It is the remote mountainous land that few people had heard of before last week.
Now, however, the eyes of the world are upon the tiny Russian republic of Dagestan as it emerged that it is at the centre of an FBI investigation into the Boston marathon bombings.
Investigators are poring over the social media accounts of dead bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev after discovering he had posted an online link to videos by a Dagestani militant jihadist.
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The eyes of the west are on Dagestan and its capital Makhachlaka, pictured, after links between bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a Dagestani jihadist were revealed
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (left), mother of terrorists Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, walks near her home in Makhachkala, Dagestan, southern Russia, as CNN correspondent Nick Paton Walsh (right) says the state is a haven for Islamic militants who now have their sights trained on America as their main target
They hope that examining the relationship between the two may answer the biggest unanswered question over last week's fatal bombings: what was the motive?
Dagestan is translated as 'land of the mountains' and was the country where the Tsarnaevs, including Tamerlan's brother and accomplice Dzhokhar, moved more than a decade ago before they travelled to the US.
It is still the home of the bombers' parents and has been placed squarely at the centre of the inquiry
An ethnically-diverse Islamic Russian republic with a population of nearly 3million, Dagestan is one of five such republics which include its neighbour Chechnya (the homeland of Boston suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev), making up the northern caucasus of Russia.
These Islamic Russian republics have strong historic ties with Al Qaeda but, while conflicts in Chechnya have been well-documented, Dagestan is new territory even for the FBI, who are having to acquaint themselves with a remote state riddled with jihadists with an increasingly global view.
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Terrorists who once saw Russia as the enemy now have their sights trained on America as their main target, according to Nick Paton Walsh, international correspondent with CNN who has visited the states frequently over the past few years.
Mr Paton Walsh, who is based in Beirut but is currently working in Dagestan, says the state is a haven for Islamic militants who were forced out of Chechnya by the second Chechen war.
He told MailOnline: 'After the second Chechen war Russian forces very strongly and violently went through towns and villages in Chechnya pillaging any remnants of the military there.
'This resulted in a great strength of feeling because many young men and families had lost people dear to them, so more extremists grew up. Militants were squeezed out of Chechnya and many went to the east, to Dagestan.
'There was a large uptake in violence and the ones that remained behind have radicalised further. Since 2006 their rhetoric has become more about global jihad rather than about fighting Russia.'
Inside Dagestani Islamic extremism
Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were children when they left Chechnya for Dagestan in 2001
This video reportedly of Dagestani jihadist Gadzhimurad Dolgatov was linked to on a YouTube channel believed to be Tamerlan Tsarnaev's
This map of the Russian caucasus shows Dagestan to the east and Chechnya to its west
'The people spouting this in Dagestan are not as potent as those in Afghanistan or Pakistan; Russia has attempted to suppress militants. But the heavy-handed nature of their attempts to do so are said to be fuelling the militants here.
'They talk about fighting back against law enforcement, so there is the potential for a cycle that feeds itself.'
The Russian caucasus has strong links with Al Qaeda: 9/11 conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui trained in Chechnya, and Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-zawahiri was arrested by the Russians when he was discovered trying to enter Dagestan in 1997. And terrorists in the Islamic republics there are known to receive money from Saudi Arabia.
Gadzhimurad Dolgatov, whose online jihadist calls to arms were linked to by Tamerlan Tsarnaev's YouTube account before being deleted, was a key local figure in the Islamic extremist movement before he was gunned down by Russian security forces late last year. He was also active in the capital city Makhachkala last year when Tsarnaev spent six months there, visiting from the U.S.
Mr Paton Walsh, who was Moscow correspondent for four years, said this link was key to the FBI's investigations into a motive for the Boston bombing suspects.
'Dolgatov posted a lot of views online, saying it was the duty of Muslims to promise a jihad, and saying they had to rise up and form a more Islamic state,' he said.
'We don't know if the two men knew each other, but the YouTube link shows that Tamerlan was interested in Dolgatov, who was the well-known extremist in town.
Women pass by the Heart of Chechnya mosque in Grozny in Chechnya
'Dolgatov was the local emir, a jihadist who was a sort of chief of local youths in Makhachkala. He had his own group of guys who would be out training in the woods with guns, and who would attack police, take bribes from local people - like a local Islamic mafia.'
Mr Paton Walsh said the fact that both Dolgatov, who was shot dead by Russian security forces in December last year, and Tamerlan were in Makhachkala at the same was significant.
'Dolgatov was a heavy jihadist and was visiting the mosques in the city. Tamerlan was visiting mosques in the same city that Dolgatov was visiting mosques in.
'We don't know if the two men knew each other or what the extent of that relationship was, but we do know that Dolgatov was a reasonably forceful presence in Makhachkala and was active there at the same time that Tamerlan was there.
'Tamerlan was in Makachkala for a good number of months for the early part of the year and while there's nothing to say concretely that they met each other, Tamerlan would have had an interest in the well-known extremist in town.'
Tamerlan's family came to Dagestan in 2001 from Chechnya which they left before the second Chechen war. The children show up on school registers there between September 2001-March 2002, then it is believed the family moved to the U.S., possibly via Kyrgystan.
The mother, father and aunt of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar still live in Dagestan, and all have expressed their outrage and disbelief that the boys would have been involved in any bombings.
VIDEO: Watch Nick Paton Walsh's CNN report on Dagestan