South Caucasus | |
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Coordinates | 42°15′40″N44°07′16″E / 42.26111°N 44.12111°E |
Countries | |
Time Zones | UTC+04:00, UTC+03:30 and UTC+03:00 |
Highest mountain | Shkhara (5,203 metres (17,070 ft)) |
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. [1] [2] The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, which are sometimes collectively known as the Caucasian States. The total area of these countries measures about 186,100 square kilometres (71,850 square miles). [3] The South Caucasus and the North Caucasus together comprise the larger Caucasus geographical region that divides Eurasia.
The South Caucasus spans the southern portion of the Caucasus Mountains and their lowlands, straddling the border between the continents of Europe and Asia, and extending southwards from the southern part of the Main Caucasian Range of southwestern Russia to the Turkish and Armenian borders, and from the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea coast of Iran in the east. The area includes the southern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, the entire Lesser Caucasus mountain range, the Colchis Lowlands, the Kura-Aras Lowlands, Qaradagh, the Talysh Mountains, the Lankaran Lowland, Javakheti and the eastern portion of the Armenian Highland.
All of present-day Armenia is in the South Caucasus; the majority of present-day Georgia and Azerbaijan, including the exclave of Nakhchivan, also fall within the region.[ citation needed ] Parts of Iran and Turkey are also included within the region of the South Caucasus. [4] [ which? ] Goods produced in the region include oil, manganese ore, tea, citrus fruits, and wine. It remains one of the most politically tense regions in the post-Soviet area, and contains two heavily disputed areas: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Between 1878 and 1917, the Russian-controlled province of Kars Oblast and the county of Surmalu uezd (present-day Iğdır Province) were also incorporated into the South Caucasus.
Nowadays, the region is referred to as the South Caucasus or Southern Caucasia (Armenian : Հարավային Կովկաս, romanized: Haravayin Kovkas; Azerbaijani : Cənubi Qafqaz; Abkhaz : Агырҭ Кавказ, romanized: Agyrt Kavkaz; Georgian :სამხრეთ კავკასია, romanized:samkhret k'avk'asia; Russian : Южный Кавказ, romanized: Yuzhnyy Kavkaz). The former name of the region, Transcaucasia, is a Latin rendering of the Russian-language word Zakavkazye ( Закавказье ), meaning "[the area] beyond the Caucasus". [3] This implies a Russian vantage point, and is analogous to similar terms such as Transnistria and Transleithania. Other, rarer forms of this word include Trans-Caucasus and Transcaucasus (Russian : Транскавказ, romanized: Transkavkaz).
Herodotus, a Greek historian who is known as 'the Father of History' and Strabo, a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian, spoke about autochthonous peoples of the Caucasus in their books. In the Middle Ages, various people, including Scythians, Alani, Huns, Khazars, Arabs, Seljuq Turks, and Mongols settled in Caucasia. These invasions influenced on the culture of the peoples of the South Caucasus. In parallel Middle Eastern influence disseminated the Iranian languages and Islamic religion in Caucasus. [3]
Located on the peripheries of Iran, Russia and Turkey, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, and cultural rivalries and expansionism for centuries. Throughout its history, the region has come under control of various empires, including the Achaemenid, Neo-Assyrian Empire, [5] Parthian, Roman, Sassanian, Byzantine, Umayyad, Abbassid, Mongol, Ottoman, successive Iranian (Safavid, Afsharid, Qajar), and Russian Empires, all of which introduced their faiths and cultures. [6] Throughout history, most of the South Caucasus was usually under the direct rule of the various in-Iran based empires and part of the Iranian world. [7] In the course of the 19th century, Qajar Iran had to irrevocably cede the region (alongside its territories in Dagestan, North Caucasus) as a result of the two Russo-Persian Wars of that century to Imperial Russia. [8]
Ancient kingdoms of the region included Colchis, Urartu, Iberia, Armenia and Albania, among others. These kingdoms were later incorporated into various Iranian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian Empire, and the Sassanid Empire, during which Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion in the region. However, after the rise of Christianity and conversion of Caucasian kingdoms to the new religion, Zoroastrianism lost its prevalence and only survived because of Persian power and influence still lingering in the region. Thus, the South Caucasus became the area of not only military, but also religious convergence, which often led to bitter conflicts with successive Persian empires (and later Muslim-ruled empires) on the one side and the Roman Empire (and later the Byzantine Empire and Russian Empire) on the other side.
The Iranian Parthians established and installed several eponymous branches in the South Caucasus, namely the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, the Arsacid dynasty of Iberia, and the Arsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania.
In the middle of the 8th century, with the capture of Derbend by the Umayyad armies during the Arab–Khazar wars, most of the South Caucasus became part of the Caliphate and Islam spread throughout[ dubious – discuss ] the region. [9] Later, the Orthodox Christian Kingdom of Georgia dominated most of the South Caucasus. The region was then conquered by the Seljuk, Mongol, Turkic, Safavid, Ottoman, Afsharid and Qajar dynasties.
