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Pankisi
Pankisi (Georgian: პანკისი) or the Pankisi Gorge (Georgian: პანკისის ხეობა, Pankisis Kheoba) is a valley region in Georgia, in the upper reaches of River Alazani. It lies just south of Georgia’s historic region of Tusheti between Mt Borbalo and the ruined 17th-century fortress of Bakhtrioni.
Administratively, Pankisi is included in the Akhmeta municipality of the Kakheti region. The area is about two and half miles wide and eight miles long.
From November 2000 until 2002, the valley played host to an armed formation led by the Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev, who had fled the Second Chechen War. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, both Russian and American political figures made public allegations, which were subsequently either disproved or uncorroborated, that senior Al-Qaeda leaders were present in the Gorge, and had acquired the nerve agent ricin. The Gorge has occasionally been mentioned in subsequent reports linking it to Salafi-jihadist activity.
As of 2019, the Kist ethnic group accounted for the majority of the area's roughly 5,000 residents. The Kists are Vainakhs, usually of Chechen roots, who have moved to the Pankisi area since the 19th Century. Kist culture combines Vainakh traditions with some influences from surrounding eastern Georgia.
The 17th-century geographer and historian Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi, in his book Description of the Kingdom of Georgia, writes that the inhabitants of Pankisi were Georgian nobility of the Aznauri and Tavadi classes, although his account makes clear that there were also peasants in the area. He described them as intelligent, and as "skilled warriors."
Vakhushti described Pankisi itself as forested, with plentiful fruit trees, and vineyards that produced good wine. He added that the harvests were good, and the forests rich in game. Fish were also numerous, he wrote, especially "mountain trout", and there were many cattle, and many pigs, but few sheep.
In the 1730s, the Pankisi valley was emptied of Georgian population: part of them were killed as a result of the invasions, and rest of them resettled elsewhere.
In 18th century Georgian legislation, the noble (Aznauri) Kobiashvili family of the Kingdom of Kakheti are mentioned as the lords of the Pankisi valley.
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Pankisi
Pankisi (Georgian: პანკისი) or the Pankisi Gorge (Georgian: პანკისის ხეობა, Pankisis Kheoba) is a valley region in Georgia, in the upper reaches of River Alazani. It lies just south of Georgia’s historic region of Tusheti between Mt Borbalo and the ruined 17th-century fortress of Bakhtrioni.
Administratively, Pankisi is included in the Akhmeta municipality of the Kakheti region. The area is about two and half miles wide and eight miles long.
From November 2000 until 2002, the valley played host to an armed formation led by the Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev, who had fled the Second Chechen War. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, both Russian and American political figures made public allegations, which were subsequently either disproved or uncorroborated, that senior Al-Qaeda leaders were present in the Gorge, and had acquired the nerve agent ricin. The Gorge has occasionally been mentioned in subsequent reports linking it to Salafi-jihadist activity.
As of 2019, the Kist ethnic group accounted for the majority of the area's roughly 5,000 residents. The Kists are Vainakhs, usually of Chechen roots, who have moved to the Pankisi area since the 19th Century. Kist culture combines Vainakh traditions with some influences from surrounding eastern Georgia.
The 17th-century geographer and historian Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi, in his book Description of the Kingdom of Georgia, writes that the inhabitants of Pankisi were Georgian nobility of the Aznauri and Tavadi classes, although his account makes clear that there were also peasants in the area. He described them as intelligent, and as "skilled warriors."
Vakhushti described Pankisi itself as forested, with plentiful fruit trees, and vineyards that produced good wine. He added that the harvests were good, and the forests rich in game. Fish were also numerous, he wrote, especially "mountain trout", and there were many cattle, and many pigs, but few sheep.
In the 1730s, the Pankisi valley was emptied of Georgian population: part of them were killed as a result of the invasions, and rest of them resettled elsewhere.
In 18th century Georgian legislation, the noble (Aznauri) Kobiashvili family of the Kingdom of Kakheti are mentioned as the lords of the Pankisi valley.