The Bezhta (also Kapuchi) are an Andi–Dido people living in the Tsuntinsky region in southwestern

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

. In the 1930s along with the rest of the Andi-Dido peoples they were classified as Avars. However, some people identified themselves as Bezhta in the 2002 census of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. They speak the

Bezhta language The Bezhta (or Bezheta) language (Bezhta: бежкьалас миц, ''bežƛʼalas mic'', ''beƶⱡʼalas mic'', ), also known as Kapucha (from the name of a large villageShirin Akiner, ''Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union'', 2nd ed. (KPI, Dist ...

, but many of them also speak Avar,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

or other Tsezic languages of their region. They numbered 1,448 in 1926. According to the Russian census in 2002, there were 6184 self-identified "Bezhtins", though the real number is probably higher.

History

The territory of the Bezhtas was nominally part of the

Avar Khanate The Avar Khanate, the Avar Nutsaldom ( av, Avar Nutsallhi; russian: Аварское ханство), also known as Khundzia or Avaria, was a long-lived Avar state, which controlled mountainous parts of Dagestan (in the North Caucasus) from the ...

. In 1806, the Bezhtas were incorporated into the Russian empire. Tight colonial control of the region was enforced during the 1860s and 1870s. During Soviet rule, the Bezhtas witnessed

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...

, urbanization, education mainly taught in the Russian language, and a erosion of Islam and traditional Bezhta culture.

Culture

The Bezhta are primarily

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

s. The presence of Islam in the land of the Bezhta can be traced back to the 8th and 9th centuries. Most natives of the region were Muslim by the 17th century. The Bezhtas used to be livestock breeders. They mainly raised sheep, horses and oxen. The Bezhtas also practiced terrace farming and grew rye, wheat and other grains.

References

*Wixman, Ron. ''The Peoples of the USSR'', p. 28 {{Peoples of the Caucasus Ethnic groups in Dagestan Muslim communities of Russia Peoples of the Caucasus