Ingush societies

Ingush societies or shahars (Ingush: ГIалгIай шахьараш, romanized: Ghalghaj šæx́æræš) were ethnoterritorial associations of the Ingush based on the geographical association of several villages and intended for conditional administrative-territorial delimitation of the Ingush ethnic group. The formation and functioning of most of them dates back to the late Middle Ages (16th – 19th centuries). During this period, their boundaries, number and names changed.

The names of societies mainly came from the names of the area of their localization, that is, they were based on the geographical principle. Despite the fact that during this period the Ingush lived in relatively closed conditions of mountain gorges, which contributed to more demarcation in terms of territoriality than rallying around a single center, they retained the self-consciousness of a single ethnic group based on a common culture and a single language.

Ingush societies in the literature are sometimes called shahars (Ingush: шахьар, romanized: šæx́ær, lit. 'society, district') The term "shahar" meant in the ancient states of Western Asia the destinies into which they were administratively and territorially divided. Societies (shahars) of medieval Ingushetia were also territorial units.