V.M. Victorin – PhD (History, Ethnology),

Assoc.-Prof. (Sociology)

(Astrakhan, Russia. Astrakhan State

University, Oriental Languages Depart.)

The Nogai Horde sprang up in 1391-1399 as a consequence of disintegration of the Golden Horde in the inter-river area of the Volga River (Nog. “the Idel’”), the Ural River (“the Zaik” or “the Jaik”) and the Emba River (“the Jem”), in other words, in the West of the modern Kazakhstan. Though direct descendants of Nogai nomads turned out residents of many other territories, the 600^th anniversary both of the famous Nogai epos “Edige”, adopted by some other Turks, and of the Nogai Horde itself as a state was officially celebrated in the Nogai Region of the Dagestan Republic in the Northern Caucasus, November 15 – 17, 1991.

As for its social political and legal aspects the Nogai Horde was an ordinary nomadic state, quite amorphous and unsteady, though in its golden age it extended for vast areas (Victorin 1988: 123-135). On historical-cultural ethnic plan the main population of the Horde passed their own unique way of development, created peculiar and interesting traditions closely contacting neighbouring and remote ethnic groupes.

The Nogais of today are at the important stage of revival of their own cultural property (Kalinovskaya, Markov, Victorin 1993).

Formed upon the basis of the Eastern, trans – Volga Kipchack tribes the early Nogais displayed the tightest kindred connections with the Karakalpaks and the Kazakhs. And nowadays Kazakh elements are noticeable in this ethnic group. The question is the Kazakhs of the North-West part of Kazakhstan and of the Russian Volga River Region (so-called “Little or Minor zhouz” – “hundred” or “horde”), that formed a part of the Nogai Horde and submitted to its rulers for quite a long period
 
As soon as Nogais had started  penetrating the right-bank regions of the Volga, the Don and, later, the Pre-Caucasus and the Black Sea areas, they got some new ethnic, that time, Western-Kipchack (Kuman or Polovets) elements to the main body of the folk.

It seems quite improbable that the Nogais as an ethnos have a direct connection (discussions have been still going on without a lull for over one hundred years) both with the word “temnic” (a commander of 10 thousand troops in the Golden Horde), whose name was N o g a y, a nephew of Batu – Khan, and with the population of his frontier “ulus” (settlement) which was located between the Dnieper River and the Danube River (Bosworth 1967).

The word “Nogay” (Old Mong. “dog”), a symbol of courage and gallantry, might be frequently and convergently reproduced in different parts of the Mongolian ethnocultural area.

Moreover, the spreading of the Nogais over the territories, occupied earlier by the Khan Nogay’s ulus, did not date from the 13^th century. But it took place stagedly at the beginning of the 15^th, in the middle of the 16^th and 17^th, at the end of the 18^th and at the beginning of the 19^th centuries. However we can regard the Nogais as soon as ethnos, inhabiting the steppe area in the South of the Eastern Europe, from the beginning of the 15^th century and up to date.

In 1401, the Nogais of Emir Edige smashed the “Bol’shaya Orda” (Big Horde) – the main nomadic part of the disintegrated Golden Horde, which occupied the steppes in the South of the modern Russia, between the Don River and the Sea of Azov. As the Russian annals shows it “ancient lang.: i vselisha … Nagai, iz-za Yaika prishedshe / bezeondan Yaikza haїbon cumen” (and the Nogais, who came from behind the Yaik, setteled territory among the Big Horde) (PSRL 1903: 8).

Quite often the modern Nogais of the Northern Caucasus believe themselves to be direct descendants and successors of the medieval Kypchacks / Polovets (the Kumans) who really reached the same places of inhabitation. But in reality, as soon as the Nogais took some conquered uluses of the Big Horde into their own group, they just added though akin but quite different the Turkic – European, Western –  Kypchack (Polovets or Kuman) ethnic element to their own Turkic –
Asian, Eastern –  Kypchack one.                             

However, since then the Nogai Horde practically copied the border lines of Pre – Mongolian Desht-i-Kypchack (the Kypchack steppe) and the steppe part of the Golden Horde, stretching from Near the Black Sea up to the Irtysh River area, and consisted, of two “wings”, two ethnic and political elements – eastern and western, like many other nomadic nations.

From the beginning of the 16^th century the rulers of the Horde, having got a great power, put their creatures – khans on throne of the Astrakhan Khanate and gave their daughters as wives to Kazan Khan­s. The last “tsarina” (queen) of the Kazan Khan­ate was Siyumbeki, a Nogai Horde Biy’s daughter.

By the way, not until the early 15^th century, as soon as they had crossed the European frontier unknown to them before, this ethnos got their name “the Nogais”. Earlier the well-known ancient ethnonim “the Mangyts” was used. The Russian Annals witness, “ancient lang.: pridosha Nagai, prezhde Mangyty rechenny’ye / юaюe wr Maŋgite hatte” («the Nogais came who earlier called the Mangits») (PSRL 1903). Later the term “Mangyt” was kept as a generic tribal name and as toponims of some settle­ments in the Stavropol and Astrakhan regions.

Regarding the religious (confessional) aspect the Nogais followed their ancestors who “worshipped fire and idols”, actually they remained hea­thens – shamanists even in the 17 – 18^th centuries. The heritage of this phenomenon can be found among them as male and female witchcraft – called “bacsylyc” (among the Astrakhan Karagashes), which is kept up to now. And in the 16^th century the Russian Annals mentioned the Nogai malename Tyangry – berdy – “God gave”. It was derivated after the Turkic-Mongolian heavenly divinity Tengry.

In addition the Emir Edige, the founder of the Nogai Horde, introduced Islam, widespread throughout the Middle Asia as a national religion. Besides he chose the Islam of Sunnits trend and Khanifits sense, which was quite tolerant to local customs and traditions. His contemporary, Spanish Ambassador Ryui Gonzales de Klavikho record­ed, “Edige has converted and goes on constantly converting his people to Moslem sect” (Klavikho de 1990).

