1.
Armenia
–
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
Armenia
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Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map c. 450 BC, with Armenia shown in the center
Armenia
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Flag
Armenia
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The Armenian pagan
Temple of Garni, probably built 1st century AD, is the only "Greco-Roman
colonnaded building" in Armenia and the entire
former Soviet Union.
Armenia
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The
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
2.
Azerbaijan
–
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
Azerbaijan
–
Petroglyphs in
Gobustan dating back to 10,000 BC indicating a thriving culture. It is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site considered to be of "outstanding universal value"
Azerbaijan
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Flag
Azerbaijan
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The
Maiden Tower in
Old Baku is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the 11th–12th century.
Azerbaijan
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The siege of Ganja Fortress in 1804 during the
Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) by the Russian forces under leadership of general
Pavel Tsitsianov.
3.
Georgia (country)
–
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
Georgia (country)
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It is said that
Georgians were so named because they revered
Saint George.
Georgia (country)
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Flag
Georgia (country)
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Ancient Georgian states of
Colchis and
Iberia, 500-400 BC
Georgia (country)
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Queen
Tamar of Georgia presided over the "Golden Age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy. Her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title "Mepe mepeta" ("King of Kings").
4.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
Iran
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Cave painting in Doushe cave,
Lorestan, Iran,
8th millennium BC
Iran
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Flag
Iran
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A depiction of the united
Medes and
Persians in
Apadana,
Persepolis
Iran
–
Ruins of the
Gate of All Nations,
Persepolis
5.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
Russia
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Kievan Rus' in the 11th century
Russia
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Flag
Russia
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The
Baptism of Kievans, by
Klavdy Lebedev
Russia
–
Sergius of Radonezh blessing
Dmitry Donskoy in
Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the
Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by
Ernst Lissner
6.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
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Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
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Flag
Turkey
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The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
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The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
7.
List of states with limited recognition
–
A number of polities have declared independence and sought diplomatic recognition from the international community as de jure sovereign states, but have not been universally recognized as such. These entities often have de facto control of their territory, a number of such entities have existed in the past. There are two traditional doctrines that provide indicia of how a de jure sovereign state comes into being, according to declarative theory, an entitys statehood is independent of its recognition by other states. By contrast, the constitutive theory defines a state as a person of international law if it is recognised as such by other states that are already a member of the international community. Proto-states often reference either or both doctrines in order to legitimise their claims to statehood, there are, for example, entities which meet the declarative criteria, but whose statehood is not recognised by any other states. Non-recognition is often a result of conflicts with other countries that claim those entities as integral parts of their territory, in other cases, two or more partially recognised entities may claim the same territorial area, with each of them de facto in control of a portion of it. Entities that are recognised by only a minority of the worlds states usually reference the declarative doctrine to legitimise their claims, the international community can judge this military presence too intrusive, reducing the entity to a puppet state where effective sovereignty is retained by the foreign power. Historical cases in this sense can be seen in Japanese-led Manchukuo or the German-created Slovak Republic and Independent State of Croatia before, in the 1996 case Loizidou vs. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights judged Turkey for having exercised authority in the territory of Northern Cyprus. Historically this has happened in the case of the Holy See, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is currently in this position. See list of governments in exile for unrecognised governments without control over the territory claimed, some states are slow to establish relations with new states and thus do not recognise them, despite having no dispute and sometimes favorable relations. These are excluded from the list, there are 193 United Nations member states. The Holy See and the State of Palestine have observer status in the United Nations. Some states maintain informal relations with states that do not officially recognise them, the Republic of China is one such state, as it maintains unofficial relations with many other states through its Economic and Cultural Offices, which allow regular consular services. This allows the ROC to have economic relations even with states that do not formally recognise it, a total of 56 states, including Germany, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom, maintain some form of unofficial mission in the ROC. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a sovereign entity and is not included. It has established full diplomatic relations with 105 sovereign states as a subject of international law. Five more states maintain neither and do not recognise its passports, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, uncontacted peoples who either live in societies that cannot be defined as states or whose statuses as such are not definitively known. Entities considered to be micronations are not included, even though micronations generally claim to be sovereign and independent, it is often up to debate whether a micronation truly controls its claimed territory
List of states with limited recognition
–
Women in
Somaliland, wearing the colors of the Somaliland flag.
8.
Abkhazia
–
Abkhazia is a partially recognised state on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus Mountains, south of Russia and northwest of Georgia proper. It covers 8,660 square kilometres and has a population of around 240,000, the separatist Abkhazian polity, formally the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny, is recognised only by Russia and a small number of other countries. The status of Abkhazia is an issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The region enjoyed autonomy within Soviet Georgia at the time when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the late 1980s, despite the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the dispute remained unresolved. The long-term presence of a United Nations Observer Mission and a Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force failed to prevent the flare-up of violence on several occasions. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia declared Abkhazia a Russian-occupied territory, the Abkhazians call their homeland Аҧсны, popularly etymologised as a land/country of the soul, yet literally meaning a country of mortals. It possibly first appeared in the century in an Armenian text as Psin. The state is designated as the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. The Russian Абхазия is adapted from the Georgian აფხაზეთი, in Mingrelian, Abkhazia is known as აბჟუა or სააფხაზო. Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia was part of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Colchis and this kingdom was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi, known to Byzantine Roman sources as Lazica. Classical authors described various peoples living in the region and the multitude of languages they spoke. Arrian, Pliny and Strabo have given accounts of the Abasgoi and Moschoi peoples somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the shore of the Black Sea. Around the mid 6th century AD, the Byzantines and the neighbouring Sassanid Persia fought for supremacy over Abkhazia for 20 years, Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classic sources, formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi until the late 690s, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. The country was mostly Christian, with the seat in Pityus. An Arab incursion into Abkhazia led by Marwan II, was repelled by Leon I jointly with his Egrisian and Kartlian allies in 736, after acquiring Egrisi via a dynastic union in the 780s the Kingdom of Abkhazia was established and became a dominant power in western Caucasus. During this period the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy, the western Georgian kingdom flourished between 850 and 950 when it annexed significant parts of central Georgia. In the 16th century, after the break-up of the Georgian Kingdom into small kingdoms and principalities, since the 1570s, when the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Ottoman rule, the majority of Abkhaz elite converted to Islam, the principality retained a degree of autonomy
Abkhazia
–
Abkhazia in 1899. Abkhazia was administered as Sukhumi District of
Kutaisi Governorate when it was part of the
Russian Empire.
Abkhazia
–
Flag
Abkhazia
–
Abkhaz and Georgian generals in the
Imperial Russian Army, 19th century
Abkhazia
–
The 12th anniversary of ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia which was held in Tbilisi in 2005. One of the visitors of the gallery recognised her dead son on the photograph.
9.
