Living Together— How did various peoples with different languages come to live together in Dagestan?

Young-rae Cho (Head of the Russian Ethnic Minority Studies Association)

 According to a Caucasian legend, when an angel of heaven was distributing languages to different peoples, the bag of tongues tore while crossing the rugged Caucasus Mountains, scattering many languages and peoples across the North Caucasus.

Within the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation — encompassing the republics of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan — more than a hundred ethnic groups live side by side.

Among them, Dagestan is known to be the most ethnically and linguistically diverse. The name “Dagestan,” derived from Turkic, means “land of mountains.” It is a land of blue seas and steep peaks, strict customs and warm hospitality, fierce patriotism and generosity, passion and calmness coexisting together. More than sixty ethnic groups — including the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, Lak, and Nogai — call this place home.

Along the Caucasus Mountains overlooking the Caspian Sea stretches a narrow coastal plain, and for thousands of years, the Silk Road and the steppe routes of Eurasia intersected here. Countless nomadic peoples traversed these routes, spreading throughout the southern Caucasus and western Asia (Gamkrelidze & Ivanov, 1990).

This study aims to examine how Dagestan came to possess such linguistic and ethnic diversity — through geographical and geopolitical factors, as well as the imperial policies of its ruling powers.

From a geographical perspective, Dagestan’s terrain can be divided into three distinct zones. The southwestern highlands form part of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, featuring snow-capped peaks exceeding 4,000 meters (e.g., Mount Bazardüzü, 4,466 m) and deep gorges. The central inland plateau is characterized by intermountain basins and terraced farmlands, where historically significant settlements were established. The eastern coastal plain runs narrowly along the Caspian Sea, containing the capital city, Makhachkala, and most other urban centers.

Dagestan’s rugged and complex mountain terrain played a decisive role in creating one of the world’s highest levels of ethnic and linguistic diversity (Polinsky, 2021).Analyzing how this geography influenced diversity reveals that the “fortified environment” created by nature was a key factor.The region exhibits great variation in altitude — about 40% of its land area is mountainous, ranging from 0 m at the Caspian coast to 4,466 m at Mount Bazardüzü.Deep, steep valleys cut through the mountains, forming U- or V-shaped gorges, with isolated plateaus and basins between them. In winter, heavy snow blocked passage; in summer, torrential streams made travel between valleys nearly impossible.Such natural barriers severely limited interregional access, profoundly shaping Dagestan’s ethnic and linguistic landscape.

First, the terrain caused separation and isolation among peoples.The deep gorges and high ridges acted as natural walls dividing valleys and basins.Groups that once shared a common origin settled in different valleys and, over centuries, developed distinct languages and cultures.Linguistic changes fixed quickly within small isolated populations, while restricted contact with outsiders fostered unique linguistic traits.Moreover, adaptation to each valley’s altitude, climate, and resources led to the development of distinct vocabularies related to agriculture, herding, and crafts — further reinforcing differentiation.

Second, it fostered defense and autonomy. The mountains served as natural fortresses that made invasion by foreign powers — Roman, Persian, Arab, Mongol, or Russian — extremely difficult. Even if one valley were conquered, the next would remain under a different power, preventing complete domination. Thus, centralized rule was virtually impossible, and local communities retained autonomy and independence.

Third, it enabled vertical ecological zones and economic interdependence.Because climate and resources vary sharply with elevation, seasonal vertical migration developed: highlands as summer pastures, mid-altitudes for farming, and lowlands for winter grazing or orchards.This led to limited inter-valley exchanges — trade in wool, grain, and salt — forming networks of mutual dependency and coexistence that respected difference.

Through these natural and social mechanisms, a small territory (roughly half the size of South Korea) came to host over 30 native languages and numerous ethnic groups.Even within the same linguistic family (Northeast Caucasian), dialects in adjacent valleys became mutually unintelligible, eventually forming separate languages.Culturally, each village preserved its own traditions, attire, and customary laws. As a result, local ethnic identities such as “Avar,” “Dargin,” or “Lezgin” remained stronger than a broader “Dagestani” identity.

Ultimately, Dagestan’s geography produced a paradox:while natural barriers promoted fragmentation and isolation, they also compelled limited exchange and cooperation in the face of harsh conditions and external threats.Thus emerged a society that was “neither fully isolated nor fully assimilated” — maintaining difference while staying interconnected.This makes Dagestan a living example for anthropology and linguistics of how geographical isolation generates cultural diversity (Kuchukova & Bauaev, 2022).

Geopolitically, Dagestan has long been a crucial corridor across Eurasia. To the north lies the vast Pontic–Caspian steppe, serving as an invasion route for nomadic tribes. Empires such as the Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Khazars, and Mongols all advanced southward through it. To the south, powerful civilizations like Persia and Mesopotamia viewed the mountains as both frontier outposts and conduits of cultural influence. To the west, the Byzantine and later Ottoman empires brought religious and political competition between Christianity and Islam. To the east, the Caspian Sea provided a maritime route for trade and movement. Thus, Dagestan became a melting pot where nomadic and sedentary civilizations, Europe and Asia, empires and tribes, met and mingled. No single power ever fully controlled it — yet all sought to pass through or occupy it.

