The Botlikh people (also known as Bótligh, Botlig, Botlog or Buikhatli) are an Andi–Dido people of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

. Until the 1930s they were considered a distinct people. Since that time they have been classified as

Caucasian Avars The Avars (), also known as Maharuls' (), are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group. The Avars are the largest of several ethnic groups living in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The Avars reside in the North Caucasu ...

and have faced a campaign to have them assimilate into that population. The Botlikh are primarily

Sunni Muslims Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

. They adopted the religion by the 16th century due to the influence of

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

missionaries. They numbered 3,354 people in 1926. They speak the Botlikh language, which belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family. According to the

2021 Russian census The 2021 Russian census () was the first census of the Russia, Russian Federation population since 2010 Russian census, 2010 and the third after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union. It took place between October 1 ...

, 3,788 people in Russia declared themselves as Botlikhs (all of them in Dagestan), and 5,073 people declared speaking the Botlikh language. The number of speakers is higher, about 5,500, according to a survey by Koryakov in 2006. The village of Botlikh is just north of the Andi Koysu River. During the Murid War Russian forces gathered here for their final push against Shamil. During the Dagestan Uprising (1920) the Reds were defeated here several times.

References

Sources

*Wixman, Ronald. ''The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook''. (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 1984) p. 31 {{Ethnic groups of Russia Ethnic groups in Dagestan Muslim communities of Russia Peoples of the Caucasus Muslim communities of the Caucasus