The Russo-Circassian War (1763–1864) refers to a series of battles and wars in Circassia, the northwestern part of the Caucasus, which are part of the Russian Empire's conquest of the Caucasus lasting approximately one hundred and one years, starting under the reign of Tsar Peter the Great and being completed in 1864.

Although the conquest of the Caucasus started at least as early as the Russo-Persian Wars, the term Caucasian War commonly refers only to the period 1817–1864.

Those who use the term Russian–Circassian War take its starting date as 1763, when the Russians began establishing forts, including at Mozdok, to be used as springboards for conquest.

The Caucasian War ends with the signing of loyalty oaths by Circassian leaders on 2 June [O.S.

21 May] 1864.

Afterwards, the Ottoman Empire offers to harbor the Circassians that do not wish to accept the rule of a Christian monarch, and many emigrate to Anatolia, the heart of the Ottoman Empire and end up in modern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Kosovo.

Different smaller numbers end up in neighboring Persia.

Various Russian, Caucasus, and Western historians agree on the figure of ca.

five hundred thousand inhabitants of the highland Caucasus being deported by Russia in the 1860s.

A large fraction of them die in transit from disease.

Some of those that remain loyal to Russia are settled into the lowlands, the left-bank of the Kuban River.