Republic of Artsakh
–
Nagorno-Karabakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh, is an unrecognised republic in the South Caucasus. The region is considered by the UN to be part of Azerbaijan, the dispute was largely shelved after the Soviet Union established control over the area and created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. During the fall of the Soviet Union, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in 1991, a referendum held in the NKAO and the neighbouring Shahumian region resulted in a declaration of independence. Large-scale ethnic conflict led to the 1991–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War, which ended with a ceasefire that left the current borders, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a semi-presidential democracy with a unicameral legislature. Its reliance on Armenia means that in many ways it functions de facto as part of Armenia, the country is very mountainous, averaging 1,097 metres above sea level. The population is predominantly Christian, most being affiliated with the Armenian Apostolic Church, several historical monasteries are popular with tourists, mostly from the Armenian diaspora, as most travel can take place only between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is a democracy, whereby the executive power resides with both the President and the Prime Minister. The president is elected for a maximum of two-consecutive five-year terms. The current President is Bako Sahakyan, in the most recent presidential elections, held on 19 July 2012, Sahakyan was reelected to a second term. The President appoints a potential Prime Minister who is approved by a majority vote in the National Assembly. The National Assembly is a unicameral legislature and it has 33 members who are elected for 5-year terms. Three organisations have members in the parliament, the Democratic Party of Artsakh has 18 members, Free Motherland has 8 members, Nagorno-Karabakh is heavily dependent on Armenia, and in many ways de facto functions and is administered as part of Armenia. On 3 November 2006, the then-President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arkadi Ghukasyan and it was held on 10 December of the same year and voters overwhelmingly approved the new constitution. According to official results, with a turnout of 87. 2%. The First article of the document describes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a sovereign, more than 100 non-governmental international observers and journalists who monitored the poll evaluated it positively, stating that it was held to a high international standard. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis asserted that the poll will not be recognized, and is therefore of no consequence. The outcome was also criticised by Turkey, which traditionally supports Azerbaijan because of common ethnic Turkic roots, another referendum was held on 20 February 2017, with a 87. 6% vote in favour on a 76% turnout for instituting a new constitution. The new name implies a claim to the areas controlled beyond the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, the referendum is seen as a response to the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes
Republic of Artsakh
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The NKR National Assembly in Stepanakert
Republic of Artsakh
–
Flag
Republic of Artsakh
–
The NKR Presidential Palace
Republic of Artsakh
–
The NKR Ministry of foreign affairs in
Stepanakert
10.
South Ossetia
–
It has a population of 53,000 people which live in an area of 3,900 km2, south of the Russian Caucasus, with 30,000 living in its capital city of Tskhinvali. South Ossetia declared independence from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, the Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetias autonomy and trying to re-establish its control over the region by force. The crisis escalation led to the 1991–92 South Ossetia War, Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The latter conflict led to the Russo–Georgian War, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. In the wake of the 2008 war, Russia, followed by Nicaragua, Venezuela, Georgia and a significant part of the international community consider South Ossetia to be occupied by the Russian military. South Ossetia relies heavily on military, political and financial aid from Russia, Russia does not allow European Union Monitoring Mission monitors to enter South Ossetia. South Ossetia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abkhazia are sometimes referred to as post-Soviet frozen conflict zones, the Ossetians are believed to originate from the Alans, a Sarmatian Iranian tribe. In the 17th century, Ossetians started migration from the North Caucasus to Georgia, Ossetian peasants, who were migrating to the mountainous areas of the South Caucasus, often settled in the lands of Georgian feudal lords. The Georgian King of the Kingdom of Kartli permitted Ossetians to immigrate, in the 1770s there were more Ossetians living in Kartli than ever before. This period has been documented in the diaries of Johann Anton Güldenstädt who visited Georgia in 1772. The Baltic German explorer called modern North Ossetia simply Ossetia, while he wrote that Kartli was populated by Georgians, Güldenstädt also wrote that the northernmost border of Kartli is the Major Caucasus Ridge. The Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, part of which was the territory of modern South Ossetia, was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Following the Russian revolution, the area of modern South Ossetia became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic policies of the central government, the tension soon transformed into ethnic conflict. The first Ossetian rebellion began in February 1918, when three Georgian princes were killed and their land was seized by the Ossetians, the central government of Tiflis retaliated by sending the National Guard to the area. However, the Georgian unit retreated after they had engaged the Ossetians, Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of Tskhinvali and began attacking ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but even so, were defeated. Between 3,000 and 7,000 Ossetians were killed during the crushing of the 1920 uprising, according to Ossetian sources ensuing hunger, the drawing of administrative boundaries of the South Ossetian AO was quite a complicated process. Many Georgian villages were included within the South Ossetian AO despite numerous protests by the Georgian population, while the city of Tskhinvali did not have a majority Ossetian population, it was made the capital of the South Ossetian AO
South Ossetia
–
Historical Russian map of the Caucasus region at the beginning of the 19th century
South Ossetia
–
Flag
South Ossetia
–
Fragment of the historical map by
J. H. Colton. The map depicts Caucasus region in 1856. Modern South Ossetia is not labeled. Modern North Ossetia is labeled as "Ossia".
South Ossetia
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Map of South Ossetia (November 2004).
11.
Adygea
–
The Republic of Adygea, also known as the Adyghe Republic, is a federal subject of Russia, with its territory enclaved within Krasnodar Krai. Its area is 7,600 square kilometers with a population of 439,996, forests cover almost 40% of its territory. Borders — the Republic of Adygea is entirely surrounded by Krasnodar Krai, highest point — Chugush Mountain 3,238 m. The 870-kilometer long Kuban River is one of the navigable rivers in the Caucasus region. It forms part of the border between the Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai. The republic has no large lakes, other natural resources include gold, silver, tungsten, and iron. Cherkess Autonomous Oblast was established within the Russian SFSR on July 27,1922, on the territories of Kuban-Black Sea Oblast, at that time, Krasnodar was the administrative center. It was renamed Adyghe Autonomous Oblast on August 24,1922 and it was renamed Adyghe Autonomous Oblast in July 1928. On January 10,1934, the autonomous oblast became part of new Azov-Black Sea Krai, Maykop was made the administrative center of the autonomous oblast in 1936. Adyghe AO became part of Krasnodar Krai when it was established on September 13,1937, on July 3,1991, the oblast was elevated to the status of a republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The first President of the republic was Aslan Aliyevich Dzharimov, elected on 5 January 1992, from 2002 to 2007, Hazret Sovmen was President. He, and most of the rest of the elite in Adygea, are Adyghes. As a reaction to that, an organization calling itself the Union of Slavs was established and they advocate the merger of Adygea with Krasnodar Krai, but have so far have had little support for that proposition from the Russian government. Relations between Adygs and ethnic Russians in Adyghe are currently good, Russians make up two-thirds of the population within Adygea and the current Head, Aslan Tkhakushinov is an ethnic Adyghe and was elected largely on the support of Russian votes. The Republic of Adygea is administratively divided into seven districts, two cities/towns, and five urban-type settlements, municipally, the republic is divided into two urban okrugs, five urban settlements, and 46 rural settlements. Note м. р. above is an abbreviation for муниципальный район Population,439, 996 ,447, 109 ,432, 588 . Source, Russian Federal State Statistics Service According to the 2010 Census, ethnic Russians make up 63. 6% of the total population. Other groups include Armenians, Ukrainians, Kurds, Tatars, According to a 2012 official survey 35
Adygea
–
Lago-Naki area in Adygea
Adygea
Adygea
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Head of the Republic of Adygea, Aslan Tkhakushinov, in 2010
Adygea
12.
