Transcaucasia

—Transcaucasian /trans'kaw kay"zheuhn, -sheuhn, -kazh"euhn, -kash"-/, adj., n.

/trans'kaw kay"zheuh, -sheuh/, n.

a region in SE Europe, S of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and Caspian seas: constituted a republic 1922-36 (Transcaucasian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic); area now includes the republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

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▪ region, Eurasia

Introduction

Russian  Zakavkazye,  

      a small but densely populated region to the south of the Caucasus Mountains. It includes three independent states: Georgia in the northwest, Azerbaijan in the east, and Armenia, situated largely on a high mountainous plateau south of Georgia and west of Azerbaijan. Together these countries have an area of about 71,850 square miles (186,100 square kilometres). Transcaucasia, also known as Southern Caucasia, is bounded on the north by Russia, on the east by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Iran and Turkey, and on the west by the Black Sea.

      The great historic barrier of the Caucasus Mountains rises up across the wide isthmus separating the Black and Caspian seas where Europe and Asia converge. Caucasia, the region including the mountain ranges of the Caucasus, comprises both Transcaucasia and the land north of the Caucasus, known as Ciscaucasia or Northern Caucasia.

      The name Caucasus is a Latinized form of Kaukasos, which the ancient Greek geographers and historians used; the Russian Kavkaz is of the same origin. The ultimate derivation is thought to be from Kaz-kaz, the Hittite name for a people living on the southern shore of the Black Sea. This ancient nomenclature reflects the historical importance of the region: the Greeks made the mysterious range the scene of the mythical sufferings of Prometheus, and the Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece in the land of Colchis (modern Kolkhida), nestling against the range on the Black Sea coast. The ranges also became a major land route for cultural diffusion from south to north of the Middle Eastern Fertile Crescent civilizations.

      The peoples of the region have exhibited an extraordinary ethnic and cultural diversity since early times: the Colchians, for example, as described in the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus, were black-skinned Egyptians, though their true origin remains unclear. In subsequent centuries, successive waves of peoples migrating across Eurasia added to and were molded by the more established groups in the region. Not surprisingly, a greater variety of different languages are spoken in Caucasia than in any other area of similar size in the world. Ethnic and cultural diversity in Transcaucasia was preserved by the geographic isolation of the many small ethnic groups that settled in the region's inhospitable mountainous terrain.

      During the 18th century Russia occupied the northern Caucasus, annexing part of Georgia in 1801. Throughout the 19th century Russia extended its occupation to much of Caucasia; western Armenia, however, was subject to Turkish rule. Nationalist movements emerged in the region at the end of the 19th century. With the collapse of the Russian Empire, a short-lived independent Transcaucasian federation was declared; after its collapse, independent states emerged in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. By 1922 these nations had been absorbed into the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and became part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic; they were designated distinct union republics in 1936.

      Nationalist sentiment reemerged in the late 1980s after the liberalizing reforms implemented by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia achieved full independence in 1991. The postindependence period in Transcaucasia, however, was marked by instability, economic decline, ethnic violence, and war, as the government of Georgia battled separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Armenians and Azerbaijanis fought over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

The land (Transcaucasia)

Physiography

 Trending generally from northwest to southeast, the Caucasus Mountains consist of two ranges—the Greater Caucasus in the north and the Lesser, or Little, Caucasus in the south. The watershed of the Greater Caucasus, the backbone of the system, traditionally has been part of the line dividing Europe and Asia, but the whole region has been so subject to Asian influences that there is now general agreement in assigning the ranges to Asia. The Greater Caucasus marks the northern boundary of Transcaucasia and extends for approximately 750 miles (1,200 kilometres) southeastward across the Caucasian isthmus from the Taman Peninsula, which separates the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov, to the Abşeron Peninsula, which juts into the Caspian Sea east of the oil-rich port of Baku (Bakı).

