The republic of Adygeya is located on the picturesque northern slopes of the Caucasian ridge, which are going down to fertile Kuban plain. Maykop is the administrative centre of Republic of Adygeya. Maykop is 1670 kilometers away from Moscow. The territory of the Republic is 7, 8 thousand square kilometers. The main rivers of Adygeya are the Belaya, the Kuban and the Laba. The population of the republic is 450 thousand people; about 200 thousand live in the capital city. The population of republic is represented by two main nations - Adyghe, the indigenous people, and the Russian, representing the majority of the population, and also a hundred of other nationalities.
Adyghe (Circassian) people, who gave its name to the Republic, were the oldest inhabitants of Northwest Caucasus, known in the Europe and in the East since 13th century as Circassians.
The monuments of Maykop culture of the early Bronze Age by name of the unique Maykop kurgan are internationally known. The precious findings are the main displays of "Kuban's gold" in the Hermitage. And a bull figures made of gold, the symbols of power and the fertility, had decorated the canopy of the ruler buried five thousand years ago, have become a symbol of the capital of Adygeya and now it is on the arms of Maykop.
There are many other historical and natural monuments on the territory of the Republic: dolmens - the coevals of the Egyptian pyramids, sites of primitive people, ancient burial mounds, the most mountain orthodox cloister in Russia, and also more than two hundred falls, caves, canyons, tablelands, the Alpine meadows, rocks, suitable for mountain skiing, mountaineering, speleology, hang gliding, etc.
There is a Northern department of the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve in the Republic of Adygeya.
Adygeya became a Republic in 1991, then the President had been selected, council of state - Hase and the government of the republic were formed.
Adygeya is basically an agrarian republic, so food and processing industries take the main place in the sphere of production.
Timber, woodworking, pulp and paper industries, mechanical engineering and machine-tool construction, extraction of rock products are developed in the republic.
The republic has considerable stocks of minerals: there are deposits of marbled limestones, gypsum, mixes, multicoloured loam and hydrocarbons.
