FROM HISTORY OF TURKIC (KUMYK) ETHNICITY AND STATEHOOD IN NORTHWEST (MOUNTAIN) DAGНESTAN
The article for the first time in. the combined presentation considers the key issues of the history of the Bulgarian-Turkic (Kumyk) statehood, as well as ethnicity in North-Western (mountainous) Dagestan. The area is currently inhabited by the Ando-Dido peoples and the history and origin of one of them, the andians, is under consideration. They, as it is clear from the results of the analysis, may have been formed on the above-mentioned Bulgarian-Turkic ethno-linguistic basis. At the same time the first mention of. Andi and Andians in local historical sources date back to not later of XVI century as a part of Kumyk state, Russian - to the first third of the XVIII century. Not a chance even in XIII-XIV centuries in the area of their current settlement, which is called by the neighboring nations as the Kumyk mountain was known Turkic hydronymy. The subsequent analysis allowed to conclude that in the considered territories, at least from the first century AD lived most ancient Bulgar-Kumyk population, later Kypchaks, i.e. actually Kumyk population. Historical facts confirming this situation, including the activities of the local Turkic (Kumyk) rulers of the region, are also established. Later, as a result of migration processes caused by political events and natural factors, the local Turkic-Kumyk population was assimilated by the current native speakers of the Andian language by the end of the XVIII century.