      The southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus are steeper than the northern. The middle of the system is comparatively narrow, but its western and eastern ends have widths of 100 miles or more. The main axis of the system contains Mount Elbrus (Elbrus, Mount), which at 18,510 feet (5,642 metres) is the range's tallest peak; Mount Dombay-Ulgen (Dombay-Yolgen; 13,274 feet) in the west; Mounts Shkhara, Dykhtau, and Kazbek, all more than 16,000 feet, in the central region; and Mounts Tebulosmta and Bazardyuzyu, both more than 14,600 feet, in the east. Spurs tonguing north and south from the main axis occasionally reach elevations approaching 10,000 feet. The highest parts carry permanent mountain glaciers, the shrunken remains of Quaternary ice fields and glaciers.

      South of the Greater Caucasus, on the Black Sea coast, lies the Kolkhida alluvial plain, the site of ancient Colchis. South of the range on the Caspian side the Shirak Steppe, between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges, falls sharply into the Kura-Aras (Kür-Araz) Lowland, an extensive depression in the centre of which the Kura (Kura River) (Kür, or Mtkvari) River receives its major right-bank tributary, the Aras (Araks (Aras River), or Araz) River. To the northeast the hills of southeastern Kobustan separate the Kura-Aras Lowland from the Abşeron Peninsula; and to the extreme southeast the narrow Länkäran Lowland extends to the south between the Caspian Sea and the Talish (Talish Mountains) (Talysh) Mountains, which reach elevations exceeding 8,000 feet.

      West of the Kura-Aras Lowland rises the Lesser Caucasus Range, which is extended southward by the Dzhavakhet Range and the Armenian Highland, the latter straddling the frontier with Turkey. East of Lake Sevan in the eastern Lesser Caucasus, the highest peaks rise above 12,000 feet, while Mount Aragats (Aragats, Mount) (Alaghez), the highest peak in the range, rises west of the lake to 13,418 feet. From their western sources in the Armenian Highland, the Kura and Aras rivers both flow around the Lesser Caucasus—the Kura to the north of the range and the Aras to the south—before their confluence in the east.

Geology

      The greater part of Caucasia originated in the vast structural downwarp in the Earth's crust known as the Alpine geosyncline, dating from the Late Oligocene Epoch (about 30 to 23.7 million years ago), and the region thus reflects some of the same structural characteristics as the younger mountains of Europe.

      Structurally the Greater Caucasus represents a great anticline (upfold) uplifted at the margin of the Alpine geosyncline about 25 million years ago and subsequently altered by fresh cycles of erosion and uplift. Hard, crystalline, metamorphosed rocks such as schists and gneisses, as well as granites that predate the Jurassic Period (i.e., older than 208 million years), have been exposed at the core of the western sector, while softer, clayey schists and sandstones of Early and Middle Jurassic origin (from 208 to 163 million years ago) have emerged in the east. The spurs of the Greater Caucasus are composed of younger limestones, sandstones, and marls. The Greater Caucasus is a zone of crustal instability, as evidenced by several extinct volcanoes (e.g., Mount Elbrus) and the earthquakes, often locally disastrous, that disturb the area.

      The Kolkhida and Kura-Aras lowlands are both structural depressions linked to the Alpine geosyncline; the former is related to the formation of the Black Sea, the latter to that of the Caspian. In Kolkhida the overall surface of deposits laid down less than 25 million years ago is broken, at the foot of the mountains, by the protrusion of slightly older sedimentary rocks. Younger rocks also underlie the Kura-Aras Lowland.

      The structures of the Lesser Caucasus, of the Talish Mountains, and of the Dzhavakhet-Armenian (Armenian Highland) ranges likewise originated from folds uplifted from the Alpine geosyncline. While the western sector of the Lesser Caucasus and the Talish in the far southeast are formed chiefly from deposits laid down about 50 million years ago in the downwarp episode of the geosyncline, the central and eastern sectors of the Lesser Caucasus consist of sedimentary strata intruded in places with volcanic rock that are at least twice as old. Geologically recent volcanism and contact metamorphism (the intrusion of molten material and its effects on preexisting strata) have everywhere played a great role in shaping the landscape. The folded base of the Dzhavakhet Range and of the Armenian Highland, for example, is masked by volcanic debris from eruptions that occurred in the Tertiary and Quaternary periods (i.e., the past 66.4 million years), but to the east much older rocks emerge between the middle course of the Aras and the latitude of Lake Sevan.

