The Natukhai tribe consisted of 10 aristocratic families and 44 free clans (Adyghe: ЛъфэкъулӀ) and classified as an Adyghe democratic tribe.[2][3] Because their coast was not backed by high mountains and opened northward to the steppe the Natukhai were very active in trading with the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate, which afforded for them better life than many others.