The Eurasian Avars were a nomadic people who established a state in the Volga River area in the early 6th century.

Avars or Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan, in which they are the predominant group. Their self designation is ma'arulal, or people of the mountains. The Caucasian Avar language is said to show some affinity with ancient Mesopotamian agglutinative languages like Hurrian, Sino-Tibetan and also Ket (Yenisey Ostyak) of which there are now less than 500 speakers left in Siberia. In the Caucasian Avar language the word "Avar" is always used any time Avars mention the names of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus or Muhammad. For example; Ibrahim-Avarkov, Isa-Avarkov or Muhammad-Avarkov. Thus the word Avar seems to mean the descendants or followers of the Messiah, Prophet, an Angel or Archangel.

One of the prominent figures in the modern Avar history is Imam Shamil. Shamil successfully led the liberation movement of highland peoples of Caucasus against the Russian invasion in the 19th century. The movement was substantially suppressed by Russia in 1864. Today Avars live in part of Dagestan.