tribal confederation · Caucasus

Ubykhia

1500 CE – 1864 CE (approx.)

The land of the Ubykhs around Sochi, a small Black Sea people who led the last Circassian resistance and whose language died out in 1992.

Origins

The Ubykhs lived on the Black Sea coast and mountain valleys around modern Sochi, between the Shapsugs and the Abkhaz. They spoke a distinct Northwest Caucasian language with a famously large number of consonants. They are recorded as a separate people by the 17th century; earlier history is little known.

Rule and society

Ubykh society was led by noble families, above all the Berzeg, together with free communities, and lived by farming, herding and sea trade with Ottoman ports. In 1861 the Ubykhs hosted the Circassian assembly at Sochi, led by Haji Kerantukh Berzeg, which appealed to Britain and the Ottomans for help against Russia.

Decline and legacy

The Russian Empire overran Ubykhia in 1864, and the entire Ubykh people were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Their language faded in exile; its last fluent speaker, Tevfik Esenc, died in Turkey in 1992.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ubykhia. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ubykhia
MLA
“Ubykhia.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ubykhia. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Ubykhia.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ubykhia.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ubykhia’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ubykhia (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