Shahdagh people (also spelt Shah Dagh, Shakhdag, Shakhdagh and Shadag) is a generic description of several small ethnic groups living in the vicinity of Mount Shahdagh in Azerbaijan, particularly in three major villages of the district of Konakhkent (Quba district) near the Daghestani border. The Shahdagh ethnic groups generally speak Samur languages of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family.
The name of each village has historically corresponded to the name of one ethnic group.
Several ethnic groups are included within the term:
The supposed ancestors of these peoples were Caucasian Albanians and each group has its own specific traditions, culture and language.
Shahdagh peoples have specifically characteristic family and cultural traditions. It is possible to find many similarities and varieties between the wedding and mourning traditions of Shahdagh people and those of other historical groups, especially Oghuz Turks.
Economic life in the Konakhkent (Quba) district still revolves around animal husbandry (sheep and goats in the highlands, cattle in the lowlands), gold and silver smithing, weaving, pottery and rug manufacturing. Because of the need to trade goods within the region of Dagestan, many Shah Daghs had to learn to speak Azeri.
Traditionally, the Shah Daghs were governed by rigid endogamous patriarchal clan systems, in which young people were encouraged to marry first or second cousins. That sense of clan cohesion was strengthened by the fact that all land was owned comunally by the extended family unit. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet government also succeeded in establishing cooperatives and collectivising many Shah Dagh herds and pasture lands; this policy aroused resentment among the local people.
Even though many Shah Daghs are still aware of their heritage, the Budugs, Khinalugs and Dzheks did not appear in the Soviet censuses of 1959, 1970 and 1979. Ever since the 1920s, they have listed their nationality as Azerbaijani, even though they spoke their own native languages. The fact that they were bilingual in Azeri and were surrounded and vastly outnumbered by Azerbaijanis contributed to their assimilation. Most Russian ethnologists today believe that the Shah Daghs have been all but completely assimilated by Azerbaijanis.