THE CAUCASUS

 

 

 

 

 

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GLOBE

        

The Caucasus, an Alberta-size area including Southern districts of Russian Federation as well as three new nations - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - has been to a great extent isolated from the rest of the world during 70 years of communist rule and its policy of "the Iron Curtain". Most archival materials and other sources of historical information about the Caucasus were unavailable during this time, both for foreign and domestic research. In the USSR and to a great extent in the Russian empire (before 1917), mostly for ideological reasons, researchers were unable to study the history of annexed lands, especially if those lands had a much longer history than Russia itself. The Caucasus with its history coming back at least to the 9th century B.C. was not an exception. At the same time many Western researchers tended to underestimate the area regarding it as a remote and thus less important Russian province.

 

Due to the above facts the Caucasus still remains relatively unknown to the West. Finding reference literature is still a problem and it is still very hard for western diplomats, businessmen and ordinary citizens to understand the conflicts and problems of the area, to help resolve them and to make a more or less reliable prognosis for future development.

 

However the Caucasus seems to be a very interesting area of the world. Being a frontier of West and East it has a long and dramatic history. Its mountains and valleys gave birth to many important historical figures, among them philosopher Averroes and marshal Joachim Murat (hyp.), field-marshal Peter Bagration and dictator Joseph Stalin, Jurij Andropov and Mikhail Gorbachev. Peoples of the Caucasus made a valuable deposit into human culture having created numerous masterpieces of art, architecture, literature and film. Rich mineral and natural resources make the Caucasus a prospective area for international business.      

 

 

 

 

 

FOR THE RECOMMENDED

BOOKS ON THE CAUCASUS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEE ALSO:

 

 

Drapeau animé d'Arménie par Pascal Gross

ARMENIA

 

Drapeau animé d'Azerbaïdjan par Pascal Gross

AZERBAIJAN

 

 Drapeau animé de Géorgie par Pascal Gross
GEORGIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR THE SHORT HISTORY OF THE AREA

 

 

 

 

 

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