The Republic of Adygea (; russian: Республика Адыгея, Respublika Adygeya, p=ɐdɨˈɡʲejə; ady, Адыгэ Республик, ''Adıgə Respublik''), also known as the Adyghe Republic, is a

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. It is situated in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

. The republic is a part of the

Southern Federal District The Southern Federal District ( rus, Ю́жный федера́льный о́круг, Yuzhny federalny okrug, ˈjuʐnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its territory lies mostly on the Pontic� ...

, and covers an area of , with a population of roughly 496,934 residents. It is an

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

within

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and ...

and is the fifth-smallest Russian federal subject by area.

Maykop Maykop (russian: Майкоп, p=mɐjˈkop mɐj'kop); ady, Мыекъуапэ, Mıéquapə ) is the capital city of the Republic of Adygea in Russia, located on the right bank of the Belaya River (a tributary of the Kuban River). It borders ...

is the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

and the largest city of Adygea, home to one-third of the republic's population. Adygea is one of Russia's

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established fo ...

republics, primarily representing the indigenous

Circassian people The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia i ...

that form 25% of the Republic's population, while

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

form a majority at 60%, and with minority populations of

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

and

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

. The official languages of Adygea are Russian and Adyghe.

Geography

Adygea lies in Russia's

of Eastern Europe, in the foothills of the Northwestern Caucasus in the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

System, with

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

s in the northern areas and mountains in the southern area. Forests (mainly of European beech, oak, and maple) cover almost 40% of its territory. *''Area'' — . *''Borders'' — the Republic of Adygea is entirely surrounded by

. *''Highest point'' — Chugush Mountain: .

Rivers

The long

Kuban River The Kuban; Circassian: Псыжъ, ''Psyẑ'' or Псыжь, ''Psyź'' ; abq, Къвбина, ''Q̇vbina'' ; Karachay–Balkar: Къобан, ''Qoban''; Nogai: Кобан, ''Qoban'') is a river in Russia that flows through the Western Cauca ...

is one of the major navigable rivers in the Caucasus region. It forms part of the northern border between the Republic of Adygea and

.
Other rivers include: * Belaya River *

Chokhrak River The Chokhrak (russian: Чохрак) is a river of southwest Russia, a left tributary of the Laba. It flows through the Republic of Adygea The Republic of Adygea (; russian: Республика Адыгея, Respublika Adygeya, p=ɐdɨˈɡʲe ...

Dakh River The Dakh is a river of southwest Russia. It flows through the Republic of Adygea. It is a right tributary of the Belaya (Kuban), Belaya. The Sakhray is its left tributary. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . References

Rivers of A ...

* Fars River * Khodz River *

Kisha River Kisha can refer to: * Kisha clubs, journalists' cartels in Japan * Kisha Ford, former WNBA player * Kisha Snow, U.S. boxer *Kisha (river), in Adygea, Russia *, Swiss singer * Kisha Seizo was a Japanese manufacturer of railway rolling stock t ...

Bolshaya Laba River The Bolshaya Laba (russian: Большая Лаба; ady, Лабэшхуэ, ''Labešxwe'', ), or Great Laba, is a river in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia. From the confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs wher ...

— ''(forming part of the eastern border between Adygea and Krasnodar Krai)'' * Psekups River *

Pshish River Pshish (russian: Пшиш; ady, Пщыщ) is a river in Krasnodar Krai and the Republic of Adygea of Russia. It is a left tributary of the Kuban. It is long, with a drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing su ...

* Sakhray River *Sukhoy Kurdzhips River — ''flows near the archaeological site at

Mezmaiskaya cave Mezmaiskaya Cave (russian: Мезмайская пещера) is a prehistoric cave site overlooking the right bank of the Sukhoi Kurdzhips (a tributary of the Kurdzhips River) in the southern Russian Republic of Adygea, located in the northweste ...

''.

