Djaro-Belokani

The Djaro-Belokani communities (also Char, Chary, rarely Chartalah were a group of self-governing communities in the Caucasus from the XVII to the XIX centuries. They had significant connections to the Elisu Sultanate to the southeast.

They extended for about 60 kilometers along the south slope of the Caucasus Mountains in what is now Azerbaijan. Here a series of valleys extended down from the mountain crest southwest to the lowlands of the Alazani River. Population was centered in the lower valleys and their outwash plains. To the southeast was the Elisu Sultanate and beyond that the Shaki Khanate. To the west was the Georgian Kingdom of Kakheti and north over the mountains was Dagestan. The lowlands to the southwest were inhabited by Georgians in the west and Azeris in the east. Its location near the Christian-Muslim divide and proximity to Dagestani raiders made it a battleground.

The ruling class was a mixture of Avars and Tsakhurs. The common people were Azeris and Ingiloys or Georgian Muslims. The four peoples tended to live in separate villages. The Tsakhurs came from north of the mountains (see Elisu Sultanate) and "Avar" may be a vague term for Dagestani. Tsutsiev gives the predominant population as Avar and shows a migration south from the uppermost Avar Koysu River. Early Russian documents tended to call the ruling class "Lezgians".

The political system has been described as an "aristo-democratic republic". It was a league of five communities with theoretically equal power. In terms of real power they ranked: Djari, Belokan, Tali, Mukhakh and Dzhinikh. Some add a sixth called Katekh. Djari had by far the most wealth and power. Decisions were made by one or more Jamaats or assemblies. The Jamaat elected a Qadi who had judicial and executive powers. Early writers emphasized the rightlessness of the common people. Recent writers reverse this. The Tsakhurs and Avars confined themselves to collecting a land tax and villages were led by "Agsakkals" who administered Sharia law.

Belokan is today a town. Modern Zaqatala is 25 km southeast. From old maps(Baddeley, page 250) Tali was just south of Zaqatala, Mukhakh south of that and Djari might be the modern village of Car at the head of the valley that runs 8 km southwest to Zaqatala. Dzhinikh may have been near the modern Lekit. There is a place called Katekh 8 km west of Zaqatala. In 1830 seven of the 64 legal villages were north of the mountain crest near the original home of the Tsakhurs. In the early XVIII century a Turkish firman recognized Djaro-Belokani control as far southwest as the Iori River. The western boundary seems to have been near Lagodekhi across the modern Georgian border.

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