Khunzhak

Khunzakh stands on a high plateau in the mountains of Dagestan. It was the seat of the rulers of Avaria, whose authority extended over a mountainous country of deep valleys and independent communities. From the early thirteenth century the settlement served as the capital of the Avar khanate, a political center among the diverse peoples of the eastern Caucasus.

In the early nineteenth century the khanate became caught between Russian expansion and the religious and political movement led by the imams of Dagestan. In 1830 Ghazi Muhammad attacked Khunzakh but failed to take it. Four years later his successor Hamzat Bek captured the town and had members of the ruling family killed. His victory was brief: later that year opponents seeking revenge assassinated him in the mosque at Khunzakh.