Chechnya
–
The Chechen Republic, commonly referred to as Chechnya, is a federal subject of Russia. It is located in the North Caucasus, situated in the southernmost part of Eastern Europe, the capital of the republic is the city of Grozny. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was split into two parts, the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic, the latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence. Following the First Chechen War with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Russian federal control was restored during the Second Chechen War. Since then there has been a reconstruction and rebuilding process, though sporadic fighting continues in the mountains. According to Leonti Mroveli, the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, the word Caucasian is derived from the Vainakh ancestor Kavkas, dr. Henry Harpending, University of Utah, supports her claims. People living in prehistoric mountain cave settlements used tools, mastered fire, traces of human settlement that date back to 40,000 BC were found near Lake Kezanoi. Cave paintings, artifacts, and other evidence indicates continuous habitation for some 8,000 years. 10, 000–8000 BCE Migration of Nakh peoples to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile Crescent, Invention of agriculture, irrigation, and the domestication of animals. Pottery is known to the region, settlements made out of clay bricks discovered in the plains. In the mountains there were discovered settlements made out of stone and surrounded by walls, 4000–3000 BCE Invention of the wheel, horseback riding, metal works, dishes, armor, daggers, knives, arrow tips. The artifacts were found near Nasare-Cort, Muzhichi, Ja-E-Bortz, Abbey-Gove 900–1200 AD The kingdom in the center of the Caucasus splits into Alania, german scientist Peter Simon Pallas believed that Ingush people were the direct descendants from Alania. The Alan tribes build fortresses, castles, and defense walls locking the mountains from the invaders, part of the lowland tribes occupied by Mongols. 1500 AD First Russian involvement in the Caucasus,1558 Temryuk of Kabarda sends his emissaries to Moscow requesting help against Vainakh tribes from Ivan the Terrible. Ivan the Terrible marries Temryuks daughter Maria Temryukovna, alliance formed to gain the ground in the central Caucasus for the expanding Tsardom of Russia against stubborn Vainakh defenders. Chechnya was a nation in the Northern Caucasus that fought against foreign rule continually since the 15th century, the Chechens converted over the next few centuries to Sunni Islam, as Islam was associated with resistance to Russian encroachment. Notable in Chechen history, this particular Russo-Persian War marked the first military encounter between Imperial Russia and the Vainakh, as the Russians took control of the Caspian corridor and moved into Persian-ruled Dagestan, Peters forces ran into mountain tribes. Peter sent a force to subdue them, but the Chechens routed them
Chechnya
–
1855 Atlas Map of Turkey and the North Caucasus. Map of the American cartographer J.H.Colton. Top right corner, Chechnya is labeled as Gelia, with Chechen cities: Grosnaja (
Grozny), Basdet and Leshistan cities: Andi, Metiro.
Chechnya
Chechnya
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Imam Shamil of Chechnya and Dagestan surrendering to Russian general Baryatinsky in 1859
Chechnya
–
Map of the Caucasian
Isthmus by J. Grassl, 1856
13.
Dagestan
–
The Republic of Dagestan, also spelled Daghestan, is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea. With a population of 2,910,249, Dagestan is very diverse and Russias most heterogeneous republic, with none of its several dozen ethnicities. Largest among these ethnicities are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgian, Laks, Azerbaijani, Tabasaran, ethnic Russians comprise about 3. 6% of Dagestans total population. Russian is the official language and the lingua franca among the ethnicities. Dagestan has been a scene of Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, according to International Crisis Group, the militant Islamist organization Shariat Jamaat is responsible for much of the violence. The word Dagestan is of Turkish and Persian origin, dağ means mountain in Turkish and -stan is a Persian suffix meaning land. Some areas of Dagestan were known as Albania, Avaria, the name Dagestan referred to Dagestan Oblast during 1860 to 1920, corresponding to the southeastern part of the present-day Republic. It is the southernmost part of Russia, and is bordered on its side by the Caspian Sea. Major rivers include, Sulak River Samur River Terek River Vladas River Ccenter River Dagestan has about 405 kilometers of coast line on the Caspian Sea, most of the Republic is mountainous, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains covering the south. The highest point is the Bazardüzü/Bazardyuzyu peak at 4,470 meters on the border with Azerbaijan, the southernmost point of Russia is located about seven kilometers southwest of the peak. Other important mountains are Diklosmta, Gora Addala Shukgelmezr and Gora Dyultydag, Dagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and many other minerals. The climate is hot and dry in the summer but the winters are harsh in the mountain areas, Average January temperature, +2 °C Average July temperature, +26 °C Average annual precipitation,250 to 800 mm. Dagestan is administratively divided into forty-one districts and ten cities/towns. The districts are subdivided into nineteen urban-type settlements, and 363 rural okrugs. In the first few centuries AD, Caucasian Albania became a vassal, with the advent of the Sassanian Empire, it became a satrapy within the vast domains of the empire. In later antiquity, it was a few times fought over by the Roman Empire, over the centuries, to a relatively large extent, the peoples within the Dagestan territory converted to Christianity alongside Zoroastrianism. In the 5th century AD, the Samian peregrinations took place from Ukraine to this land, during the Sassanian era, southern Dagestan became a bastion of Iranian culture and civilisation, with its centre at Derbent, and a policy of Persianisation can be traced over many centuries. In 664, the Persians were succeeded in Derbent by the Arabs, by the 15th century, Albanian Christianity had died away, leaving a 10th-century church at Datuna as the sole monument to its existence
Dagestan
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View of a ruined fortress wall in
Gunib.
Dagestan
Dagestan
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Map of the Caucasian isthmus. Designed and drawn by J. Grassl, 1856
Dagestan
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In the old town of
Derbent, a
World Heritage Site
14.
