К проблеме развития государственных образований этнических дагестанцев Закавказья в периоды Средневековья и Нового Времени

Abstract

The article deals with the development of state formations of ethnic Dagestanis as part of the indigenous population of Transcaucasia. Among scientists, it is generally believed that they are divided: a) for Lezgins and small ethnic groups closely related to them (within Azerbaijan, these are Khinalug, Shahdag-Kryz and Budukhs, Udins, Tsakhurs and Rutuls); b) for Avars. In this article, for the first time, the third relatively large ethnic community of the region is reasonably recorded — the Transcaucasian Dargins (Kaitagans). It is noted that the Dagestani-speaking population of Transcaucasia owned fertile lands, formed a kind of military class and was widely represented in the military-political elite of society. It was state-organized, had its own sources of law. Scientists usually derive the roots of the state and legal development of ethnic dagestanis of Transcaucasia from Caucasian Albania. In this article, the idea is carried out that this provision can be attributed only to a part of the native speakers of the Dagestan languages of the region. As for the Dagestani-speaking population of the left bank of the Alazani, known to Kavkaz scholars as the Zakatala district, along with some adjacent lands, the authors derive the deepest roots of its development in these areas — the state and law — from Lpinia, a strong state of the Transcaucasia of the Sassanid era. The authors conclude that by the end of the Mongolian era, the ethnic Dagestanis of Transcaucasia — despite centuries of being under the rule of Georgian feudal lords and assimilation processes taking place in the region — managed to preserve their ethno-territorial identity, unity and continuity in the development of the institutions of statehood and law. This was facilitated by geographical and religious factors, as well as the continuing organic ties with historical Dagestan. Special attention is paid to the political centers of the revival and development of the statehood of ethnic Dagestanis on the western slopes of the Main Caucasian Ridge during the Middle Ages and modern times