Shahdagh peoples
Shahdagh people are several small ethnic groups living around Mount Shahdagh in northern Azerbaijan, mainly in the Konakhkent area near the Dagestan border. They mostly speak Samur languages from the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. The term "Shahdagh" covers multiple groups, and the name of each village usually reflects its people. Their ancestors are thought to be Caucasian Albanians, and each group has its own customs, culture, and language.
They have similar wedding and mourning traditions to nearby groups, especially the Oghuz Turks. Their economy is based on animal husbandry (sheep and goats in the mountains, cattle in the lowlands) and crafts such as gold and silver work, weaving, pottery, and rug making. To trade with Dagestan, many Shahdaghs learned Azeri, and Azeri is used for writing.
Traditionally, they lived in strict, endogamous, patriarchal clan systems, with people often marrying first or second cousins and land owned communally by extended families. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet government created cooperatives and collectivised pastures and herds, which caused resentment.
Since the 1920s, some groups—the Budugs, Khinalugs, and Dzheks—were not listed in the censuses of 1959, 1970, and 1979. They often identified as Azerbaijani because they spoke Azeri and lived among Azerbaijanis, which led to assimilation. Most Russian ethnologists believe the Shahdagh groups have been almost completely assimilated by Azerbaijanis.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:33 (CET).