Ingushetia
–
The Republic of Ingushetia, also referred to as simply Ingushetia, is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital is the town of Magas, with its 3,000 square km, in terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russias federal subjects except for the federal cities. It was established on June 4,1992 after the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was split in two, the republic is home to the indigenous Ingush, a people of Vainakh ancestry. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 412,529, Ingushetia is one of Russias poorest and most restive regions. The Ingush, a nationality group indigenous to the Caucasus, mostly inhabit Ingushetia and they refer to themselves as Ghalghai (from Ingush, Ghala and ghai. The Ingush speak the Ingush language, which has a high degree of mutual intelligibility with neighboring Chechen. Ingush were/are traditionally a classless society based on a clan system, every member within a clan and clans themselves are viewed as equal. Unlike the neighboring nations in the Caucasus, Ingush never had social superiors or inferiors, the self namings represent different Vainakh tribes which make up the Ingush population today. The history of the Ingush is closely related to Chechens, roman, Georgian, and later Russian missionaries Christianised the Ingush. The remains of churches, notably the Tkhabya-Yerd and the Albe-Yerd can be found in Ingushetia. Ingush peacefully converted to Islam at the end of the 19th century which is almost three centuries after the beginning of Islamization in Chechnya and Dagestan, According to Leonti Mroveli, the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, the word Caucasian is derived from the Vainakh ancestor Kavkas. According to Professor George Anchabadze of Ilia State University The Vainakhs are the ancient natives of the Caucasus, as appears from the above, the Vainakhs, at least by name, are presented as the most Caucasian people of all the Caucasians in the Georgian historical tradition. The Soviet-Russian anthropologists and scientists N. Ya, melikashvilli wrote, Among Ingush the Caucasian type is preserved better than among any other North Caucasian nation, Professor of anthropology V. V. Bounak Groznenski Rabochi 5, VII,1935. Professor G. F. Debets recognized that Ingush Caucasian anthropologic type is the most Caucasian among Caucasians, in an article in Science Magazine Bernice Wuethrich states that American linguist Dr. The mitochondrial DNA of the Ingush differs from other Caucasian populations, the Caucasus populations exhibit, on average, less variability than other populations for the eight Alu insertion poly-morphisms analysed here. The average heterozygosity is less than that for any region of the world. Within the Caucasus, Ingushians have much lower levels of variability than any of the other populations,10, 000–8000 BC Migration of Nakh people to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile Crescent. Invention of agriculture, irrigation, and the domestication of animals, pottery is known to the region
Ingushetia
–
1855 Atlas Map of Turkey and the North Caucasus. Map of the American cartographer J.H.Colton. Top right corner, Ingushetia is labeled as Gelia, with Ingush cities: Nasra (
Nazran), and Wladikaukas (
Vladikavkaz) with
Daryal Pass running on the West side of Gelia.
Ingushetia
Ingushetia
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Pottery: an ancient Ingush vessel with three handles. The side handles used to tie the knots, and the vessel itself is well balanced for an operator to pour water down with one hand. Dzheirakhovski district of Ingushetia.
Ingushetia
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Koorkhars (600 BC – 1800s AD) is a traditional Ingush female head cover (hair is put into the "horns") which comes either single "horn" for usage as cushion with helmet, or double "horns" during peacetime which are covered in jewelry.
15.
Kabardino-Balkaria
–
The Kabardino-Balkar Republic, or Kabardino-Balkaria, is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 859,939 on 12,500 square km, the republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part. Just over half are located between the Baksan and Malka Rivers, the largest each of an area of no more than 0.01 square kilometers. Some of the lakes are, Tserikkel Lake Lower Goluboye Lake Kel-Ketchen Lake Upper Tserikkel Lake Sekretnoye Lake Tambukan Lake, the republic has a continental type climate. Average January temperature, −12 °C to −4 °C Average July temperature, +4 °C to +23 °C Average annual precipitation, 500–2,000 mm. Population,859, 939 ,901, 494 ,759, 586 . Source, Russian Federal State Statistics Service Note, TFR2009,2010,2011,2012 source, Kabardino-Balkaria includes two major ethnic communities, the Kabardins, who speak a North-West Caucasian language, and the Balkars who speak a Turkic language. According to the 2010 Census, Kabardins make up 57. 2% of the population, followed by Russians. Other groups include Ossetians, Turks, Ukrainians, Armenians, Koreans, Chechens, in addition, 12% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious,5. 4% is atheist or follows other religions. The head of government in Kabardino-Balkaria is the Head, the current Head is Yuri Kokov The legislative body of the Republic is the Parliament comprising 72 deputies elected for a five-year term. Caucasian Avars Bulgars List of the Chairmen of the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic Mount Imeon Совет Республики Парламента Кабардино-Балкарской Республики, Закон №13-РЗ от4 августа1994 г. «О государственном гимне Кабардино-Балкарской Республики», в ред, Закона №13-РЗ от13 апреля2015 г «О внесении изменений в статьи2 и4 Закона Кабардино-Балкарской Республики О государственном гимне Кабардино-Балкарской Республики». Вступил в силу18 августа1994 г, Опубликован, Кабардино-Балкарская правда, №148,12 августа1994 г. Закона №40-РЗ от19 октября2015 г, «О поправках к Конституции Кабардино-Балкарской Республики». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования, Опубликован, Кабардино-Балкарская правда, №177,9 сентября1997 г. Official website of the Head of the Republic Pictures of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic BBC News
Kabardino-Balkaria
–
Mount Dykh-Tau
Kabardino-Balkaria
Kabardino-Balkaria
16.
Karachay-Cherkessia
–
The republic has several distinct ethnic groups, and the government recognizes five official languages. The population in 2010 was just under half a million people and it stretches for 140 kilometers from north to south and for 170 kilometers from east to west. Mountains cover 80% of the territory, Mount Elbrus, which at 5,642 meters is the highest peak in Caucasus, is located on the republics border with Kabardino-Balkaria. The republic is rich in water resources, a total of 172 rivers flow through its territory, with the largest one being the Kuban, Bolshoy Zelenchuk, Maly Zelenchuk, Urup, and Laba. There are about 130 mountain lakes of glacial origin and an abundance of mineral springs, climate is moderate, with short winters and long, warm, humid summers. The average January temperature is −3.2 °C, and the average July temperature is +20.6 °C, average annual precipitation varies from 550 millimeters in the plains to 2,500 millimeters in the mountains. Natural resources include gold, coal, clays, and more, the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast was created 12 January 1922, in the early years of the Soviet Union. It was split into Karachay Autonomous Oblast and Cherkess National Okrug on 26 April 1926, the Cherkess National District was elevated to an autonomous oblast status on 30 April 1928. In 1943, Karachay Autonomous Oblast was abolished, the Karachay people were accused of collaboration with the Nazis and subsequently deported to the Kazakh, most of the Karchay territory was split between Stavropol Krai and the Georgian SSR. On July 3,1991, the autonomous oblast was elevated to the status of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia, also in December 1991, the words Autonomous Soviet Socialist were dropped from the official name of Karachay-Cherkessia. A commission was established Supreme Education Council three autonomous regions - Karachai, Cherkess and Batalpashinsk, sources,1970 to 2008, 2009-2013 According to the 2010 Census, Karachays make up 41% of the republics population, followed by Russians, and Cherkes and Abazins together make up 20%. According to a 2012 official survey 48% of the population of Karachay-Cherkessia adheres to Islam,13, in addition, 12% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 7% is atheist and 4. 4% follows other religions or did not answer to the question. The head of the government in Karachay-Cherkessia is the Head, until February 2011, the President was Boris Safarovich Ebzeyev, a former judge of the Constitutional Court of Russian Federation. Rashid Temrezov is currently the Head of the republic, ethnic tension is a considerable problem in the republic. In May 1999 Karachay-Cherkessia conducted its first ever free regional presidential election, when Vladimir Semyonov, a Karachay, won the election over Stanislav Derev, a Circassian, there were protests by supporters of Derev, with widespread allegations of fraud. A court ruling upheld the election result, prompting thousands of Derevs supporters to march in protest. Although activity by separatists in the region pales in comparison with Chechnya and Dagestan, a car-bomb that killed two people in March 2001 was blamed on Chechen separatists. Muslim separatist groups have formed and dozens of their members have killed by the Russian authorities
Karachay-Cherkessia
–
Mountainous landscape of
Arkhyz
Karachay-Cherkessia
Karachay-Cherkessia
17.
