Close ties between the peoples of Russia and the Caucasus, which had been established since ancient times, continued to develop in the XVII century. 1 It was then that the ethnic name of the Turkic-speaking Balkars, who lived in the mountainous zone of the territory of the present Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR, first appears in the documents of the Embassy Order. Information about the various aspects of the life of this people gradually develops into a picture, some fragments of which have not yet been sufficiently investigated .2The earliest mention in Russian documents of the "place of Balkar", its location, dependence on the Kabardian princes is found in connection with the search for silver ore in the North Caucasus in 1628-1629. Russia was in dire need of this metal, primarily for coinage .3 Therefore, the news that there is a large deposit somewhere in the Caucasus aroused interest. News of it was brought to Moscow in 1628 by a Kabardian named Kanshov-murza, who was acting on behalf of Prince Pshemakho Kambulatovich Cherkassky. As a result of the search undertaken by the voivode of the Terek city I. A. Dashkov, it turned out that silver ore is mined by local residents in the foothills between the Cherek and Khaznidon rivers, i.e. in the borderlands of Balkaria, Kabarda and Ossetia. The best way to get there is a three-verst route from the foot of the Black Mountains up the Syugaisu river gorge (Psygansu). Dashkov's message about people who carry bread in bags as a tribute is noteworthy from flat Kabarda to the mountains. In a letter dated January 11, 1629, the voivode reported: "The yasach people of the Kabardian Murz live in those mountains, but from the Balkar mountains, and that place is owned by the nephew of the Kanshov-Murza named Abshita Vzrekov" 4 . Two months later, clarifications followed: baptized Circassians Sidor Semyonov and Marko Agapitov, sent by the voivode to investigate the location of the ore, said:: "The place where they went with Kanshov-Murza ... Читать далее