add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
The Afro-Asian Council of Ophthalmology aioc2010.com | Afro-Cuban All-Stars, Tacoma, February 17, 2009 larryswanson.com | Alternative Therapy Use: Elderly Afro-Am annieappleseedproject.org |
Caucasian Negros or Afro-Abkhazians is a small racial ethnic Negroid racial group of Abkhaz people, living mainly in the Abkhazian settlement Adzyubzha at the mouth of the river Kodori River and the surrounding villages of Abkhazia (Chlou, Pokvesh, Agdarra, Merkulov, etc.).[1][2]
[edit] Origin[edit] Hypothesis The ethnic origin of the Afro-Abkhazians and how these African people arrived in Abkhazia, is still a matter of dispute among experts. Historians agree that the settlement of Negroes number of villages in the village of Adzyubzhi in Abkhazia (then - part of the Ottoman Empire) is likely to happen in the XVII century. According to the one version, a few hundred black slaves were bought and brought by Shervashidze princes (Chachba) to work on the citrus plantations.[3] This case was unique - and, apparently, not entirely successful for experiences on mass import of Africans that have occurred in the territory of the Black Sea coast of Caucasus. According to another version, Afro-Abkhazians are the descendants of Kolkhi tribe. However, the question of the likelihood at least some continuity between ancient Kolkhi tribe and current Afro-Abkhazians is not known due reliable evidence of the existence of negroid population in historic Kolkhi is not available. They may also derive from the Egyptian Copts or Ethiopian Jews.[4] Abkhazian writer Dmitry Gulia in the book "History of Abkhazia" compared toponymy of Abkhazia and the corresponding areas of Ethiopia and claimed that some of the geographical names are identical: Bagadi - Bagadi, Gunma - Gunma, Tabakur - Dabakur and etc.[5] In 1927, Russian writer, Maxim Gorky, together with the Abkhaz writer, Samson Chanba visited the village of Adzyubzhu, where he met with the old black people. Following his visit and comparing the information obtained from the literature available to him he felt the ethiopian version of Abkhaz origin similar to the authentic blacks.[6] [edit] LegendsThere are a number of "national" legend poetries, perhaps had some real basis. According to one of them, which mentioned in the memorandum of Ivan Isakov to Nikita Khrushchev , near the Abkhazian coast during a storm wrecked Ottoman ship with slaves who were brought up for sale and the current Afro-Abkhazians are the descendants of survivors from the ship and founded the colony in Abkhazia.[3]This legend, however, does not explain how such a ship could have entered the waters of the Black Sea, which is so far from major shipping lanes then the world of the slave trade. Another legend tells about the dealings of Narts with certain "black faced people" from the Horn of Africa. In which legendary Narts came back to the Caucasus from a long African campaign with hundreds of black escorts, which remained in Abkhazia.[7] In third legend, the appearance of Afro-Abkhazians involved with Peter the Great: He imports to Russia many negro - and those who were unable to acclimatize to the northern capital of Russia, Saint Petersburg, then generously gave to the Abkhazian princes.[8] According to the history candidate Igor Burtsev, such "gifts of Peter" in Abkhazia really could be a few dozen..[9] Perhaps, to some extent true are several scientific hypotheses and legends at the same time: many of them de facto not exclusive but complementary. [edit] History and PresentIn Georgian language, Afro-Abkhazians called Shawi katsi ("black man") or Shawi Khalkha ("black people"). In the said memorandum of Ivan Isakov to Khrushchev on the Afro-Abkhazians, among other things, says that the governor of the Caucasus Hilarion Vorontsov-Dashkov imitating Peter the Great, had his personal convoy of Adzyubzhi blacks, who accompanied him in Chokha. Prince Alexander of Oldenburg , founder of Gagra, kept in his yard a few representatives from each of the peoples of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, including the local blacks.[10] It is known that already in the XIX century, Afro-Abkhazians spoke only in Abkhazian language and considered themselves the representatives of the Abkhaz people. Their total number is estimated by different observers in the range of "several families" to "several villages".[11] With regard to the priority among the sources of religion also has no unity - apparently in Abkhazia exist or have existed in the recent past and black Christians, and black Muslims, and black Jews. Afro-Abkhazians engaged in growing citrus, grapes, corn, work in coal mines of Tkuarchal and enterprises of Sukhumi in knitting factories and etc. As many Abkhazian people, Abkhazian-Africans today, speak in Russian. Most of them are assimilated and strongly integrated with local nations, many left Kodor settled in other parts of Abkhazia to the neighboring Georgia and Russia, as well as other close countries. [edit] In popular culture
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] See also
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