There are some facts speaking of dissemination of Nestorians / Syr­ian Christianity among the Mangyts and the early Nogais. Sometimes, when they served to the Russian Tsar, some of the upper crust of Nogai aristoc­racy and even all their relations joined Orthodoxy. In the 19^th century in the Stavropol province it was recorded that the so-called Achikulack Nogais confessed both Sunnism and Shiism which came from Persia through Azerbaijan. But as a whole the Sunni-Islamic doctrine became predominant. And now it plays the leading role in all the territories where the Nogais live.

It is necessary to notice that there was a certain gradation of religiousness among the Nogais. So their settled neighbours and semi-set­tled Nogais regarded the Nogais who kept the nomadic way of living as “bad Muslims”. Thus the interrelations among different groups of the Astrakhan Nogais (the settled Yurtovs and the semi-nomadic Karagashes) were formed. The “tolgau” (a recitative song) is a universal poetic genre of the Nogais as a whole. So in one of his “tolgaus” on fights against the Kalmyks, batyr Kaz – Tugan the son of Siyunush, one of the military leaders and a famous “tolgau” – poet of the 17^th century, wrote the following about the numerous tribe of “the Jemloilyks” («people from the Jem [Emba] River»):

«They did not celebrate “uraza” (an Islamic annual Pasting – V.V.), did not put rugs on the floor, did not like to perform “namaz” (an Islamic prayer – V.V.)»/  He called them “the unbelieving Jemboilyk” (Anthology 1980: 500).

Later, in the early 18^th century, the French traveler Jahn de Luk noticed about the Nogais who were dependent on the Crimea:

«They are Mohammedans, but they do not observe the rules of their religion, … do not gather for praying; Hadji (mullahs) and Moslem theologians can not get accustomed to their way of life» (Luk de 1879: 485).

As regarded, the batyr Edige, a commander of Golden Horde troops, announted himself the head of the Nogai Horde, which was newly sprung up. He was not noble by birth and he had no right to have the title of Khan. Though the folk heroic epos gave  Edige’s family some extraordinary power and supernatural origin. Edige was believed to descend from the great shaman Baba Tuokles Shashly-adje (that means “shaggy-hairy old man”), whose sacred grave “auliya” is located not far from Astrakhan, and from a water witch – “albasty” (Swan Maiden).

Edige’s descendants, therefore, got a new title of “mirza” or, in the Russian manner, “murza” (from Persian “emir – zade” – «a son of emir»). This title was quite equal to the Russian “knyazhich” meaning “prince”. And the Nogai murzas who left the Horde gave the beginning to the Russian noble families such as the Yusupovs, the Urusovs, the Sheidyakovs (who became princes of the Russian Empire) and others. And nowadays the off springs of those murzas, such as the Urusovs, the Timbaevs (the Tinbaevs), the Zhingurzhins – Yamgurcheevs, remaining among the Astrakhan Yurtov Nogais, have already counted 23 generations from their legendary first ancestor. It has so happened that some of their families live not far from the “auliya” of Tukles, even without suspecting of any blood ties to him.

A wolf skin was the sign of Nogai mirza title in different periods of time and in different places of their ethnic residence (let’s remember again the name of “nogay” – “a fighting dog”). Later on a hat made of marten, a hunting bird on the arm and a sabre at the dome of yurt (a nomad tent) became the main symbols of mirza power.

Naturally Edige’s off springs tried to achieve the equal status with the upper crust of the former Golden Horde aristocracy. In the legends about Edige his elder son Nur-ad-din exclaimed, «Whom of Chingis Khan’s descendants am I beneath?!» (Semyonov 1895: 449).

By the way it became a tradition to call the top administration posts, which gave the right to rule a certain part of the Nogai nomadic Horde, after the names of Edige’s sons: Nurraddin, Keikovat and Taibuga. The Russian document of that time runs as follows:

«And it is the custom in the Nogai principality that the first person is a Nogai Prince, beneath him there is another man Nuradyn, the third is Taibuga and the fourth is Kekuvat» (Akty vremyon Lzhedmitriya 1918, 1: 264).

Even in the 19^th century the Nogais still remembered the estab­lishment of the first social state structure of the Horde. «By common consent Edige called his son Norodin as the murza and his people were called the “uzdens” (the yeomen – V.V.), subordi­nate to him. After Norodin had been named ‘murza’ all Edige’s descendants got the name “murza”. And since then they all have been called like that» (Kochekaev 1969: 11).

Heading the Horde Edige accepted the title of the “Biy” to be passed on by succession. But the Horde observed the ancient Turkic order of throne succes­sion slightly changed. It was revealed and described as «udelno – lestvichnaya sistema» (the domain – family – tree system) by L.N. Gumilev (1959).

In the document of 1604 the Russian “voevodes” (governors of prov­inces in ancient Russia) expressed their surprise to Mirza Yan-Araslan who wished to get the title of the Biy overcoming Mirza Ishterek where­as the father of the latter was «bigger and better than  his father was».

Yan-Araslan explained, «It runs so that at first the great son of the great brother lives on principal and then another brother`s son lives on principal…» (Akty vremyon Lzhedmitriya 1918, 1:188). In other words, the Biy’s throne was succeeded from an uncle by a nephew, but Biy’s children started to dispute the throne on the right of primogeniture with arms in their hands.

In the Nogai Horde the Aristocracy Congress which was tradition­ally held each year on the sacred day of June 21 solved all the most important matters (PDRV 1791, 7: 277).  The Con­gress particularly elected the Biy who was then raised on a white “koshma” (a carpet made of white sheep wool) in accordance with the ancient Turkic ritual.

In the Horde, in addition to the direct off springs of Edige, some tribal and territorial nomadic communities had aristocracy of their own. Naturally the ruling dynasty tried to become related to that aristocracy by means of marriage and through the custom to bring up their children in the family of an uncle on the mother’s side, who was called “atalyk”. A bit later the same practice was used by Crimean Khans in regards with noble Hogai murzas. Thus a special social group “imildeshes” – «foster – brothers» was formed. They also held top posts in the hordes.

