Lakia

For the town in Israel, see Lakiya.

Lakia (Lak: Lak, Lakral kanu, Lakkuy, Lakku bilayat) — the name of ethnic territory of Laks in the mountainous Dagestan. The administrative center of Lakia is Kumukh – the political center of Laks over a thousand-year history of their state. Lakia consists of Lakskiy and Kulinskiy districts.

Lakia in the history of Dagestan

In the mountains of Dagestan there have long lived Lak people. Ancient Persians, Khazars, Arabs and Mongols, who passed through the mountainous Dagestan, had encountered Laks as a military force, and left in their history, more or less noticeable trace. Kumukh , the capital of Laks, was politically important for Sassanids in Dagestan. Khosrau I Anushirvan "built a fortress in Kumukh and appointed a ruler there", the chronicle informs. In the 6th century Lakia was ruled by the viceroy of Persian shah.

An important milestone in the history of Lak people is the coming of Arabs to Dagestan. In 733 after prolonged Arab invasions, Lakia was ruled by the viceroy of chaliph, with the title of shamkhal. Kumukh becoms one of the centers of Arab influence in Daghestan. In 777 a cathedral mosque is constructed in Kumukh. Bahadur Gamzatovich Malachihanov writes: "Kumukh ... drawing attention to itself must have been, at the very early period of Arab conquests in the Caucasus, the subject of fierce Islamic expansion directed to the north".

In the 10th century Kumukh is named by Arab historians as "Al-Lak and Gumik" where a fortress of an influential king is. Obviously, "Al-Lak" was Arabic name for Lakia. In the 11th century Lakia was an Islamic state with the capital in Kazi-Kumukh. Kazi-Kumukh conducts islamic raids. So begins the history of Shamkhalate of Kazi-Kumukh, which for a long time, becomes the leading political and military power in Dagestan. In 1240 Kazi-Kumukh was invaded by the Mongols.

In the 15th century, with the decline of Golden Horde's influence in the North Caucasus, shamkhal of Kazi-Kumukh asserts his authority in the northern plains of Dagestan, and in the south competes with the rulers of Shirvan and Georgia. In subsequent years, shamkhal of Kazi-Kumukh becomes an influential ruler in Dagestan, along with nutsal of Avaria, utsmi of Kaitag and maisum of Tabasaran. In the 16th century, political influence of Lakia extended from Kazi-Kumukh to Shirvan in the south, to Astrakhan in the north, and to Kabarda in the west. The ruler of Kazi-Kumukh is named padishah.

In the 17th century anti-dagestani coalition, which included Persia, Russia and Georgia, seeks to diminish the authority of the ruler of Kazi-Kumukh. The hostility of great powers and internal feudal war led to the disintegration of shamkhalate. The title shamkhal passes from Kazi-Kumukh to the branch of shamkhals in Tarki. Alibek II becomes the ruler of Kazi-Kumukh. Disintegration of shamkhalate left Lakia in a chaotic state, where some villages attacked others, and the feudals of Kazi-Kumukh robbed and ransacked their way across Lakia.

In 1700 Surkhay-khan I, the ruler of Kazi-Kumukh, consolidated Lakia into a unified state and formed a regular army. Lakia was divided into six districts: "Machimi", "Vitskhi", "Gumuchial", "Kullal", "Uri-Mukarki" and "Bartkial. The "qat" of Kazi-Kumukh was the supreme authority. By 1725 Lakia incorporates some territories of southern Dagestan and Shirvan.

The last chapter in the history of independent Lakia was a long war of Surkhay-khan II with Russia. In the struggle against Russian intrusion, Surkhay-khan II faced enemies from all sides and gave an oath to the Russians four times, as his peace terms and a temporary matter. In 1820 after 25 years of war, Surkhay-khan II was eventually defeated by a coalition of Russian allies.

Rulers of Lakia

1. Shakhbal ibn Abdullah (733)
2. Kashram Ahmed I (953-960)
3. Bazr I (1295-1304)
4. Akhsuvar I (14th century)
5. Surkhay I (16th century)
6. Umal-Muhammad I (1551)
7. Budai I ibn Umal-Muhammad (1566-1567)
8. Surkhay I ibn Umal-Muhammad (1567-1569)
9. Chopan ibn Budai (1569-157)
10. Surkhay II ibn Chopan (1605-1614)
11. Andia ibn Chopan (1614-1623)
12. Eldar ibn Surkhay (1623-1635)
13. Aidemir ibn Sultan Mahmud (1635-1640)
14. Alibek II ibn Tuchilav (1642-1700)
15. Surkhay ibn Garai-Bek (1700-1741)
16. Murtazali ibn Surkhay (1741-1743)
17. Muhammad ibn Surkhay (1743-1789)
18. Surkhay ibn Muhammad (1789-1820)
19. Aslan ibn Shakhmardan (1820-1836)
20. Nutsal-Aga ibn Aslan (1836-1836)
21. Muhammad-Mirza ibn Aslan (1836-1838)
22. Ummu Kulsum-Beke (1838-1841)
23. Abdurrahman ibn Umar (1841-1847)
24. Aglar ibn Umar (1847-1859)
25. Jafar ibn Aglar (1877-1877)

Territory of Lakia

Lakia is bordered to the West by Avaria, to the Northeast by the Dargin territories, (occasionally called Darginstan or Darganstan), to the Northwest by Kumykia, to the Southwest by the regions of the Tabassarans and Lezgins, and to the South by the mighty Greater Caucasus Mountains. On the other side of the Caucasus lie Georgia and Azerbaijan (including the historical kingdom of the Tsakhurs).