Krasnodar Krai
–
Krasnodar Krai is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Krasnodar and it had a population of 5,226,647. The krai is sometimes referred to as Kuban, a term describing a region of southern Russia. The Republic of Adygea is completely encircled by the krai territory, the krais Taman Peninsula is situated between the Sea of Azov in the north and the Black Sea in the south. In the west, the Kerch Strait separates the krai from the Crimean Peninsula, at its widest extent, the krai stretches for 327 kilometers from north to south and for 360 kilometers from east to west. The krai is split into two parts by the Kuban River, which gave its name to this entire geographic region. The northern part is a zone which shares continental climate patterns. The height of the mountains exceeds 3,000 meters, with Mount Tsakhvoa being the highest at 3,346 meters, Mount Fisht, at 2,867 meters, is the Great Caucasus westernmost peak with a glacier. The Black Sea coast stretches from the Kerch Strait to Adler and is shielded by Caucasus Mountains from the northern winds. Numerous small mountain rivers flow in the areas, often creating picturesque waterfalls. Lake Abrau, located in the region of Abrau-Dyurso, is the largest lake in the northeastern Caucasus region. Lake Ritsa is considered to be one of the most picturesque lakes in the region, in 631, Kubrat was founded on the Kuban State and the Great Bulgar Khans dynasty began. The territory of Krasnodar Region from the 8th to the 10th centuries was part of the Khazars, after the defeat of the Khazar Khanate in 965 Kievan prince Svyatoslav conquered the area, it came under the rule of Kievan Rus, and it then formed the Tmutarakan principality. Later, due to the claims of Byzantium at the end of the 11th century. In that period of history, Russian Circassians first appeared under the name Kasogs, for example, Rededi Prince Kasozhsky was mentioned in The Tale of Igors Campaign. In 1243-1438 the current territory of the Kuban was part of the Golden Horde, after the collapse of the latter, parts of Kuban were held under the Crimean Khanate, Circassia, and the Ottoman Empire, which dominated the region. The Tsardom of Russia began to challenge the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire in the area during the Russian-Turkish wars, in April 1783, by decree of Catherine II, right-bank Kuban and Taman Peninsula were annexed to the Russian Empire. During the campaign for control of the North Caucasus to Russia in 1829 pushed the Ottoman Empire, border was marked on the Black Sea coast
Krasnodar Krai
–
A hilly landscape near
Goryachy Klyuch
Krasnodar Krai
Krasnodar Krai
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Mount Tsakhvoa is the highest peak in Krasnodar Krai
Krasnodar Krai
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Pshadskiye Waterfalls
18.
North Ossetia-Alania
–
The Republic of North Ossetia-Alania is a federal subject of Russia. Its population according to the 2010 Census was 712,980 and its capital is the city of Vladikavkaz. The term of Alania quickly became popular in Ossetian daily life through the names of various enterprises, in November 1994, the name of Alania was officially added to the republican title. The republic is located in the North Caucasus, the northern part of the republic is situated in the Stavropol Plain. 22% of the territory is covered by forests. Mount Kazbek is the highest point, with Mount Dzhimara being the second highest, natural resources include minerals, timber, mineral waters, hydroelectric power, and untapped reserves of oil and gas. Average January temperature, −5 °C Average July temperature, +24 °C Average annual precipitation, 400–700 millimeters in the plains, the territory of North Ossetia was first inhabited by Caucasian tribes. Some Nomadic Alans settled in the region in the 7th century and it was eventually converted to Christianity by missionaries from Byzantium. Alania greatly profited from the Silk Road which passed through its territory, after the Middle Ages, the Mongols and Tartars repeated invasions decimated the population, now known as the Ossetians. Islam was introduced to the region in the 17th century by Kabardians, conflicts between the Khanate of Crimea and the Ottoman Empire eventually pushed Ossetia into an alliance with Imperial Russia in the 18th century. Soon, Russia established a base in the capital, Vladikavkaz. By 1806, Ossetia was under complete Russian control, the Russians rule led to rapid development of industry and railways which overcame its isolation. The first books from the area came during the late 18th century, the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in North Ossetia being merged into the Soviet Mountain Republic in 1921. It then became the North Ossetian Autonomous Oblast on 7 July 1924, in World War II, it was subject to a number of attacks by Nazi German invaders unsuccessfully trying to seize Vladikavkaz in 1942. The North Ossetian SSR declared itself the autonomous republic of the Soviet Union on June 20,1990 and its name was changed to Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in 1991. Some 70,000 South Ossetian refugees were resettled in North Ossetia and that led to the Ossetian–Ingush conflict. As well as dealing with the effects of the conflict in South Ossetia, North Ossetia has had to deal with refugees, the bloodiest incident by far was the September 2004 Beslan hostage crisis, in which Chechen insurgents attributed to Shamil Basayev seized control of a school. In the firefight between the terrorists and Russian forces that ended the crisis,335 civilians, the majority of them children, a physical education teacher called Yanis Kanidis was also killed in the siege after saving the lives of many children
North Ossetia-Alania
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North Ossetian landscape Kwyrttaty kom
North Ossetia-Alania
North Ossetia-Alania
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Cableway in Tsey canyon
North Ossetia-Alania
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Seat of the Republic's Government
19.
Stavropol Krai
–
Stavropol Krai is a federal subject of Russia in the North Caucasian Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol, the krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major. The krai was established as North Caucasus Krai on October 17,1924, after undergoing numerous administrative changes, it was renamed Ordzhonikidze Krai, after Sergo Ordzhonikidze, in March 1937, and Stavropol Krai on January 12,1943. In 1970-1978, Mikhail Gorbachev, a native of Stavropol Krai and he left the region for Moscow in 1978, when he was promoted to a Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, to become the Partys General Secretary and the nations leader 7 years later. Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Krai Administration, the Charter of Stavropol Krai is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Stavropol Krai is the regional standing legislative body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, the krai administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the krai Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia. According to the 2010 Census, the population was 2,786,281, up from 2,735,139 recorded in the 2002 Census. The population of the krai is concentrated in the basins of the Kuban River and of the Kuma River. The Kuban Cossacks are now generally considered ethnic Russians, even though they are of Ukrainian origin, the 2010 Census counted thirty-three ethnic groups of more than 2,000 persons each, making this federal subject one of the most multiethnic in Russia. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group. Birth Rate,11.22 per 1,000 Death Rate,13.32 per 1,000 Net Immigration, +3.5 per 1,000 NGR, -0. 21% per Year PGR, +0. 14% per Year Births,34,768 Deaths,33,356 According to a 2012 official survey 46. In addition, 19% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 16% is atheist, Stavropol Krai is administratively divided into twenty-six districts and ten cities/towns. The districts are subdivided into nine towns of district subordinance, seven urban-type settlements. Irrigated agriculture is developed in the region. As of the beginning of 2001, Stavropol Krai had 3,361 km of irrigation canals, among the major irrigation canals are, Nevinnomyssk Canal, the trunk of the Kuban-Yegorlyk Irrigation System. The Great Stavropol Canal, transporting water from the Kuban River eastward across the entire krai, the Terek-Kuma Canal and Kuma-Manych Canal, transporting water from the Terek River via the Kuma River to the East Manych River. Закона №132-кз от2 декабря2015 г, «О поправках к Уставу Ставропольского края»
Stavropol Krai
–
The Krai Government seat
Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai
20.
