The Shapsug national district or Shapsug national raion ( ''Šapsyġe Nacionalne Rajon'', ''Šapsugskij nacional′nyj rajon'') was a district that was established in 1924 as a national district ''(

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

)'' for the Circassian

Shapsugs The Shapsug ( , , , , ) (also known as the Shapsugh or Shapsogh) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes. Historically, the Shapsug tribe comprised one of the largest groups of the Black Sea Adyghe (Причерноморские ады� ...

tribe of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Circassians () within the

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, now

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It was abolished after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1945.

History

In 1864, after the end of the century-long

Russian–Circassian War The Russo-Circassian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Circassia, was the 101-year-long invasion of Circassia by the Russian Empire. The conflict started in 1763 ( O.S.) with Russia assuming authority in Circassia, followed by Circa ...

between the Circassians ( Adyghes) who formed the historical population of

Circassia Circassia ( ), also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in . It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, a major part of the Shapsugs, who lived on Black Sea coast from modern

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

Tuapse Tuapse (; , Ṫuapsă ) is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the northeast shore of the Black Sea, south of Gelendzhik and north of Sochi. Population: Tuapse is a sea port and the northern center of a resort zone which extends sou ...

, were either killed in the

Circassian genocide The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the systematic mass killing, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement of between 95% and 97% of the Circassian people during the final stages of the Russian invasion of Circassia in the 19th centur ...

or expelled to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

like the other Circassian tribes. Because the Shapsugs were one of the most stubborn enemies of the

, they suffered more than the other Circassian tribes. They were the last of their alliance to surrender to the occupiers' army, and kept resisting the Russians in a holy war, for more than 20 years after the end of the Russian-Circassian War in 1864.https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1876/07/31/81695758.pdf via New York Times As a result of the

tsars Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Europ ...

policy to kill the

Circassian people The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe ( Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in the North Caucasus. As a consequence of the Ci ...

in the

or expel them to the

, the remaining

who survived abandoned their remained coastal villages to the eastern mountains of Shapsugia to protect themselves from the tyranny of their occupiers, the

Zaporozhian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...

. Later the descendants of these Cossacks renamed themselves

Kuban Cossacks Kuban Cossacks (; ), or Kubanians (, ''kubantsy''; , ''kubantsi''), are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are descendants of different major groups of Cossacks who were re-settled to the western Norther ...

and adopted the Circassian dress and uniform to falsify the history of the

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

and

and to depicts the Kuban civilizations are related to the Cossacks not the Circassians and the

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

. The other motive for Shapsugs settling the mountains was to keep resisting and striking against Russians outposts on the Circassian Black Sea coast. When the Shapsugs felt that the resistance was impossible due to the severing of marine logistics lines and to the lack of weapons, they stopped resisting. Some went to settlements previously occupied by other Adyghe tribes in the Kuban and established their own villages The remaining Shapsugs returned to their regions in the Circassian coast on the

, and established newer ones in the place of their previous burned villages between 1870 and 1880.

Establishment of the Shapsug national district

The Shapsug national district was established on the 6 September 1924 as a part of the

Black Sea Okrug Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psyc ...

of the

South-Eastern Oblast The South-East (), also referred to as South-Eastern Krai () and South-Eastern Oblast () was a territory, and later an administrative division, of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) which existed in 1920-1924. Originally, t ...

. The district contained around 3400

, and the center of the district was the coastal city of

. Its area was around . In the beginning of 1925, the district was divided into 4 village councils (Karpovskij �арповский Kičmaj �ичмай Krasno-Aleksandrovskij �расно-Александровский and Pseušxo �сеушхо. The South-Eastern Oblast was abolished on October 16, 1924, and the district was transferred to newly established

North Caucasus Krai North Caucasus Krai (, ''Severo-Kavkazskiy kray'') was an administrative division (''krai'') within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. It was established on 17 October 1924. Its administrative center was Rost ...

. In July 1930, okrugs were abolished, and the district was directly subordinated to the krai. In 1930, the center of the Shapsug national district was transferred to Krasno-Aleksandrovskoye (today ), and the district was divided into 8 village councils (Kamir-Astrovskij �амир-Астовский Karpovskij �арповский Kičmajskij �ичмайский Krasno-Aleksandrovskij �расно-Александровский Lazarevskij �азаревский Psebinskij �себинский Pseušxovskij �сеушховский and Sovet-Kvadže �овет-Квадже. In March 1931, the district center was transferred to Soviet-Kvadzhe, and in January 1934, Lazarevskoye was transferred to Shapsug national district as well and became the district center.

End of the Shapsug national district

In 1945, the Shapsug national district was renamed Lazarevsky district and it ceased to be a national district. The Shapsug called it ''Psyṣ̂wap'' () instead of Lazarevsky because Lazarevsky was named for one of the enemies of the Circassian nation,

Mikhail Lazarev Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (; ) was a Russian fleet commander and explorer. Education and early career Lazarev was born in Vladimir city, a scion of the old Russian nobility from the Vladimir province. In 1800, he enrolled in Russ ...

, who facilitated the invasion and conquest of Circassia, and put a siege over it during the Russian-Circassian War. In 1961, the district was subordinated to the city of Sochi and is currently known as

Lazarevsky City District Lazarevsky city district () is one of four city districts of the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city district borders Tuapsinsky District in the northwest, Apsheronsky District in the north, ...

References

{{Reflist Geography of Krasnodar Krai States and territories established in 1924 States and territories disestablished in 1945 Shapsugs