Ubykh people
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 Turkey
|
|
| Languages | |
| Turkish, Hakuchi Adyghe, Kabardian Adyghe | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Adyghe tribes, Abkhaz, Abaza |
The Ubykh (Ubykh Circassian: пэху, туахы (tʷaχə), убых; Russian: убыхи; Turkish: Ubıhlar, Vubıhlar) are one of the twelve Adyghe (Circassian) tribes, representing one of the twelve stars on the green-and-gold Adyghe flag. Along with the Natukhai and Shapsug tribes, the Ubykh were one of three coastal Adyghe tribes to form the Circassian Assembly (Adyghe: Адыгэ Хасэ) in 1860. Historically, they spoke a distinct Ubykh Circassian, i.e. the form of West Circassian as spoken by Ubykhs. This oral form, which did not exist in written form, is extinct since 1992 when the last Ubykh speaker, Tevfik Esenç, died.
The Ubykh used to inhabit the capital of Circassia, Sache (Circassian: Шъачэ, lit. seaside) — present-day Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The province of the Ubykh tribe was situated between the Shapsug tribe near Tuapse and the Sadz (Dzhigets) in the north of Gagra. The Ubykh tribe were mentioned in book IV of Procopius' De Bello Gothico (The Gothic War), under the name βροῦχοι (Bruchi), a corruption of the native term tʷaχ. In the 1667 book of Evliya Çelebi, the Ubykh were mentioned as Ubúr without any other information.
The Ubykh were semi-nomadic horsemen, and had a finely-differentiated vocabulary related to horses and tack. Some Ubykh also practised favomancy and scapulimancy. However, the Ubykh gained more prominence in modern times. By 1864, during the reign of Tsar Alexander II, the Russian conquest of the Northwestern Caucasus had been completed. The other Adyghe tribes and the Abkhaz were decimated, and the Abaza were partially driven out of the Caucasus.
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