North Caucasus

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The North Caucasus (sometimes referred to as Ciscaucasia or Ciscaucasus) is the northern part of the Caucasus region between Europe and Asia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus Economical Region of Russia.

Politically, the Northern Caucasus (territory north of the Greater Caucasus Range) includes the Russian Republics of the North Caucasus as well as several regions of Georgia and Azerbaijan. As part of the Russian Federation, the Northern Caucasus Region is included in the Southern Federal District and consists of Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai and the autonomous republics: Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan. In Georgia, the North Caucasus includes the regions of Tusheti, Khevsureti, and Khevi.

Geographically, the term North Caucasus comprises the northern slope and western extremity of the Caucasus Major mountain range, as well as a part of its southern slope to the West (until the Psou River). The Forecaucasus steppe area is often also encompassed under the notion of "North Caucasus", thus the northern boundary of the geographical region is generally considered to be the Kuma-Manych Depression. It is bounded by the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait on the west, and the Caspian Sea on the east.

[edit] See also

• South Caucasus (Transcaucasia)
• North Caucasian Soviet Republic

[edit] References

• In Quest for God and Freedom: Sufi Responses to the Russian Advance in the North Caucasus By Anna Zelkina
• Russia in the Modern World: a new geography By Denis J. B. Shaw, Institute of British Geographers