Caucasian Imamate

The Caucasian Imamate, also called the North Caucasian Imamate, was a state founded by Muslim imams in Dagestan and Chechnya in the early to mid-nineteenth century. It emerged during the Caucasian War of 1817–1864 as a resistance movement against the expansion of the Russian Empire into the North Caucasus. Its purpose was to unite the region's diverse peoples under a centralised Islamic government and sharia law, and to coordinate political and military opposition to Russian rule. The first imam, Ghazi Muhammad, proclaimed the Imamate in 1828 after a victory over Russian forces in northern Dagestan; his de facto capital was Gimry. A state council of Sufi scholars, students and military commanders known as naibs advised the imam. Ghazi Muhammad was killed at Gimry in 1832, and Hamzat Bek ruled until his assassination in 1834. Imam Shamil then led the Imamate for twenty-five years, expanding it across Chechnya, Ingushetia and most of Dagestan and extending authority over Circassian tribes to the west. The western territories were administered by naibs because Kabardia and Ossetia separated them from the eastern core. Repeated warfare, including the siege of Akhulgo in 1839, weakened the state. In 1859 Shamil accepted surrender terms from Alexander II and was exiled to Kaluga, and the Imamate dissolved. Organised resistance collapsed, although sporadic fighting continued during the conquest of the Caucasus.