Avars and
Dargins live in the mountainous regions, with strong
concentrations of the former in the west and south
west and of the latter to the south west of Makhachkala; Laks live in the foothills, in the heart of Dagestan; historically, the Chechens were on the republic’s
border with Chechnya. However, many districts include villages inhabited by entirely different ethnic
groups than their majority population.