Shapsugs

Shapsugs (Adyghe: шапсыгъ [ʃaːpsəʁ], Russian: шапсуги, Arabic: الشابسوغ) are a Circassian tribe of the Adyghe branch, who are currently living in the Tuapsinsky District (Tuapse) of Krasnodar Krai, Lazarevsky City District of Sochi, and in the Republic of Adygea, all in Russia. These areas are a small part of historical Circassia, in addition to diaspora (Amman, Naour, Marj Al-hamam, Wadi Al Seer) Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Israel (Kfar Kama), Syria, Europe, United States of America. The first Circassians to settle in Amman were from the Shapsug tribe and as a result the Shapsugs neighbourhood is considered the oldest neighbourhood in the Capital Amman and was the down town of it, however later other Circassians from the Kabardian, Abadzekh and Bzadoug tribes also came to Amman.

The Shapsugs speak a dialect of the Adyghe language. According to some indirect data, there were over four thousand Shapsugs in Russia in 1926, but the Shapsug people were not enumerated as a separate group in Russian Censuses until 2002, when the population was recorded at 3,231. however; the Shapsugs who live in the Republic of Adyghea (mainly in District of Takhtamukaysky and District of Teuchezksky) were enumerated as an Adyghe instead of Shapsug, because the Adyghe/Circassians nation considered the Umbrella for all Adyghe Tribes.