Aghul people

{{Short description|Ethnic group in Dagestan, Russia}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Aghuls | native_name = агулар | native_name_lang = agx | flag = | flag_caption = | total = 45,000{{cn|date=January 2025}} | total_year = | region1 = Russia * Dagestan 23,314<ref>[http://www.statistics.ge/main.php?pform=14&plang=1 (2002 census)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831230321/http://www.statistics.ge/main.php?pform=14&plang=1 |date=2006-08-31 }}</ref> | pop1 = 34,576 | ref1 = <ref>{{cite web|title=Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации|url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/tab-5_VPN-2020.xlsx|publisher=Federal State Statistics Service|access-date=2 July 2024}}</ref> | region2 = Ukraine | pop2 = 108 | ref2 = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/ |title=About number and composition population of Ukraine by data All-Ukrainian census of the population 2001 |work=Ukraine Census 2001 |publisher=State Statistics Committee of Ukraine |access-date=17 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217151026/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/ |archive-date=17 December 2011 }}</ref> | region3 = Latvia | pop3 = 25 or 33 | ref3 = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.stat.gov.lv/pxweb/en/OSP_PUB/START__POP__IR__IRE/IRE010/table/tableViewLayout1/|title=Population by ethnicity at the beginning of year – Time period and Ethnicity | National Statistical System of Latvia |website=data.stat.gov.lv}}</ref><ref>[https://www.pmlp.gov.lv/lv/media/9756/download?attachment Latvijas iedzīvotāju sadalījums pēc nacionālā sastāva un valstiskās piederības, 01.01.2023. - PMLP]</ref> | popplace = | rels = predominately Sunni Islam | langs = Aghul, Lezgin, Russian | related = Other Lezgin sub-ethnic groups }}

'''Aghuls''' ({{langx|agx|агулар|agular}}, {{langx|lez|Агъулар}}) are a Lezgin sub-ethnic group<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Тишков |first1=В.А. |url=https://eo.iea.ras.ru/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/eoarchive_2007_5_096_tishkov_kisriev.pdf |title=МНОЖЕСТВЕННЫЕ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ МЕЖДУ ТЕОРИЕЙ И ПОЛИТИКОЙ (ПРИМЕР ДАГЕСТАНА |last2=Кисриев |first2=Э.Ф. |date=2007 |language=ru}}</ref> native predominantly to Agulsky district of Dagestan, partly on the plain and in cities (Dagestanskiye Ogni, Derbent, Makhachkala, etc.). According to the 2010 census, there were 34,160 Aghuls in Russia (7,000 in 1959).<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120424113952/http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/tab5.xls Russian Census 2010: Population by ethnicity]}} {{in lang|ru}}</ref> The Aghul language belongs to the Lezgian language family, a group of the Northeast Caucasian family. Ethnically, the Aghuls are close to the Lezgins. There are four groups of the Aghul people, who live in four different gorges: Aguldere, Kurakhdere, Khushandere, and Khpyukdere. Like their neighbors the Kaitags, the Aghuls were converted to Islam at a fairly early date, subsequent to the Arab conquest of the eighth century. Their oral traditions claim Jewish descent.<ref name="test">Peoples, Nations and Cultures. Edited by John Mackenzie. Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2005.</ref>

== Culture == {{More citations needed section|date=February 2013}} As elsewhere in Daghestan, the Aghuls were divided into tukhums (clans), comprising twenty to forty households. Each tukhum had its own cemetery, pastures, and hay fields, and the members were bound by obligations of mutual support and defense.<ref> Akiner, S. (1987). Islamic Peoples Of The Soviet Union (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203037928 Retrieved 25 September 2024. </ref>

Each Aghul village had a village council, on which each of the three or four tukhums were represented. The council was headed by an elder. The village mullah and qadi also played an important role in local affairs. In some cases the wealthier tukhums exerted a disproportionate strong influence on village government.

The Aghuls tended to practice endogamy within the tukhum—marriages with outsiders were very rare. In the past the Aghuls lived in extended family households, though not especially large ones (fifteen to twenty members, on average). A senior male, father or eldest brother, functioned as chief, with fairly broad authority over the affairs of the household and its members. Should the extended family split up, sisters—even those who had already married and left the household—received a portion of the land as well as the movable property. They were each apportioned one-half of the land share given to each of their brothers, a practice that was unusually generous by Daghestanian standards.<ref> Dobrushina, N. (2023). Language ideology in an endogamous society: The case of Daghestan. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 27, 159–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12590 </ref>

== References == {{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading == * The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire entry on [http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/aguls.shtml Aguls]

Category:Lezgic peoples Category:Ethnic groups in Dagestan Category:Muslim ethnic groups of Russia Category:Muslim ethnic groups in the Caucasus Category:Groups claiming Jewish descent Category:Indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus