Dagestan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Republic of Dagestan Республика Дагестан (Russian)
—  Republic  —
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: State Anthem of the Republic of Dagestan
Political status
Country	Russia
Federal district	North Caucasian
Economic region	North Caucasus
Established	January 20, 1921
Capital	Makhachkala
Government (as of October 2017)
• Head	Vladimir Vasilyev (acting)
• Legislature	People's Assembly
Statistics
Area (as of the 2002 Census)
• Total	50,300 km2 (19,400 sq mi)
Area rank	52nd
Population (2010 Census)
• Total	2,910,249
• Rank	12th
• Density	57.86/km2 (149.9/sq mi)
• Urban	45.2%
• Rural	54.8%
Time zone(s)	MSK (UTC+04:00)
ISO 3166-2	RU-DA
License plates	05
Official languages	Russian;  Aghul, Avar, Azerbaijani, Chechen, Dargwa, Kumyk, Lezgian, Lak, Nogai, Rutul, Tabasaran, Tat, Tsakhur
Official website: http://www.e-dag.ru/

Map of Dagestan in Russia

Dagestan is a special part of the Russian Federation. It is located in the Caucasus region, which is a mountain area. The name "Dagestan" comes from two old Persian words. Dag means mountain, and stan means land. So, Dagestan means "Land of Mountains."

Almost 3 million people live in Dagestan. These people are known as Dagestani. The capital city of Dagestan is Makhachkala.

People of Dagestan

Dagestan is a "republic" within Russia. This means it has its own constitution and official languages. Republics in Russia are often home to different ethnic groups. These groups are not mainly Russian. Usually, one or two groups make up most of the people in a republic.

Many Nationalities

Dagestan is special because it has over 30 different groups of people. None of these groups forms a majority. The biggest groups include the Avar, Lak, Dargwa, Lezgian, and Tabasaran people. It is hard for people to move around in the mountains. This is one reason why so many different groups live there.

These groups speak about 30 different languages. But they use Russian to talk to each other. Russian acts as a common language, or lingua franca, for everyone.

Religion

Most people in Dagestan are Muslims. They follow the Shafi`i school of Sunni Islam.

Famous People from Dagestan

• Imam Shamil
• Shaykh Said afandi al-Chirkawi

Images for kids

• 

  Kakhib, one of many abandoned auls in Dagestan

• 

  Abandoned Lezgin village of Grar

• 

  Sulak Canyon is one of the world's deepest

• 

  Silver coin of Nader Shah, minted in Dagestan, dated 1741/2 (left = obverse; right = reverse)

• 

  Dagestani man, photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, circa 1907 to 1915.

• 

  A mountain village

• 

  A couple in Dagestan, as photographed by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky at some point between 1907 to 1915

See also

In Spanish: Daguestán para niños