The Circassians or rather the Adyg, are the oldest indigenous society inhabiting North-West Caucasus. This society belongs to the Caucasian language group (Besleney 231). The Caucasian language constitutes a unique phonological system with a significant scarcity of vowels and an overabundance of the usage of consonants (Colarusso 476). These facts have generated great interests amongst different linguists across the globe. Between the 6th and 7th centuries, the Circassians were Christianized due to the influence of the Byzantine and Georgian. However, later on, these people came into contact with the Ottomans, and subsequently, Islam gradually replaced Christianity. The Islamic religion was to be fully incorporated into the community between …show more content…
Nonetheless, the Circassian community is known to have been a famous people due to their military prowess, physical capabilities and their ability to survive the Russian expansion. To further signify their resilience, Circassian traditions and ways of lives spread in regions scattered across North America and Europe in the 19th century. Perhaps, as a result, many 19th century writers would write pieces that greatly praised these people referred to as the ‘mountaineers of the Black Sea’. Towards the end of the 19th century, anthropologists would express their great admiration of the Circassian people physique, as some would put it, the apogee of the human form. Perhaps more importantly, business people would thereby capitalize on these facts to potentially harness the Circassian beauty products and thus market them across different regions. Indeed, some people would even go as far as creating fake Circassian beauties to showcase them at the marketplaces and the circus shows (Doğan …show more content…
On the 21st May 1864 marked the last of the Circassian resistance and this saw the mass exodus of these people to regions under the Ottoman Empire such as Turkey. More so, Circassians today can also be found in counties such as Ukraine, Syria, United States of America, Serbia, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Bulgaria ("Syrian Circassians Fly to Freedom"). Following the Russian expansion in the 17th century, the Circassians were thereby targeted due to their traditional location along the Black Sea and their political and social contacts with the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps, due to the protection of the Circassian people by the Ottomans, the Russian were bound to break that relationship and eventually conquer the Black Sea regions through their expansion. Additionally, the Russian wanted to gain control over the northeastern end of the Black Sea, inhabited by the Circassians because the Southern side was controlled by the Ottomans. Consequently, breaking the connection between the Ottomans and the Circassians would greatly ensure that they gained such control (Alvarado,