page_title: History of North Ossetia–Alania
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: History of North Ossetia–Alania / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Ossetian tribes (according to B. A. Kaloev).
context_page_description: The Republic of North Ossetia – Alania is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Caucasus region.
context_section_description: The territory of North Ossetia has been inhabited for thousands of years, being both a very fertile agricultural region and a key trade route through the Caucasus Mountains. The ancestors of the present inhabitants were a people called the Alans, a warlike nomadic people who spoke an Iranian language. Part of the Alan people eventually settled in the Caucasus around the 7th century AD. By about the 9th century, the kingdom of Alania had arisen and had been converted to Christianity by Byzantine missionaries. An archbishopric was established in western Alania under the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and many large churches were constructed (Zelenchuk churches, Shoana Church, Senty Church). Alania became a powerful state in the Caucasus, profiting greatly from the legendary Silk Road to China, which passed through its territory.
  From the Middle Ages onwards, Alania was beset by external enemies and suffered repeated invasions. The invasions of the Mongols and Tatars in the 13th century decimated the population, who were now known as Ossetians. Islam was introduced in the 17th century through the Kabardians, a Muslim Caucasian people. Incursions by the Khanate of Crimea and the Ottoman Empire eventually pushed Alania/Ossetia into an alliance with Russia in the 18th century. North Ossetia was among the first areas of the northern Caucasus to come under Russian domination, starting in 1774, and the capital, Vladikavkaz, was the first Russian military outpost in the region. By 1806, Ossetia was completely under Russian control.
caption: Ossetian tribes, according to claims on non-official sources linking Ossetian historian B. A. Kaloev.[unreliable source?][3] [4]</ref>
exif: {}