Lezgistan is an ethnic homeland of the Lezgins, as well as the area of distribution of the Lezgin language.[1]
While ancient Greek historians, including Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny the Elder, referred to Legoi people who inhabited Caucasian Albania, Arab historians of 9-10th centuries mention the kingdom of Lakz in present-day southern Dagestan.[2] Al Masoudi referred to inhabitants of this area as Lakzams (Lezgins),[3] who defended Shirvan against invaders from the north.[4]
Prior to the Russian Revolution, "Lezgin" was a term applied to all ethnic groups inhabiting the present-day Russian Republic of Dagestan.[5]
The first notion of an autonomous Lezgin territory, that is, "Lezgistan", was voiced in 1936 during Joseph Stalin's reign.[6]
After the dissolution of USSR there was an irredentist project to create a unified Lezgistan on Lezgin-inhabited areas of Azerbaijan and Russian Republic of Dagestan.[7] In December 1991, various Lezgin groups held the All-National Congress of Lezgins. During it, they adopted a declaration calling for the creation of an independent Lezgistan, which would be a national entity uniting the Lezgins of Dagestan and Azerbaijan.[8] Sadval movement[9][10] and Federal Lezgian National and Cultural Autonomy, Samur[11] are the main political organisations seeking separatism.