Lakes

The republic has no large lakes. However, the several large reservoirs include: *Krasnodarskoye Reservoir *Oktyabrskoye Reservoir * Shapsugskoye Reservoir *Tshchitskoye Reservoir

Mountains

The republic's major mountains and peaks range in height from , and include: * Chugush Mountain — *

Mount Fisht Mount Fisht ( rus, Фишт, p=ˈfʲiʂt; ady, Фыщт ) is a peak located in the western Caucasus Mountains, in the Republic of Adygea, southwestern Russia. Description Fisht forms together with the peaks of Oshten and Pshekhu-Su the so-calle ...

— *Oshten Mountain *Pseashkho Mountain *Shepsi Mountain

Natural resources

The republic is rich in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

. Other natural resources include

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

, and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

Climate

*''Average January temperature'': *''Average July temperature'': *''Average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

'': February 15, 2010 recorded the absolute maximum for the winter months—in the capital, the city of

, the temperature was .

History

The Cherkess (Adyghe) Autonomous Oblast was established within the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

on July 27, 1922, on the territories of the

Kuban-Black Sea Oblast Kuban Black Sea Oblast (russian: Куба́но-Черномо́рская о́бласть) was an administrative division (an ''oblast'') of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic which existed in 1920–1924. When Soviet power was re ...

, primarily settled by the

Adyghe people The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia ...

.Azarenkova et al., p. 154 At that time,

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

was the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

. It was renamed Adyghe (Cherkess) Autonomous Oblast on August 24, 1922, soon after its creation. In the first two years of its existence the autonomous oblast was a part of the

, but on October 17, 1924, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the newly created

North Caucasus Krai North Caucasus Krai (russian: Се́веро-Кавка́зский край, ''Severo-Kavkazskiy kray'') was an administrative division (''krai'') within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. It was established on ...

within the RSFSR. It was renamed Adyghe Autonomous Oblast (AO) in July 1928. On January 10, 1934, the autonomous oblast became part of the new

Azov-Black Sea Krai Azov-Black Sea Krai (russian: Азово-Черноморский край, ''Azovo-Chernomorskiy kray'') was an early ''krai'' of the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union. Its capital was Rostov-on-Don. It was formed on 10 January 1934 out of the No ...

, which was removed from North Caucasus Krai. Maykop was made the administrative center of the autonomous oblast in 1936. Adyghe AO became part of

when it was established on September 13, 1937. On July 3, 1991, the oblast was elevated to the status of a republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.Official website of the Republic of Adygea
Основные сведения
The first President of the republic was Aslan Dzharimov, elected on 5 January 1992. Relations between the Adyghe and ethnic Russians in Adygea are currently good. Russians make up two-thirds of the population within Adygea. The current Head of Adygea is Murat Kumpilov.

Politics

The chief executive of the government of the Republic of Adygea is the

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals ...

(called "President" until May 2011), who is appointed for a five-year term. Proficiency in the

Adyghe language Adyghe ( or ; ady, Адыгабзэ, Adygabzə, ), also known as West Circassian ( ady, link=no, кӏахыбзэ, khaxybzə), is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians. It is spoken mainly in Russia, ...

is a prerequisite for the candidate. The current Head, Murat Kumpilov (since January 27, 2017), succeeded

Aslan Tkhakushinov Aslan(cheriy) Kitovich Tkhakushinov (russian: Асланчерий Китович Тхакушинов; ady, ТхьакIущынэ Аслъан Кытэ ыкъор, Thak’uşınə Astlan Kıtə ıqor ; born July 12, 1947) is the former H ...

, initially as acting Head of the region. There is also a directly elected State Council (''Khase'' or ''Xase''—not to be confused with the Adyghe Khase, a union of Adyghe who supported Sovmen for a second term), which comprises the Council of Representatives and the Council of the Republic. Both councils are elected every five years and have 27 deputies each. The Republic sends three representatives to the parliament of the Russian Federation; one to the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper hous ...

and the other two to the

Federation Council The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...

. The Constitution of the Republic of Adygea was adopted on May 14, 1995.

