Derbent

Historical records of Derbent go back to the 8th century BC, and it is considered Russia's oldest city. Its whole history comes from geography: a strip of land about three kilometres wide between the Caspian and the mountains, the eastern of the only two practicable routes across the Caucasus. Under Persian rule it belonged to Caucasian Albania, and in the late 5th or early 6th century the Sasanian king Kavad I re-founded it; his son Khosrow I built the citadel and the walls, about 20 metres high, that ran down to the sea to keep the northern nomads out. Its Persian name, Darband, means a gate in a barrier.

The Arabs took it in 643 and called it Bab al-Abwab, the Gate of Gates, bringing Islam to the region; in the 9th century it was, by Arab accounts, the largest city in the Caucasus. It later passed to an emirate, the Mongols, Timur and the Shirvanshahs, and in the 16th century to Safavid Iran. Peter the Great took it briefly in 1722, and after the Russo-Persian War it was ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813.

Under Russian rule Derbent became the spiritual centre of the Mountain Jews, who made up about a third of the population in the mid-20th century before most emigrated after 1991. Today the citadel, the ancient city and the fortress are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On 23 June 2024 armed attackers struck in Derbent and Makhachkala; the city's synagogue was set on fire and largely destroyed.

Derbent has always been a meeting point of peoples. Today Lezgins and Azerbaijanis each make up more than a third of the population, with Tabasarans, Dargins, Russians and Aghuls among the rest; in 1886 people of Persian descent were still a majority. The city keeps four theatres for its communities — Azerbaijani, Lezgin, Tabasaran and Judeo-Tat — an unusual sign of that mix.

Religion is woven into the city's fabric. The Juma Mosque, Shia and considered the oldest mosque in Russia, stands among smaller neighbourhood mosques, while the Kyrkhlyar cemetery, honouring forty early Muslim fighters, is the oldest active Muslim cemetery in the country. An Armenian church of 1860, now a museum of carpets and crafts, and an Orthodox church of 1899 recall the Christian communities, and the Mountain Jews, though now few, remain part of the city's story.

Across Dagestan the fast-paced lezginka is the best-known folk dance, and the republic has produced a disproportionate number of Olympic and world champions in freestyle wrestling. Derbent's own craft traditions connect with the carpets of southern Dagestan, displayed in the museum-reserve.

Derbent has roughly 128,000 people and is the administrative centre of the surrounding Derbentsky District, although it is not formally part of it. The economy includes machine building, food processing, textiles, fishing, building materials and wood, and the city is the centre of Russian brandy production. It also has a university and several technical schools, and about two kilometres outside the city is the Chayka (Seagull) holiday colony. The city covers about 70 square kilometres on the slopes of the Tabasaran Mountains, south of the Rubas River.

The city has two faces: the old quarters inside the walls, with their stone houses along narrow lanes, and the modern city below, with its station, parks and newer housing.

Like the rest of Dagestan, Derbent depends heavily on subsidies from Moscow, and police and checkpoints are a constant presence. Dagestani soldiers have fought in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many of them killed, and in September 2022 the republic was a centre of protests against mobilisation.

Derbent eats the food of Dagestan, built on meat, dough, cheese and dairy. Khinkal here is not the Georgian dumpling but pieces of boiled dough served with boiled meat, broth and garlic sauce. Chudu are thin flat pies filled with meat, cheese or greens, and kurze are long-shaped dumplings. Urbech, a thick paste ground from flax or other seeds or nuts, is eaten with honey. Chorba, a soup usually made with lamb and beef, fried vegetables and herbs, is cooked across the Caucasus and especially in Dagestan, and salty Nogai tea, brought to the region by the Nogais, is popular among Dagestanis.

Shashlyk, grilled meat, is widely eaten, and the city's fishing industry adds Caspian fish to the table.

Brandy is the city's best-known product: Derbent is the centre of Russian brandy production, while Kizlyar, in the north of Dagestan, has a brandy factory of its own. Even so, in the Muslim republics of the North Caucasus alcohol is scarce in everyday life, and dress and behaviour are conservative.