Circassia

A map of Circassia from 1840

Circassia, also known as Cherkessia in Russian, is a region in Caucasia. Historically it comprised the southern half of the current Krasnodar Territory and most of the interior of the current Stavropol Territory, ^[1] but now only refers to a portion of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic, Adyghe Republic and Kabardino-Balkaria Republic of the Russian Federation. The historical region is named after the traditional inhabitants, the Circassians (they prefer Adyghe or Adiga).

Russian Invasion of Circassia

After the fall of whole Circassia by the Russians, and due to the Russian Massacres against the Circassian tribes in 1864, 90% of the remaining survivors of these tribes were enforced to leave Circassia again to the Ottoman Empire with their brother's in faith such as Chechens, Dagistans, Balqars,etc.and these massacres considered the ugliest human genocide against Circassian/Adyghe_people in the 18th-19th Centuries.and as a result the Circassians became minority in their historical land Circassia."Forgotten Genocide". Circassian World (2008).

A larger population now is in the tiny Republic of Adygea of the Russian Federation which is entirely surrounded by Krasnodar Krai.

The Circassian diaspora is a community of people (and their descendants) who were expelled from the historical Circassia in the late 19th Century after a series of uprisings against Russian Imperial rule. They are found in various areas of the old Ottoman Empire, including Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kosovo (until they were repatriated in 1998, after receiving threats from the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army^[2]), Egypt (Circassians were part of the Mamluk armies), and Israel (in the villages of Kfar Kama and Rehaniya, since 1880), and even as far afield as Upstate New York and New Jersey in the United States, and Europe (Germany and Netherland).