Kists (ethnonym)

[6][7][8] In 1795, when describing the peoples inhabiting Russia, the Kists are mentioned as follows: Kistins, or Kisti, who are divided into different tracts of which it is known to exist: Chechens, Ingush and Karabulaks, they live along the Sunzha River, and in the middle mountains of the Caucasus.

[9] The historian of the Caucasus S. M. Bronevsky described the borders of the Kist lands as follows:[10] The Kist lands stretch from the right, or eastern, bank of the Terek, which lies opposite the Ossetians, to the left bank of the Aksai, along the northern slope of the Caucasus, occupying from south to north part of the high slate mountains at the foot of the snowy ridge, part of the calcareous ridge, and finally, the advanced mountains even up to foothills to hilly valleys.

They border to the northwest on Minor Kabarda, separated by the Sunzha, and on a small part of the Kizlyar district, separated by the Terek; to the west with Ossetia, to the south with a high snowy ridge; to the east with Lezgistan and with the Aksaev Kumyks.The historical area where the Kists lived was called "Kisteti", as well as "Kistia" or "Kistinia".

The Georgian prince, historian and geographer of the 18th century Vakhushti Bagrationi quite definitely localizes it along the gorge of the Armkhi river (the historical "Kistinka"), that is, in mountainous Ingushetia.

The Kist society was also synonymously called "Fyappinsky", after the name of its constituent ethno-territorial group - the Fyappins (Ingush: Фаьппий), and later, in the second half of the 19th century, it became known as "Metskhalsky", after the name of the principal village Metskhal.