Circassians, in the wide sense of the term, is the name given to all the formerly independent tribes of the Caucasus; in a narrower sense, it denotes the tribes (called by themselves Adighé, by the Turks and Russians, Teherkesses) who inhabited the north-western wing of the Caucasus, with a government half patriarchal and feudal, and half constitutional. In 1858-65, rather than submit to Russian government, nearly the whole nation of fifteen tribes, to the number of nearly half a million persons, left their country for the Turkish possessions in Asia Minor, or the mountainous parts of Bulgaria, carrying with them their in- subordinate spirit and marauding habits, which added to the horror of the Bulgarian massacres of 1876 and 1877.
The Circassian nobles are principally Mohammedans, whilst the great mass of the people profess a corrupt Christianity, which shows strange survivals of earlier heathenism in its sacrifices and sacred trees, joined to the celebration of Easter, the sign of the cross, and processions with lights. The Circassians are proverbially handsome—for generations their daughters have adorned the harems of the wealthy Turks; they are also strong, active, brave, and temperate. As a nation they made their first historical appearance during the middle ages. They are, however, chiefly known through their long struggles to maintain their independence against the aggression of Russia. See article CAUCASUS, and Ernest Chantre's magnificent work, Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase (5 vols. folio, Paris-Lyons, 1885-87). The first volume contains an exhaustive bibliography; the fifth is devoted to a detailed account of the peoples of the Caucasus as they now exist.