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.[1]
The names of societies mainly came from the names of the area of their localization, that is, they were based on the geographical principle.[2][3] 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.[4]
Ingush societies in the literature are sometimes called shahars[5] (Ingush: шахьар, romanized: šæx́ær, lit. 'society, district'[6][7][8]) 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.[9][a]
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