The word Daghestan or Daghstan is Turkic for country of mounts. The spelling Dagestan is a transliteration of the Russian name and is rather modern.
Республика Дагестан
[image]| align=center width=175 | [image]|- Flag of Dagestan Coat of Arms of Dagestan [image]|- Makhachkala|- Area
- total
- % water55th
- 50,300 km²
- negligible|-Population
- Total
- Density22nd
- est. 2,576,531 (2002)
- est. 51.2/km²Political status - Federal district - Economic Region - Cadaster # - style="border-bottom: 1px #aaa solid;" |Russian|- Magomedali Magomedovich Magomedov|- Atay Bashirovich Aliyev Anthem -
Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. Unlike most other parts of Russia, the population of Dagestan is rapidly growing, mostly because of migration.
There are also tiny groups like the Balkars (who mostly live in Kabardino-Balkaria), or the Ginukh, numbering 200, members of a complex family of indigenous Caucasians - some 40 groups, including other little-known peoples such as the Akhwakh. Notable are also Lak people who immigrated after a Soviet Population transfer, and the Hunzib or Khunzal people who live in only four towns in the interior.
The lingua franca in Dagestan is Russian. Over 30 local languages are also commonly spoken.
The oldest records about the region refer to the state of Caucasian Albania in the south, with its capital at Derbent. The northern parts, known as Avary, were ruled by a confederation of pagan tribes. Caucasian Albania ruled over what is present day Azerbaijan and the area occupied by the present day Lezghians. It was fought over in classical times by Rome and Persia and was early converted to Christianity. Persia prevailed and, with its conquest by the Arabs, Islam was introduced. Later, in the middle ages, it was a battleground between Persia and Turkey. With the demise of the Ottoman empire, Russia invaded, against fierce resistance, particularly in Avary. The famous Muslim leader Imam Shamil was from Dagestan. He was an Avar.
In November 1917, a Soviet was proclaimed and, after more than three years of fighting White reactionaries, the Dagestan ASSR was proclaimed on January 20th 1921. Dagestan became a republic of the modern Russian Federation in 1991.
In 1999, a group of Muslim fundamentalists from Chechnya under Shamil Basayev, together with local converts, staged an unsuccessful insurrection in Dagestan. This helped prompt the Russian decision to invade Chechnya later that year.
In 2005 Major General Magomed Omarov, the deputy interior minister, was assassinated in Makhachkala by armed gunmen. This came a month after authorities reportedly prevented an incident much like the Beslan school hostage crisis.
On July 1, 2005, ten Russian troops were killed and seven wounded in the capital by a bombing. It was either linked to the radical Islam Chechnyan rebels in the neighboring province or due to ethnical tensions, as there are over 100 distinct ethnic groups in the region.
On August 20, 2005, a remote-controlled bomb killed at least three police officers and wounded several more on a downtown street in the Dagestani capital. The bomb detonated as a four-man foot patrol walked past a grove of trees in Makhachkala.
Important industries include Food processing, power generation, oil extraction, Machine building, chemicals, and instrument making. Dagestan's major exports are Oil and fuel. Important agricultural products include fish from the Caspian Sea, wine and Brandy, and various garden fruits.
Dagestan continues to be the least urbanized republic in the Caucasus.
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