The Avars, also known as Maharuls, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group. The Avars are the largest of several ethnic groups living in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The Avars reside in the North Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Alongside other ethnic groups in the North Caucasus region, the Avars live in ancient villages located approximately 2,000 meters above sea level. The Avar language spoken by the Caucasian Avars belongs to the family of Northeast Caucasian languages. Sunni Islam has been the prevailing religion of the Avars since the 14th century
Imam Shamil, an Avar political, military, and spiritual leader of Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1834–1859).
Painting of Avar women having a party by Halil Beg Mussayassul, 1935
Dagestan, officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Federal District. The republic is the southernmost tip of Russia, sharing land borders with the countries of Azerbaijan and Georgia to the south and southwest, the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia to the west and north, and with Stavropol Krai to the northwest. Makhachkala is the republic's capital and largest city; other major cities are Derbent, Kizlyar, Izberbash, Kaspiysk, and Buynaksk.
Sulak Canyon is one of the world's deepest canyons
Kakhib, one of many abandoned auls in Dagestan
Abandoned Lezgin village of Grar
Inside the Persian fortress of Derbent, a World Heritage Site