Drainage

 The Kura (and Aras) and Kuma rivers flow into the Caspian Sea, and the Rioni and the Inguri flow into the Black Sea. In the spring, when snow and ice begin to melt, the rivers of the Greater Caucasus and some of those of the Lesser Caucasus begin a flood cycle that may last six months. Other Transcaucasian rivers are characterized by shorter-term spring flooding, while the rivers of the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus generally have summer floods as well. The karst regions along some spurs of the Greater Caucasus contain rivers that intermittently plunge beneath the earth into caverns within the soluble limestone bedrock.

      Lake Sevan (Sevan, Lake) in the eastern Lesser Caucasus is the largest lake of Transcaucasia; its overflow drains into the Hrazdan River, a tributary of the Aras. The higher elevations of the Greater Caucasus contain numerous small mountain lakes, while a number of saltwater lakes occur in the arid regions of northeastern Transcaucasia.

      The Greater Caucasus has more than 2,000 glaciers (glacier), which occupy only a tiny fraction of its total area. Some seven-tenths of them occur on the cooler northern face, with a concentration on the higher central slopes. The largest—notably Dykhsu, Bezengi, and Karaugom glaciers on the northern face and Lekzyr and Tsanner glaciers in western Georgia—are often seven miles or so long. The desolate flanks of Mount Elbrus are streaked by many glaciers.

Climate

      Standing on the border between the temperate midlatitude and the subtropical climatic zones, the Greater Caucasus accentuates this climatic difference by impeding the movement of cold air masses from the north into Transcaucasia. Average temperatures in January range from 39 to 43 °F (4 to 6 °C) in Kolkhida and from 34 to 37 °F (1 to 3 °C) in eastern Transcaucasia. In summer the temperature differences between north and south are slight, while there is a contrast between the west (average temperatures 73 to 79 °F [23 to 26 °C]), with its cooler maritime climate, and the more continental east (77 to 84 °F [25 to 29 °C]).

      Kolkhida has a humid subtropical climate with mild winters, hot and humid summers, and a relatively large annual rainfall of 47 to 71 inches (1,200 to 1,800 millimetres). In the southeast the climate of the Länkäran Lowland is also humid subtropical but with a dry season at the start of the summer; and the Kura-Aras Lowland has a dry subtropical climate (annual rainfall of 8 to 16 inches that is lower in the east) with mild winters and hot summers. The Middle Aras Trough in the Armenian Highland has a climate similar to that of the lowland downstream but not as warm.

      In the Greater Caucasus, temperatures decrease and the growing season becomes correspondingly shorter with an increase in altitude, and more total precipitation falls on the mountain slopes than on the neighbouring plains. Above an altitude of about 6,500 feet, a westerly air current prevails, strengthening maritime influences and greatly moderating climatic conditions; average air temperatures reach 18 °F (−8 °C) in January and 55 °F (13 °C) in August. As the Greater Caucasus range stands at an angle to the westerly air currents, the heaviest precipitation, reaching more than 160 inches, accumulates on the south- and southwest-facing slopes. In the higher elevations, a cold, alpine climate with high humidity prevails, and perennial snow cover shrouds the highest crests. Along the northern Black Sea coast, the climate is Mediterranean, with mild, rainy winters and dry summers.

      The northern slopes of the Lesser Caucasus facing toward the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus have a climate similar to that of the latter at corresponding altitudes, with rainfall concentrated in the west. On the slopes of the Talish Mountains in the southeast, the climate is humid, with annual precipitation reaching 67 inches. The Armenian Highland, despite its proximity to the Black Sea, has a more continental climate than that of the Greater Caucasus at corresponding altitudes; at 6,500 feet, for example, the average monthly temperature in the Armenian Highland is 10 °F (−12 °C) in January and 64 °F (18 °C) in July. Snow cover throughout the southern highlands lasts four to five months, and annual precipitation averages about 20 inches with a spring maximum. Overall, the climate of the upland plateaus is moderately cold and continental, giving rise to semiarid steppe landscapes, whereas the climate of the heights is more humid and alpine, with cool summers and cold, prolonged winters.

