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Capital (and largest city) |
Anji | ||||
Language | Kumyk | ||||
Shawkhal | Budai V | ||||
Pasha | Chopan Andiy ulani | ||||
Population | 572,410 | ||||
Currency | KKD |
The Shawkhalate of Kumykistan, Kumykistan, Kumykia, is a small authoritarian monarchy in the Transcauscus region between Europe and Asia. It lies on the Caspian Sea and has borders with Azerbaijan, Tabasarania, Dagestan, Chechnya and Noghai. The capital is Anji and the population around 572,000.
The head of state is Shawkhal Budai V.
The official language is Kumyk.
The currency is the Kumyk Dinar (KKD).
History[]
According to legend the Shawkhalate was founded in the 8th century by Shakbhal, who was supposedly a general aligned to the Abbasid Muslim Caliphate, possibly carving out a fiefdom for himself out of the Khazar Khangate which had previously dominated. The Kumyks adopted Islam around the same time (whilst the Khazars to the north adopted Judaism). The Shawkhalate's actual power would wax and wane, especially during the Mongol/Ilkhanate period, but for much of its history it could claim to hold suzerainty over Chechnya and Dagestan.
Relations with the Kievan Rus', and subsequent Grand Princes of Tver and Vladimir were good, at least whilst they had a common enemy in the Crimean and Golden Hordes. An elephant was supposedly presented to Grand Prince Ivan IV of Vladimir in 1556 and the Kumyks were praised for their military skill.
The office of Shawkhal was hereditary, however in the mid 1600s the military decided to depose the plainly useless incumbent and elect one of their own. The plan failed, the supposedly useless Adil-Gerey II suddenly showed some promise but the state fell into civil war.
This coincided with a Polish invasion of the region; they had seized the Tatar peninsula in the 1640s and now sought to defend it from attacks from the east, hoping to supplant the faltering Crimean Khanate. 'Kumykia' was, for six years, Poland's easternmost province, though heavy-handed government, pressure from Tver and Vladimir, and a local noble revolt, soon persuaded the Poles to retreat to a more defendable position. As the Poles moved out the Kumyk and Chechen lands splintered into warring fiefdoms which were only brought back into some semblance of unity by the Shamkhalate of Tarki after almost a century of unrest and Caliphate interventions.
In 1724, under the leadership of the Kumyk general Adil-Girey a united Caucus army met and defeated a Vladimirian army, so severely that Vladimir's southward expansion was abruptly halted for almost 120 years. Military prowess never quite translated to political domination and thereafter the Shawkhalate has oscillated between being dominated by successive pro-Vladimirian or pro-Caliphate (and sometimes pro-Persian separatists) interests. Both powers built fortresses in Kumykistan in attempts to prevent the other pushing their influence and this would continue until the 1960s when a mix of diplomacy and civil disobedience (most likely supported by hefty bribes from Polish and Byzantine) finally removed all foreign presence.
Government[]
Kumykistan is an absolute monarchy with no democratic processes or elections at all. The monarchy is hereditary whilst the rank of Pasha, effectively the state's chief minister, is semi-hereditary and chosen from a small group of nobility.
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