ON THE ROLE OF NATURAL FACTORS IN THE HISTORY OF THE NOMADIC POPULATION OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS (XI-XVI CENTURIES)

Fomenko Vladimir A., Dzhumagulova Aigul T.

The history of the multinational population of the North Caucasus is an important part of the national Caucasian studies. Nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes and peoples have always played a significant role in the life of this region. In turn, the essential aspects of the nomads' life were largely determined by natural-climatic and especially orographic factors. The relevance of the problem we are investigating is due to the low level of study of these aspects. The purpose of this study is to characterize the influence of a number of natural and climatic factors on the history of the nomadic population of the North Caucasus during the XI-XVI centuries. The article uses written historical sources, data from archeology and folklore. The methodological basis of the work is the principles of consistency, scientific objectivity and historicism. Narrative, typological, historical-genetic and retrospective, historical-comparative methods and the method of periodization were used. The article discusses some issues of terminology. Conceptually characterized, due to the influence of natural and climatic factors, the features of settlement, migration, and demography of steppe ethnic groups of the North Caucasus: Polovetses, Mongol-Tatars, Nogais. The authors pay special attention to the role of the orographic factor in the history of nomads, aspects of their adaptation to life in mountainous and foothill territories, as well as the processes of ethno- and cultural genesis. Some aspects of the processes of sedentarization among the nomadic population and nomadization among neighboring ethnic groups are considered.

Keywords:North Caucasus, the Middle Ages, orography, natural and climatic factors, nomads, nomadization, sedentarization, mounds, Polovetses, Mongol-Tatars, Nogais.