Currently, about 103 thousand representatives of the Nogay nationality live in Russia. This is an offshoot of the Turkic people who historically lived in the Lower Volga region, in the North Caucasus, in Crimea, in the Northern Black Sea region. In total, according to rough estimates, about 110 thousand representatives of this people remain in the world. In addition to Russia, diasporas settled in Romania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Turkey.
Nogai State
The Nogai’s original state entity was the Nogai Horde. This is the last of the nomadic powers, formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde. It is believed that it had a significant impact on all modern Turkic peoples.
This state was actually formed in the 40s of the XV century in the interfluve of the Urals and the Volga. At the beginning of the XVII century it broke up under external pressure and because of internecine wars.
Founder of the people
Historians attribute the appearance of the Nogai people to the Golden Horde Temnik Nogai. This was the ruler of the westernmost ulus, who from the 1270s actually refused to obey the khans of the Saray. Serbia and the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, as well as part of the northeastern and all southern Russian principalities fell under vassal dependence on him. It is on his behalf that the Nogai people take their name. They consider the Golden Horde Beklyarbek their founder.
The administrative center of the Nogai Horde was the city of Saraichik on the Ural River. Now there is a historical monument on this place, and next to it is a village of the same name on the territory of the Atyrau region of Kazakhstan.
Crimean period
Under the influence of the Kalmyks, who moved from the east, in the 17th century the Nogais migrated to the border of the Crimean Khanate. In 1728, they settled in the northern Black Sea region, recognizing the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire.
They had a great influence on the events taking place at that time on the territory of our country. Domestic military and historians recognized the name of the Nogais in 1783, when they raised a major uprising in the Kuban. This was a response to the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire and the forcible resettlement of Nogais to the Urals by decision of the tsarist authorities.
The Nogays tried to take Yeisk, but the Russian guns turned out to be a serious obstacle for them. On October 1, the combined units of the Kuban Corps under the command of Suvorov crossed the Kuban River, attacking the rebel camp. In the decisive battle, the Russian army won a landslide victory. According to estimates of domestic archival sources, as a result, from 5 to 10 thousand Nogai soldiers died. Modern public Nogai organizations claim tens of thousands of dead, among whom were many women and children. Some of them claim that it was an act of genocide.
As a result of this uprising, the Nogai nationality suffered significant losses. This affected the whole ethnic group, and their political independence after that was finally lost.
According to modern scholars, up to the middle of the 19th century, about 700 thousand Nogais crossed into the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
As part of Russia
After a crushing defeat, representatives of the Nogai nationality became part of the Russian Empire. At the same time, they were forced to leave their lands, as they were considered a politically unreliable contingent. As a result, they dispersed to the Trans-Kuban region, throughout the North Caucasus, down to the lower Volga and the Caspian steppes. Such at that time was the territory of the Nogais.
Since 1793, the Nogais who settled in the North Caucasus became part of the bailiffs, small administrative and territorial units created to control the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus. In reality, they existed only formally, since the military department actually supervised them.
In 1805, a special provision for the management of the Nogais appeared, which was developed by the committee of ministers of the Russian Empire. Since the 1820s, most of the Nogai hordes became part of the Stavropol province. Shortly before that, the entire Black Sea region became part of Russia. The remnants of the Nogai hordes switched to a settled way of life, settling in the Kuban and in the north of the Tauride province.
It is noteworthy that the Nogais participated in the Patriotic War of 1812 as part of the Cossack cavalry of Ataman Platov. Their cavalry regiment reached Paris.
Crimean War
During the Crimean War of 1853-1856 Nogais living in Melitopol County helped the Russian troops. After the defeat of Russia, representatives of this people were again accused of sympathy for Turkey. Their eviction campaign from Russia resumed. A part joined the Crimean Tatars, the bulk assimilated with the Turkish population. By 1862, almost all Nogais living in Melitopol County emigrated to Turkey.
The Nogais from the Kuban followed the same route after the Caucasian War.
Social stratification
Until 1917, the main occupation of the Nogais remained nomadic cattle breeding. They raised sheep, horses, cattle, and camels.
The Nogai steppe remained the main area of their nomadism. This is a plain in the eastern part of the North Caucasus between the Kuma and Terek rivers. This region is located in the territories of modern Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory and Chechnya.
Since the 18th century, the Kuban Nogais began to lead a sedentary lifestyle, who took up farming. By the second half of the 19th century, the Nogays of the Achikulak police were mainly engaged in crop cultivation.
