Orstkhoy-Mokhk
# Orstkhoy-Mokhk

Orstkhoy-Mokhk historically known by exonyms: Balsu, Karabulak is a historical region on the territories of Ingushetia and Chechnya. Orstkhoy-Mokhk is the territory of historical settlement of Orstkhoy, a sub-ethnic group of the Ingush and Chechens.

## Name

The name Orstkhoy-Mokhk is not recorded in any historical documents or scientific works. Often, researchers-Caucasiologists and local historians (Sh. B. Akhmadov, A. S. Suleimanov, etc.), to designate the historical area of the original settlement of the Arshtin people, simply use the name of the military-political and territorial union - Orstkhoy, or the term - free society Orstkhoy. In Russian-language sources, the society-nationality-region can be called as Arshtkhoy/Arshtkhoy, Orstkhoy/Orshtkhoy, Erstkhoy/Ershtkhoy. Among the Orstkhois proper and among the Ingushes, the region was called Arskhte/Arshte, among the Chechens - Arstkha/Arshtkha. The 18th-century researcher J. A. Güldenstädt calls this territory Karabulak District (from the Turkic, possibly Kumyk, the name of the Orstkhoy, which has become a widely used exonym - Karabulaks) and reports a few more toponyms that were used to designate it: among the Chechens - Ariskh Toyai/Arish Toyay , among the Circassians - Balsu, from the ancient name of the Fortanga River - Balsu (in Turkic: "Honey water").

## Location

The district was located in between Assa and Fortanga rivers.

## Censuses from 1891-1926

Censuses done by the Russian Empire and Soviet Union from 1891-1926 showed that the inhabitants of highland Orstkhoy villages such as Tsech-Ahk, Meredzhi, Yalkharoy and many others identified themselves as ethnic Chechens.