Lakia represents itself as a triangle with slightly rounded sides, facing its apex to the north and the base to the south. Apex of this triangle is the gorge of Tsudakhar. The sides of this triangle are the so-called cross-ridges of the Caucasian mountains. The east side includes the Karinsko-Kundi mountains, Ali mountain, Shunudag, and Kulinsko-Khosrekh ridge. Western side of the plateau includes Turchidag, Shali ridge, and Archavarsky ridge. Base of the triangle includes Dultidag and Kukminski mountains.

Most of the Lak villages are located within the specified triangle, representing a pool of Kazi-Kumukh Koisu and its tributary Kulinka river. This basin is cut by various tributaries of these major rivers, over which rise the mountains and ridges of smaller sizes. Rivers tend to fill the entire bottom of the bed and steep slopes, hanging over them, allow to lay only narrow footpaths to them. Between the ranges of the mountains stretch alpine plateaus, whose average level is 1400-2000 meters. There are little forests in Lakia. Most likely they were cut down to increase the area of grazing land for livestock.

Secular school

Development of school education in Lakia was slow. In 1861 a secular school was opened in Kumukh, which taught Russian language and basic arithmetic. Education of children in Lak literacy in Kumukh was made possible by the tireless work of P. K. Uslar on compiling the Lak ABC, released in 1865. The first lecturer of Lak language was a student and a friend of P. K. Uslar, a native of the Kurkli village Abdullah Omar. P. Uslar wrote that A. Omar — "is a young man, very talented and hardworking, with whom I could freely communicate in Russian. Now he writes in his own language without the slightest difficulty and learned grammatical understanding of it. On him rests the hope for distribution of literature among Laks".

In October 1912, two male rural schools in Unchukatl and Kaya were opened, where 27 and 50 students studied respectively. A year later one-class male school in Tsovkra and Kurkli were opened. The school in Kumukh was transformed into a higher primary school.

The most prominent representative of educational trends in Dagestan in the early 19th century was Sayed Gabiev of Kumukh who later became one of the leaders of Dagestan. Madrasa schools developed parallel to the secular schools. In 1913 there were about 40 of them in Kazi-Kumukh District.

In 28.10.1922 Kazi-Kumukh District was renamed Lak District. In 29/03/1935 it was divided into Lak and Kuli districts.

In the thirties, small sewing, knitting, shoe, furniture and cloth-weaving factories were built in Lakia. At the river Kazikumukhskoe Koisu seven small hydropower plants were built: Kumukhskaya, Unchukatlinskaya, Bagiklinskaya, Kubinskaya, Khuninskaya, Kukninskaya and Kuminskaya.

Migration

In the postwar years graduating from high school in the mountains, Laks have been migrating to the cities in lowlands for further education, working in factories, becoming professionals and eventually settled in the cities.

In general "planned" resettlement of Lak people, that bore a chaotic nature as well as "spontaneous" migration of people, has led to a drastic reduction of the population and the weakening of economy in Lakia. Large migration of people from the mountains to the plains of Dagestan was also observed with other mountainous nationalities in the postwar years.

Culture and Arts

The culture of the Lak people is rich in folklore and handicrafts that originate in the mists of time, as well as modern traditions. First people's amateur drama society appeared in Kumukh in 1912, almost a hundred years ago, and from it started the Lak State Music and Drama Theatre named after E. Kapiev, which today successfully stages performances in the capital of Dagestan.

Among popular shows in Lakia are the old Lak song "Shaza of Kurkli", amateur art dedicated to Part Patima, and festival of "Shunudag". All activities are recorded on video and shown on local television channel "Lakia" and sometimes on the Dagestani television. In the National Library named after R. Gamzatov, there was presentation of the book "Lakia" by Musanip Uvaysov. The presentation was attended by intellectuals, scholars and prominent figures of culture, art, science and education of Dagestan.

Lak District celebrated its 80-year anniversary. The celebration was attended by First Deputy Prime Minister of RD Mukhtar Majidov, pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union and the State Duma deputy Musa Manarov, Chairman of the NBRD Bank of Russia Sirazhudinov Ilyasov, heads of administrations of cities and districts of Dagestan and many others, famous singers of Lak songs were also invited. To give congratulations on the anniversary came a delegation of Agul District, headed by Yuri Ismailov. Head of MO "Lak District" Yusup Magomedov said: "Lakia — a unique formation in the central part of mountainous Dagestan".

Attractions

Krinski and Vareyski rock paintings, ruins of ancient settlements, old stone buildings. In total Lak district has 114 monuments of history, culture and architecture. Among them 40 monuments are of architecture and 1 of monumental art. In Kumukh there is an ancient underground water conveyance system, shamkhal and yemeni cemetery, tombstone stele of Murtazali-Khan. In the village of Chukna there is old house of Suleyman Chupalov, who at the beginning of 19th century was the chief judge of Dagestan, and met with Tsar Nicholas II in Derbent, a house of poet Shazy Kurklinskaya from Kurkli village.

Among the fortresses that exist in the capital of Lakia, the bastion built on a hill of Kumukh named Gurd (Gurd-bakIu) attracts the attention. In this bastion lived the rulers of Kazi-Kumukh. From the name "Gurd" comes the name of ancient Lak sword "Gurda-tur".

See also

• History of the Lak people
• Shamkhalate of Kazi-Kumukh
• Khanate of Kazi-Kumukh
• Dagestan
• History of Dagestan

Songs

• Lak song. Aslan Shakhmardanov.