Avar Khanate

a feudal state in the central part of Dagestan from the late 12th to the 19th centuries.

It arose on the site of the early medieval kingdom of Serir. Under Umma Khan, who died in 1634, the Avar Khanate was a major feudal federation. It reached the height of its power in the 18th century, when it ruled over the Dzharo-Belokany society and collected tributes from the Georgian king, from the khans of Derbent and Kuba, and from other rulers. The economic system of the Avar Khanate was a mixture of feudal relations with vestiges of the clan system. After the 15th century it placed itself under Russia’s protection several times and became part of Russia in 1803. From the 1820’s to the 1850’s the Avar Khanate was part of the imamate. In 1864 the tsarist government liquidated the khanate and set up the Avar Okrug in its place.