Table Of ContentTHE CAUCASUS
The Caucasus is one of the most complicated regions in the world: with many dif-
ferent peoples and political units, differing religious allegiances, frequent conflicts,
and where historically major world powers have clashed with each other on many
occasions. Until now there has been no comprehensive introductory book for those
wishing to learn about this complex region. This book fills the gap, providing a
clear, comprehensive introduction to the Caucasus, which is suitable for all readers.
It covers the geography; the historical development of the region; economics; poli-
tics and government; population; religion and society; culture and traditions; along-
side its conflicts and international relations. Written throughout in an accessible
style, it requires no prior knowledge of the Caucasus. The book will be invaluable
for those researching specific issues, as well as for readers needing a thorough
introduction to the region.
Frederik Coene is currently Attaché dealing with post-conflict assistance in the
Delegation of the European Commission to Georgia. His research on the Caucasus
began in 1999 during his internship in the Private Office of the Secretary-General
at NATO Headquarters. Since then he has researched, worked and travelled in all
parts of the Caucasus.
http://avaxho.me/blogs/ChrisRedfield
ROUTLEDGE CONTEMPORARY
RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE SERIES
1 LIBERAL NATIONALISM IN CENTRAL EUROPE
Stefan Auer
2 CIVIL–MILITARY RELATIONS IN RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE
David J. Betz
3 THE EXTREME NATIONALIST THREAT IN RUSSIA
The growing influence of Western rightist ideas
Thomas Parland
4 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TATARSTAN
Global markets and a Russian region
Leo McCann
5 ADAPTING TO RUSSIA’S NEW LABOUR MARKET
Gender and employment strategy
Edited by Sarah Ashwin
6 BUILDING DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL SOCIETY EAST OF THE ELBE
Essays in honour of Edmund Mokrzycki
Edited by Sven Eliaeson
7 THE TELENGITS OF SOUTHERN SIBERIA
Landscape, religion and knowledge in motion
Agnieszka Halemba
8 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
Simon Clarke
9 RUSSIAN TELEVISION TODAY
Primetime drama and comedy
David MacFadyen
10 THE REBUILDING OF GREATER RUSSIA
Putin’s foreign policy towards the CIS countries
Bertil Nygren
11 A RUSSIAN FACTORY ENTERS THE MARKET ECONOMY
Claudio Morrison
12 DEMOCRACY BUILDING AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN POST-SOVIET ARMENIA
Armine Ishkanian
13 NATO–RUSSIA RELATIONS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Aurel Braun
14 RUSSIAN MILITARY REFORM
A failed exercise in defence decision making
Carolina Vendil Pallin
15 THE MULTILATERAL DIMENSION IN RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY
Edited by Elana Wilson Rowe and Stina Torjesen
16 RUSSIAN NATIONALISM AND THE NATIONAL REASSERTION OF RUSSIA
Edited by Marlène Laruelle
17 THE CAUCASUS
An introduction
Frederik Coene
THE CAUCASUS
An introduction
Frederik Coene
First published 2010
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2010 Frederik Coene
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photo-
copying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Coene, Frederik.
The Caucasus: an introduction / Frederik Coene.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Caucasus—Description and travel. I. Title.
