The Abaza are direct descendants of the Abazgs, who at the end of the 8th century managed to unite kindred tribes and create the Abazg Kingdom. It had a great influence on the cultural and political life of the peoples of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Being Orthodox Christians, the Abazgs left behind many architectural monuments - ancient Orthodox churches that have survived to this day in the territory of Abkhazia and the North Caucasus. At the end of the 11th century, the Abazgs - "obezs" in the Russian tradition - participated in the picturesque decoration of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv: they painted frescoes, covered the temple altar with mosaics. Later, the Kiev prince Izyaslav Mstislavich married the Abazg princess and brought her to Kyiv.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Caucasian War began, which played a fatal role in the further history of the Abaza. Many Abaza died during the battles, others were evicted to the Ottoman Empire. The rest were settled in the lowlands, far from their native gorges. During the more than 100-year war, the Abaza, who had inhabited the vast mountainous and foothill strip of the Central Caucasus and the Black Sea region before the war, lost a significant part of their historical lands, and many representatives of the ethnic group died.
The Abaza language is one of the most difficult in the world. It has 73 sounds, of which there are two vowels, but additional ones are also formed due to combinations. The Abaza language has two dialects (Tapanta and Ashkhar) and four dialects. The basis of the literary language is the Cuban-Elburgan dialect of the Tapantin dialect. The closest to the Abaza language is Abkhaz.
The national symbol is the Abaza flag. This is a rectangular panel, in the center of which is the open palm of the right hand. Above the palm are seven five-pointed stars in a semicircle. The palm symbolizes the Abkhaz-Abaza statehood of the period of the Abazg kingdom. The seven stars above the palm are the seven historical regions in which the common ancestors of the modern Abaza and Abkhazians lived: Sadzen (Dzhigetia), Bzyp-Gumaa, Abzhyuuaa, Samurzakan, Dal-Tsabal, Pskhu-Aibga, Malaya Abaza (Abazashta).