And two other terms “karachi” and “uhlans” were used in the Horde. They both were probably used to denote representatives of the noblest clans. They were mostly involved by members of the Mangyt clan. It is interesting to know that the Mangyts also had privileges both in the Crimean Khanate and in the Kasimov «Tsardom». Such clans as the Argyn, the Sejeut (or Kipchack) and the Jelair (or Shirin) the Mangyts formed a body of councilors named “Four Karachi”. The “Uhlans” (“ouglan” – «child») were evidently special military troops acting as guards. Later the rank “uhlan” was adopted by some European armies.

 The ruling estate could be filled up with ignoble “batyrs” – the best warriors who became famous in battles – and with their descendants. Another social group of body-guards, the so-called “tarkhans”, seemed to be similar to batyrs. F. Engels defined analogous ancient Mongolian “tarkhans” as a special estate which. «… springs up among all the semi-civilized peoples as a result of their marshal way of life» (Engels 1938: 220). A separate social group of “seits” was formed by the supreme clergy.

By the 16^th century the Nogais had merchantry of their own and entire trade associations called «gostiny argyshi». At first they practiced barter, then, judging by the documents of 1557, the common equivalent ap­peared. Initially, like in many other peoples, it was cattle – a sheep to be exact. And a «conventional sheep» cost half as much as a real one did.

But the majority of the Horde population were common people, nomads – «chyornye ulusnye lyudi» (black or common people of do­main). Prisoners of wars more often became slaves – “kuls”, but their dependence was of some domestic patriarchal character. They were either sold at slave markets in the Crimea, in the Caucasus, in the Middle Asia or remained as servants. Released slaves stayed among the Nogais and joined different social groups. Those who had been successful in battles joined even the “tarkhan” estate.

Amidst the nomadic and semi-nomadic Nogais there was an ex­tremely interesting dependent and settled ethnosocial group. In the Nogai Horde they were called “tumaks”. They had a permanent way of living, compactly settled on the banks of the Buzan River, a tributary of the Akhtuba River, not far from Astrakhan. And even nowadays there is a settlement named “Tumak” in this area, provided it is not an occasional simi­larity like in the case with the name of the Nogais.

These “tumaks” cultivated millet supplying nomadic hordes with food. In the middle of the 16^th century the “tumaks”, who had taken to flight and settled in the environs of Astrakhan, became the cause of the conflict between Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible and his betrothed «elder brother» the Nogai Biy Ismail.

In their letters the “tumaks” were called as «hereditary servants of the Biy» (PDRV 1795, 10: 155-160). Although, in fact, they were likely just to supply the whole Nogai nomadic community with foodstuff.

In the 17^th century and up to the first half of the 19^th century there was a very similar stratum called “emeki” – “the emeks” among the Astrakhan Yurtov Nogais (Nebol’sin 1852; Gmelin 1771). And such families of “murzas” as the Urusovs, the Timbaevs and some “batyrs – ahas” tried to enslave emeks and to assume posses­sion of them following the same pattern as it was with Russian serfs. But “the emeks” supplied the whole Yurtov “tabuns” (Mong. “tumen” – 10 thousand of warriors) with crops. They had a permanent way of life constantly living and growing harvests in the “auls” of the Yurtovs, who were semi-settled at that time. In 1840 after all the Yurtovs had become settled the Tsar Government granted competent status to the “emeks”.

For the lack of historically appreciable blood connections between “tu­maks” and “emeks” and for their chronological and territorial relations (they lived rather close to each other) the studies on these two groups gives the opportunity to draw up some interesting con­clusions and to understand better the status of dependent settled and ethnically mixed groups in the nomadic social environment.

Both ‘tumaks’ and ‘emeks’ lived in the territories of Nogai hordes and had rather a low and scornful status among the Nogais. They were occupied with agriculture and had to supply the Horde with food. So the word “emek” or “jemek” has the root of the Turkic word “em”, “jem” which means «food, forage and provision». It is no mere chance that the supposedly former “emeks” settlements located in the vicinity of Astrakhan are called «Djemene, Emeli – aul» i.e. «a foodstuff village», «Kulakau» i.e. «enslaved, dependent», and «Yarly – tyube» i.e. «a hill of poor men».

There is, however, every reason to consider “emeks” as half-bred Nogais or as off-springs of some subdued groups. Among them there were descen­dants of captives from peoples of the Northern Caucasus. In the 19^th cen­tury some “mountaineer Tatars” were documentally fixed in Djemeli – aul (the village of Tri Protoki).

And even nowadays remote off springs of the “Tauly” stock – “mountaineers” can be met. According to them they are Chechens by long standing birth. And their families differ from the others in outward appearance. In addition off-springs of the “Djari” stock live in the neighbouring Kulakau – aul (now the village of Kulakovka). Their ancestors are traditionally supposed to be Chircassians. The archival sources witness that there were captive Kazan and Crimean Tatars among them. Moreover, the Nogais of the western branch found their cover in this area, when they had escaped from the Crimean Power to Russia – alone or with their families.

The words “tuma”, “tumat”, “tumak” were widely known both in the Crimea and in the Northern Caucasus. They were used by the Cossacks on the Don River in the meaning of «a son of an alien or of a slave woman» or «not enjoying all civil rights».

Thus in the 17^th century, when chil­dren were born by slave women, the Crimean Nogais called them “tuman”; such children could be sold at any moment because they were not regarded as children (Askoli 1902: 114).  

The above materials witness how scornful any agricultural work was among nomadic cattle-breeders (though they needed it greatly), how closely tied their ideas of non-purity of blood and non-equality of rights were. It is obvious that “emeks” and “tumaks” demonstrated the group tribute dependence which was typical for nomads (Pershits 1973).