Plant life

      Wormwood (Artemisia), saltworts, and ephemeral species characterize the arid Kura-Aras Lowland, and similar vegetation occurs in the Middle Aras Trough. In Kolkhida and in the Länkäran Lowland, the subtropical broad-leaved forests once covering these areas have given way to cultivation.

      In the lower elevations of the mountains themselves, at altitudes between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, arboreal brushwood and broad-leaved forest predominate. On the Black Sea slopes of the Greater Caucasus and in the mountainous hinterland of Kolkhida, there are mixed forests of beech, oak, hornbeam, chestnut, and alder, with lianas and an evergreen undergrowth on terra rossa and yellow soils. In the Talish Mountains, forests of chestnut-leaf oak and ironwood (Parrotia persica) flourish on yellow soils, while farther north on the heights backing the dry Kura-Aras Lowland grow forests and brushwood of xerophytic (drought-resistant) species.

      At higher altitudes, up to 6,500 feet, both the Greater and the Lesser Caucasus support forests of oak, hornbeam, and beech on brown soils; these are superseded at higher elevations by forests of Caucasian elm and Nordmann fir in the west and southwest and, occasionally, by pine forests farther east. Feather grass and needlegrass cover the black soil of the steppes on the lava plateaus and plains of the Armenian Highland.

      Above elevations of 6,500 feet in the Greater Caucasus and in the Transcaucasian ranges, mountain meadow vegetation covers three successive belts: subalpine, alpine, and subnivean. A zone of glaciers and perpetual snow begins at about 10,000 feet.

Animal life

      The fauna of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus includes certain endemic species—the West Caucasian and the Dagestanian mountain goat, or tur, the Caucasian black grouse, and the Caucasian mountain turkey, or ular—and even some endemic genera, such as the long-clawed mole vole (Prometheomys schaposchnikowi). Other common mammals include the chamois, red deer, bear, lynx, and fox. The Kura-Aras Lowland is home to the Persian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), long-eared hedgehog, jerboa, and jungle cat (Felis chaus). The fauna of the Talish Mountains, which includes leopard and porcupine, is related to that of more southerly territories, while that of the Armenian Highland is related to that of Anatolia, with its ground squirrel, or suslik (Citellus), and mountain jerboa (Allactaga williamsi).

Nikolay Andreyevich Gvozdetsky G. Melvyn Howe

Settlement patterns

 The rural population of Transcaucasia is unevenly distributed. The most densely populated part of the region is along the Black Sea coast; the Rioni River valley and several smaller valleys are intensively cultivated and support large farm populations; and the foothills of the mountains are thickly settled. The alpine regions of the Caucasus and the arid steppes and lowlands of the Caspian littoral, however, are sparsely populated. Urban dwellers account for nearly three-fifths of the entire population of Transcaucasia, and in Armenia the proportion is even greater. Three cities—Baku, Tʿbilisi (Tiflis), and Yerevan—each have populations well in excess of one million.

The people

      Caucasia has long played a major role as a link between Europe and Asia, and through it the culture of ancient Mesopotamia spread northward. Indigenous cultures also arose; Transcaucasia was one of the most ancient centres of bronze working (bronze work) from the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. Autochthonous peoples of the Caucasus are mentioned by Herodotus and by later writers such as Strabo. In the centuries between preclassical antiquity and the 14th century AD, Caucasia underwent successive invasions by various peoples, including Scythians, Alani, Huns, Khazars, Arabs, Seljuq Turks, and Mongols. Contacts were also maintained with the Mediterranean world. This history of invasions and distant contacts has left its imprint on the culture of the peoples of Transcaucasia. Middle Eastern influences, in particular, disseminated Iranian languages on the one hand and Christian and Islāmic religion on the other. The later history, beginning with a long period of rivalry between Ottoman Turkey and Iran, is marked by the advance of Russian culture, which penetrated farther and farther into Caucasia from the 16th century onward. Throughout this process, individual ethnic groups, under pressure from stronger neighbours, took refuge in the ravines of the mountain ranges to preserve themselves in isolation.

