Kumyks. A radio broadcast as part of the Peoples of Russia cycle

Kumyks. Endoethnonym - Kumuklar. Turkic peoples. One of the indigenous peoples of Dagestan. Compactly live in North Ossetia and Chechnya. In Russia, according to the 2010 census, 503,000 people representing this nationality live. Kumyks are the second-largest Turkic-speaking people of the Caucasus after the Azerbaijanis, being the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus, and the third-largest nation in Dagestan. 

The territory of their traditional settlement is the Kumykskaya plain, the west coast of the Caspian Sea and the foothills of Dagestan. The origin of the word kumyk is not fully clear. Most researchers have produced the name of the Polovtsian word Kimaks, or by another name of the Kipchaks - Kuman. 

There is no unity among scientists about the origin of the Kumyks. Some attributed the origin of the Kumyks with the Kipchaks, others believe that the Kumyks appeared in Dagestan together with the Khazars, and after them stayed here. Still others suppose the Kumyks settled in Dagestan simultaneously with the Khazars, where they met more ancient people and merged. 

Anthropologically, the Kumyks are represented among Caspian race Caucasians. These also include the Azeris, the Kurds, Transcaucasian Tsakhurs, the Tats, Muslims. The Caspian type is usually regarded as a kind of Mediterranean race, or Indo-Afghan race.

Kumyks speak kumyk languages belonging to the Kypchak Polovtsian subgroup of the Kypchak group of Turkic languages. Believers among the Kumyks are Sunni Muslims. 

Kumyks are sedentary people, with an  agrarian culture. Traditionally, they have practised arable farming, horticulture and viticulture, cultivated since the 8-9 centuries. Historically, they were engaged in cattle breeding. The land of the Kumyks can rightly be called the breadbasket of Dagestan. Over 70% of the republic's economy is concentrated there. Almost the entire industry – instrument-making, machinery, canning and viticulture. Rice cultivation and fishing are developed. The land is rich in oil, gas, mineral water, raw materials for construction materials. There are a lot of recreational resources, such as the Caspian coast and mud and mineral springs with healing properties.

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, describes the culture and customs of the Kumyks as follows: "the Kumyk songs reflect the moral image of the Kumyks. Judicious and observant. With strict notions of honor and loyalty to one's word. Responsive to the misfortunes of others, loving their land, prone to philosophical reflection and contemplation, but who know how to have fun with friends. The Kumyks always had great influence on the neighboring tribes."