There was another peculiar social group in the Horde. Its members were called by the others as Nogai «Cossacks». This section of the community, like Caucasian Abrecks, consisted of men who broke social order or escaped from blood feud (“kanlyk”) or of outcasts, bandits and sometimes of those who was fond of free, independent way of life, and of folk defenders who protected the oppressed from any Power.

Sometimes Nogai «Cossacks» set up entire practically inaccessible settlements (Stal’ 1900: 21, 78-79). Sometimes they joined the dependent people who were not enjoying all civil rights or lost their tribal and blood ties, who were impoverished and devoid of cattle – like “tumaks” and “emeks”.

The late Golden Horde town named Saraichik («a small palace») was the capital of the Nogai Horde not so long. It was situated on the Lower Ural River (the Yaik), in the area of settling of one of the “tumak” groups. There is no information on the ways it was used for or if the Biy lived there and how long he did it, who inhabited the town along with him. By the beginning of the 17^th century the town had been left for Kalmyks were invading the territory.

There are no precise data on the number of the Nogai Horde population even in its golden age which was in the early 16^th century when it spread its influence over vast territories. The lawyer E.A. Ponozhenko, the author of the only and very substantial dissertation researching on the political and legal structure of the Nogai Horde, estimates their number at 450,000 people (Ponozhenko 1977).

However, the annexation of the Middle and Lower Volga River territories by the Russian State in 1552-1558, simultaneous famine and plague epidemic in the Nogai Horde in 1557-58, the split of the Horde into two territorially and politically hostile groups of the Crimean and Russian orientation, permanent and endless wars, and later on, aggressive campaigns of neighbouring peoples and countries against the Nogais led to death of the masses of its population and, as a result, to the downfall of the Nogai Horde. Though the traditions of its structure and organization were still kept by the Nogais for a long time. And judging by the above facts remembrance of them is still alive.

After the supporter and ally of the Russian State Biy Ismail had come to the throne of the Nogai Horde his enemies – the “murzas” that were expatriated by him and other children of the Biy Mursa found shelter in Astrakhan (Novoselsky 1948). In 1556 this group was head­ed by the Khan Yamgurchei (Yangburshy) who became the last independent ruler of the Astrakhan Khanate. In 1552 a large troop of Nogais took part in defending Kazan against the Russian troops and their allies.

In 1556 the Nogai Horde was divided into the Bolshaya (Big) Nogai Horde, headed by the Biy Ismail, with its centre in the territories around the Volga River and the Ural River; and the Malaya (Small) Nogai Horde, headed by Kazy – Mirza, that had roamed to the West, to the European part of the Nogai area, to the Kuban River and the territories adjoining the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. There the latter became dependent on the Crimean Khanate, which was Russia’s enemy, and, consequently, a vassal of the sultan Turkey. In 1558 the two Biy’s sons Tinbay and Kutbay (evidently, Din – Mohammed and Kutlu – Mohammed), who betrayed their father and led the strong tribe of “naiman” away from his Power, joined the Small Nogai Horde.

 Different political preferences of the Volga – Ural (the Big Nogai Horde) and Pre – Caucasian (the Small Nogai Horde) Nogais, as well as ethnic contacts of the latter both with the Crimean Tatars (and indirectly with the Turkish – Osmans) and with mountaineers of the Northern Caucasus living next to them at that time, resulted in the territorial isolation between the West and the East branches of the Nogais.

Epidemic diseases and first signs of splitting the Nogai Horde entailed the increase in local separatism among the smaller hordes, stocks and tribes of which it was formed.

In 1560 English traveler Anthony Jenkinson saw this phenomenon and reported «Each Nogais horde had its own ruler, called murza, who they obeyed to as to their king…» (Angliyskie puteshestvenniki 1957). In the early 17^thcentury the Biy’s Supreme Power started to be disputed: «And the prince Ishterek said that murzas and ulus people were free there and they obeyed little to him» (Akty vremyon Lzhedimitriya 1918, 1: 110).

At the same time, at tile end of the 16^th and at the beginning of the 17^th centuries, according to the report of Bukhara writer Ruzbekhan, the struggle became more intensive in the Eastern residence of the Nogais, inside the Kypchack ethnic community that had been united earlier by Nogai influence. It involved the Nogais themselves, the Kazakhs and the steppe Uzbeks – Kypchacks.

«The Khans of these three tribes (“taife”) are in constant enmity, and each of them encroaches upon another,… wins the victory,… sells (to slavery), and captures, their property and cattle as spoils. If somebody rejects such behaviour saying, «Why do you sell the people of your own?», they get surprised at that… » (Akhmedov 1965).

But history soon prepared a common military threat and a severe ordeal to those three Kypchack peoples, separated by enmity, as well as to akin to them Kirghizes. But the Nogais suffered worst of them all; they were for ever forced out almost fully from their Asian areas to the European steppes.

At the beginning of the 17^th century Mongolian speaking no­mads the Kalmyks / Oirats went fighting through the whole territory of modern Kazakhstan, after they had been forced out from the native Jungariya by the Khalkha – Mongols and the Chinese.  And in 1630-1635 they got to the Volga River, defeated and forced out the Nogais from their area. And in 1644 they forced a crossing over the Volga to its right «Crimean» bank pursuing the Nogais.

One or two groups of the Nogais found their cover with the Russian administration of Astrakhan. Their nowadays descendants are the Astrakhan “Yurtovs” of suburban settlements, they are strongly influenced by the Tatars who are urban migrants from the vicinity of Kazan.

 The majority of the Nogais who were defeated and driv­en off to the West joined the Nogais of the Small Horde territori­ally under the aegis of the Crimea. But a great number of people were taken prisoners by the Kalmyks and went on roaming within the Kalmyk uluses. They had subordinate rights and were to pay a tribute and to have a job to do.

