Nakh peoples

Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country of Georgia to its south; and borders the Russian republics of North Ossetia–Alania to its west and north and Chechnya to its east and northeast.

The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, Naxçoy), historically also known as Kisti and Durdzuks, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. They are the largest ethnic group in the region and refer to themselves as Nokhchiy (; singular Nokhchi, Nokhcho, Nakhchuo or Nakhche). The vast majority of Chechens are Muslims and live in Chechnya, an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation.

ethnic group of North Caucasian origin

speakers of the Nakh languages

archaeological culture from the Caucasus region

people

thumb|290x290px|Elders from the teip, 1906. A teip ( "tape"; Chechen and , ; ) is a Chechen and Ingush tribal organization or clan, self-identified through descent from a common ancestor or geographic location. It is a sub-unit of the tukkhum and shahar. There are about 150 Chechen and 120 Ingush teips. Teips played an important role in the socioeconomic life of the Chechen and Ingush peoples before and during the Middle Ages, and continue to be an important cultural part to this day.

thumb|350px|Gargareans (Gargari) in the North Caucasus on a fragment of [[Henry Teesdale's map of the Ancient Roman Empire.]] In Greek mythology, the Gargareans, or Gargarenses, ( Gargareis) were an all-male tribe. They copulated with the Amazons annually in order to keep both tribes reproductive. The Amazons kept the female children, raising them as warriors, and gave the males to the Gargareans. According to K. V. Trever, it is possible that the "Amazons" mentioned by ancient authors are a distorted ethnic term, "Alazons," meaning the inhabitants of the area along the Alazani River, among wh

feature of ancient and medieval architecture of Chechnya and Ingushetia

medieval church in Ingushetia

thumb|Durdzuks (Цурцукы) on Prince Vakhushti of Kartli|Vakhushti's map in 1745 located between the Kisti (Кисты) and [[Gligvi (Глигвы).]] thumb|"Dourdsoukethi" (Mitcheghi). Atlas of the Caucasus. Dubois de Montpereux F., 1843 The Durdzuks (), also known as Dzurdzuks, was a medieval exonym of the 9th-18th centuries used mainly in Georgian, Arabic, but also Armenian sources in reference to the Vainakh peoples (Chechens and Ingush).

The Orstkhoy, historically commonly known under their exonyms: Karabulaks, Balsu, Baloy, are a historical ethnoterritorial society among the Chechen and Ingush peoples. Their homeland is in the upper reaches of the Assa and Fortanga rivers in the historical region of Orstkhoy-Mokhk (the Sernovodsky District and the border part of the Achkhoy-Martanovsky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, as well as most of the Sunzhensky District of Ingushetia). In the tradition of the Chechen ethno-hierarchy, it is considered one of the nine historical Chechen tukkhums, in the Ingush tradition as one o