DK509.C64 2009
947.5—dc22
2009010323
ISBN 0-203-87071-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–48660–2 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–87071–9 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–48660–6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–87071–6 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of illustrations vii
Foreword ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of abbreviations and acronyms xv
Introduction 1
1 Geography 3
2 Territorial division, government and administration 29
3 Population and society 55
4 History 89
5 Conflicts 139
6 International politics 169
7 Economy 187
8 Culture and traditions 199
Appendix I: confusing terms 208
Appendix II: population statistics by ethnic group 213
Notes 217
Suggested reading 223
Index 232
v
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Climatographs 16
3.1 Major alphabets in use in the Caucasus 69
3.2 Ethnogenetic tree of the Caucasian languages 71
3.3 Ethnogenetic tree of the Turkic languages 75
Maps
1.1 Location of the Caucasus and its territorial entities 4
1.2 Main physical-geographical regions 7
1.3 Topographical map of the Caucasus 9
1.4 Main rivers and lakes 13
1.5 Natural resources and oil and gas pipelines 20
1.6 Transport infrastructure 23
2.1 The Republic of Armenia (Hayastani Hanrapetutyun) 31
2.2 The Republic of Azerbaijan (Azarbaycan Respublikasi) 34
2.3 Georgia (Sakartvelo) 37
2.4 The Republic of Adygea 43
2.5 The Karachay–Cherkess Republic 45
2.6 The Kabardino–Balkar Republic 46
2.7 The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania 47
2.8 The Republic of Ingushetia 48
2.9 The Chechen Republic 50
2.10 The Republic of Dagestan 51
2.11 The Stavropol Kray 52
2.12 The Krasnodar Kray 53
2.13 The Rostov Oblast 54
4.1a Urartu and its neighbours around 800 BC 92
4.1b Urartu and its neighbours around 720 BC 92
4.2a Urartu and its neighbours around 610 BC, before the fall of
Assyria 96
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
4.2b The Caucasus as part of the Achaemenid Empire, around
500BC 96
4.3a The early Caucasian kingdoms around 300 BC 100
4.3b The early Caucasian kingdoms around 180 BC 100
4.4a The Caucasian kingdoms around 85 BC, before the arrival of
the Romans 103
4.4b The Caucasus under Roman and Parthian influence, around
AD220 103
4.5a The political situation in the Caucasus in AD387 107
4.5b The Caucasian kingdoms around 650, before the Khazar–Arab
power struggle 107
4.6a The new Caucasian kingdoms, around 950, before the fall of
Khazaria 112
4.6b Unified Georgia, wedged between the Cumans, the
Seljuks and the Byzantine Empire in 1122 112
4.7a The golden age of Georgia, around 1200 115
4.7b The Caucasus under Mongol rule, around 1300 115
4.8a Fragmented Georgia and the supremacy of the Ak-Qoyunlu
in 1468 119
4.8b The new political set-up after the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab 119
4.9 The inclusion of the Caucasus in the Russian Empire between
1770 and 1878 123
4.10 The Russian administrative division of the Caucasus at the
end of the nineteenth century 129
Tables
3.1 Population statistics 56
7.1 GDP growth rates 191
7.2 Origin of GDP 192
Appendix II Population statistics by ethnic group 213
viii
FOREWORD
The recent fighting between Russia and Georgia, which broke out in the summer
of 2008, reminded the world that this region remains a potential area of dispute
and conflict in the twenty-first century. Yet it is a sad fact that the world needed
this reminder. Standing, as it does, at the junction of great land masses and his-
toric empires, the Caucasus has for centuries been a contested land. The aston-
ishing racial and linguistic diversity that characterizes the region, coupled with
the Soviet legacy of ethnic displacement and highly divisive artificial borders, has
made the Caucasus even more volatile and vulnerable to internal tensions and
outside interference alike.
Today the Caucasus is one of the most important and sensitive regions of the
world, with the potential to spark conflict between the great nations that border
it. Its increasing significance as a producer of, and particularly as a transit route
for, oil and gas adds an extra, and highly significant, dimension to the historic
great-power territorial rivalry and local ethnic tensions. It guarantees, alas, that
the conflicts in the region will continue to be of global significance. They will
attract outside attention because they will have ramifications far beyond the
borders of the states concerned.
But the region and its history are so complex that outsiders have always found
it difficult to establish and comprehend the essential details. This has led in the
past to seriously flawed analyses and, as a result, poorly informed policy deci-
sions. Consequently, this excellent volume by Frederik Coene is most timely and
welcome. Its wealth of relevant data, its great attention to detail, its balanced and
straightforward description of events, and its clear and dispassionate analysis pro-
vide the scholar and policy-maker with a most valuable source of information and
understanding. The work will allow current and future events in the region to be
placed firmly in context, to the benefit of all concerned.
Christopher N. Donnelly
Director, Atlantic Council of the UK
ix