Having nominally become citizens of Russia the Kalmyks never­theless continued fighting to possess the Nogai nomadic groups as an independent political force, side by side with the Crimean Khanate and the Russian State. More than once the Nogai groups of both the former Big and Small Hordes literally passed through many hands. In the 60s of the 17^th century a number of events were recorded when the Nogai troops were forced to fight against each other supporting their rulers – the Kalmyks and the Crimeans. That rivalry took place along the whole steppe line of the Northern Caucasus, in the Don River and the Kuban River territories.

The above mentioned Kaz – Tugan-batyr’s “tolgau” tells about these events: «Defending themselves from the Kalmyks, bewaring of misfortune and indigence thus about the world spread my Nogai kin». The Asrtakhan Kundrovs / Kundraus (the Tulga[n]s / Tulugans) – an Edisan / Jetysan Nogai group  – were captured by the Kalmyks in the course of wars in 1725 when the Khan Ayuka (men­tioned in songs of all the Nogais) took part in the Persian campaign of Peter the Great. Two decades later a larger Nogai group of the Small Horde – the Karagashes were taken as prisoners by the Khan Donduk – Dashi in 1743 (Rahimov, Umerov 2002 : 351-360) at the place of Temnoi Les (Dark Wood – “Kara – Agash”), not far from the mountains of Beshtau (the Five Hills, Pyatigor’ye). Those were the Kalmyks who brought the Kundrovs and then the Karagashes to the environs of Asrtakhan (Victorin 1983).

According to the informa­tion of the famous writer and orientalist Count Yan Pototsky who visited them in the late 18th century the Karagashes respected their noyon Tyumen’ as a descendant of Chingis – Khan, like other subordinates to the Kalmyks (Alexeev 1936: 212). The Karagashes have regarded and are still regarding the neighbouring Yurtov Nogais who are the Big Horde people by birth as their remote relatives. As for Kalmyks who married their girls in the old days they were called “nagashe”, that means «a maternal uncle» (it has quite the same pronunciation both in Turkic and in Mongolian).

Thus within the first decades of the 18^th century the Nogais con­centrated in a number of steppe areas in the South of Russia submitting to different rulers and to different state formations.

The Budjak (Akqerman or Belgorod) Horde, a direct vassal of Turkey, lived in the South of the modern Moldova area to which the Gagauzes moved after the Horde had departed in the middle of the 19^th century. The Perekop Horde and the so-called “inland” Nogais protected the Crimean Peninsula in the North. And the Kuban Nogai Horde, a subse­quent development of the Small Horde Nogais, was dependent on the Crimean Khanate. The Kuban Nogais lived in the West of the Northern Caucasus, in the inter-river area of the three rivers: the Kuban, the Laba and the Zelenchuck. They reached the Black Sea coast. Their group of “twelve villag­es” moved across the strait to the Kerch Peninsula to the steppe of the South-East Crimea.

Three hordes of the former Big Nogai Horde – the Edisan (Jetysan), the Emboyluk (Jembuluk) and the Edishkul (Jetyshkul) mainly submitted to the Kalmyks. But some of them joined the Azov – Perekop – Crimean Nogais, others longed for becoming Russian citizens, while others were able to roam along the southern edge of the Pre-Caucasus territory between the Black and the Caspian Seas independently.

Some united yurts (groups) separated from the former Big and Small Nogai Hordes (including a lot of the Naimans) reached the northern steppe of Dag­estan and entered into various alliances with the neighbouring mountain­eers. Some of them – the Kostekov and the Aksaev Nogais and others – were engaged for service by Kumyck princes. And by the end of the 19^th century they had passed to another Turkic – the Kumy­ck language as their mother tongue but they kept some ethnic peculiarity of their own language.

As it was said above, “the Yurtov” Nogais (called by the Karagashes and Kazan migrants as “the Kariyle” or “the Karayuyly”: “iy, yuy” that is equal to “yurt”) lived in the environs of Astrakhan, being naturalized by Russia and engaged for Russian service.

Sometimes the Karagashes submitted to the Kalmyks and sometimes they joined Astrakhan. The mixed group of “Utars” or “Alabuga[t] Nogais” splitted off the Edisan and Beshogul Nogais as well as the Kirghizes (the Buruts) and the Kazakhes – “Togmuts”, who were brought there by the Kalmyks, and Astrakhan urban Bukha­ra – Uzbeks (“the Sarts”) behaved in the similar way.

From the 40s to the 90s of the 18^th century the Tsar Gov­ernment made repeated attempts to move the people who escaped from Crimean Khans to Russia (the so-called “sa!tanaulskie i.e. the Sul­tan Crimean – Kuban Nogais) and the Kalmyk “tayshes” (the so-called “kundrovskie” – “the Kundrovs, Kundraus, the Tul[u]ga[n] Nogais”) «to the Kirghiz (that is Kazakh – V.V.) steppe, to their primordial, primeval native lands».

Some of those peoples, who were migrated in 1744-1745, settled in the Orenburg region southward of Bashkiriya at the Kazakh­stan frontier on the Sakmara River, joined the Russian Cossacks and merged with local Tatars of Kazan origin. Others escaped from the new places of inhabitation, as soon as it was possible, to the akin Kazakhs and founded the big kin of “Nugay – Cossacks” remaining a separate ethnic group for a long period of time. Then in 1801 they togeth­er with the Sultan Bukey Nuraliev’s Kazakhs returned to the Volga River Region to their ancient territory where the indivisible Nogai Horde once had roamed and which was vacant of Kalmyks by that time.

