Northern Caucasus in the context of "Alania"

The Burji Mamluks (Arabic: المماليك البرجية, romanized: al-Mamalik al-Burjiya) or Circassian Mamluks (Arabic: المماليك الشركس, romanized: al-Mamalik al-Sharkas), sometimes referred to as the Burji dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1382 until 1517. As with the preceding Bahri Mamluks, the members of the Burji Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves (mamluks) and manumitted, with the most powerful among them taking the role of sultan in Cairo. During this period, the ruling Mamluks were generally of Circassian origin, drawn from the Christian population of the northern Caucasus. The name Burji, meaning 'of the tower', refers to the traditional residence of these Mamluks in the barracks of the Citadel of Cairo.

Although sultans typically designated their sons to succeed them after death, the latter rarely lasted more than a few years before being usurped by one of the powerful Mamluk commanders, usually from among the Mamluks purchased by previous sultans. Political power-plays often became important in designating a new sultan.

Bayram is the Turkic word for a nationally-celebrated festival or holiday, applicable to both national (i.e. secular) and religious celebrations.

Likely owing to the enduring Ottoman Turkish influence in the Balkans and parts of South-Eastern Europe, many non-Turkish peoples like Romanians, Bosniaks, Albanian Muslims, Gorani people, Pomaks as well as Muslims from the Northern Caucasus such as Chechens, Avars, Ingush and Muslims from Azerbaijan, Crimea and other Turkic peoples, have similarly adopted the use of the word "Bayram", using the term "Lesser Bairam" to refer to their own Eid al-Fitr celebrations; "Greater Bairam" refers to Eid al Adha.

Kumyks (Kumyk: Къумукълар, romanized: Qumuqlar, Russian: Кумыки) are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.

They traditionally populate the Kumyk Plateau (northern Dagestan and northeastern Chechnya), lands bordering the Caspian Sea, areas in North Ossetia, Chechnya and along the banks of the Terek River. They speak the Kumyk language, which until the 1930s had been the lingua franca of the Northern Caucasus.

The Terek is a major river in the Northern Caucasus. It originates in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia and flows through North Caucasus region of Russia into the Caspian Sea. It rises near the juncture of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and the Khokh Range, to the southwest of Mount Kazbek, winding north in a white torrent between the town of Stepantsminda and the village of Gergeti toward the Russian region North Ossetia and the city of Vladikavkaz. It turns east to flow through Chechnya and Dagestan before dividing into two branches which empty into the Caspian Sea. Below the city of Kizlyar it forms a swampy river delta around 100 kilometres (62 mi) wide. The river is a key natural asset in the region, providing irrigation and hydroelectric power in its upper reaches.

The main cities on the Terek include Vladikavkaz, Mozdok, and Kizlyar. Several minor hydroelectric power stations dam the Terek: Dzau electrostation (in Vladikavkaz), Bekanskaya, and Pavlodolskaya.

Kists or Kistins is an old exonym of all Nakh peoples (Ingush, Chechens and Batsbi), under which local societies later were designated, and conditionally divided into nearby Kistins and distant Kistins. In Russian sources of the 19th century, the term nearby Kistins referred to the inhabitants of the Kistin Gorge in the vicinity of river Armkhi in Ingushetia, and distant Kistins referred to the inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Argun in Chechnya. Today the name is mostly used to refer to the Chechens who compactly live in the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia.

The Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian: Горская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика, romanized: Gorskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika; Chechen: Лаьмнийн Автономин Советийн Социалистийн Республика, romanized: Lämniyn Avtonomin Sovetiyn Socialistiyn Respublika) or Mountain ASSR (Russian: Го́рская АССР, romanized: Górskaya ASSR) was a short-lived autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR in the Northern Caucasus that existed from 20 January 1921 to 7 July 1924.The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was created from parts of the Kuban and Terek Oblasts by the indigenous nationalities after the Russian Revolution; however, Soviet rule was installed on this territory after the Red Army conquered the Northern Caucasus in the course of the Russian Civil War, and the former republic was transformed into a Soviet one. The area of the republic was over 73,000 square kilometres (28,000 sq mi), and the population was about 800,000. It comprised six okrugs: Balkar, Chechen, Kabardian, Karachay, Nazran (Ingushetia), and Vladikavkaz Okrug (Ossetia) and had two cities: Grozny and Vladikavkaz. In addition, a special autonomy was provided to the Terek Cossacks: Sunzha Cossack Okrug, which included a large enclave in Northern Ingushetia, and a smaller one bordering Grozny. Its boundaries approximated those of classical Zyx.

The ASSR did not exist in its original state very long. Already on 1 September 1921, Kabardin Okrug was split from the ASSR as separate Kabardin Autonomous Oblast, subordinated directly to the RSFSR. Next came Karachay Okrug, which was transformed into Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast on 12 January 1922; Balkar Okrug, which was merged with Kabardin AO into Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast on 16 January 1922; and Chechen Okrug, which was transformed into the Chechen Autonomous Oblast on 30 November 1922.