North Caucasus

North Caucasus
North Caucasus
	Map of North Caucasus
Coordinates	43°21′18″N 42°26′31″E / 43.35500°N 42.44194°E
Country	Russia;
Federal subjects	Republic of Adygea; Republic of Chechnya; Republic of Dagestan; Republic of Ingushetia; Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria; Republic of Kalmykia (partially); Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia; Krasnodar Krai; Republic of North Ossetia-Alania; Rostov Oblast (partially); Stavropol Krai;
Demonym	North Caucasian
Time Zones	UTC+03:00
Highest mountain	Elbrus (5,642 metres (18,510 ft))

The North Caucasus,^[b] or Ciscaucasia,^[c] is a region in Europe^[d] governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which forms the natural border between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.^[d] It is bordered by the Sea of Azov and Black Sea to the west, the Caspian Sea to the east, and the Caucasus Mountains to the south. The region shares land borders with the South Caucasus countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan.^[e] Located in the south of the region, Mount Elbrus is the tallest peak in Europe.^[a] Among its urban centres, Krasnodar is the most populous.

A region of Russia since the 19th century, the North Caucasus is today politically divided between a number of Russian republics and krais. It lies north of the Main Caucasian Range, which separates it from the South Caucasus. As part of Russia, the territory falls within the North Caucasian and Southern Federal Districts and consists of Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the constituent republics, approximately from west to east: the Republic of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia–Alania, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Republic of Dagestan and to the north: Kalmykia.^[f]

Geographically, the term North Caucasus also refers to the northern slope and western extremity of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, as well as a part of its southern slope to the West. The Pontic–Caspian steppe area is often also encompassed under the notion of a Ciscaucasus region, thus the northern boundary of the Forecaucasus steppe or Nogai steppe is generally considered to be the Manych River. Owing to its mild climate compared to much of Russia, the region has been described as Russia's "sunbelt".^[f]

History

Ancient cultures of the Northern Caucasus are known as Klin-Yar community, with one of the most notable cultures being the ancient Koban culture.^[5]

Ciscaucasus was historically covered by the Pontic–Caspian steppe, mostly on fertile calcareous chernozyom soils, which has been almost completely tilled and grazed. It is bounded by the Sea of Azov on the west, and the Caspian Sea on the east. According to the Concise Atlas of the World, Second Edition (2008), the Ciscaucasus region lies on the European side of the "commonly-accepted division" that separates Europe from Asia.^[d]

Russia completed the conquest of the North Caucasus by 1864. Between the 1850s and World War I, about a million North Caucasian Muslims, including Circassians, Chechens, Ingush, Ossetians, and others, became refugees in the Ottoman Empire.^[6] The Ottoman government settled North Caucasian refugees in territories of modern-day Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Kosovo, Greece, Cyprus, and North Macedonia, creating a large North Caucasian diaspora.^[7]

Much of the Northern Caucasus seceded from Russia in March 1917 as the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, taking advantage of the instability caused by the February Revolution and becoming a minor participant in the Russian Civil War. Mountainous Republic troops engaged in fierce clashes against the invading White General Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army, before the latter's defeat at the hands of the Red Army. The region was informally occupied by the Soviet Union shortly afterwards, and the republic was forced into accepting a nonviolent annexation in January 1921. It was reformed into the Mountainous ASSR, which was later dissolved in October 1924, replaced by a series of autonomous Okrugs and Oblasts.

The outer border of the Soviet Union's North Caucasus Krai was the same as that of present-day North Caucasus Economic Region (Raion) which includes an oblast (Rostov Oblast), two krais (Krasnodar Krai and Stavropol Krai), and seven republics. The former North Caucasus Military District (Okrug) also included Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, and the Republic of Kalmykia. Its administrative center was Rostov-on-Don until 10 January 1934, Pyatigorsk until January 1936, then Ordzhonikidze (today Vladikavkaz) and, from 15 December 1936, Voroshilovsk (today Stavropol).

Unrest

The North Caucasus region experienced widespread unrest and insurgency after the fall of the Soviet Union, including a low-level armed conflict between Russia and militants associated with the Caucasus Emirate and, from June 2015, the Islamic State.^[8]^[9]^[10]

The insurgency became relatively dormant in its later years.^[9]^[10] During its peak, the violence was mostly concentrated in the North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. Occasional incidents happened in surrounding regions, such as North Ossetia–Alania, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol Krai, and Volgograd Oblast.

While the insurgency was officially declared over on 19 December 2017 when FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov announced the final elimination of the insurgent underground in the North Caucasus,^[11] counter-terrorism operations in the North Caucasus have not ended.^[12]

In June 2022, the US State Department advised citizens not to travel to the North Caucasus, including Chechnya and Mount Elbrus, due to terrorism, kidnapping and risk of civil unrest.^[13]

Other paramilitaries active in the region have included the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, an anti-Georgian organization and a participant in the 1992–1993 Abkhaz conflict that based its flag and political agenda directly on those of the Mountainous Republic.