Only the mentioned above but not so numerous group of Astrakhan Nogais originated from the Edisan (Jetisan) – “the Kundrovs, Kundraus, Tuluga[n]s” who lived in the Pre-Caspian Sea territory in the left part of the Volga Delta and at the Akhtuba river, as well as the Nugay – Gossacks, strongly influenced by the Kazakhs living in the Upper-River zone of «salt lakes» – Baskunchak Lake and Eiton Lake, remained absolute nomads

Not until the 17^th century the Budjack Nogais started to have a settled way of living and to take to agriculture. In the early 18^th century most of the Kuban and Crimean Nogais endured the same transition. As regarded, in the middle of the 18^th century not numerous migrants of Orenburg Nogais had already a permanent way of life. At the end of the 18^th and at the very beginning of the 19^th century the remaining of Astrakhan suburban Yurtov Hogais got settled. After they had settled, the Nogais, however, preserved their previous nomadic traditions. The former nomadic groups (“tabun”, “ulus”) founded settlements, the blocks (“makhallya”) of which were called either after their tribal names: “Kipchack” (local name – “Kymchak”), “Kereit” (“Kerit”), “Kungrat” (“Kurnat”), “Kyrghyz”, “Beshogul” (“Beshul”) or after their names which were slightly changed.  Each “makhallya” (block) within the aul had its self-government institutions and a mosque of its own.

After becoming independent on the Kalmyks the Karagashes, who live northwards of Astrakhan, and “the Utars / Alabugats”, who lived westwards of it, passed to a semi-settled way of living under the Astrakhan Depart­ment. Both of these ethnic groups preserved this way of living up to 1929. They continued roaming and had winter villages – field-camps (“kystau” – Russ. “kishlak” i.e. «a winter camp, a win­ter hut»).

The Nogais continued to have an important active role even within the states they joined as citizens. The famous Russian explorer of the Crimean Khanate V.D. Smirnov (born at the Caspian coast not far from Astrakhan) pointed out the “antagonistic bi­section” among the main components of the population – the settled Crimean Tatars and the originally nomadic Nogais – as the principle factor of the internal state development (Smirnov 1887: 715-716).

The external factor – extreme power of the Turkish Sultan – tried to oppose those two elements and to subordinate the Nogais «di­rectly». And, in modern terms, for this purpose official Istanbul tried to use the ideas of “fundamentalism” to counterbalance local “traditionalism”. They popularized the Moslem law – Shariat and made it supreme to the customary law (“tцre”) of the Crimean Tatars and the Nogais. The Treaty on the Budjak Horde Citizenship to Turkey said the fol­lowing: «The Nogais must … always submit to the sacred Shariat …, must leave their foul custom called Tцre» (Smirnov 1887: 683).

When the Crimean Khanate was subjugated in 1783 the power of the Russian Empire   strengthened over the whole region which included the Black Sea and Pre-Caucasus territories. The same year the Nogais, who became Russian citizens, raised a revolt and suffered a shattering defeat from the troops commanded by famous A.V. Suvorov.

In the 19^th century the Nogais roaming in the steppes of Dagestan (the Kara – Nogais, Karanogais) and in the eastern Stavropol territory (the Achikulak Nogais of “three cubes” – Edisan, Emboylyk, Edishkul) began to have a semi-settled way of living. The Zaterechnye (the Terek River) or Kumyk Nogais settled too.

In the second half of the 19^th century during and soon after the Russian – Turkish wars the Nogai population living near the Black Sea, in the Crimea and mainly in the Northern Caucasus endured the painful phenomenon of “mukhadjirs” – their departure out of Russia, their aspiration to move to the territory of any «Moslem state».

The Belgorod (Akqerman) Nogai Horde went away leaving Budjak for Romanian Dobrudzha, which was then a subordinate to Turkey. And nowadays in villages of Romania there are above 5.000 people of those Nogais who were then officially recorded as «the Turkish» and who are now recorded as «the Tatars» like the neighbouring Crimean Tatars from such towns as Konstantsa, Mamaiya and others. These Nogais have kept their native language and folklore.

While crossing the Black Sea by ships and migrating together with mukhadjirs – mountaineers the Nogais suffered very great losses of peo­ple. Many of them preferred to return back. And their descendants formed a large aul called Kangly in Mineralny Vody in the very heart of the Stavropol Territory. Those who have settled in Turkey live generally in the vilayet Konya not far from the Mediterranean Sea and next to the nomadic Turkish Yuryuks.

By founding their two principal settlements in 1788 the main group of the Karagashes, off springs of the Kuban Nogais, who had become independent on the Kalmyks and settled at Krasny (Red) Yar, one of the districts of the Astrakhan Province shifted to a semi-settled way of living. The process of their settling at the Lower Volga was so complicated that it required the interference of Empress Yekaterina the Second, which may be testified by the documents from the Astrakhan State Archives (Victorin 1985: 157-159).

 The principal settlements – Seitovka and Khozhetaevka were shortly accompanied with about 30 smaller villages. They were arranged in strict conformity with the tribal principle. The Seitovka group had 7 tribes – “ru” while the Khozhetaevka group had 8 ones (their dialects became notice­able). The difference was obvious when families of one tribe formed a block of huts around «their own» Mosque.

 Moscow explorer V.D. Pyatnitsky was the first to find and describe in detail the Karagashes and the remaining elements of their semi-nomadic way of living. Soon local lore scholar V.I. Trofimov from the city of Saratov saw the Karagashes having the last moments of being nomads. They both gave the most interest­ing descriptions of this phenomenon. (Pyatnitsky in 1929; Trofimov in 1935 – 1936). V.I. Trofimov, who was a history teacher at the Saratov Tatar Pedagogical Secondary School, also gained some remarkable collections concerning the life of  the Nogais of the Lower Volga in general and of the Karagashes in particular. A rich and beautiful dress of a young Karagash woman, which is exposed in the Astrakhan Museum, has become well-known (Tokarev 1957: 80). The fragments of the only Nogai “koyme” remained, a special wedding carriage for a bride which was found in the village of Seitovka are kept under No 5882 in the Funds of the Museum of Local Lore in Sara­tov.

In 1929 the Karagashes were compelled to have a permanent way of living. V.I. Trofimov told the author of this article that at that time all yurts in Seitovka had been burnt out within the sanitary actions. So artel fishing and vegetable – growing became their main occupations.

Then typical for semi-nomadic and nomadic economies cattle – breeding continued to be for some time the main activity of Kazakhs at the Lower Volga and  of Mongolian  speaking Kalmyks in the European part of the Pre – Caucasus territory.

