, you should remember the nomadic tribe of Polovtsi: Russian princes had wars with them but at the same time they married Polovetsk princesses and so on. And the Nogai people are the decedents of these very Polovtsi who played such a noticeable role in our history. Russian and Polovetsk troops tried to resist the Mongol invasion together, but lost in the famous tragic battle on the Kalka River. Both Russians and Polovtsi became subjects of the Goldern Hord.
The name ‘Nogai’ appeared in the 13th century: the Polovtsi were renamed after the Mongol Khan Nogai. In the early 15th century the Nogai khans even had their own independent Horde. After the collapse of the Horde rule the Nogai people became scattered throughout Turkey, Romania, even Austria. But the core of the people lives in Dagestan for many centuries now. The Dagestani peoples respect the cultures and traditions of each other, and they, unlike the ‘creative stratum’ in Moscow, understand that any weakening of the central power might lead to terrible consequences in the region where neighboring villages are inhabited by different ethnicities.
The Nogai people have always supported the Russian rule on the Caucasus. A thousand Nogai people are honored with medals for their participation in the Great Patriotic War, and there are a number of heroes among them who became known all over the Union. We are a united Russian people and no Navalniy could succeed in separating us to the benefit of London and Washington.
