THE HATUQWAI NATION
THE HATUQWAI (HATQUAI) IS ONE OF THE WEST CIRCASSIAN TRIBES. IT HAS CEASED TO EXIST AS A SEPARATE ENTITY AFTER THE RUSSIAN-CAUCASIAN WAR. ITS MEMBERS HAVE BEEN ASSIMILATED BY THE OTHER CIRCASSIANS. THE FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THEIR HISTORY.
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THE HATUQWAI IS ONE OF THE WESTERN CIRCASSIAN NATION-TRIBES THAT HAD BECOME WELL-KNOWN BY THE BEGINNING OF THE 17th CENTURY A.D.
"TATUKAI, KHATUKAI OR GATUKAIS" LIVE ALONG THE RIVERS: AFIPS, UBIN, YIL, ASHIPS ... (LGHNC 1, 56-72); "GATIUKAI" (DIRR, A. M. ACT 2, 7); "KHATUKAI" (KHADJIMUKOV, PWC 3, 1)
ACCORDING TO RECEIVED EVIDENCE, THE HATUQWAIS LIVED ALONG THE COAST OF ANAPA 4, UNTIL THE 19th CENTURY A.D., THEN MOVED TO LABA 5.
THE ETHNONYM ORIGINATES FROM THE NAME OF THE PRINCE "KHKHATYKKO - THE YOUNGER BROTHER OF BOLOTOKKO, THE PROGENITOR OF THE TCHEMYRGOY 6 PRINCES" (KHAN-GIRAY, NOTES ON THE CIRCASSIANS, 188-219). THE ETHNONYM IN ITS CONTEMPORARY CIRCASSIAN FORM INDICATES THE POSSESSIVE OF THE PERSONAL NAME HATQO (WITH THE PATRONYMIC ELEMENT QO 'SON'). THUS, LITERALLY: THAT BELONGS TO THE SON OF HAT. THE VERSION WHICH SUGGESTS AN ARABIC ORIGIN FOR THE NAME SHOULD BE DISCARDED (SEE CHELEBY 7, 58).
ACCORDING TO L. E. LAVROV (EC, 51), THE HATUQWAIS IN THE CAUCASUS LIVE AT PRESENT ONLY IN THE TOWN OF HATUQWAI. AT THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY A.D. TWO HATUQWAI VILLAGES, NAMELY PADISAY AND DABRAQUAY, IMMIGRATED TO TURKEY.
NOTES:
1. LATEST GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NEWS ON THE CAUCASUS, COLLECTED AND SUPPLEMENTED BY SIMIONE BRONEVSKI, 1823.
2. CONTEMPORARY APPELATIONS OF CAUCASIAN TRIBES, TIFLIS, 1909.
3. PEOPLES OF WESTERN CAUCASIA, CAUCASIAN COLLECTION, 1910.
4. TOWN ON THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF THE BLACK SEA, CONSIDERED TO BE THE NORTH-WESTERN EDGE OF OLD CIRCASSIA.
5. ONE OF THE MORE IMPORTANT RIVERS IN WESTERN CIRCASSIA, 250 kms. IN LENGTH.
6. ONE OF THE CIRCASSIAN TRIBES. ITS DIALECT WAS ADOPTED AS THE OFFICIAL AND LITERARY LANGUAGE OF THE ADYGHEY REPUBLIC.
7. EVLYA CHELEBY, BOOK OF TRAVELS (MADE IN THE 17th CENTURY A.D.), 1979.
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THE HATUQWAIS, ALONG WITH THE TCHEMYRGOYS (KEMIRGOYS, CHEMGWI), ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE OFF-SPRING OF YANAL THE PROGENITOR OF THE KABARDIANS AND THE BESLANAY PRINCES. HOWEVER, THE HATUQWAI DIALECT BELONGS TO THE WESTERN CIRCASSIAN LANGUAGE FAMILY, ALTHOUGH IT WOULD SEEM THAT IT IS THE NEAREST TO EASTERN CIRCASSIAN (KABARDIAN).
LEGEND HAS IT THAT THE TCHEMYRGOY TRIBE DIVIDED INTO TWO BRANCHES, OR PRICEDOMS. ONE BECAME THE DOMAIN OF PRINCE BOLOTOQWA, THE OTHER THAT OF PRINCE HATUQWA. THE FORMER, BEING THE FIRST-BORN, REMAINED IN HIS PRINCIPALITY IN THE AREA BETWEEN THE RIVERS GREAT LABA AND SHKHAKOSHEM, KEEPING THE OLD TRIBAL NAME TCHEMYRGOY FOR HIS PRINCEDOM. PRINCE HATUQWAI MOVED TO THE WEST AND ESTABLISHED A NEW PRINCIPALITY.
