Transcaucasia

Geographical region south of the Caucasus Mountains, encompassing the independent states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia; it is bounded by the Caucasus Mountains in the north, the frontier with Turkey and Iran in the south, and the Black and Caspian Seas in the west and east respectively. Transcaucasia covers a total area of 186,100 sq km/71,853 sq mi.

The countries of Transcaucasia are important producers of oil, manganese ore, tea, citrus fruits, and wine. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union and the achievement of independence by the individual states, the region has been characterized by bloody separatist conflicts, notably in Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), Abkhazia and South Ossetia (both Georgia).

History Of the Transcaucasian territories, Georgia joined Russia voluntarily in the early 19th century, while the rest of the region was captured by Russia from Persia and Turkey later in the century. This annexation took place largely with the consent or even support of the local inhabitants. The period of Russian rule was one of rapid economic and cultural advance and the emergence of a native intelligentsia with autonomist views.

After the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the region separated from Russia to become the Transcaucasian Federation, but was conquered by the Red Army with the help of local communists in 1920 (and thereafter renamed the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic). This was broken up in 1936 into three separate Soviet republics. Transcaucasians, particularly Armenians and Georgians, played an important part in Russian political life throughout the Tsarist and Soviet periods.

Famous people Josef Stalin, and the last foreign minister of the USSR (later president of Georgia), Edvard Shevardnadze came from Transcaucasia.