      More than 50 different peoples inhabit Transcaucasia; these groups have cultures extending back to ancient times. Since antiquity the Caucasus has been known for its large number of distinct languages; Arab geographers called the region Jabal Al-Alsun (“Mountain of Language”).

      Several language families are represented in the region. Of the Indo-European languages, Armenian (Armenian language) (which is the official language of Armenia) has the greatest number of speakers. Greek is spoken in parts of southern Georgia, and several languages of the Indo-Iranian (Indo-Iranian languages) branch of Indo-European are also spoken. The latter consist of Ossetic (Ossetic language) (spoken in central Georgia), Talysh (spoken in far southeastern Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea), Kurdish (Kurdish language) (spoken in scattered areas in Armenia and southern Georgia), and Tat (spoken in northeastern Azerbaijan).

      Azerbaijani (also called Azeri) is a member of the Turkic branch of Altaic languages and has the largest number of speakers of any of the languages of Transcaucasia. Another Turkic language, Anatolian Turkish, is spoken in a few communities in Azerbaijan.

      The rest of the languages spoken in the region are classified as Caucasian languages, which fall into three typologically well-defined families: the Abkhazo-Adyghian (Abkhazo-Adyghian languages), or Northwest, Caucasian languages; the Nakho-Dagestanian (Nakho-Dagestanian languages), or Northeast, languages; and the Kartvelian (Kartvelian languages), or South Caucasian, languages. A genetic relationship between the Northeast and Northwest languages seems probable, but the absence of regular sound correspondences between North and South Caucasian languages strongly suggests that the two northern divisions form a family separate from the southern group.

      Abkhaz, numerically the most important Abkhazo-Adyghian language of Transcaucasia, is spoken chiefly in Abkhazia republic, Georgia; and Abaza (Abaza language), which is closely related to Abkhaz, is spoken along a portion of the coast of the Georgian republic of Ajaria.

      The Nakho-Dagestanian languages (Nakh languages) are a complex group, sometimes subdivided into Nakh, or Central, languages and Dagestanian, or East Caucasian, languages. The only Nakh language of Transcaucasia is Bats, an unwritten language with only a few thousand speakers in north-central Georgia. The Dagestanian languages spoken in this region are Lezgian, Avar, Kryz, Udi, Khinalug, and Budukh, all but Avar being categorized as Lezgian languages.

      Chief among the Kartvelian languages is Georgian (Georgian language), which has the largest number of speakers of any Caucasian language. The Georgian language is also distinguished by a literary tradition that dates to the 5th century AD. The other Kartvelian languages are Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan, each of which is spoken mainly in Georgia.

The economy

Resources

      Transcaucasia's substantial natural resources have favoured economic development. The geologically recent rock layers around the Greater Caucasus, notably in the Kura-Aras Lowland and beneath the Caspian Sea, contain oil- and natural-gas-bearing deposits. Metallic ores are associated with magmatic rocks thrust up from deep in the crust: magnetite iron occurs near Daşkäsän in Azerbaijan; copper and molybdenum are found in several parts of the Transcaucasian upland; several metallic ores lie in the Greater Caucasus; and manganese is found near Chiatʿura in Georgia. Building materials include the rose-coloured tuffs (tufas) of Mount Aragats. The mineral-water springs of the Caucasus are widely renowned throughout the former Soviet Union. Nonferrous metals, hydrocarbons, and coal are extracted in large quantities.

Agriculture

      Tea, citrus fruits, the oil-bearing tung tree, and bamboo are grown in the humid subtropical lowlands and foothills of Transcaucasia. Other areas produce tobacco, corn (maize), grapes, and various fruits. Water from the numerous rivers of the Caucasus is used to irrigate the Kura-Aras Lowland and the lands around the middle Aras for the production of cotton, rice, and alfalfa (lucerne). Mulberry trees, grown along most irrigation canals, provide the basis for silkworm culture and a silk-making industry. In the higher elevations of the Caucasus, the primary activity is livestock raising (mainly sheep and cattle), although the people there also grow some mountain crops and pursue domestic crafts.

