Circassia

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Circassia, also known as Cherkessia in Russian, is a region in Caucasia. Historically it comprised of the coast and most of the interior of the current Krasnodar Territory but now only refers to a portion of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic of the Russian Federation. It borders Abkhazia to the south and the Karachay ethnic territories to the east. The historical region is named after the traditional inhabitants, the Circassians (they prefer Adyghe or Adiga), who now make up only a small minority of the population of the area. A larger population is in the tiny Adygeya republic of the Russian Federation which is entirely surrounded by the Krasnodar Territory.

The Circassian diaspora who were expelled from the historical Circassia in the late 19th Century after a series of uprising against Russian Imperial rule are found in various metropolitan areas of the old Ottoman Empire and traditionally provided the praetorian guard for the Ottoman Sultans. There are also a communities in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan (a large community), Kosovo (until they were ethnically cleansed by the Albanians and repatriated in 1998), Egypt (Circassians were part of the Mamluk armies), Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rikhaniya, since 1880) and as far afield as Upstate New York and New Jersey.

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