Nogai people

The Nogais, Kipchak Turks of Nogai speech, inherit the Nogai Horde of Mongolic and Turkic tribes: Ak Nogai, Karagash, Koban, Kundraw, Achikulak, Qara-Nogai, Utars, Bug-Nogai and Yurt-Nogai, nine hordes in one name. They people northern Dagestan, Stavropol, Karachay-Cherkessia, Chechnya and Astrakhan, with kin in Dobruja, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Syria and Jordan. Horse herds, sheep flocks and the Nogai epic Koblandy moved between Volga, Caucasus and Caspian pastures; mirzas ruled, mullahs prayed, and raiders taxed every caravan. Russian forts, Soviet deportations and the Caucasus wars scattered the hordes; Nogai schools, wrestling and the dombra keep the Horde's children Turkic. Dagestan and Stavropol hold the greatest Nogai towns. Karachay, Chechnya and Astrakhan kin keep the dialects. Dobruja, Turkey and Kazakhstan shelter far kin. Uzbek, Ukrainian, Syrian and Jordanian exiles keep the songs. Kipchak speech still binds all nine hordes. Ak Nogai and Qara-Nogai elders still judge together. Mongolic and Turkic blood still mixes in every clan.