Industry

      A number of large industrial centres in Transcaucasia produce cast iron and steel, locomotives, trucks and automobiles, rubber and other chemical products, cement, hard-metal alloys, textiles and footwear, and food and tobacco products. Since the 1960s light industries, including the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment such as televisions, computers, and microprocessors, have been established in the larger cities.

       hydroelectric power has been well developed and is intensively used. Hydroelectric stations have been built on the Kura (at Mingäçevir, Azerbaijan), Khrami (a right-bank tributary of the Kura), and Rioni rivers; on several rivers of the Greater Caucasus; and on the Hrazdan River of Armenia, where the river's considerable potential has been exploited by a chain of downstream stations.

      With its beautiful beaches along the coasts of the Black and Caspian seas, Transcaucasia has become a popular resort area; notable resorts include Sokhumi, Gagra, and Pitsunda in northwestern Georgia. Certain regions, such as Svanetia in Georgia, are known for their architectural treasures and picturesque villages. Transcaucasia's mineral springs and year-round mild climate make it a conducive environment for the treatment of many illnesses. Millions of people from Russia, Ukraine, and other countries travel to the region each year to rest, receive medical treatment, and enjoy such recreational activities as mountaineering and skiing.

Transportation

      Difficult physical conditions hindered the construction of railways in Transcaucasia. Trunk lines ring each of the main mountain ranges and traverse the Caucasian isthmus through Transcaucasia, but no railway crosses the Greater Caucasus. Branch lines from the main lines run through many of the valleys, and there are links with Tabrīz and Tehrān in Iran and Erzurum in Turkey. A network of highways is heavily used for the transport of passengers and goods. On the tortuous Georgian, Sokhumi, and Ossetian military roads that traverse the Greater Caucasus, however, traffic is light; these roads are used mainly by tourists. Oil and natural-gas pipelines also crisscross the region. Only the lower reaches of the Kura and Rioni rivers are navigable.

Solomon Ilich Bruk G. Melvyn Howe

Additional Reading

The geography, economy, culture, and history of the region are explored in Glenn E. Curtis (ed.), Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Country Studies (1995). English-language sources on the geography of the area are scarce. Information can be found in works covering the whole of the former Soviet Union, such as Paul E. Lydolph, Geography of the U.S.S.R., 5th ed. (1990); Theodore Shabad, Geography of the USSR: A Regional Survey (1951), especially the chapters “The European South,” pp. 204–232, and “Transcaucasia,” pp. 409–433, dated but still useful; G. Melvyn Howe, The Soviet Union: A Geographical Survey, 2nd ed. (1983); Michael J. Bradshaw (ed.), The Soviet Union: A New Regional Geography? (1991); Leslie Symons et al., The Soviet Union: A Systematic Geography, 2nd ed. (1990); John F. Baddeley, The Rugged Flanks of Caucasus, 2 vol. (1940, reprinted 1973); and Algirdas Knystautas, The Natural History of the USSR (1987), an excellently illustrated, detailed description of all relevant biogeographic zones constituting the area.Information pertaining to the population characteristics and demographic dynamics of the region is available in Zev Katz et al. (eds.), Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities (1975); Robin Milner-Gulland and Nikolai Dejevsky, Cultural Atlas of Russia and the Soviet Union (1989), especially the chapter “Transcaucasia,” pp. 198–203; Bohdan Nahaylo and Victor Swoboda, Soviet Disunion: A History of the Nationalities Problem in the USSR (1990); Graham Smith (ed.), The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (1990), in particular the articles “Armenians” by Edmund M. Herzig, “Azerbaijanis” by Tamara Dragadze, and “Georgians” by Robert Parsons; and Ronald Grigor Suny", The Revenge of the Past: Socialism and Ethnic Conflict in Transcaucasia,” New Left Review, 184:5–34 (November–December 1990), and “Incomplete Revolution: National Movements and the Collapse of the Soviet Empire,” New Left Review, 189:111–125 (September–October 1991).G. Melvyn Howe

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