Akhvakh people

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (December 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Russian article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,004 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Russian Wikipedia article at [[:ru:Ахвахцы]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ru|Ахвахцы}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Akhvakhs

Total population
c. 10,000
Regions with significant populations
Russia	5,282 (2021 census)[1]
Azerbaijan	2,600 (estimate)
Languages
Akhvakh language
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Northeast Caucasian peoples

The Akhvakhs (also known as Akhwakh, Akhvakhtsy or G'akhevalal; ГІахьвалал in Avar) are one of the Andi–Dido peoples of Dagestan and have their own language. They call themselves Atluatii or Ashvado. Prior to 1930 Soviet ethnologists considered them to be a distinct ethnic group.^{[citation needed]} Since that time they have often been classified as Avars.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Akhvakh people" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Akvakh live in the Akhvakhsky District of Dagestan between the Avar and Andi Rivers. In 1926 they numbered 3,683. The Akhvakhs are mainly Sunni Muslims.^[2] They adopted the religion by the 16th century due to the influence of Sufi missionaries.^[3] They face continued assimilation by the Avars. By the early 1990s it was estimated that about 8,000 people were Akhvakh, although this number includes those who have been fully assimilated as Avars but still recognize that they have Akhvakh ancestry.

They also live in Zagatala, Azerbaijan, the north-western part of Azerbaijan which is bordered on Russia and Georgia. The Akhakhdere ("Axəxdərə" in Azeri language) village is the only village that Akhvakh people live. They are a distinct people from the Avar, though their ID cards contain information about their nationality being "Avar".

• Zabit Magomedsharipov - former MMA fighter
• Khasan Magomedsharipov - MMA fighter

• Wixman, Ronald. The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook. (Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 1984) pp. 7–8
• Olson, James S., An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994) pp. 25–26