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History of Nal'chik


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The territory of modern-day Nalchik was inhabited by native Balkars and Kabardians as far back as 1743, but the modern city dates from the early 19th century when the expanding Russian Empire built a fort there in 1818; this date is seen at the top of the city's coat of arms. A military settlement was founded on the site in 1838. Nalchik remained relatively unimportant until after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when it was given the status of a city in 1921. It was promoted to become the administrative center of Kabardian Autonomous Oblast.

The city is named after the Nalchik River, on the shores of which it is located. The word "Nalchik" literally means "small horseshoe" in Kabardian (or Circassian, a Northwest Caucasian language) and Karachay-Balkar (a Turkic language). It is a diminutive of nal, the Turkic and Turkish word for "horseshoe" derived from Arabic (???) with the same meaning.

During World War II, Nalchik was occupied by Nazi Germany and Romania between October 28 1942 and January 3, 1943. The city was heavily damaged during the conflict. Nalchik's Jewish population, mostly "Mountain Jews", remained unharmed, as they were able to blend in easily with their neighbors.

Nalchik was chosen the "second cleanest city of Russia" in 2003.

On October 13, 2005, Nalchik was attacked by a large group of Yarmuk Jamaat militants led by Shamil Basayev and Anzor Astemirov. Buildings associated with the Russian security forces were targeted, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding 115. Thirty-five policemen were killed in the fighting and eighty-nine militants, including prominent leader Ilias Gorchkhanov, were killed while another fifty-nine were arrested
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