Adjara
–
Adjara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, is a historical, geographic and political-administrative region of Georgia. Located in the southwestern corner, Adjara lies on the coast of the Black Sea near the foot of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. It is an important tourism destination and includes Georgias second-largest city of Batumi as its capital, about 350,000 people live on its 2,880 km2. Adjara is home to the Adjarians, a subgroup of Georgians. Adjaras name can be spelled in a number of ways, including Ajara, Ajaria, Adjaria, Adzharia, under the Soviet Union, Adjara was part of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic as the Adjarian ASSR. Adjara has been part of Colchis and Caucasian Iberia since ancient times, colonized by Greeks in the 5th century BC, the region fell under Rome in the 2nd century BC. It became part of the region of Egrisi before being incorporated into the unified Georgian Kingdom in the 9th century AD, the Ottomans conquered the area in 1614. The people of Adjara converted to Islam in this period, the Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire in 1878. After a temporary occupation by Turkish and British troops in 1918–1920, the Soviet Union established the Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921 in accord with this clause. Thus, Adjara was still a component part of Georgia, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Adjara became part of a newly independent but politically divided Republic of Georgia. It avoided being dragged into the chaos and civil war that afflicted the rest of the country between 1991 and 1993 due largely to the rule of its leader Aslan Abashidze. The central government in Tbilisi had very little say in what went on in Adjara during the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze, in the spring of 2004, a major crisis in Adjara erupted as the central government sought to reimpose its authority on the region. It threatened to develop into an armed confrontation, however, Saakashvilis ultimatums and mass protests against Abashidzes autocratic rule forced the Adjaran leader to resign in May 2004, following which he went into exile in Russia. After Abashidzes ousting, a new law was introduced to redefine the terms of Adjaras autonomy, levan Varshalomidze succeeded Abashidze as the chairman of the government. In July 2007, the seat of the Georgian Constitutional Court was moved from Tbilisi to Batumi, in November 2007 Russia ended its two century military presence in Georgia by withdrawing from the 12th Military Base in Batumi. Since mid-2000s Turkey has expanded its influence over Adjara, Turkish influence can be seen in the regions economy and in the religious life—through the regions Muslim population. The status of the Adjaran Autonomous Republic is defined by Georgias law on Adjara, the local legislative body is the Parliament. Zurab Pataridze is the current head of the Adjaran government, Adjara is subdivided into six administrative units, Adjara is located on the south-eastern coast of the Black Sea and extends into the wooded foothills and mountains of the Lesser Caucasus
Adjara
–
Logo of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Adjara
–
Flag
Adjara
–
Government building in
Batumi.
Adjara
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Lesser Caucasus mountains.
21.
Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
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The Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is an administration recognized by Georgia as the legal government of Abkhazia. Abkhazia has been de facto independent of Georgia – though with little international recognition – since the early 1990s. Vakhtang Kolbaia, elected in April 2013, is the current head of the government-in-exile, the Abkhaz side wanted assurances that Georgia would not try to solve the issue by force of arms before being a party to the talks. Between September 2006 and July 2008, the Georgian recognized government was headquartered in Upper Abkhazia, however it was forced out of all of Abkhazia in August 2008 during the Russo-Georgian war by the Abkhazian armed forces. Upper Abkhazia is a territory that has population of c.2,000 and is centered on the upper Kodori Valley, the Council of Ministers relocated to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, where it operated as the Government of Abkhazia in exile for almost 13 years. During the Battle of the Kodori Valley Abkhazian forces loyal to the Government of the Republic of Abkhazia pushed the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia out of the region of Abkhazia
Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
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Sukhumi, capital of Autonomous Republic of
Abkhazia.
Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
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Flag
22.
Provisional Administration of South Ossetia
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The Provisional Administration of South Ossetia is an administrative body that Georgia regards as the legal government of South Ossetia. The administration was set up by the Georgian government as a transitional measure leading to the settlement of South Ossetias status, as of 2007, Georgia is proposing the status of autonomous republic within the Georgian state. The area mainly lies within the Shida Kartli region, the Salvation Union of South Ossetia was founded in October 2006 by the ethnic Ossetians who were outspoken critics and presented a serious opposition to secessionist authorities of Eduard Kokoity. Another referendum was organised shortly after asking for the start of negotiations with Georgia on an arrangement for South Ossetia received 94% support. However the Salvation Union of South Ossetia turned down a request from a Georgian NGO, “Multinational Georgia”, to monitor it, “I, the President of the Republic of South Ossetia, declare before God and Nation that I will protect the interests of the South Ossetian people. Soon after Sanakoev formed his government, appointing Uruzmag Karkusov as Prime Minister, Jemal Karkusov as Interior Minister and Maia Chigoeva-Tsaboshvili as Foreign Minister. A year ago no one could imagine that South Ossetian flags could appear here in the Georgian-populated village, ” Vladimir Sanakoev, co-founder of the Salvation Union of South Ossetia, said. There were large number of Ossetian flags also used by the South Ossetian secessionist authorities, flown alongside the Georgian flag in Kurta, South Ossetian flags are usually displayed in Tskhinvali by the Separatist controlled territories of the breakaway region alongside of the Russian national flag. Both the central Georgian government and Sanakoyevs administration considers any negotiations with Kokoitys government meaningless because of its dependence on Moscow, on May 10,2007 Dmitry Sanakoev was appointed head of the provisional administration in South Ossetia. For the first time since the fall of Soviet Union, the former Ossetian secessionist leader gave a speech in the Georgian parliament on May 11,2007. ” and we should not allow it, ” he added. “This is our current challenge, this is our current goal, to create a new Ossetia, strong and delightful, free of violence, on June 15,2007 European Union, European Parliament and OSCE supported Georgian initiative for conflict settlement in South Ossetia. The EU mission had met with both Sanakoev and Kokoity in January,2007, according to the Georgian officials, the status will be elaborated within the framework of an all-inclusive dialogue with all the forces and communities within the Ossetian society. On August 8,2008, the day as the 2008 Olympic Games officially commenced. In the next few days, Russian troops pushed back the Georgian army out of South Ossetia and moved farther, following the end of hostilities, the Federation Council of Russia called an extraordinary session for August 25,2008 to discuss recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On August 25, the Federation Council unanimously voted to ask the Russian President to recognise independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Russian parliament voted in favour of this motion the following day. South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia Provisional Administration Website
Provisional Administration of South Ossetia
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Flag
23.
