AKUSHA-DARGO IN RUSSIA’S POLICY IN DAGESTAN IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 19th CENTURY

Abstract

The article deals with the activity of one of the most well-known, influential and active political structures of Dagestan at the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th cc. - the federation of Dargin unions of rural communities Akusha-Dargo. It was the period of active policy of Russia in Dagestan, which began after the conclusion of the Küçük Kaynardzha peace treaty with Turkey. Dagestan people generally sympathized with intensification of Russia’s policy. But there were rulers, in particular Shikhali Khan of Derbent and Surkhay Khan II of Gazikumukh, who pursued an anti-Russian policy, involving in this process other rulers and mountain communities and, of course, Akusha-Dargo, as the most influential political structure of Dagestan. Akusha-Dargo was closely associated with Shikhali Khan of Derbent and took an active part in his anti-Russian policy. Therefore, Akusha-Dargo was the focus of attention of the Caucasian command: it was mentioned in dozens of orders, reports, dispatches, letters, and instructions from all the commanders in the Caucasus, who closely followed the behavior of the Dargins, fervently discussing their participation in the anti-Russian policy of various rulers; in the reports and dispatches to Emperor Nicholas I and military ministers. The Caucasian command informed them of the activity of Akusha-Dargo, characterizing it as the most powerful political structure, which has a great influence on feudal rulers and mountain societies, and its role and significance in political events and the situation in Dagestan was emphasized in various documents. The article contains the material that reveals the role and importance of Akusha-Dargo in the political life of Dagestan in the thirties of the 19th century.