Divisions

The Republic of Adygea is administratively divided into seven districts (''

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 ...

s''), two cities/towns, and (at a lower administrative level) five

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

s. Municipally, the republic is divided into two urban okrugs, five urban settlements, and 46 rural settlements. * Note "м.р." above is an abbreviation for "муниципальный район" (Municipal District)

Demographics

*Population: *Life expectancy: File:Life expectancy in Russian subject -Adygea.png, Life expectancy at birth in Adygea File:Life expectancy in Russian subject -Adygea -diff.png, Life expectancy with calculated differences File:Life expectancy in Russia -Krasnodar Krai.png, Life expectancy in Adygea, Krasnodar Krai and neighboring regions File:Life expectancy in Russia -Krasnodar Krai (after 2014).png, Zoomed version of the chart since 2014

Vital statistics

:Source
Russian Federal State Statistics Service

Ethnic groups

According to the 2010 Census, ethnic

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

make up 63.6% of the republic's total population, while the ethnic Adyghe are 25.8%. Other groups include

(3.7%),

(1.4%),

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

(1.1%) and

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different Turki ...

(0.6%).

Religions

According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people 35.4% of the population of Adygea adheres to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

23.6% to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

, 3% are unaffiliated

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

and 1% are Orthodox Christian believers who don't belong to church or are members of other Orthodox churches. In addition, 19.8% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious" 8% is

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 8.6% follows other religions or did not answer to the question.

Education

Adyghe State University and Maykop State Technological University, both in the capital Maykop, are the two major higher education facilities in Adygea.

Economy

Even though it is one of the poorest parts of Russia, the republic has abundant forests and rich soil. The region is famous for producing

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), ...

s, tea,

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, and other produce. Hog and sheep breeding are also developed. Food, timber, woodworking, pulp and paper, heavy engineering, and metal-working are the most developed industries.

Transportation

There is a small airport in

(

ICAO airport code The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-letter code designating aerodromes around the world. These codes, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and published in ICAO Document 7910: ''Location Indicators'', a ...

URKM). Several rail lines pass through the republic.

Culture

The

(Адыгабзэ) is a member of the Northwest Caucasian language family. Along with Russian, Adyghe is the official language of the republic. There are 8 state and 23 public museums in the republic. The largest museum is the National Museum of the Republic of Adygea in Maykop.

Notable people

* Anatoly Berezovoy (1942—2014), Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR. * Aslan Dzharimov (born 1936), 1st President of the Republic of Adygea. * Anna Kareyeva (born 1977), handball player. * Mukharby Kirzhinov (born 1949), weightlifter. *

Andrei Kobenko Andrei Vasilyevich Kobenko (russian: Андрей Васильевич Кобенко; born 25 June 1982) is a former Russian footballer. Club career He made his Russian Premier League debut for FC Amkar Perm on 1 May 2004 in a game against FC ...

(born 1982), footballer. *

Nikita Kucherov Nikita Igorevich Kucherov (russian: Никита Игоревич Кучеров; born 17 June 1993) is a Russian professional ice hockey right winger for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Regarded as one of the best p ...

(born 1993), ice hockey player. * Vladimir Nevzorov (born 1952), judoka. * Hazret Sovmen (born 1937), 2nd President of the Republic of Adygea. *

(born 1947), 3rd President of the Republic of Adygea. *

Aslan Tlebzu Aslan Tlebzu ( ady, ЛIыбзэу Аслъан , Russian: Аслан Нурдинович Тлебзу), born 24 February 1981, Dzhidzhikhabl, Teuchezhsk, Adygea, USSR; is an Adyghe folk musician from North Caucasia. Tlebzu was born in a small ...

(born 1981), Adyghe folk musician. *

Konstantin Vasilyev Konstantín Alexeyevich Vasilyev (russian: Константи́н Алексе́евич Васи́льев; September 3, 1942 – October 29, 1976) was a Russian symbolist painter, who left more than 400 paintings and drawings. His range of w ...

(1942—1976), painter.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * *

External links

Адыгэ Республикэм и Лъэпкъ театр
(in Adyghe)
The Voice of Circassians (Adyghe Language)

Official website of the Republic of Adygea

Overview of the Republic of Adygea
(''

Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...

'' newspaper)
Official Website of the Adyghe State University

Official Website of the Adyghe State University

Official Website of the National Museum of the Republic of Adygea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adygea, Republic of Southern Federal District Enclaves and exclaves States and territories established in 1991 Russian-speaking countries and territories Regions of Europe with multiple official languages