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,500 km2 with a population of 410,000, bordering Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the south and west, the area that is now Nakhchivan became part of the Safavid dynasty of Iran in the 16th century. In 1828, after the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, in June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for British occupation at the close of the First World War. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an area of Azerbaijan, governed by its own elected legislature. The region continues to suffer from the effects of the Armenia-Azerbaijan War, the administrative capital city is Nakhchivan. Vasif Talibov has been the leader since 1995, variations of the name Nakhchivan include Nakhichevan, Naxcivan, Naxçivan, Nachidsheuan, Nakhijevan, Nakhchawan, Nakhitchevan, Nakhjavan, and Nakhdjevan. Hübschmann notes, however, that it was not known by name in antiquity. Instead, he states the name evolved to Nakhchivan from Naxčawan. The prefix Naxč derives from Naxič or Naxuč and awan is Armenian for place, Nakhchivan was also mentioned in Ptolemys Geography and by other classical writers as Naxuana. Armenian tradition says that Nakhchivan was founded by Noah, the oldest material culture artifacts found in the region date back to the Neolithic Age. The region was part of the states of Urartu and later Media and it became part of the Satrapy of Armenia under Achaemenid Persia c.521 BC. In 189 BC, Nakhchivan became part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I, within the kingdom, the region of present-day Nakhchivan was part of the Ayrarat, Vaspurakan and Syunik provinces. The areas status as a trade center allowed it to prosper, as a result. According to the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium, when the Sassanid Persians invaded Armenia, in 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623, possession of the passed to the Byzantine Empire. It happened in the province of Gokhtan, which corresponds to Nakhchivans modern Ordubad district, in 705, after suppressing an Armenian revolt, Arab viceroy Muhammad ibn Marwan decided to eliminate the Armenian nobility. In Nakhchivan, several hundred Armenian nobles were locked up in churches and burnt, the violence caused many Armenian princes to flee to the neighboring Kingdom of Georgia or the Byzantine Empire
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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A modern mausoleum marks the place in
Nakhchivan City traditionally believed to be the site of
Noah 's grave.
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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Flag
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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A miniature depicting Ottoman Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent marching into Nakhchivan during the continuous border wars between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia (14th to 18th century).
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası
24.
Eastern Europe
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Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol
Eastern Europe
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Division between the Eastern and Western Churches
Eastern Europe
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Geographic features of Eastern Europe
25.
Western Asia
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Western Asia, West Asia, Southwestern Asia or Southwest Asia is the westernmost subregion of Asia. The concept is in limited use, as it overlaps with the Middle East. The term is used for the purposes of grouping countries in statistics. The total population of Western Asia is an estimated 300 million as of 2015, in an unrelated context, the term is also used in ancient history and archaeology to divide the Fertile Crescent into the Asiatic or Western Asian cultures as opposed to ancient Egypt. As a geographic concept, Western Asia almost always includes the Levant, Mesopotamia, the term is used pragmatically and has no correct or generally agreed-upon definition. In contrast to this definition, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in its 2015 yearbook also includes Armenia and Azerbaijan, unlike the UNIDO, the United Nations Statistics Division excludes Iran from Western Asia and include Turkey, Georgia, and Cyprus in the region. These four countries are listed in the European category of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, the Olympic Council of Asias multi-sport event West Asian Games are contested by athletes representing these thirteen countries. Among the regions sports organisations are the West Asia Basketball Association, West Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation, West Asian Football Federation, Western Asia was in use as a geographical term in the early 19th century, even before Near East became current as a geopolitical concept. Use of the term in the context of contemporary geopolitics or world economy appears to date from the 1960s, Western Asia is located directly south of Eastern Europe. The region is surrounded by seven major seas, the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts in eastern Iran naturally delimit the region somewhat from Asia itself, three major tectonic plates converge on Western Asia, including the African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The boundaries between the plates make up the Azores-Gibraltar Ridge, extending across North Africa, the Red Sea. The Arabian Plate is moving northward into the Anatolian plate at the East Anatolian Fault, several major aquifers provide water to large portions of Western Asia. In Saudi Arabia, two large aquifers of Palaeozoic and Triassic origins are located beneath the Jabal Tuwayq mountains and areas west to the Red Sea. Cretaceous and Eocene-origin aquifers are located beneath large portions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia, flood or furrow irrigation, as well as sprinkler methods, are extensively used for irrigation, covering nearly 90,000 km² across Western Asia for agriculture. Western Asia is primarily arid and semi-arid, and can be subject to drought, the region consists of grasslands, rangelands, deserts, and mountains. Water shortages are a problem in parts of West Asia, with rapidly growing populations increasing demands for water. Major rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates, provide sources for water to support agriculture
Western Asia
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A
Lebanese cedar forest in winter.
Western Asia
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Western Asia
26.
Black Sea
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The Black Sea is a body of water between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is supplied by a number of rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper, Rioni, Southern Bug. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km2, a depth of 2,212 m. It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south and by the Caucasus Mountains to the east, the longest east-west extent is about 1,175 km. The Black Sea has a water balance, that is, a net outflow of water 300 km3 per year through the Bosphorus. Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a two-way hydrological exchange, the Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean, via the Aegean Sea and various straits. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and these waters separate Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch, the water level has varied significantly. Due to these variations in the level in the basin. At certain critical water levels it is possible for connections with surrounding water bodies to become established and it is through the most active of these connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is a basin, operating independently of the global ocean system. Currently the Black Sea water level is high, thus water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Black Sea as follows, On the Southwest. The Northeastern limit of the Sea of Marmara, a line joining Cape Takil and Cape Panaghia. Strabos Geographica reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called the Sea, for the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the Hospitable sea, Εὔξεινος Πόντος Eúxeinos Póntos. This is a euphemism replacing an earlier Inhospitable Sea, Πόντος Ἄξεινος Póntos Áxeinos, strabo thinks that the Black Sea was called inhospitable before Greek colonization because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes. The name was changed to hospitable after the Milesians had colonized the southern shoreline and it is also possible that the epithet Áxeinos arose by popular etymology from a Scythian word axšaina- unlit, dark, the designation Black Sea may thus date from antiquity. A map of Asia dating to 1570, entitled Asiae Nova Descriptio, from Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, english-language writers of the 18th century often used the name Euxine Sea to refer to the Black Sea
Black Sea
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The Black Sea in
Batumi,
Georgia
Black Sea
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Black Sea
Black Sea
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The port of the Black Sea in
Yevpatoria,
Crimea
Black Sea
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Swallow's Nest in
Crimea
27.
Caspian Sea
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The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It is in a basin located between Europe and Asia. It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, the Caspian Sea lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. In its northern part, the Caspian Depression lies 28 to 130 m below sea level, the sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1023 m below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal. The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness, the sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 and a volume of 78,200 km3. It has a salinity of approximately 1. 2%, about a third of the salinity of most seawater, the word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived to the southwest of the sea in Transcaucasia. Strabo wrote that to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea, but the tribe has now disappeared. Moreover, the Caspian Gates, which is the name of a region in Irans Tehran province, the Iranian city of Qazvin shares the root of its name with that of the sea. In fact, the traditional Arabic name for the sea itself is Bahr al-Qazwin, in classical antiquity among Greeks and Persians it was called the Hyrcanian Ocean. In Persian antiquity, as well as in modern Iran, it is known as the دریای خزر, Daryā-e Khazar, ancient Arabic sources refer to it as Baḥr Gīlān meaning the Gilan Sea. Turkic languages refer to the lake as Khazar Sea, in Turkmen, the name is Hazar deňizi, in Azeri, it is Xəzər dənizi, and in modern Turkish, it is Hazar denizi. An exception is Kazakh, where it is called Каспий теңізі, old Russian sources call it the Khvalyn or Khvalis Sea after the name of Khwarezmia. In modern Russian, it is called Каспи́йское мо́ре, Kaspiyskoye more, the Caspian Sea, like the Black Sea, Namak Lake, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. Due to the current inflow of water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions, and is most saline on the Iranian shore. Currently, the salinity of the Caspian is one third that of Earths oceans. The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world, the coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct regions, the Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian
Caspian Sea
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The Caspian Sea as captured by the
MODIS on the orbiting
Terra satellite, June 2003
Caspian Sea
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Caspian Sea near
Aktau,
Mangistau region,
Kazakhstan.
