'Circassian Prince at Constantinople' as painted in 1845 by Orientalist American painter Miner Kilbourne Kellogg (1814-1889). The full description of the painting is described as Portrait of Seferbiy Zanoko, Circassian aristocrat, diplomat, and military leader in traditional Circassian costume. Circassia was a small country on the North East shore of the black sea close to Georgia and South Ossetia.
Seferbiy Zaneqo (1798 - 1860) was a Circassian diplomat and military commander and fifth leader of the Circassian Confederation between 1859 and 1860. He took part in the Russo-Circassian War in both a military and a political capacity. As a diplomat he advocated for the Circassian cause in the west, and acted as an emissary of the Ottoman Empire in the region. By the end of his life Zaneqo was the leader of the Circassian resistance.
Between 1763 and 1864 Circassia was at war with the Russian Empire. Between 1800 and 1864 the Russians overran Circassia, and committed genocide on it's Muslim population. Georgia is the only country in the world to still classify what the Russians did to the Circassians as a genocide.
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