The Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рская Респу́блика, ''Kabardino-Balkarskaya Respublika''; kbd, Къэбэрдей-Балъкъэр Республикэ, ''Ķêbêrdej-Baĺķêr Respublikê''; krc, Къабарты-Малкъар Республика, ''Qabartı-Malqar Respublika''), or Kabardino-Balkaria (russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рия, ''Kabardino-Balkariya''), is a federal subject of

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 ...

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 ...

) located 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, ...

. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 904,200 on . Its capital is

Nalchik Nalchik (russian: Нальчик, p=ˈnalʲtɕɪk; Kabardian: //; krc, Нальчик //) is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northw ...

. The area contains the highest mountain in Europe,

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus ( rus, links=no, Эльбрус, r=Elbrus, p=ɪlʲˈbrus; kbd, Ӏуащхьэмахуэ, 'uaşhəmaxuə; krc, Минги тау, Mingi Taw) is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the we ...

, at . Mount Elbrus has 22 glaciers that feed three rivers — Baksan, Malka and

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

. The mountain is covered with snow year-round.

Geography

The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part. The republic shares an international border with

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. *''Area'': *''Borders'': **''internal'':

Stavropol Krai Stavropol Krai (russian: Ставропо́льский край, r=Stavropolsky kray, p=stəvrɐˈpolʲskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia, and i ...

(N/NE),

North Ossetia–Alania The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania; os, Республикӕ Цӕгат Ирыстон — Алани, ''Respublikæ Cægat Iryston — Alani'', ) is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. Its population acco ...

(E/SE/S), Karachay–Cherkessia (W/NW) **''international'':

( Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, Zemo Svaneti) (S/SW) *''Highest point'':

(5,642 m) *''Maximum N->S distance'': *''Maximum E->W distance'': Kabardino-Balkaria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.

Rivers

Major rivers include: *

Terek River The Terek (; , Tiyrk; , Tərč; , ; , ; , ''Terk''; , ; , ) is a major river in the Northern Caucasus. It originates in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia and flows through North Caucasus region of Russia into the Caspian Sea. It rise ...

(623 km) * Malka River (216 km) * Baksan River (173 km) * Urukh River (104 km) * Chegem River (102 km) * Cherek River (76 km) * Argudan River * Kurkuzhin River * Lesken River

Lakes

There are about 100 lakes in the Republic, none of which is large. Just over half (55) are located between the Baksan and Malka Rivers, the largest each of an area of no more than . Some of the lakes are: * Tserikkel Lake (area 26,000 m²; depth 368 m) * Lower Goluboye Lake * Kel-Ketchen Lake (depth 177 m) * Upper Tserikkel Lake (depth 18 m) * Sekretnoye Lake * Tambukan Lake (area 1.77 km²; depth 1.5 to 2 m), partially within Stavropol Krai.

Mountains

(5,642 m), a volcanic mountain and the highest peak in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

Other major mountains include: * Mount Dykhtau (5,402 m) * Mount Koshtantau (5,151 m) *

Mount Shkhara Shkhara ( ka, შხარა) is the highest point in the nation of Georgia It is located near the Russian-Georgian border, in Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria region on the northern side, and the Svaneti region of Georgia in the south. Shkhara lies ...

(5,068 m) * Pushkin Peak (5,033 m) * Mount Mizhergi (5,025 m)

Natural resources

Kabardino-Balkaria's natural resources include

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ...

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

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

Climate

The republic has a continental type climate. *''Average January temperature'': (mountains) to (plains) *''Average July temperature'': (mountains) to (plains) *''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. ...

'': 500–2,000 mm.

History

Politics

The head of government in Kabardino-Balkaria 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 ...

. The current Head is Kazbek Kokov. The legislative body of the Republic is the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

comprising 72 deputies elected for a five-year term.Constitution, Article 94. The republic adopted a new constitution in 2001 which prevents the republic from existing independently of the Russian Federation.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Life expectancy in Russian subject -Kabardino-Balkaria

Population

Population: Life expectancy:

Vital statistics

:Source
Russian Federal State Statistics Service
Note: TFR 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 source.

Ethnic groups

Kabardino-Balkaria includes two major ethnic communities, the

Kabardins The Kabardians ( Highland Adyghe: Къэбэрдей адыгэхэр; Lowland Adyghe: Къэбэртай адыгэхэр; russian: Кабардинцы) or Kabardinians are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of t ...

(Circassians), who speak a North-West Caucasian language, and the Balkars who speak a Turkic language. According to the 2010 Census, Kabardins make up 57.2% of the republic's population, followed by

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

(22.5%) and Balkars (12.7%). Other groups include

Ossetians The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...

(1.1%), Turks (1.6%),

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 ...

(0.6%),

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 ...

(0.6%),

Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply r ...

(0.5%), Chechens (0.2%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.

Religion

According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people, 70.8% of the population of Kabardino-Balkaria adheres 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 ...

, 11.6% 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 ...

, 1.8% to Adyghe (Kabardian) folk religion and other indigenous faiths, 3.8% are unaffiliated generic

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� ...

. In addition, 12% of the population declares to be "

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable ...

", 5.6% 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 ...

or follows other religions including Jehovah's Witnesses.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

Official website of the Head of the Republic
*

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

Kabardino-Balkaria Profile
{{Use mdy dates, date=September 2011 North Caucasus States and territories established in 1936 1936 establishments in the Soviet Union Russian-speaking countries and territories Regions of Europe with multiple official languages North Caucasian Federal District