Udi People - History

History

The Udi are considered to be the descendants of the people of Caucasian Albania. According to the classical authors, the Udi inhabited the area of the eastern Caucasus along the coast of the Caspian Sea, in a territory extending to the Kura River in the north, as well as the ancient province of Utik. Today, most Udis belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Centuries of life in the sphere of Turco-Persian society influenced their culture, as is expressed in Udi folk traditions and the material culture.

The Udi are first mentioned in Herodotus' Histories (5th century BC). Describing the Battle of Marathon, during the Greek-Persian war (490 year BC), the author noted that Udi soldiers also were at war as a part of nine satrapy of the Persian army. The Udis are mentioned in the Geographica of the ancient Greek writer Strabon (1st century BC) in his description of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasian Albania.

The ethnic term "Udi" was mentioned first in the Natural history by the ancient Roman author Pliny the Elder (1st century CE). Further ancient information about the Udi people can be found in books by Ptolemy (2nd century), Gaius Asinius Quadratus and many other authors. Since 5th century AD, the Udi people are often mentioned in the Armenian sources. More extensive information is given in The History of Aluank by Movses Kagancatvasiy. The Udi were one of the predominating Albanian tribes and they were considered the creators of Caucasian Albania.

Both capitals of Caucasian Albania: Kabalak (also called Kabalaka, Khabala, Khazar, today's Qabala) and Partav (also called Partaw, today's Barda), were located in the historical territory of the Udi. They occupied extensive territories from the bank of the Caspian Sea to the Caucasian Mountains, on the left and right banks of the Kura River. One of the regions in this area was named "Utik". After the conquest of the Caucasian Albania by Arabs, the number of the Udi and their territory were gradually reduced. According to the linguist Wolfgang Schulze, the western Udi had to leave Nagorno-Karabakh and settle in the village of Nidzh to resist Armenization.

Today the only places of concentrated Udi settlement are the villages of Nidzh and Oğuz (Vartashen) in Azerbaijan, as well as the village Zinobiani (immigrants from Vartashen in 1922) in Georgia. Although in the recent past, the Udi people lived in Mirzabeily, Soltan Nuha, Jourlu, Mihlikuvah, Vardanly, Bajan, Kirzan, and Yenigkend, in contemporary times they have been mostly assimilated with the people of Azerbaijan.