Rutul

Rutul was the chief village of the Rutuls in the upper Samur basin of southern Dagestan. Their villages formed the Rutul Magal, a federation led by a hereditary bek who summoned an assembly for important affairs.

The Rutuls attacked the Safavid stronghold of Akhty in 1536. Later in the 16th century their bek Gazibek corresponded with the Ottoman sultan and Safavid shah as an equal. The federation absorbed Tsakhur villages in the 17th century, and the Russian Empire gained the region under the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813.