or Shāmyl
born 1797?, Gimry, Dagestan
died March 1871, Medina?, Arabia
Leader of Muslim Dagestan and Chechen mountaineers.
In 1830 he joined a Sufi sect that had become involved in a holy war against the Russians for Dagestan, formerly part of northern Iran but occupied by the Russians from 1813. He eventually became imam of Dagestan and established an independent republic (1834), then led successive raids against the Russians in the Caucasus for 25 years. Determined to suppress him, the Russians attacked from all sides, compelling his surrender in 1859 and effectively ending Caucasian resistance to Russian subjugation.