On the Ethnic Identification of the Okoks and Shih-Murza Okotsky

Abstract

The ethnonym Okok s had been mentioned in the Russian archival sources from the end of the XVI to the beginning of the XVIII centuries. The ethnic identification of the ethnonym as well as its localization are still the subject of scientific dispute among researchers. The study analyzes the available primary sources on the subject and also used the results of researches of the ХХ century. It shows that at the end of the XVI century the Okoks lived in the upper Terek river, in the area of the modern Lars. The available sources allow to identify the Okoks as representatives of the Ingush community the Metskhal. At the same time, according to the archival information of the XVI-XVII centuries, the owners of the lands in the upper Terek were murzas of Minor Kabarda (later known as the Mudarovs). In the 1580s a part of the Okoks led by Shikh-murza settled in the Michik river valley. From there, in 1596, some of the Okoks resettled in the fortified Tersky town built by the tsar authorities. Here they founded a separate sloboda /village. Its population replenished by the Kabardians, Kumyks, Avars and other peoples of the Northern Caucasus.