After two wars in the first half of the 19th century, namely the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) and the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), the Russian Empire conquered most of the South Caucasus (and Dagestan in the North Caucasus) from the Iranian Qajar dynasty, severing historic regional ties with Iran. [7] [10] By the Treaty of Gulistan that followed after the 1804-1813 war, Iran was forced to cede modern-day Dagestan, Eastern Georgia, and most of the Azerbaijan Republic to Russia. By the Treaty of Turkmenchay that followed after the 1826-1828 war, Iran lost all of what is modern-day Armenia and the remainder of the contemporary Azerbaijani Republic that remained in Iranian hands. After the 1828-1829 war, the Ottomans ceded Western Georgia (except Adjaria, which was known as Sanjak of Batum), to the Russians, who populated this new southern boundary mostly with undesirable citizens and tolerated heretics ( sektanty ). [11]
In 1844, what comprises present-day Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were combined into a single czarist government-general, which was termed a vice-royalty in 1844-1881 and 1905–1917. Following the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, Russia annexed Kars, Ardahan, Agri and Batumi from the Ottomans, joined to this unit, and established the province of Kars Oblast as its most south-westerly territory in the South Caucasus.
After the fall of the Russian Empire in 1918, the South Caucasus region was unified into a single political entity twice, as the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic from 9 April 1918 to 26 May 1918, [12] and as the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic from 12 March 1922 to 5 December 1936.
Both times these Transcaucasian entities dissolved, although the region would remain politically bound together in the Soviet Union in the form of the three separate Soviet Socialist Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. All three regained independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved.
The Russo-Georgian War took place in 2008 across the South Caucasus, contributing to further instability in the region, which is as intricate as the Middle East, due to the complex mix of religions (mainly Muslim and Orthodox Christian) and ethno-linguistic groups.
Since their independence, the three countries have had varying degrees of success in their relations with Russia and other countries. In Georgia, after the Rose Revolution in 2004, the country, like the Baltic states, began integrating into wider European society by opening up relations with NATO and the European Union. Armenia continues to foster relations with Russia, while also developing ties with the EU. Azerbaijan relies less on Russia, strategically partnering with Turkey and other NATO states. All three South Caucasus countries are members of the Council of Europe, the European Political Community, and participate in the EU's Eastern Partnership and Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.
On 8 November 2023, the European Commission issued an official recommendation to grant EU candidate status to Georgia, which was confirmed on 14 December 2023. Georgia, thus becoming, the first country in the South Caucasus to receive EU candidate status. [13] On 12 March 2024, the European Parliament passed a resolution confirming Armenia meets Maastricht Treaty Article 49 requirements and that the country may apply for EU membership. [14]
Year | Armenia | Azerbaijan | Georgia | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|
1897 | 798,853 [15] [ better source needed ] | 1,806,700 [16] | 1,919,400 [17] | 4,524,953 |
1908 | 877,322 [15] [ better source needed ] | 2,014,300 [16] | ||
1914 | 1,014,255 [15] [ better source needed ] | 2,278,245 | 2,697,500 [18] | 5,990,000 [19] |
1916–17 | 993,782 [15] [ better source needed ] | 2,353,700 [16] | 2,357,800 [18] | 5,705,282 |
First World War and Russian Revolution | ||||
1920–22 | 780,000 | 1,863,000 | 2,677,000 | 5,321,000 [19] |
1926 | 880,464 | 2,314,571 | 2,666,494 | 5,861,529 [20] |
1929 | 6,273,000 [19] | |||
1931 | 1,050,633 [15] [ better source needed ] | 6,775,000 [19] | ||
1932 | 6,976,000 [19] | |||
1933 | 7,110,000 [19] | |||
1939 | 1,282,338 | 3,205,150 | 3,540,023 | 8,027,511 [21] |
1956 | 9,000,000 [19] | |||
1959 | 1,763,048 | 3,697,717 | 4,044,045 | 9,504,810 [22] |
1970 | 2,491,873 | 5,117,081 | 4,686,358 | 12,295,312 [23] |
1979 | 3,037,259 | 6,026,515 | 4,993,182 | 14,056,956 [24] |
1989 | 3,304,776 | 7,037,867 | 5,400,841 | 15,743,484 [25] |
1999–2002 | 3,213,011 [26] | 7,953,400 [16] | 3,991,300 [27] | 15,157,711 |
2009–14 | 3,018,854 [28] | 8,922,000 [16] | 3,713,804 [29] | 15,654,658 |
The South Caucasus, in particular where modern-day Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and Iran are located, is one of the native areas of the wine-producing vine Vitis vinifera . [30] Some experts speculate that the South Caucasus may be the birthplace of wine production. [31] Archaeological excavations and carbon dating of grape seeds from the area have dated back to 8000–5000 BC. [32] Wine found in Iran has been dated to c. 7400 BC [30] and c. 5000 BC, [33] while wine found in Georgia has been dated to c. 8000BC. [34] [35] [36] The earliest winery, dated to c. 4000 BC, was found in Armenia. [30]
The demographic features of the population of Georgia include population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
The Caucasus or Caucasia, is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have conventionally been considered as a natural barrier between Europe and Asia, bisecting the Eurasian landmass.
