Katana VentraIP

Mount Elbrus in Russia, Europe's highest mountain, is situated in the Western Caucasus.[6] On the southern side, the Lesser Caucasus includes the Javakheti Plateau and the Armenian highlands, part of which is in Turkey.[7]


The Caucasus is divided into the North Caucasus and South Caucasus, although the Western Caucasus also exists as a distinct geographic space within the North Caucasus. The Greater Caucasus mountain range in the north is mostly shared by Russia and Georgia as well as the northernmost parts of Azerbaijan. The Lesser Caucasus mountain range in the south is occupied by several independent states, mostly by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, but also extending to parts of northeastern Turkey, and northern Iran.


The region is known for its linguistic diversity:[8] aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian, and Northeast Caucasian language families are indigenous to the area.[9]

Origin of the name[edit]

Pliny the Elder's Natural History (77–79 AD) derives the name of the Caucasus from a Scythian name, Croucasis, which supposedly means 'shimmering with snow'.[10] German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word kruvesis also means 'frozen mud'.[11][12][13]


In the Tale of Past Years (1113 AD), it is stated that Old East Slavic Кавкасийскыѣ горы (Kavkasijskyě gory) came from Ancient Greek Καύκασος (Kaúkasos),[14] which, according to M. A. Yuyukin, is a compound word that can be interpreted as the 'mountain of the seagull(s)' (καύ-: καύαξ, καύηξ, -ηκος, κήξ, κηϋξ 'a kind of seagull' + the reconstructed *κάσος 'mountain' or 'rock' richly attested both in place and personal names).[15]


In Georgian tradition, the term Caucasus is derived from Caucas (Georgian: კავკასოსი Ḳavḳasosi), the son of the Biblical Togarmah and legendary forefather of Nakh peoples.[16][17]


According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the Ancient Greek word Καύκασος (Kaukasos) is connected to Gothic hauhs 'high' as well as Lithuanian kaũkas 'hillock' and kaukarà 'hill, top'.[14][18] British linguist Adrian Room claims that *kau- also means 'mountain' in Pelasgian,[19] though this is speculative given that Pelasgian is so poorly known.

Energy and mineral resources[edit]

The Caucasus has many economically important minerals and energy resources, such as gold, silver, copper, iron ore, manganese, tungsten, zinc, oil, natural gas, and coal (both anthracite coal and brown).[78]

Alpika-Service

Mountain roundabout

Rosa Hutor

in Armenia

Tsaghkadzor Ski Resort

in Azerbaijan

Shahdag Winter Complex

Krasnaya Polyana is a popular centre of mountain skiing and a snowboard venue.
The 2015 European Games is the first in the history of the European Games to be held in Azerbaijan.


Mountain-skiing complexes include:


The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (motor racing) was the first in the history of Formula One to be held in Azerbaijan. The 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was held in Georgia. In 2017 the U-19 Europe Championship (Football) was held in Georgia. In 2019 the UEFA European Under-19 Championship was held in Armenia.

Caucasian cuisine

Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations

Culture of Armenia

Culture of Azerbaijan

Culture of Georgia (country)

Eastern Partnership

Eurasian Economic Union

Euronest Parliamentary Assembly

Khanates of the Caucasus

Prometheism

Regions of Europe

Transcontinental nations

Bachvarova, Mary R., From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic, Cambridge University Press, 2016.  978-0521509794.

ISBN

Coene, Frederick (2009). The Caucasus: An Introduction. Routledge.  978-0-415-48660-6.

ISBN

Nart Sagas from the Caucasus: Myths and Legends from the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs, Princeton University Press, 2002, 2014. ISBN 9781400865284.

Colarusso, John

Cornell, Susan E., Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus.

(2010). The Caucasus: An Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-539977-6.

de Waal, Thomas

Golvin, Ivan, The Caucasus.

Griffin, Nicholas, Caucasus: A Journey to the Land Between Christianity and Islam, University of Chicago Press, 2004.  9780226308593.

ISBN

Hunt, David, Legends of the Caucasus, Saqi Books, London, 2012.  978-0863568237.

ISBN

(2016), "Introduction to the Paperback Edition" in Nart Sagas: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Circassians and Abkhazians, by John Colarusso, Princeton University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0691-16914-9.

Mayor, Adrienne

(1994). The Making of the Georgian Nation (2nd ed.). Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20915-3.

Suny, Ronald Grigor

Baumer, Christoph (2021). History of the Caucasus - Volume 1: At the Crossroads of Empires (Hardback). London: I.B. Tauris.  9781788310079.

ISBN

Bealby, John Thomas (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). pp. 546–550.

"Caucasia" 

Dubrovin, Nikolai F. (История войны и владычества русских на Кавказе). Sankt-Petersburg, 1871–1888, at Runivers.ru in DjVu and PDF formats.

The history of wars and Russian domination in the Caucasus

Fadeev, Rostislav Andreevich (1860). (Шестьдесят лет Кавказской войны). Tiflis, at Runivers.ru in DjVu format.

Sixty years of the Caucasian War

Gagarin, G. G. (1840). (Костюмы Кавказа). Paris, at Runivers.ru in DjVu and PDF formats.

Costumes Caucasus

Gasimov, Zaur (2011). , European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, retrieved: 18 November 2011.

The Caucasus

(2003). Caucasian highlanders (Повседневная жизнь горцев Северного Кавказа в XIX в.). Everyday life of the Caucasian Highlanders. The 19th Century (In the co-authorship with I. Karpeev). "Molodaya Gvardiy" publishers. Moscow ISBN 5-235-02585-7

Kaziev Shapi

—a multilingual online journal on South Caucasus

Caucasian Journal

Information for travellers and others about Caucasus and Georgia

—an academic journal on the South Caucasus

Caucasian Review of International Affairs

8 September 2005

BBC News: North Caucasus at a glance

United Nations Environment Programme map: Landcover of the Caucasus

United Nations Environment Programme map: Population density of the Caucasus

(Archived 10 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine)

Food Security in Caucasus (FAO)

Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine entry in Encyclopædia Iranica

Caucasus and Iran

University of Turin-Observatory on Caucasus

(in Turkish)

Circassians Caucasus Web

Georgian Biodiversity Database (checklists for ca. 11,000 plant and animal species)

Archived 24 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine

WHAT TO SEE IN CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS

Regnal Chronologies (Wikiwix Archive, 8/21/2008)

The Caucasus