The Kipchaks first appeared in the North Caucasus in the pre-Christian period. These people were called «Ilk-kypchaklar» in this region, which means the first Kipchaks. In the 11th century, other groups of Kipchaks moved from the east to the North Caucasus and were called «Son-Kipchaklar», i.e. «Second Kipchaks».
By the middle of the 11th century, the Kipchak tribes had expelled the Pechenegs from the pre-Caucasian steppes. In the 11th century, there were two strong Kipchak groups in that region, the Dnieper and the Don. In the North Caucasus in the 19th century, the Kumyk Karachi-Beks — owners of appanages, who considered themselves descendants of the Khazar-Kipchak nobility, who appeared in the region long before the Arabs appeared in Dagestan, lived in the North Caucasus.
Fragment of a map of the Caucasus (Kumyk lands) by F. Handke; lithographed, printed and published by C. Flemming in Glogau, 1855. The photo is in the public domain.
At the beginning of the 12th century, the Russian prince Vladimir Monomakh inflicted a number of sensitive defeats on the Kipchaks. After that, part of the Kipchak tribes migrated to the North Caucasus.
At that time, the Kipchaks of Atrak Khan moved from the Donets steppes to the North Caucasus and faced the Kipchaks of the first wave. Atrak’s Kipchaks also had to come into conflict with Alans. However, the Georgian king David cooperated with the Kipchaks and also reconciled them with the Alans. Later King David resettled part of the Kipchaks to Georgia. The Kipchaks of Atrak constituted a serious military force in Georgia. With the help of the Kipchaks, Tsar David successfully fought against the Seljuk Turks.
The Streltsy steppe in the Central Black Earth Reserve near Kursk in European Russia. Photo from free sources on the Internet.
Kipchaks of the second wave settled in the mountain gorges of the North Caucasus. Now researchers have determined that the language of the Kipchaks is strikingly close to the Karachai-Balkar language by 70-80%. This people also inhabited the upper reaches of the Zelenchuk, Kuban, Baksan, Chegem and Cherek rivers. It is believed that the Kipchak ethnos influenced the formation of the Karachai and Balkar ethnic groups. The Kipchak tribal association in the time interval between the Hun and Mongol invasions, along with the Khazaria, was a powerful military force in the Caucasus.
As early as in the IX century, the Kipchaks as part of the Khazar troops participated in military campaigns in the Caucasus. The geographer Al-Garnati in the XI century 1131 and 1153 reports the presence of the Guzes, Khazars, Bulgarians and Suvars in the Caucasus. Arab geographer of XII century Muhammad Abdallah al-Idrisi on his maps distinguished the lands of Black Kumania, which are known as Kuban nomads of Kipchaks. These Turkic tribes were able to squeeze out the Didoians, Bezhitins, Hunzibians and Ginukhians in the Caucasus. The Kipchaks seized the Alanian Terek-Kum territories and settled in the pre-Caucasian steppes and in the coastal lands of Dagestan. There is information about Derbent Kipchaks in the Georgian chronicle «Kartlis Tskhovreba» of XII century. Having advanced into the Caspian territories of the North Caucasus, the Kipchaks occupied part of the lands of the Dargins and pushed them beyond the Derbent Passage. Nowadays these territories are inhabited by descendants of the Kipchaks — Kumyks. According to some scientists, a part of Kipchaks was assimilated by medieval Adygs in the second half of XIII-XIV centuries, and the rest of the nomadic groups moved to the mountainous regions.
Mamluk from Aleppo. Young boys, mostly Kipchak Turks from regions north of the Black Sea, were bought from slave traders and trained as warriors by previous generations of Mamluk amirs or commanders. The photo is in the public domain.
The Kipchaks also had trade and business ties with other peoples of the North Caucasus: Adygs, Alans, Vainakhs. The Kipchak borders in the 12th century in the North Caucasus were along the Kuban and Terek rivers. Researchers of the Kipchak culture believe that the lands between Kuban and Manych were the places of Don, Don and Dnieper Kipchak nomads.
During the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the North Caucasus in 1223, the Kipchaks together with the Alans opposed the Mongol hordes. The Alano-Kipchak army faced the Mongols in one battle, and the «uninvited guests» could not cope with the united army. To defeat the enemy the Mongols went on a trick. They arranged negotiations with Kipchaks, promised not to touch them, generously gifted them, and explained that they were opposing Alans in particular. Kipchaks, having received gifts, believed the promises and went away. As soon as they left, the Mongols attacked the Alans, made a complete rout of them, and then overtook the unsuspecting Kipchaks, killed many of them, and returned their «gifts».
A little later a large invasion of the North Caucasus was carried out by the Mongols, which exterminated and assimilated most of the Kipchaks.
«Stone Baba». Photo from free sources on the Internet.
From the Kipchaks in the North Caucasus remained stone sculptures, called at that time Russ «stone baba». These ritual stones were also called at ancient Turks balbal. They are still found in the steppe zone.