Population

The North Caucasus, especially in its mountainous territories, has the highest life expectancy in Russia.^[14]^[15] The region is known for a large number of centenarians.^[16]^[17]^[18]

Administrative divisions

North Caucasus is located in Southern Federal District

Krasnodar Krai

Adygea

Stavropol Krai

Rostov Oblast

Volgograd Oblast

Kalmykia

Ast-
rakh-
an
Oblast

class=notpageimage|

The North Caucasus region within Russia

Red: NC economic region, former NC krai, former NC military okrug
Green: former NC military okrug
Blue: NC economic region, NC federal okrug, former NC military okrug

Russian political subdivisions associated with the region include:

Gallery

Location of the North Caucasian Federal District
Map of former North Caucasus Military District (okrug)
Map of modern-day North Caucasus Economic Region (raion)
Sophia Valley, Karachay-Cherkessia

Notes

^ ^a ^b Mount Elbrus is widely considered to be the tallest European peak.^[3]
^ (Adyghe: Темыр Къафкъас, romanized: Temır Qafqas; Avar: Хьундасеб Кавказ; Karachay-Balkar: Шимал Кавказ, romanized: Şimal Kavkaz; Chechen: Къилбаседа Кавказ, romanized: Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; Ingush: Даькъасте, romanized: Däq̇aste; Kabardian: Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, romanized: İṩxhərə Qauqaz; Ossetian: Цӕгат Кавказ, romanized: Cægat Kavkaz; Russian: Северный Кавказ)
^ Russian: Предкавказье, romanized: Predkavkazye; Also translated as Ciscaucasus or Forecaucasus
^ ^a ^b ^c The northern part of the Caucasus is widely considered to be a part of the European continent, as it sits north the Greater Caucasus watershed.^[1]^[2]
^ The North Caucasus also shares borders with the two partially recognized breakaway states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to its south, both of which are internationally recognised as part of Georgia.
^ ^a ^b A primary introduction to the North Caucasus region.^[4]

References

^ 18th-century definitions drew the boundary north of the Caucasus, across the Kuma–Manych Depression. This definition remained in use in the Soviet Union during the 20th century. In western literature, the continental boundary has been drawn along the Caucasus watershed since at least the mid-19th century. See e.g. Baron von Haxthausen, "Transcaucasia" (1854); review Dublin university magazine Douglas W. Freshfield, "Journey in the Caucasus", Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Volumes 13–14, 1869.
^ "Europe". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved June 6, 2024. Among the alternative boundaries proposed by geographers that have gained wide acceptance is a scheme that sees the crest of the Greater Caucasus range as the dividing line between Europe and Asia, placing Ciscaucasia, the northern part of the Caucasus region, in Europe and Transcaucasia, the southern part, in Asia.
^ "El'brus". National Geographic. Retrieved June 6, 2024. Mount El'brus is located in southwest Russia and is part of the Caucasus Mountains. It is the highest point in Russia as well as the highest point in all of Europe. It makes up part of the Prielbrusye National Park.
^ Hill, Fiona; Gaddy, Clifford (2003). The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8157-9618-3. "The North Caucasus region extends across Rostov oblast and Stavropol and Krasnodar krays. It also encompasses the seven autonomous republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetiya, North Ossetiya, Kabardino-Balkariya, Karachayevo-Cherkessiya, and Adygeya. The region accounts for about 2 percent of the territory of the Russian Federation and in 1989 had a population of 13,183,860, or about 8 percent of the Russian population. The North Caucasus could qualify as Russia's "sunbelt."
^ Sharko, Fedor S.; Boulygina, Eugenia S.; Tsygankova, Svetlana V.; Slobodova, Natalia V.; Rastorguev, Sergey M.; Krasivskaya, Anna A.; Belinsky, Andrej B.; Härke, Heinrich; Kadieva, Anna A.; Demidenko, Sergej V.; Malashev, Vladimir Yu; Shvedchikova, Tatiana Yu; Dobrovolskaya, Maria V.; Reshetova, Irina K.; Korobov, Dmitry S. (January 4, 2024). "Koban culture genome-wide and archeological data open the bridge between Bronze and Iron Ages in the North Caucasus". European Journal of Human Genetics: 1–9. doi:10.1038/s41431-023-01524-4. ISSN 1476-5438. PMID 38177408. S2CID 266745350.
^ Hamed-Troyansky 2024, p. 49.
^ Hamed-Troyansky 2024, p. 2.
^ "Six Russian soldiers killed in Chechnya". BBC News. 24 March 2017. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2017. Russian troops in Chechnya have faced a low level insurgency for years ... They still face a low-level insurgency in the mainly Muslim region in Russia's volatile North Caucasus area.
^ ^a ^b "Russia's North Caucasus Insurgency Widens as ISIS' Foothold Grows". www.worldpoliticsreview.com. 12 April 2016. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017. Russia's North Caucasus insurgency has gone relatively quiet, but reduced casualty numbers belie a still-worrying situation where long-standing grievances remain.
^ ^a ^b Walker, Shaun (April 4, 2017). "Why suspicion over St Petersburg metro attack is likely to fall on Islamist groups". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on April 3, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2017. A renewed crackdown on any suspected militant activity in the run-up to the Sochi winter Olympics in 2014 and the departure of many militants to fight in Syria led to a weakening of the North Caucasus insurgency.
^ Нечаев А., Зайнашев Ю. Россия выиграла еще одну важнейшую битву // Взгляд.ру, 19.12.2017
^ Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995, "О ветеранах" (in Russian)
^ "Russia Travel Advisory". travel.state.gov.
^ ^a ^b "Демографический ежегодник России" [The Demographic Yearbook of Russia] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service of Russia (Rosstat). Retrieved July 17, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Ожидаемая продолжительность жизни при рождении" [Life expectancy at birth]. Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System of Russia (in Russian). Retrieved July 17, 2022.
^ "Russia: Mountain Air Leads To Long Life In North Caucasus". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. June 1, 2007.
^ Sam Bedford (February 13, 2018). "Why the Caucasus Has So Many 100-Year-Olds". TheCultureTrip.com.
^ Science (January 29, 2021). "The Caucasus. The Oldest People In The World (Episode 3). Full Documentary" (video). YouTube.

External links

History of the Caucasus
Media related to North Caucasus at Wikimedia Commons
North Caucasus travel guide from Wikivoyage
Relations between The North and South Caucasus. Articles in the Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 27