It is worth noting that the farming in this case was applied in most cases, mainly in cattle breeding. Moreover, almost all the cattle belonged to the Sultans and Murza. Making up only 4 percent of the total Nogai population, they owned 99% of camels, 70% of horses, and almost half of cattle. As a result, many poor people were forced to go to work in nearby villages to harvest bread and grapes.
Nogai were not called up for military service; in exchange, a special tax was levied on them. Over time, they began to move more and more away from the traditional for them breeding of camels and sheep, switching to agriculture and fishing.
Modern resettlement
Today, Nogais live mainly on the territory of seven constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Most of them in Dagestan - about forty and a half thousand. More than 22 thousand live in the Stavropol Territory, another fifteen and a half thousand in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
More than a thousand Nogais in Russia were also counted in Chechnya, the Astrakhan region, the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Districts.
In recent decades, fairly large communities have formed in Moscow and St. Petersburg, numbering up to several hundred people.
In the history of Nogais there were many migrations. Traditionally, many representatives of this people today live in Turkey and Romania. There they were mainly in the XVIII and XIX centuries. Many of them at that time adopted the ethnic identity of the Turkic population that surrounded them there. But at the same time, the majority retained the memory of their Nogai origin. At the same time, it is not possible to establish the exact number of Nogais living today in Turkey. Censuses conducted since 1970 have stopped collecting information on the nationality of citizens.
In 2005, it was decided to create a national Nogai region in the territory of Karachay-Cherkessia. By that time, a similar education already existed in Dagestan.
Tongue
The Nogai language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altai family. Due to their wide geographical distribution, four dialects stood out in it. In Chechnya and Dagestan they speak the Karanogai dialect, in the Stavropol Territory - in Kumsk or directly Nogai, in the Astrakhan region - in Karagash, in Karachay-Cherkessia - in Kuban or Aknogai.
According to the classification and origin, Nogai is a steppe dialect, which refers to the dialect of the Crimean Tatar language. Some experts also refer to the dialects of the Alabugat and Yurt Tatars as Nogai dialects, although not all adhere to this opinion.
This nation also has the Nogai language, created on the basis of the Karanogai dialect.
From the beginning of the 18th century until 1928, writing was based on Arabic script. Then, for ten years, it was based on the Latin. Since 1938, Cyrillic has been officially used.
Culture
Speaking about the traditional culture and traditions of the Nogais, everyone immediately remembers the occupation of distant and nomadic animal husbandry. It is noteworthy that, in addition to camels and horses, historically Nogais also engaged in breeding geese. From them they received not only meat, but also feathers and fluff, which were extremely highly valued in the production of blankets, pillows, feather-beds.
Indigenous representatives of this nation hunted mainly with the use of hunting birds (falcons, golden eagles, hawks) and dogs (greyhounds).
As an auxiliary craft, crop production, fishing, and beekeeping developed.
Religion
The traditional Nogai religion is the Islam of the Hanafi madhhab. They belong to one of the right-wing schools in Sunni Islam, the founder of which is the VIII-century theologian Abu Hanifa with his students.
This branch of Islam has a clear hierarchy in the delivery of verdicts. If there is a need to choose from several existing prescriptions, priority is given to the majority opinion or to the most convincing argument.
Most modern Muslims are followers of this right wing. The Hanafi madhhab had the status of an official religion in the Ottoman Empire and in the Mughal Empire.
Costume
From the photo of Nogais you can get an idea of their national costume. It is based on elements of clothing of the ancient nomads. Its features took shape from the 7th century BC until the time of the Huns and Kypchaks.
Nogai ornamental art is well known. Classical patterns - "tree of life", "lamb horns". They ascend in samples first discovered in the mounds of the Sarmatian, Saki, and Golden Horde periods.
For most of their history, the Nogai remained steppe warriors, so they rarely went down from the horse. The features of their nomadic lifestyle reflect their clothing. These are boots with high tops, wide-cut pants, in which it was convenient to ride, hats must take into account the peculiarities of the season.
The traditional Nogai clothes also include a cap and a beshmet (a caftan with a standing collar), as well as sheepskin sheepskin coats and harem pants.
Women's suit in cut is similar to men's. Its basis is a shirt dress, hats made of fabric or fur, fur coats, scarves, scarves, woolen shoes, various types of jewelry and belts.
Home
In the customs of the Nogais it was settled in yurts. Their adobe houses, as a rule, consisted of several rooms arranged in a row.
In particular, such dwellings were widespread among their neighbors in the regions of the North Caucasus. Studies have confirmed that Nogais independently created this type of housing.
