Terki fortress, Terka, or Terek (originally Shamkhalian Tyumen's fortress, later Tersky redoubt, sometimes mentioned as Terskiy town) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

fortress in the Caucasus in the 16-18th centuries. It was originally erected at the mouth of the

Sunzha river The Sunzha ( rus, Су́нжа, p=ˈsunʐə; , ; ) is a river in North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia, a tributary of the Terek. It flows northeast inside the great northwest bend of the Terek River and catches most of the rivers t ...

on the lands of the Tyumen Khanate, it was demolished several times, restored and transferred. Later the town was formed in the Terek delta on the Tyumenka River, which had later disappeared in the XVIII century. The territory where the town existed corresponded to modern northeastern Dagestan (

Kizlyarsky District Kizlyarsky District () is an administrativeLaw #16 and municipalLaw #6 district (raion), one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. It is located in the north of the republic. The area of the district is . Its administrative cente ...

, the left bank of the Stary Terek channel northeast of

Kizlyar Kizlyar (; ; , ''Qızlar'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the border with the Chechen Republic in the river delta, delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala, the cap ...

). The town of Terek was a stronghold serving the expansion of the Russian state in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

and the Western Caspian region, its location made it an important military and strategic point on the southern outskirts of the country. Administratively, it belonged to the

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

region, had his own governor, who, in turn, was subordinate to the Astrakhan governor. In its heyday (17th century - the first years of the 18th century), the town was the second largest and most important in the region after Astrakhan, many trade routes were controlled here. In the first years of the 18th century, the successful development of the Terek city was interrupted as a result of the raid of the

Lesser Nogai Horde The Lesser Nogai Horde, not to be confused with the (Greater) Nogai Horde on the Caspian, was the Nogais, Nogai Tatar territory in Krasnodar Krai, Kuban (on the eastern shore of the Sea of Azov), allied with the Crimean Khanate, during the 16th ...

(Old Russian "Kuban Tatars"). The city turned into a purely military settlement, which was soon abandoned. In 1708, North Caucasian rebels led by the Bashkir prince

Murat Kuchukov "Sultan" Murat Kuchukov was a Bashkir Islamic preacher and military commander, known for participating in the 1704–1711 Bashkir rebellion and starting the 1708 Insurgency in Chechnya. He was descendant of Genghis Khan and due to his knowledge ...

stormed the fortress and captured most of it, but failed to take the

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

. The rebels were pushed out by Russian and Kalmyk reinforcements and their leader, Murat, was captured and executed. In 1721, a large army of

Chechens The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kistin, Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. ...

and

Kumyks Kumyks (, ) are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus. They traditionally populate the Kumyk Plateau (northern Dagestan and northeastern Chechnya), la ...

led by the Turlov prince

Aidemir Bardykhanov Aidemir Bardykhanov, also known as Aidemir Turlov was a prince from the Turlov dynasty and the ''Senior Prince'' of the Chechen principality from 1732 to his death in 1746 and was also a Khan of the Endirey Khanate. He is famous for his role in t ...

attacked the fortress again, but were repelled by the garrison with heavy losses.''Defense of the Terek Fortress'' (in Russian)
/ref>

References

{{coord missing, Russia History of Krasnodar Krai History of Rostov Oblast History of Kalmykia Former populated places in Russia History_of_the_Kumyk_people History of the North Caucasus History of the Caucasus