One of the 21
autonomous republics of
Russia. It is in the
Caucasus Mountains, between
North Ossetia - Alania and
Chechnya.
Ingushetia (sometimes called Ingushia) is the home of the Ingush people, who speak a North-East Caucasian language very closely akin to Chechen. I have got some material on Ingush and intend to prepare a node, but for an overview, my write-up on the Chechen language is equally applicable to Ingush. The Ingush name for their country is G`alga`ai Monn, so you also sometimes see variants such as Galgai for the name of the people. (The ` represents the Arabic `ain sound, and when attached to another consonant as in G` I believe it means it's pharyngealized. The Cyrillic letter is a pipe symbol.)
The Ingush and Chechens were included with numerous other Caucasian peoples in the Mountain ASSR in the Soviet Union from 1920. In 1924 they gained their own autonomous region; this was united with the Chechen region in 1934. Because they collaborated with the invading Germans, many Ingush and Chechen were deported, and their autonomy was abolished in 1944. It was only restored after they were allowed to return, in 1957. When Chechnya declared itself independent of post-Soviet Russia, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR peacefully divided in 1991. The western one-fifth of the territory became the republic of Ingushetia within Russia. However, ethnic tensions with neighbouring North Ossetia-Alania led to violence. Since 1992 Ingushetia has been led by these presidents:
The capital used to be Nazran, and has now been moved to a newly-built town called Magas. The area is about 4300 km2, and the population is 300 000.
The flag is white with narrow green stripes at top and bottom. In the centre is a red sun emblem, a ring with three curves coming off it.