Dagestan (Russian: Дагеста́н) is a constituent republic of the Russian Federation. Bordering Kalmykia to the north, Stavropol Krai to the northwest, Chechnya to the west, Azerbaijan to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the east, it is located in Northern Caucasus mountains, in the Southern Federal District. The oldest and largest city in Dagestan is Derbent.

Dagestan is divided into 42 districts, 10 cities and 14 urban settlements. The capital is Makhachkala, ex-Petrovsk-Port.

Дагестанс́кая Республика Российской Федерации
(Dagestanskaja Respublika Rossijskoj Federatsii)

(Full Size) (Full size)
National motto: None
Official language	Russian
Capital	Makhachkala
President	Magomedali Magomedov
Prime Minister	Khizri Shikhsaidov
Area  - Total  - % water	(not ranked) 50,300 km2 Negligible
Population  - Total (1997)  - Density	(not ranked) 862,000 50/km²
Currency	Russian Rouble
Time zone	UTC +3
Calling Code	7 (Russia)

Table of contents

1 Ethnic groups 2 History 3 Economy 4 Geography 5 External links

Ethnic groups

Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. Most of its people are Muslim.

• Dagestani Peoples - 80% (Includes not only people from the Dagestani language group, but also the Kumyk, Nogay, Azerbaijani, and Balkar (the last only make up a tiny fraction of the population, and are mostly found in the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic).)
• Russians - 9%
• Chechens - 3%
• Other - 8%

The lingua franca in Dagestan is Russian.

History

In 1999, a group of Muslim fundamentalists from Chechnya under Shamil Basayev, together with local converts, staged an unsuccessful insurrection in Dagestan. This helped prompt the Russian decision to invade Chechnya later that year.

The famous Muslim leader Imam Shamil was from Dagestan.

Economy

As of 2000, the economy of Dagestan was broken down as follows:

• Industry – 24%
• Agriculture – 35%
• Construction – 26%
• Transport and communications – 5%
• Trade and services – 9%
• Other – 1%.

Dagestan continues to be the least urbanized republic in the Caucasus.

Geography

Dagestan has a Caspian coast line of about 400 kms. The main rivers are the Terek, the Sulak and the Samur.

The republic is quite mountainous. The southern zone of the republic is part of the Great Caucasus. The highest point is the Bazarduzi peak with 4.466m. The climate is hot and dry in the summer but the winters are particularly hard in the mountain areas.

External links