Kumukh

Kumukh was a principal Lak centre in the mountains of Dagestan, associated with the authority of the shamkhals and later the Gazikumukh khans. Its fortified heights overlooked the settlement and neighbouring ridges. Stone citadels, a mosque and arrangements for supplying water joined defence to the everyday work needed to sustain a mountain stronghold.

After the older shamkhalate fragmented in the seventeenth century, Kumukh remained the capital of a khanate whose rulers competed with neighbouring communities and outside powers. Surkhay Khan II resisted Russian expansion in the early nineteenth century. In 1820 Russian forces defeated his troops and occupied Kumukh, installing Aslan Khan of Kyura in his place. Local rule continued under an imposed dynastic arrangement. The occupation changed the balance of power while retaining a khan's government, linking the town's political future more closely to Russia's Caucasian administration.