Circassian

Member of a group of Caucasian-speaking peoples living in the northern Caucasus in Russia, and in small groups in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. Until the middle of the 19th century they inhabited most of the area between the main Caucasus range, the River Kuban, and the Black Sea.

Traditionally farmers and stockbreeders, the Circassians have been known since antiquity. They adopted Christianity in the 6th century, but converted to Islam in the 17th, although pre-Islamic beliefs persist. Divided into several tribes, they were politically independent but united under Turkish influence and resisted the Russian advance into their area in the late 18th century. Russia annexed their land 1864, forcing 500,000 Circassians into Turkey, half of whom perished on the way.