Later only the Karanogais of steppe Dagestan and partly the “Achikulak” Nogais of the eastern part of the Stavropol terri­tory, who joined the Karanogais, were the only and the last Turks in the South of Eastern Europe who preserved the principles of nomadic and semi-nomadic cattle – breeding in their economy as well as proper features of their social organization, morals and. manners for some time (Kalmykov, Kereytov, Sikaliev 1988).

 This vast territory taken as a whole was called “the Nogai Steppe”. Under the Soviet power the Kizlyar National Region was formed in the area. It successfully united the main masses of the local Nogais. Another famous explorer of the early 20^th century P.O. Kapelgorodsky studied the life of Nogais. As a teacher and Head of Administration he was well aware of the subject. In 1916 he published a narrative entitled “Ash Khadu” (an Arab. – Moslem formula of oath). The book skillfully and vividly described the peculiarities of the semi-nomadic way of living and the relations within the Karanogai community before the October Revolution (Kapelgorodsky 1967).

Whereas nowadays relations among the inhabit­ants of the Karanogai (now Nogai ) Region, which still have signs of former traditions, became the subject of consideration in the narrative “A White Roebuck” by another author – the Dargin writer A. Abu-Bakar (Abakarov) who is a member of the neighbouring mountaineer ethnos (Abu-Bakar 1979).

Not long ago, namely, in the first part of the 1960s the Northern Dagestan Nogais had yurts and other peculiarities and elements of the semi-nomadic way of living. This has been noticed by such researchers as L.N. Kuzheleva from Leningrad, A.I.-M. Sikaliev and R.Kh. Kereytov from Gherkessk and by others in a great number of works.

Thus there are quite good reasons for the assertion that they are the only ethnos on the territory of Europe members of which keep in their short memory traditions and customs of the nomadic and semi-nomadic way of living.

We can easily reconstruct even more ancient stages of the Nogais’ history, the epos of folk unity and their State structure. For this purpose we need scrutinize the materials concerning ethnoses that are close typologically and akin genetically such as the Astrakhan Nogais (firstly the Karagashes), the Kuban and Stavropol Nogais as well as all their fellow tribesmen who live far abroad. This article makes one of such attempts.

Modern researchers have recently expressed an interesting assertion that at present the Nogais of Russia are at an important stage of their transition to a higher level of their ethnic, cultural and social – political organization (Kalinovskaya, Markov 1990: 15-22).

Groups of the Nogai population separated before are strength­ening the ties among themselves. The Nogai National – Cultural Move­ment “Birlik” (Engl.”Unity”) made its contribution to this process. We can literally see the whole bright Pleiad of young Nogai writers, artists, actors, as well as scien­tists, teachers and statesmen who have entered the public life recently and showed their valuable originality.

Debates on giving the national-administrative, auton­omous status to the territories with compact Nogai population (“the Nogai Steppe” and the Adyge – Khabl region in Cherkessiya) raise a lot of uneasy questions. Since 1987 the Astrakhan Nogais – the Karagashes have taken some attempts to improve their cultural environment. For the first time in their history they began teaching the literary Nogai language at schools and they also started television and radio-broadcasting in it. Though the Yurtovs at the same time, preferred to return to learning the language of their close neighbours – the Tatar language. This witnesses the importance of con­sidering the problems of the Nogais proceeding both from their ancient and rich history and from their continuation in modern prospect.

REFERENCES  CITED

Abu-Bakar A. 1976. Povesti [Narratives]. Moscow.

Akhmedov E.A. 1965. Gosudarstvo kochevykh uzbekov [The State of the Nomadic Uzbeks]. Moscow: Nauka.

Akty vremyon Lzhedmitriya I. 1918 [Acts of the Pseudo-Dimitry the First Time]. Vyp. I – Smutnoye vremya Moskovskogo gosudarstva [Issue I – Trobled Times of the Moscow State]. – In: Chteniya v Obtshestve istorii I drevnostey Rossiyskikh pri Moskovskom universitete. Kniga 264 [Reedings at the Russian History and Antiquities Society of the Moscow University. Book is 264]. Moscow: 1-10.

Alexeev V.N. 1936. Istoricheskie puteshestviya. Izvlecheniya iz memuarov i zapisok inostrannykh i russkikh puteshestvennikov po Volge v XV- XVIII vekah [The Historical Voyages. Extracts from Memoirs and Notes of the Foreign and Russian Travelers along the Volga in the 15 – 18^th Centuries]. Stalingrad: Regional Press.

Alexeeva E.P. 1957. Ocherki po ekonomike I kul’ture narodov Cherkessii v XVI – XVII vekakh (Essays on the Economy and Culture of the Cherkesia Peoples in the 16^th – 17^th Centuries). Cherkessk: Depart. of  the Stavropol Regional Press.

Angliyskie puteshestvenniki v Moscovskom gosudarstve v XVI veke. 1957[English Travelers in the  Moscow State in the 16 ^th Century]. Leningrad.

Antologiya dagestanskoy poezii. T. I – Pesni narodov Dagestava. 1980 [Anthology of the Dagestan Poetry. Vol. I – Songs of the Dagestan Peoples]. Makhachkala.

Askoli, d’Askoli. 1902. Opisanie Chornogo morya i Tatarii [Discription of the Black Sea and Tataria]. Zapiski Odesskogo obtshestva istorii i drevnostej, Vol. 24, No 2. Odessa.

Bosworth C.E. 1967. The Islamic Dynasties. A Chronological and Genealogical Handbook (Islamic Surveys. 5). Edinburgh: University Press.

Engels F. 1938. Khronologichesskie vypiski [The Chronological Notes]. Arkhiv Marxa i Engel’sa, Vol. 5. Moskow.

Ferran 1882. Puteshestvie iz Kryma v Cherkesiyu cheres zemli nogaiskikh tatar v 1709 godu [A Travel from the Crimea to Cherkessia through the lands of the Nogai Tatars in 1709]. Russkiy vestnik, Vol. V, part 4-6 (1).