Caspian Sea
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Illustration of two
Caspian tigers, extinct since the 1970s.
Caspian Sea
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Iran's northern
Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests are maintained by moisture captured from the Caspian Sea by the
Alborz mountain range of
Gilan,
Iran.
28.
Caucasus Mountains
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The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region. The Caucasus Mountains include the Greater Caucasus in the north and Lesser Caucasus in the south, the Greater Caucasus runs west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Caucasian Natural Reserve in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea nearly to Baku on the Caspian Sea. The Lesser Caucasus runs parallel to the Greater about 100 km south, the Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges are connected by the Likhi Range, and to the west and east of the Likhi Range lie the Colchis Plain and the Kur-Araz Lowland. The Meskheti Range is a part of the Lesser Caucasus system, in the southeast the Aras River separates the Lesser Caucasus from the Talysh Mountains which straddle the border of southeastern Azerbaijan and Iran. The highest peak in the Caucasus range is Mount Elbrus in the Greater Caucasus, Mountains near Sochi hosted part of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Geologically, the Caucasus Mountains belong to a system that extends from southeastern Europe into Asia, the Greater Caucasus Mountains are mainly composed of Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks with the Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks in the higher regions. Some volcanic formations are found throughout the range, on the other hand, the Lesser Caucasus Mountains are formed predominantly of the Paleogene rocks with a much smaller portion of the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. The Caucasus Mountains formed largely as the result of a plate collision between the Arabian plate moving northwards with respect to the Eurasian plate. As this happened, the rocks that had been deposited in this basin from the Jurassic to the Miocene were folded to form the Greater Caucasus Mountains. This collision also caused the uplift and the Cenozoic volcanic activity in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, the entire region is regularly subjected to strong earthquakes from this activity. While the Greater Caucasus Mountains have a mainly folded sedimentary structure, the Javakheti Volcanic Plateau in Georgia and the surrounding volcanic ranges which extend well into central Armenia are some of the youngest features of the region. The Kazbek is no active, but the Elbrus erupted in postglacial times. Contemporary seismic activity is a prominent feature of the region, reflecting active faulting, clusters of seismicity occur in Dagestan and in northern Armenia. Many devastating earthquakes have been documented in historical times, including the Spitak earthquake in December 1988 which destroyed the Gyumri-Vanadzor region of Armenia, europes highest mountain is Mount Elbrus 5,642 m in the Caucasus Mountains. Elbrus is 832 m higher than Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps at 4,810 m, the Caucasus Mountains are defined as the continental divide between Asia and Europe for the region between the Black and Caspian Seas. The table below lists some of the highest peaks of the Caucasus, with the exception of Shkhara, the heights are taken from Soviet 1,50,000 mapping. There are higher and more prominent, but nameless, peaks than some of the peaks included below, the climate of the Caucasus varies both vertically and horizontally. Temperature generally decreases as elevation rises, average annual temperature in Sukhumi, Abkhazia at sea level is 15 °C while on the slopes of Mt. Kazbek at an elevation of 3,700 metres, average annual temperature falls to−6.1 °C
Caucasus Mountains
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Aerial view of the Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
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Satellite image of the Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
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Mt Elbrus viewed from the south
Caucasus Mountains
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Komito Mountain in
Chechnya
29.
Mount Elbrus
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Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Russia and in Europe, and the tenth most prominent peak in the world. A dormant volcano, Elbrus forms part of the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. With its slightly taller west summit, the stands at 5,642 metres. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus, the name Elbrus /ˈɛlbrəs/ is a metathesis of Alborz, which is also the name of a long mountain range in northern Iran. It is derived from Avestan Harā Bərəzaitī, which is a mountain in Iranian mythology. Harā Bərəzaitī reflects Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī, which was reformed into Middle Persian as Harborz, Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *bṛzant, the reconstructed ancestor of Modern Persian barz, berāzande, and boland, and Modern Kurdish barz. Harā may be interpreted as watch or guard, from Indo-European *ser, Elbrus stands 20 km north of the main range of the Greater Caucasus and 65 km south-southwest of the Russian town of Kislovodsk. Its permanent icecap feeds 22 glaciers, which in turn give rise to the Baksan, Kuban, Elbrus sits on a moving tectonic area, and has been linked to a fault. A supply of magma lies deep beneath the dormant volcano, Mount Elbrus was formed more than 2.5 million years ago. The volcano is considered inactive. Elbrus was active in the Holocene, and according to the Global Volcanism Program, evidence of recent volcanism includes several lava flows on the mountain, which look fresh, and roughly 260 square kilometres of volcanic debris. The longest flow extends 24 kilometres down the northeast summit, indicative of a large eruption, there are other signs of activity on the volcano, including solfataric activity and hot springs. The western summit has a volcanic crater about 250 metres in diameter. Myth held that here Zeus had chained Prometheus, the Titan who had stolen fire from the gods, crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais. During the early years of the Soviet Union, mountaineering became a sport of the populace. On 17 March 1936, a group of 33 inexperienced Komsomol members attempted the mountain, during the Battle of the Caucasus in World War II, the Wehrmacht occupied the area surrounding the mountain from August 1942 to January 1943 with 10,000 Gebirgsjäger from the 1st Mountain Division. A possibly apocryphal story tells of a Soviet pilot being given a medal for bombing the main mountaineering hut, Priyut 11 and he was then later nominated for a medal for not hitting the hut, but instead the German fuel supply, leaving the hut standing for future generations. From 1959 through 1976, a cable car system was built in stages that can take visitors as high as 3,800 metres
Mount Elbrus
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Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus
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Satellite picture of Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus
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Mount Elbrus and its two peaks.
30.
Greater Caucasus
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Greater Caucasus is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains. In the drier Eastern Caucasus, the mountains are mostly treeless, the watershed of the Caucasus is also considered the boundary between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The border of Russia with Georgia and Azerbaijan runs along the most of the Caucasus length, the Georgian Military Road and Trans-Caucasus Highway traverse this mountain range at altitudes of up to 3,000 metres. The border between Russia and Georgia still follows the watershed almost exactly, while Azerbaijan in its northeastern corner has five districts north of the watershed, mount Elbrus,5,642 m, 43°21′18″N 42°26′21″E is the highest mountain in Europe
Greater Caucasus
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Mountainous landscape of
Arkhyz
Greater Caucasus
Greater Caucasus
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7th-century Georgian Orthodox
Gergeti Trinity Church, with the Mount Kazbek in the background
Greater Caucasus
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The snow-capped peaks of the Greater Caucasus.
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