Rutuls - Orientation

Identification. The Rutuls are a people living in the Caucasus region of what is now southern Russia, in the southern part of Daghestan (Rutul District) in the valleys of the Samur River and its tributaries. Traditionally, the Rutuls had no collective term for themselves, identifying themselves only by village.

Location. Two settlements, Khnov and Borch, are located in the valley of the Akhtï-chay River, and two settlements, Shin and Kaynar, are on the territory of Azerbaijan. Some resettled Rutuls live in new settlements in the littoral plain by the Caspian Sea and some in towns of Daghestan. The Rutuls are bounded on the east by the Lezgins, on the north by the Aghuls, on the northwest by the Laks, on the west by the Tsakhurs, and on the south by the Azerbaijanis. The traditional territory of the Rutuls lies between mountain ranges that are hard to traverse and is marked by the gorges of torrential rivers. The Rutuls of the Samur are separated from the Akhtï-chay Rutuls by the Tseylakhanski range (up to 4,015 meters above sea level) and from the Azerbaijani territories by the main Caucasian range. In the major part of the territory the winter is cold, and the summer is moderately cool with fogs and rains. The mountain slopes are covered with grassy vegetation and present good summer pasture for livestock. The northern slopes of some mountains are covered year round with snow.

Demography. The total number of Rutuls in the USSR is 20,672 (1989 census), with a rate of growth of 37 percent and average population density of 52 people per square kilometer.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Rutul language belongs to the Lezghian (Samurian) Subgroup of the Daghestanian Group of the North-East Caucasian Family. The dialects are Mukhad, Shinaz, Mükh River, Ikh River, and Borch-Khnov. Knowledge of Russian is widespread, and some among the elder generation still know Azerbaijani Turkish. The dissemination of written language is connected with the penetration of Islam. The earliest known inscriptions are epitaphs and building inscriptions, made in Arabic in Kufic script, dating from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. The Arabic script was used in Rutul until the 1930s. Rutul has not been a written language throughout the Soviet period, Azerbaijani, Russian, and Lezgian being used for that purpose.