Features of Social Structures in Dagestan and Their Influence on Socio-Political Processes in the Region

The article examines the features of geographical diversity and socio-political development of Dagestan in the 18th – early 19th centuriy. The major role of natural-geographical determinism is emphasized, which influenced the forms of economic structure, the dominant sectors of economic activity and the socio-political processes that differed depending on the spatial localization of the regions. In high mountain areas, due to harsh landscape conditions and a shortage of available vital resources, archaic forms of economic activity and social structure were preserved for a long time. It was dominated by free rural communities with collective ownership of the main means of production. Foothill, coastal and lowland areas, due to their less closed nature and accessibility to external influences and mutual influence, as well as the possibility of obtaining a large set of life benefits, went beyond the socio-cultural archaism and represented territories with a developed system of social differentiation, which most domestic researchers define as feudalism. In such areas, local societies, earlier than in the mountainous ones, were forced to socio-political development, which took them beyond the boundaries of communal-tribal relations. In economic and socio-political terms, Dagestan was divided into socio-cultural formations that differed and competed with each other.