Circassian principalities in the XIV-XV centuries: formation and interrelation with sub-ethnic groups

One of the topical issues of the ethno-political history of Circassians of the late medieval period remains the problem of formation of fiefdoms (principalities) during the XIV-XV centuries, which took most part of the distance of the foothills of the North Caucasus from the Kerch Strait in the west to the Sunzha in the east. The sources of that period named population of the Taman “island” as ‘Zikhs’ or Circassians. But, along with that, in the Genoese correspondence of the XV century, in relation to the population of the “island” they quite often used the tribal or territorial name “Ghetiks”. The author compares that name with Adygeyan ethnonym ‘Hytuk’ - “islanders” - which marked the Circassian population of the Taman Peninsula. Circassian Principality, within which there was the trade settlement of Copa, occupied the area between the Kuban and the Sea of Azov. Its Circassian name remains unknown, but provisionally we can use the definition “Circassian principality of Copa”. G. Interiano described the lifestyle of the Circassian population using the example of that principality. Hytuk, Copa, Sobay (Hatukay) Kremuk (Temirgoy), Kabarda - here's the known list of the Circassian principalities according to the present level of analyze of the historical sources. On that basis in the XVI century further development of the fiefdoms took place. Thus, there was a decentralized, but militarily and politically very stable “country” under the single name of Circassia, a sort of confederation of principalities and self-governing territories of the mountaineers. The visible feature of that politically not united “country” was that on the most important issues concerned the foreign policy (for example, alliance with Moscow under Ivan IV) subjects of that space pursued the coordinated politics.