THERE IS AN INTERESTING STORY THAT THE BIRTH OF THESE TWO PRINCES PRESAGED THE DIVISION OF THE TCHEMYRGOY TRIBE. BOLOTOQWA AND HATUQWA WERE TWINS, AND ON THE NIGHT OF THEIR BIRTH THEY WERE PLACED ON THE SAME BED AND WERE COVERED BY A FUR CLOTH, FOR IT WAS VERY COLD ON THAT NIGHT. IN THE MORNING, THE FUR WAS FOUND TORN INTO TWO PARTS. THE MOTHER OF THE INFANTS, BEING VERY SUPERSTITIOUS, SHRIEKED "UNLUCKY TCHEMYRGOYS, THEY HAVE TORN YOU ASUNDER".
THE HATUQWAIS LIVED FOR A LONG TIME ALONG THE SOUTHERN BANKS OF THE KUBAN, A LITTLE LOWER THAN WHERE THE RIVER AFIPS FLOWS INTO IT. THEY WERE POWERFUL AND WERE FAMOUS FOR THEIR WAR-LIKE CHARACTER. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE KHAKHGATCH TRIBE DETACHED FROM THE HATUQWAI, WHICH FACT CONTRIBUTED MORE TO THE WEAKENING OF THE MOTHER TRIBE THAN THE RAVAGING INTERNECINE WARS AND THE RAMPANT CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
THE HATUQWAIS HAD MANY PRINCES WHO BECAME FAMOUS FOR THE INTERNECINE WARS AMONG THE CIRCASSIAN TRIBES AS WELL AS THE WARS WITH THE TARTARS OF CRIMEA. IT SEEMS THAT THEY ALSO PLAYED AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE DESTRUCTION OF ASTRAKHAN BY THE CIRCASSIANS. ONE OF THEIR PRINCES, NICKNAMED THE PALE, VASCILLATED IN TURN AS A FRIEND AND FOE OF THE KABARDIANS, WHO, AS IS WELL-KNOWN, KILLED KOSSYM KHAN AND SACKED HIS CAPITAL ASTRAKHAN.
ONE OF THE MORE FAMOUS HATUQWAI PRINCES WAS ASLAN-GIREY WHO, DESPITE BEING PHYSICALLY PUNY, POSSESSED A GREAT CHARACTER AND WAS RENOWNED FOR HIS EXTRAORDINARY GIFT OF ORATION. IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE HATUQWAI PRINCEDOM REACHED ITS ZENITH DURING HIS REIGN.
AT HIS DEATH-BED, SURROUNDED BY THE ELDERS OF THE NOBILITY, THE WISE PRINCE, WHEN ASKED WHICH OF THE HATUQWAI PEASANT FAMILIES SHOULD BE SET FREE AFTER HIS DEMISE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RULES PRESCRIBED BY THEIR RELIGION, ANSWERED THAT AFTER HIM ALL THE HATUQWAIS WILL BE FREE, IMPLYING THE NEED FOR SEVERITY IN GOVERNING HIS WILFUL SUBJECTS.
INDEED, AFTER THE DECEASE OF ASLAN-GIREY, THE HATUQWAIS DIVIDED INTO TWO FACTIONS THAT FOR A LONG TIME WAGED WAR ONE AGAINST THE OTHER, CAUSING INNUMERABLE CALAMITIES AND EVENTUAL DIMINUTION OF TRIBAL POWER AND INFLUENCE.
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THE LOCATION OF THE HATUQWAI TRIBE BEFORE THE RUSSIAN INVASION, AT THE TIME OF KHAN-GIRAY, THE CIRCASSIAN SCHOLAR (NOTES ON THE CIRCASSIANS, 188-219):
PRINCELY CLANS:
HATUQWA.
IN THREE VILLAGE:
1. ZANCHAREY YI QWAJ ON THE LABA.
2. SELTON YI QWAJ.
3. ZANKKLISH YI QWAM YI QWAJ ON THE RIVER PSIZH (KUBAN).
NOBLE CLANS:
1. SOBEPSHI. IN THE VILLAGE SOBAI ON THE SHKHAKQWASHA RIVER.
2. KHAPSEPSHI. IN THE VILLAGE OF KHAPAI, IN CHERCHENAY TERRITORY.
3. PADISAY. IN THE VILLAGE PADISAY ON THE KUBAN RIVER
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