
Circassia: Ancestral homeland of the Circassians
Circassia (Circassian: Адыгэ Хэку) is a region in the North Caucasus and along the north-east shore of the Black Sea. It is the ancestral homeland of the Circassian people.
The Cherkess or Circassians, who gave their name to this region, of which they were until lately the sole inhabitants, are a peculiar race, differing from the other tribes of the Caucasus in origin and language. The name Circassia is a Latinisation of Cherkess (modern Turkish: Çerkes), the Turkic name for the Adyghe people, and originated in the 15th century with mediaeval Genoese merchants and travellers to Circassia.