The Discovery of Circassia, by Samir Khotko

"The Discovery of Circassia" by the renowned historian Samir Khotko is a study of a significant corpus of cartographic monuments from the 14th to the first half of the 19th centuries, depicting the Circassian space of the Northwest Caucasus. Based on cartographic sources, the author investigates the problem of territorial growth and the military-political strengthening of Circassia during the Golden Horde period, and the nature and extent of Genoese presence in the Adyghe land. The study addresses issues of political and ethnic history of the Circassians during the Ottoman era, changes in the borders of Circassia, relations with leading states, historical geography, and demographics of individual lands and principalities, as well as toponymy and ethnonyms.

CONTENTS

Introductory Article
Circassia as an Epoch of Adyghe History

Section 1. "The Land of Zichis, Called Circassians"
Chapter 1. Cartographic Representation of the Territorial Growth of Circassia in the 14th–15th Centuries

Section 2. Circassian Space on European Geographical Maps of the 16th–18th Centuries
Chapter 2. Circassia in the 16th–17th Centuries: On the Threshold of a Transcontinental Empire
Chapter 3. The 18th Century

Section 3. The Last Century of Circassia

Sources and Studies
Chapter 4. Development of the System of Representations about the Ethnic and Political State of Circassia in the 1820s–1830s
Chapter 5. The Circassian Limes
Chapter 6. The Lands of Circassia. Populated Places and Toponymy
- Nathokoouaj
- Greater Shapsug
- Abadzekhia
- Bzhedugia
- Khatukay
- Maykop
- Temirgoy
- Besleney
- Abazin Villages
- Kabardin Villages in Western Circassia

Appendix. Maps

The full book in PDF can be downloaded by clicking here (26 MB)

Samir Khotko (Born on June 27, 1968, in Izobilny, Stavropol Krai) graduated from the History Department of Adyghe State University (Maykop) in 1992. In the same year, he began his career as a research fellow in the Department of Ethnology at ARIGI. He defended his Ph.D. dissertation on the issue of Circassian Mamluks at Adyghe State University in 1997. In July of that year, he presented a paper titled "Alans in the Mamluk Sultanate" at the 35th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies (ICANAS) in Budapest.

His research interests encompass the history of Circassia, Circassians in Mamluk Egypt from the 13th to the 19th centuries, Circassian military migration during the Middle Ages and Modern times, Circassian piracy, Genoese presence in Circassia, and the modern Circassian diaspora.

His major publications include "Circassian Mamluks" (Maykop, 1993), "Genesis of Circassian Elites in the Sultanate of Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire from the 13th to the 19th Centuries" (Maykop, 1999), "Genoa and Circassia: Political and Cultural Interactions in the 13th–15th Centuries" (Collected Works of the Russian Historical Society, Moscow, 2002, No. 4), and "The History of Circassia in the Middle Ages and Modern Times" (St. Petersburg, 2002).

Source: Adyghe (Circassian) Encyclopedia, Moscow, 2006, p. 1083.