This geopolitical significance brought a history of continuous invasions and domination, deeply shaping Dagestan’s social structure.Persian, Arab, Mongol, and Russian conquests are recurring themes in the historical studies of Dagestan (Magomedov, 1961).Russian academic research also regards Dagestan’s ethnic diversity as a major topic (Terekhov, 1997).

Persian and Arab rule introduced Islam and Persian culture — Arabs influencing administration and script, Persians architecture and literature.Mongol invasions caused immense destruction but also connected Dagestan to the trade networks of their vast empire.Russian conquest, the most recent and enduring, established modern administrative boundaries and Russian as the lingua franca.

Yet, remarkably, none of these empires annihilated or fully assimilated Dagestan’s native peoples.The constant inflow of outsiders was not purely destructive — it paradoxically fostered multicultural synthesis (Yakubova, 2023).

Yet, remarkably, none of these empires annihilated or fully assimilated Dagestan’s native peoples.The constant inflow of outsiders was not purely destructive — it paradoxically fostered multicultural synthesis (Yakubova, 2023).Indigenous languages borrowed countless words from neighboring tongues while preserving their own grammatical systems — much like Dagestan’s traditional clothing, woven from many colored threads into one harmonious pattern.

Dagestan, like a deep-rooted tree, remained unshaken by the storms of history.Its roots were firmly embedded in each valley, while its branches met the winds of foreign cultures, sprouting new leaves.The dozens of languages spoken today are not mere relics of the past but living evidence of resilience against the tides of geopolitics.

From the perspective of imperial policy, Soviet-era scholarship on Dagestan’s languages displays a striking duality — the coexistence of systematic documentation and research on the one hand, and political control and standardization on the other.Their work went beyond academic inquiry; it was deeply intertwined with the Soviet Nationalities Policy (Jung, 2012).

Soviet linguists conducted the first systematic scientific investigations of Dagestan’s languages.Researchers from Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) entered local communities and recorded, transcribed, and analyzed many previously unwritten languages and dialects.They produced detailed descriptive grammars — phonology, morphology, and syntax — laying the foundation for academic study (Gamzatov, 2000).

In the 1920s–30s, Latin-based scripts replaced Arabic for several Dagestani languages as part of literacy campaigns that dramatically raised literacy rates.

By the late 1930s, in line with Soviet-wide policy, all scripts were forcibly converted to Cyrillic — a move aimed at political control but which ultimately provided standardized orthographies.

The first scientific dictionaries were compiled, and textbooks and readers in local languages appeared, briefly allowing native-language education.Even today, Dagestani primary and secondary schools include instruction in students’ mother tongues. Institutions such as the Dagestan Scientific Center in Makhachkala established enduring foundations for local linguistic research.

This article has explored how, in the southwestern region of Russia — the “museum of languages” known as the North Caucasus — diverse peoples came to live together in Dagestan.The Bible says that God Himself named all nations.Even now, He waits for every people to return and worship Him.Yet most of Dagestan’s roughly 30 linguistic groups remain unreached peoples — with evangelization rates of 0.01% or even 0%.

“In Dagestan, we speak in thirty languages but sing in thirty-three —and all our songs are about one mother: our homeland.”— Rasul Gamzatov, My Dagestan

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9–10)

Thus, the people of Dagestan have learned to acknowledge difference while depending on one another.They sing different songs in each valley, but all share one theme — love for their homeland.Dozens of languages have become one heart.Though their eyes are now veiled by false Islam and they do not yet see Christ the Bridegroom, when the wind of the Holy Spirit begins to blow through every valley of Dagestan through the prayers and service of the global Church, that veil will be lifted and they will see Jesus, the Light of life.On that day, the name of the Lamb will resound in every language of Dagestan:“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Ethnic Groups and Languages of Dagestan (Terekhov, 1997)

Northeast Caucasian languages

Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Bagulal, Botlikh, Godoberi, Karata, Tindi,Chamalal, Bezhta, Ginukh, Ghodzhib, Didoi, Khvarshin, Archin,Dargin, Kaitag, Kubachi, Lezgin, Agul, Rutul, Tsakhur,Tabasaran, Lak

Turkic languages

Kumyk, Nogai

Indo-European languages

Russian, Tat, Mountain Jewish

References

Jung, K. (2012). Soviet Language Policy toward Ethnic Minorities. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Institute of Russian Studies.Gamkrelidze, T., & Ivanov, V. (1990). The Early History of Indo-European Languages. Scientific American.Gamzatov, G. (2000). Languages of Dagestan. Russian Academy of Sciences.Kuchukova, Z., & Bauaev, K. (2022). North Caucasus: The Mountain of Languages and the Language of Mountains. Kabardino-Balkariya University Press.Magomedov, R. (1961). History of Dagestan. Dagestan Pedagogical University Press.Polinsky, M. (Ed.). (2021). The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus. Oxford University Press.Terekhov, P. (1997). Peoples of Dagestan. Russian Academy of Sciences.Yakubova, N. (2023). Great Dagestan. Bombora.