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Kassogians

Circassians
Адыгэ Adyge
Total population
c. 4–8 million
Regions with significant populations
 Turkey Estimated 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 – 5,000,000 to 7,000,000
 Russia 720,000 (2010 Census)
 Jordan 65,000 – 180,000
 Syria 80,000 – 120,000
 Germany 40,000
 Iraq 34,000
 United States 9,000 – 25,000
 Saudi Arabia 23,000
 Egypt 12,000
 Israel 4,000 – 5,000
 Serbia 2,800
 Uzbekistan 1,600
 Ukraine 1,100
 Bulgaria 600 (1994 Census)
 Netherlands 500
Languages
Circassian
(West Adyghe, Kabardian Adyghe, extinct Ubykh Adyghe dialects), also Turkish, Russian, English, Arabic, Hebrew, German, Persian
Religion
Predominantly Muslim
Minority Orthodox Christian and Catholic as well as Abkhazo-Circassian neopagan
Related ethnic groups
Abazgi (Abkhaz, Abazin)

The Circassians (Circassian: Адыгэхэр, Adygekher) are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, many of whom were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russian–Circassian War in 1864. In its narrowest sense, the term "Circassian" includes the twelve Adyghe (Circassian: Адыгэ, Adyge) tribes (three democratic and nine aristocratic), i.e. Abzakh, Besleney, Bzhedug, Hatuqwai, Kabardian, Mamkhegh, Natukhai, Shapsug, Temirgoy, Ubykh, Yegeruqwai, and Zhaney, each one represented by a star on the green-and-gold Circassian flag. However, due to Soviet administrative divisions, Circassians were also designated as the following: Adygeans (Adyghe in Adygea), Cherkessians (Adyghe in Karachay-Cherkessia), Kabardians (Adyghe in Kabardino-Balkaria), and Shapsugians (Adyghe in Krasnodar Krai), although all the four are essentially the same people residing in different political units.

Most Circassians are Sunni Muslim. The Circassians mainly speak the Circassian language, a Northwest Caucasian language with three main dialects and numerous sub-dialects. Many Circassians also speak Turkish, Russian, English, Arabic, and Hebrew, having been exiled by Russia to lands of the Ottoman Empire, where the majority of them today live. About 800,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia (the modern-day titular Circassian republics of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia as well as Krasnodar Krai and the southwestern parts of Stavropol Krai and Rostov Oblast), and others live in the Russian Federation outside these republics and krais. The 2010 Russian Census recorded 718,727 Circassians, of whom 516,826 are Kabardian, 124,835 are other Adyghe in Adygea, 73,184 are Cherkess, and 3,882 Shapsug.


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