Gmelin S.G. 1771. Puteshestvie po Rossii dlya issledovaniya tryokh tsarstv prirody [A Travel about Russia for exploration of Three Natural Kingdoms]. Vol. 2. St.-Petersburg

Gumilev L.N. 1959. Udel’no-lestvichnaya sistema u turok v VI – VIII vekakh (k voprosu o rannikh formakh gosudarstvennosti) [The “Domain-Family-Tree Stairs” system among the Turks in the 6^th – 8^th Centuries (in the questions about the early state forms)]. Sovetskaya etnografiya, No 5: 11-25.

Kalinovskaya K.P., Markov G.E. 1990. Nogaitsy – problemy natsional’nykh otnosheniy i kultury (The Nogais – Problems of National Relations and Culture). Sovetskaya ethnografiya, No 2: 15-22.

Kalinovskaya K.P., Markov G.E., Victorin V.M. 1995. Nogaitsy segodnya [The Nogais Today]. Moscow: Institute of ethnology and anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Researches on the Practical and Extra-Ordinary Ethnology. No 44)

Kalmykov I.Kh., Kereytov R.Kh., Sikaliev A.I.-M. 1988. Nogaitsy. Istoriko – ethnogfaficheskij ocherk [The Nogais. The Historical-Ethnographical Essay]. Cherkessk: Depart. of  the Stavropol Regional Press.

Kapel’gorodsky P.O. 1967. Povesti [Narratives]. Moscow.

Klavikho R.G. de.1582. Historia del gran Tamorlan. Levilla (reedit.: Klavikho de. 1990. Moscow).

Kochekaev B.B. 1969. Klassovaya struktura nogaiskogo obtshestva v XIX – nachale XX vekov [Class Structure of the Nogai Society in 19^th – 20^th Centuries]. Alma-Ata.

Lyuk J. de 1879. Opisanie perekopskikh i nogaiskikh tatar, cherkesov, mingrelov i gruzin [Descripion of the Perekop and Nogai Tatars, the Circassions, the Mingrels and the Georgians]. Zapiski Odesskogo obtshestva istorii i drevnostej, Vol. I. Odessa.

Nebol’sin P.I. 1852. Ocherki Volzhskogo nizovya [The Lower Volga Essays]. St.-Petersburg.

Novosel’sky A.A. 1948. Bor’ba Moscovskogo gosudarstva s tatarami v pervoy polovine XVII-go veka [Struggle of the Moscow State against the Tatars in the first part of the 17^th Century]. Moscow-Leningrad; Academy of Science Press.

Pallas P.S. 2008.Zametki o puteshestvii v yuzhnye namestnichestva Rossiyskoy imperii v 1793 i 1794 godah. T. I – izbrannoe [Comments on traveling about the Southern Domains of the Russian Empire in 1793 and 1794 years. Vol. I – selected]. Astrakhan.

Pershits A.M. 1973. Dannichestvo [The Tribute relations]. Moscow.

PDRV 1791, 1793, 1795. Prodolzhenie drevney rossiyskoy vivliofiki [Continuation of Ancient Russian Library].Vol. VII, VIII – IX, X. St.-Petersburg.

PSRL 1903. Polnoe sobranie russkih letopisey [Complete Collection of Russian Annals].Vol. XIX. St.-Petersburg.

Pyatnitsky V.(D). 1929. Karagachi (po materialam poezdki v 1927 godu) [The Karagaches (according to the materials of the travel in 1927)]. Zemlevedenie, Vol. 32, part 3-4: 137-159.

Rahimov S.T., Umerov A.I. 2002. Rahimov S.T. Gabdrahman Gөməri – Umerov: fənni – biografik jientyk (sbornik) (“Şəhslərebez” – «Nashi personalii» seriyase) [(G)abd(u)rahman Gumдri – Umerov: scientific – biographical collect. (series “Our persons”)]. Kazan: “Ruhiyat Nəşiriyate” Press.

Semyonov N. 1895. Tuzemtsy Severno-Vostochnogo Kavkaza [The Aborigines of the North-East Caucasus]. St.-Petersburg.

Smirnov V.D. 1887. Krymskoe khanstvo pod verkhovenstvom Ottomanskoy porty do nachala XVIII veka [The Crimean Khanate under the superintendence of the Ottoman Porta in the beginning of the 18^th Century]. St.-Petersburg.

Stal’ K.F. 1900. Ethnortaficheskij ocherk cherkesskogo naroda [The Essay of the Ethnography of the Circassian People]. Kavkazskij sbornik, Vol. 21. Tifliss.

Tokarev S.A. 1957. Ethnografiya narodon SSSR. Istoricheskie osnovy kultury i byta [Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR. Historical bases of the culture and way of life]. Moskow: Mosk. State Univ. Press.

Trepavlov V.V. 2001. Istoriya Nogayskoy Ordy [History of the Nogai Horde]. Moskow:  Oriental Literature Ed. “Nauka” RAS.

Trofimov V.I. 1955. Tatary-Karagachi [The Tatars-Karagaches]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo Nizhnevolzhskogo institute kraevedeniya, Vol. 6. Saratov: 115-121.

Trofimov V.I. 1956. Materialy po zhivotnovodstvu u tatar-karagachej [Materials on cattle-breeding among the Tatars-Karagaches]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo Nizhnevolzhskogo institute kraevedeniya, Vol. 7. Saratov: 102-111.

Victorin V.M. 1985. K ethnicheskoj istorii karagashej [To the Ethnical History of the Karagashes]. Povolzhskij kraj. Vol. 8. Saratov: Sarat. State Univ. Press. – 147-162.

Victorin V.M. 1988. Potestarno-politicheskie i pravovyje otnosheniya u kochievykh narodov [Political and Legal relations in the Nomadic Societes]. Filosofskie problemy gosudarstva i prava. Vol. 5. Saratov: Sarat. State Univ. Press. – 123-135.