Feappii


The Feappii were an Ingush subgroup that mostly inhabited the mountainous Fappi region of Ingushetia in the Caucasus. Historically, they bordered on the west with Dzherakh, on the east with Khamkhins, on the north with Nazranians, and in the south with Gudomakarians. The center of the society was the fortified village of Erzi or Metskhal.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, part of the Feappii migrated to Tusheti, Georgia, due to a lack of land. The descendants of the migrants are known as Bats people. In the 17th and 18th centuries, another wave of migration occurred, to the region of Aukh.
In 1733, due to concerns about the expansion of the Ottoman Turks in the region, the Feappii, together with the Dzherakhs and Khamkhins, established ties with the Kingdom of Kartli. As the Russian Empire began expanding its territories in the Caucasus region in the 19th century, the Caucasian War broke out. During the war, the Feappii Society was devastated after a Russian punitive expedition in 1830.
After the end of the Caucasian War, the Feappii became part of various okrugs of the Terek Oblast, which in turn was part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty. These included the Voeynno-Ossetian okrug, Ingush okrug, Vladikavkazsky Okrug, Sunzhensky Otdel, and the Nazran okrug.

Etymology

Endonyms

The endonym of the Feappii in their native Ingush language is фаьппий.
translated the ethnonym in Ingush language as "settlers marching in a discordant crowd". Similarly, Rusudan Kharadze and Aleksey Robakidze made a hypothesis that the ethnonym might be connected with the term "alien/new settler". According to linguist, the ethnonym has no etymological explanation. connected the name in the form of Veppiy with the Khazar king Uobos, mentioned in the Georgian Chronicles, thus dating the name back to the 10th century AD.

Exonyms

Historically, the Feappii were known by the exonym of Georgian origin as Kists or Kistins, along with its variants such as Nearby Kists or Nearby Kistins. These terms later appeared in Russian literature. Eventually, the meaning of this ethnonym expanded to cover all Nakh peoples, despite originally referring specifically to the Feappii. The Kist ethnonym was replaced by the term "Metskhalins" in the 19th century, and the Kistin society became known as the "Metskhalin society" respectively, after the chancellery of the society was transferred to Metskhal.
The Ossetians referred to the Feappii as Maqqal, and the river, on which the society was situated, as Maqqaldon, which lent its name to one of the Russian names for Armkhi, Makaldon. The ethnonym Maqqal was infrequently used to denote Feappii on some maps. This ethnonym is linked to the Ingush and Ossetian word for Kite, Maqqal. According to Anatoly Genko, the Ossetians derived this name from the aul of Erzi and its inhabitants, the Erzians.

History

Early history

One of the mountainous Ingush societies, the Fyappins inhabited the mountainous Fappi region of Ingushetia in the Caucasus. The Fyappins bordered Dzheyrakh to the west, the Khamkhins to the east, the Nazranians to the north, and the Gudomakarians to the south.
Historically, the Fyappins were known by the exonym of Georgian origin as Kists or Kistins, along with other variants such as Nearby Kists or Nearby Kistins. The region where they resided was referred to as "Kistetia", as well as "Kistia" or "Kistinia". The first recorded mention of Kists dates back to the 7th century, in the work Ashkharhatsuyts, where it appeared in the form Kusts. However, in that context, it was used to generally describe the Ingush people, not specifically the Fyappins.
During the 16th to 17th centuries, a portion of the Fyappins migrated to Tusheti, Georgia, in search of land. Today, the descendants of these Fyappins are known as the Bats people. Another wave of migration of the Fyappins occurred in the 17th to 18th centuries to the region of Aukh. Today, the descendants of those migrants are known as the Vyappiy and refer to Tyarsh as their ancestral village, as evidenced by their family chronicle :
In 1733, fearing the expansion of the Ottoman Turks, the Fyappins, Dzherakhs and Khamkhins wrote a letter to Vakhtang VI, declaring their oath of allegiance to Kartli. The letter was signed by 16 representatives from leading surnames of the Fyappin, Dzherakh, and Khamkhin communities.

Contacts with Russia and incorporation into Russia

On January 8, 1811, foremen from 13 Fyappin villages swore allegiance to the Russian Empire. However, both the Ingush and Russian sides viewed such oaths more as treaty agreements than actual submission.
During the Caucasian War, the Fyappins were targeted by Russian expansion efforts. In July 1830, two Russian columns led by Major General Abkhazov embarked on a punitive expedition to mountainous Ingushetia. The Russian forces traversed the Darial and Assa Gorges, encountering fierce resistance, particularly from the inhabitants of Eban. As a result of this expedition, the Fyappins were temporarily subdued by the Russian Empire, and their villages devastated. This marked the establishment of district courts and civil governance in mountainous Ingushetia. Following the general uprising of Chechnya in March 1840, during which Chechens aligned with the Caucasian Imamate, Pavel Grabbe reported that the Kists were either sympathetic to or aligned with the Caucasian Imamate.
Within the Russian Empire, the Fyappins were part of the Ossetian-Military Okrug, the Ingush okrug, the Vladikavkazsky okrug, the Sunzhensky otdel, and the Nazran okrug.

Modern

During the Russian Civil War, the self-proclaimed state of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus emerged in the Caucasus region, with Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev, a Fyappin representative, serving as its finance minister. He also led the Ingush National Council.
In 1944, the Ingush people were deported to Central Asia. They were only allowed to return in 1957, after Nikita Khrushchev reversed many of Josif Stalin's policies, including the mentioned deportation. Fyappin writer and poet Issa Kodzoev was repressed by the Soviet regime for addressing Stalin’s crimes. In 1989, Kodzoev, along with other Fyappin representatives like Sulambek Mamilov, was part of the committee for the revival of Ingush autonomy within the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union.
Today, Fyappin descendants live across Ingushetia.

Composition

Fyappin society consisted of the following fortified villages, tribal organizations, and surnames :

Demographics

Notable people

Category:Ingush societies