Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/418

* CAUCASirS. 356 CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS. Black Sea, and with Taganrog on the Sea of Azov. The southern line connects Baku, on the Cas- pian, with Poti, on the Black Sea. The exports of petroleum and grain from the Caucasus to ■western Europe across the Black Sea have of late become very important. The petroleum flotilla on the Caspian numbers over 300 vessels. Administratively the Caucasus forms one of the general governments of the Russian Kmpire, and is divided into three governments and ])rovinces in Northern Caucasia ( Stavropol, Kuban, and Terek) and eight in Transcaucasia ( Baku, Black Sea, Daghestan. Yelizavetpol, Erivan, Kars, Kutais, and Tiflis with Zaka- taly). The population of the Caucasus in 1897 was t),248.695, or o4 per square mile. In 1891 the population was only 7,955,725. The inhabi- tants are, in addition to the Caucasian iloun- tain peoples, mostly Russians, Armenians, Tatars, and Georgians. The chief cities are Tiflis (q.v.), the government capital, and Baku, now famous for its petroleum indiistries. The major part of the population acknowledge the Orthodox Church, but the Mohammedans are numerous. There are about 2000 schools in the Caucasus. Keane {Man: Past and Present, 1899) divides the inhabitants of the Caucasus, on linguistic grounds, into four groups: (1) Southehi — Georgians, Imeritians, Chevsurs, Lazes, Mingre- lians, Pshavs, Swanittians, collectively called the Kartvelian family. (2) Western — Abkhasians, Circassians, and Kabardians. (3) Central — Os- setes, or Irons. (4) Eastern — Avars, Chechinzes, Daigs, Ingush, Kazy-Kumyksh, Kist, Lesghians, Tush, collectively called Daghestani, 'highland- ers.' Nowhere else in the world, according to Ripley {Races of Europe, 1899), is such a hetero- geneous confusion of peoples, languages, and religions gathered in one area. Th(^ number of dialects is rated at G8, representing all stages of devclo])ment. The Ossete is put down as Aryan ; the Circassian, including Abkhasian and Kabard- ian, is incorporative ; some are purely agglutina- tive: and to these must be added later intrusions of Semitic and Aryan speech. Into the closed valleys of the Caucasian Mountains, during the migrations of peoples, came representatives of all tongues and nations, sufficiently isolated within their confined environments to preserve both physical and linguistic traits or to de- velop new ones. Little is known of the early history of the Caucasus. The ancient Greeks perhaps car- ried on commercial relations with the tribes along the western coast, and Cape Iskuria may have received its name from the colony of Dios- curias, established in the Seventh Century li.c. As shown in the writings of ^-Eschylus and Herodotus, the Greeks knew the location of the Caucasus range. It w.as not till about 1770 that the Russians began to enter the region. Kuban and Terek became theirs in 1774, and Derbent. Kuba, and Baku in 1796: so that by the end of the century Russia had acquired practically all of Northern Caucasia. The an- nexation of Georgia in 1801, after the death of George XIII., gave Russia a foothold in Transcaucasia. By cessions secured from Persia and Turkey, as well as by voluntary submissions on the part of the more peacefully inclined native tribes. Russia had obtained, by 1829, nominal control over nearly the entire country. The courageous mountain tribes, however, aided by the general inaccessibility of the re- gion, retained their independence, and it was only after thirty 3ears of continuous lighting that their subjugation was aecomplished. Shamyl was the chief leader of the natives in whom religious zeal was combined with marvelous bravery. He gave to the resistance of the Cau- casians a more organized character, defeating the Russian conquest. At last Shamyl was forced to surrender at Ghunib in 1859, and Russian do- minion was virtually assured. The operations in the west ended in com])lete success at last in 18t>5. A great e.odus of Circassians to Turkish terri- tory ensued. During the Russo-Turkisli War in 1877-78, there was an uprising ag-ainst Russian control, and the Turks lent active assistance, but the attempt proved wholly futile. Russia's suc- cess in this war secured to her a large section of Turkish Armenia, which was annexed to the Cau- casus. Consult: Keane, Man: Past and Present (New York, 1899) : Ripley, Haces of Europe (New York. 1899) ; Bodenstedt, Die Volker des Kau- Irasus (Berlin, 1855) ; Fischer, Zwei Kaukasus- Expeditionen (Bern, 1891): Erckert. Oer Kau- kasiis und seine ^nU:er (Leipzig, 1887). CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS. A mountain range on the Caucasian Isthmus, forming part of the boimdary between Europe and Asia. It extends in a west-northwest direction from the peninsula of Apsheron, in the Caspian Sea, to the peninsula of Taman, lietween the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, being separated here from the moimtains of the Crimea by the narrow Strait of Kertch. The range is abotit 750 miles in length and from GO to 125 miles in width. The narrowest section is almost in the middle of the isthmus, where the basin of the Terek River occupies a depression that leads into the Daricl VaAs. While formed by several chains running parallel, or diverging and again uniting in mountain knots, the range is remarkable for its geographical and geological unity. A'est of the Dariel Pass there is an almost unbroken line of mountains exceeding the Alps in eleva- tion, which forms a veritable barrier between the regions to the north and south. Eastward the Caucasus is lower, more broken, and is cut by numerous transversal valleys. I'lie south- ern slopes of the mountains are generally nuich sharper than the nortleru, which fall by grad- ual stages to the level of the Terek and Kulian vallevs. The range inchides manv massive peaks of great altitude. Elbruz (18,470 feet), Kosh- tantau (10.900), Dikhtiiu (17,000), K;isbek (10.540), and other peaks overtop Jlont Blanc. Elbruz and Kasbek are probably of volcanic origin. The loftier mountains carry fields of snow and ice, but the glaciers are not so extensive as in the Alps, where they have greater breadth and a lower snow-line. Most of the central ranges are composed of granite and crystalline schists. On the northern slopes Jurassic and Cretaceous sedi- ments predominate, and are continued into the (Caucasian steppes, where they dip below the Tertiary and Quaternary formations. The Ku- ban and Rion rivers drain the western Cauca- sus into the Black Sea, while the eastern region is drained bv the Terek and Kur into the Caa-