Map adapted from Wikipedia under CC 4.0 licence. (Label added to show Caspian Sea.)

This is to help you out with the news. Recently there was talk of a place called Dagestan. Apart from guessing that it 'must be somewhere in Central Asia,' you were probably at a loss unless you happened to live in the neighbourhood. Just where in Central Asia? Behold! A map!

'Dag' is the only Turkish word I know. 'Dag' means mountain: Musa Dagh, Babadag, etc. '-stan' indicates a country. So a country in the mountains, but which mountains? Aha, the Caucasus! Dagestan is on the west coast of the Caspian Sea. There's a city called Makhachkala with about a half-million people in it and an airport that made unfortunate news headlines recently.

Dagestan has about 30 different ethnic groups among its 3 million people. That probably adds up to a lot of arguing. It's part of the Russian Federation, which might explain a few things. Also, it's an oil-rich region.

The country has 405 km of coastline, about 1800 rivers, and not a lot of rain. Its highest peak is 4,470 meters. It borders Chechnya and Azerbaijan.

There are a lot of different languages in Dagestan. If you're planning to be a tourist, take a good Russian dictionary. And send us some pictures.

DG

13.11.23 Front Page

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