Ossetia, << aw SET ee uh or aw SEE shuh >>, is a region in the Caucasus Mountains that is divided politically but united by its people and history. North Ossetia, sometimes called North Ossetia-Alania, lies in Russia on the north side of the Caucasus Mountains. South Ossetia lies in Georgia on the south side of the mountains. North Ossetia is industrialized, but South Ossetia is largely rural and agricultural.
The people
of Ossetia are called Ossetes or Ossetians. Most Ossetes are Christians and belong to an Eastern Orthodox church, but a small number of them are Muslims—that is, they practice Islam. The Ossetian language is similar to Pashto, the main language of Afghanistan.
North Ossetia has a population of about 700,000. Ossetes account for more than half the region’s population, and about a quarter are Russians. Armenians, Ingush, and other ethnic groups make up the rest.
South Ossetia had a population of about 100,000 in 1989. About two-thirds were Ossetes, and Georgians made up most of the rest. However, war in the 1990’s caused both Georgians and Ossetes to flee the region. According to estimates, the population of South Ossetia shrank to about 70,000.
History.
The Ossetes descended from the Alans, a tribe from central Asia. During the A.D. 300’s, invading Huns forced groups of Alans to migrate into the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. Mongol invasions in the 1200’s pushed them farther into the mountains, where they mixed with local tribes. Eventually, they came to be known as Ossetes. Most Ossetes became Christians through their association with the Georgians, who lived south of the Caucasus. The Digors, a group of Ossetes in the northern Caucasus, converted to Islam under the influence of the Kabards, an Islamic people with whom they had frequent conflicts.
The Russian Empire took control of the Caucasus region in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Russia protected the Ossetes from the Kabards and allowed the Ossetes to settle the plains north of the Caucasus. The Russians viewed the Ossetes, who were primarily Christian, as natural allies in a region dominated by Muslim tribes. Russia gained control of the north part of Ossetia in 1774 and the south part in 1801. Each part belonged to a different administrative region of Russia. In the 1800’s, a sense of nationalism began to grow among the Ossetian people.
Revolutions in the early 1900’s brought Communists to power in Russia and created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviets kept Ossetia divided, despite the Ossetes’ desire to be united. In 1922, South Ossetia became an autonomous oblast (self-ruling province) as part of the Georgian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian A.S.S.R.). In 1924, North Ossetia became part of Russia as an autonomous oblast. The Soviets elevated North Ossetia to the status of an A.S.S.R. in 1936.
During World War II (1939–1945), the Soviets accused the Digor Ossetes of aiding the Germans, against whom the Soviets were fighting. Along with Chechens, Ingush, and other peoples, the Digors were deported to central Asia and Siberia. The Soviets gave the North Ossetian A.S.S.R. additional territory, including Prigorodny, a region that had been part of the Chechen-Ingush A.S.S.R.
In the late 1980’s, when Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev began relaxing the central government’s tight grip on power, ethnic tensions rose to the surface. In 1989, South Ossetia demanded to be unified with North Ossetia, with the combined Ossetia under Russia’s rule. Georgia’s parliament tried to suppress the Ossetian separatists, while at the same time pursuing its own independence from the Soviet Union. South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in 1990. In response, Georgia’s government stripped South Ossetia of its autonomy and claimed that the Ossetian’s homeland was limited to North Ossetia. Violence erupted in 1991 between Georgian and South Ossetian military groups. Many Ossetian civilians fled to North Ossetia, and many Georgians fled to other parts of Georgia. A peacekeeping force of Georgians, Ossetians, and Russians entered the region in 1992 and established a cease-fire.
With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, North Ossetia also faced a political crisis. Ingushetia, its neighbor to the east, demanded the return of the Prigorodny region. In 1992, Ingush forces attempted to gain control of Prigorodny. The Russian government sent troops and drove out the Ingush fighters. Fearing revenge attacks, tens of thousands of ethnic Ingush civilians fled North Ossetia for Ingushetia. As in South Ossetia, a cease-fire was put in place, monitored by Russian forces. A few Ingush refugees returned to their homes in North Ossetia. Ossetes who fled the war and repression in South Ossetia occupied many former Ingush homes in North Ossetia.
The cease-fire in South Ossetia did little to resolve the conflict between the province, Georgia, and Russia. In August 2008, Russia and Georgia clashed over control of South Ossetia. Russian troops entered Georgia. South Ossetia and other parts of Georgia suffered much damage. After the conflict, Russia recognized South Ossetia as independent, but most other countries have not done so. The United States and other Western countries have continued to consider the areas as part of Georgia. In September 2008, European Union observers arrived in Georgia to monitor a withdrawal of Russian troops from the country. However, Russia kept troops in South Ossetia.
See also Georgia (Ethnic conflict).
