KUMYKS  , a

people of Turkish stock in Caucasia, occupying the Kumyk plateau in north Daghestan and south Terek, and the lands bordering the Caspian . It is supposed that Ptolemy knew them under the name of Kami and Kamaks . Various explorers see in them descendants of the Khazars . A . Vambery supposes that they settled in their present quarters during the flourishing period of the Khazar kingdom in the 8th century . It is certain that some Kabardians also settled later . The Russians built forts in their territory in 1559 and under Peter I . Having long been more civilized than the surrounding Caucasian mountaineers, the Kumyks have always enjoyed some respect among them . The upper terraces of the Kumyk plateau, which the Kumyks occupy, leaving its lower parts to the Nogai Tatars, are very fertile .