Abkhaz people
The Abkhaz people are principally divided into Abkhazian Orthodox Christian and Sunni Muslim (Hanafi) communities (prevalent in Abkhazia and Turkey respectively) but the indigenous non-Abrahamic beliefs have always been strong. Although Christianity made its first appearance in the realm of their Circassian neighbours in the first century AD via the travels and preaching of the Apostle Andrew, and became the dominant religion of Circassians in the 3rd to 4th centuries, Christianity became the dominant religion of Abkhazians in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and continued to be followed under the kings of Georgia in the High Middle Ages. The Ottomans introduced Islam in the 16th century and the region became largely Muslim gradually until the 1860s. When much of the Muslim population was ethnically cleansed in the late 19th century, Christians once again became the majority in the region.