Балаган на Синей
The place
Балаган на Синей ("Balagan on the Sinyaya") in Krasnodar Krai, Sochi/Krasnaya Polyana area (Caucasus State Nature Reserve, Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia), at 1,542 m elevation, northern slope of the western Caucasus. Continuous Russian Caucasus cluster (batches 250-393). Shepherd's alpine-pasture balagan on the Sinyaya ("blue") mountain river + Kavkazsky Zapovednik, Russia's oldest nature reserve (1924), UNESCO 1999 Western Caucasus, 3,000 km², last wild population of the European bison Bison bonasus caucasicus, reintroduced 1946-1990, 100 individuals + Krasnaya Polyana Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, 22nd edition, Aibga/Rosa Khutor + Bolshoi Fisht 2,867 m, an iconic summit + heritage of the Circassian/Adyghe people (northwest Caucasian people, 700,000, Adyghe/Kabardian/Cherkess, Circassian language + the 1864 Muhajir genocide by the Russian Empire, 90% of the population exiled to the Ottomans, 1.5 million victims, today a 3 million diaspora in Turkey).
The setting
Krasnodar Sochi/Krasnaya Polyana Caucasus Reserve Karachay-Cherkessia Russia 1,542 m N slope western Caucasus, continuous cluster batches 250-393, shepherd balagan Sinyaya "blue" river + Kavkazsky Zapovednik 1924 UNESCO 1999 Western Caucasus 3,000 km² bison reintroduced 1946-1990 100 individuals + Krasnaya Polyana Sochi 2014 + Bolshoi Fisht 2,867 m, Circassian/Adyghe NW 700,000 Circassian language + 1864 Muhajir genocide Russian empire 90% exiled to Ottomans 1.5 M.
