1864, may 21, the day of the tragic Circassian genocide.. Circassians are the indigenous people of Northwest Caucasus, Sochi and surrounding areas. The Circassian genocide was the Russian Empire's systematic mass murder, ethnic cleansing, forced migration, and expulsion of 800,000-1,500,000 Circassians (at least 75% of the total population) from their homeland Circassia, which roughly encompassed the major part of the North Caucasus alongside the Black Sea. This occurred in the aftermath of the