The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, also known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, or simply Transcaucasia, was a republic of the Soviet Union that existed from 1922 to 1936.
The Tat people or Transcaucasian Persians are an Iranian people presently living within Azerbaijan and Russia. The Tats are part of the indigenous peoples of Iranian origin in the Caucasus.
Akhalkalaki is a town in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Akhalkalaki Municipality. Akhalkalaki lies on the edge of the Javakheti Plateau. The city is located about 29 kilometres (18 mi) from the border with Armenia. The town's recorded history goes back to the 11th century. As of the 2014 Georgian census the town had a population of 8,295, with 93.8% Armenian majority.
Qazax is a city in and the capital of the Gazakh District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 20,900. Gazakh is a city and administrative district in the west of Azerbaijan, the "western gate" of Azerbaijan.
The Elizavetpol Governorate, also known after 1918 as the Ganja Governorate, was a province (guberniya) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yelisavetpol. The area of the governorate stretched 38,922.43 square versts and was composed of 1,275,131 inhabitants in 1916. The Elizavetpol Governorate bordered the Erivan Governorate to the west, the Tiflis Governorate and Zakatal Okrug to the north, the Dagestan Oblast to the northeast, the Baku Governorate to the east, and Iran to the south.
The population of Armenia includes various significant minority ethnic groups.
The Kars oblast was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The oblast bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Oblast to the north, the Tiflis Governorate to the northeast, and the Erivan Governorate to the east. The Kars oblast included parts of the contemporary provinces of Kars, Ardahan, and Erzurum Province of Turkey, and the Amasia Community of the Shirak Province of Armenia.
The history of the Caucasus region may be divided by geography into the history of the North Caucasus (Ciscaucasia), historically in the sphere of influence of Scythia and of Southern Russia, and that of the South Caucasus in the sphere of influence of Persia, Anatolia, and Assyria.
The Kurds in Azerbaijan form a part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space. Kurds established a presence in the Caucasus with the establishment of the Kurdish Shaddadid dynasty in the 10th and 11th centuries. Some Kurdish tribes were recorded in Karabakh by the end of the sixteenth century. However, virtually the entire contemporary Kurdish population in the modern Azerbaijan descends from migrants from 19th-century Qajar Iran.
The Shusha uezd was a county (uezd) of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire, and then of the Ganja Governorate of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic with its center in Shusha in 1840–1921.
The Kazakh uezd was a county (uezd) of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire and later of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic with its center in Kazakh from 1868 until its formal abolition in 1929 by the Soviet authorities of the Azerbaijan SSR. The area of the Kazakh uezd forms a large part of the modern-day Tavush Province and a small northeastern part of the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia, also forming most of the area of the Agstafa, Tovuz and Qazax districts of Azerbaijan.
Russians in Azerbaijan are the second largest ethnic minority in Azerbaijan and is also the largest Russian community in the South Caucasus and one of the largest outside of Russia. Although in decline, the community still numbers 71,000 people as of 2019. Since their arrival at the beginning of the 19th century, the Russians have played an important role in all spheres of life, particularly during the Czarist and Soviet period, especially in the capital city of Baku.
Kurds in Russia form a major part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space, with close ties to the Kurdish communities in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Moscow is the most populous city in Europe and Russia, population of which is mostly made up of ethnic Russians, but it also hosts a significant population of ethnic minorities. The last census of 2021 reported 69.7% of the population was Russian.
The Batum oblast was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with the Black Sea port of Batum as its administrative center. The Batum oblast roughly corresponded to the present-day Adjara autonomous region of Georgia, and most of the Artvin Province of Turkey.
The Caucasus Viceroyalty was the Russian Empire's administrative and political authority in the Caucasus region exercised through the offices of glavnoupravlyayushchiy and namestnik ("viceroy"), situated in the modern areas of the Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. These two terms are commonly, but imprecisely, translated into English as viceroy, which is frequently used interchangeably with governor general. More accurately, glavnoupravlyayushchiy is referred to as the High Commissioner of the Caucasus, and namestnik as Viceroy.
The Baku uezd was a county (uezd) within the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire and then of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Azerbaijan SSR until its formal abolishment in 1929. The uezd was located in the eastern part of the Baku Governorate, bordering Caspian Sea to the east, Shemakha uezd to the west, Kuba uezd to the north and Lenkoran uezd to the south. The administrative center of the uezd was the village Sarai.
The Tionety uezd was a county (uezd) of the Tiflis Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, and then of Democratic Republic of Georgia, with its administrative centre in Tionety. The area of the uezd roughly corresponded to the contemporary Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia.
"The Caucasus Mountains form the boundary between West and East, between Europe and Asia..."