Botlikh
Total population
3,508
Regions with significant populations
 Russia3,508[1]
Languages
Botlikh language
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Northeast Caucasian peoples

The Botlikh people (also known as Bótligh, Botlig, Botlog or Buikhatli) are an Andi–Dido people of Dagestan. Until the 1930s they were considered a distinct people. Since that time they have been classified as Caucasian Avars and have faced a campaign to have them assimilate into that population. The Botlikh are primarily Sunni Muslims.[2][3] They adopted the religion by the 16th century due to the influence of Sufi missionaries.[4]

They numbered 3,354 people in 1926. They speak the Botlikh language, which belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family. According to the Russian Census (2002) only 16 people in Russia declared themselves as Botlikhs (none of them in Dagestan), and 90 people declared speaking the Botlikh language. The number of speakers is higher, about 5,500, according to a survey by Koryakov in 2006.

The village of Botlikh is just north of the Andi Koysu River. During the Murid War Russian forces gathered here for their final push against Shamil. During the Dagestan Uprising (1920) the Reds were defeated here several times.

References

  1. ↑ Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity (in Russian)
  2. ↑ Akiner, Shirin (1986). Islamic Peoples Of The Soviet Union. Routledge. p. 249. ISBN 978-1-136-14274-1.
  3. ↑ "The Botlikhs". The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Institute of the Estonian Language. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  4. ↑ Yemelianova, Galina M.; Broers, Laurence (2020). "The Muslim Caucasus: the role of 'adats and shari'ah". Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-05560-4.

Sources

  • Wixman, Ronald. The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook. (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 1984) p. 31
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