Karachay-Balkar Mythology

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The mythology Karachay-Balkar is the set of myths and legends of the Karachay (or Karachaïs) and Balkar peoples and the kingdom of Alania.

The Karachais are descended from the populations Alans. According to the Hungarian explorer Jean-Charles de Besse, they descended from Magyar tribes settled in the Caucasus. The kingdom of Alania established in the Middle Ages had its capital at Maghas, which some authors place at Arkhyz, in the mountains currently inhabited by the Karachays. At XIV^e century, Alania was destroyed by Tamerlane, and its decimated population dispersed in the mountains. Tamerlane's raid simultaneously introduced Islam among the local peoples.

The term Balkar derive from the word Bolgar Where Bulgar ; the Balkars then being Bulgarians originally living in Greater Bulgaria, who settled in the Caucasus, while others migrated towards the Balkans (Bulgaria) or present-day Tataria (on the middle Volga).