South Caucasus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
South Caucasus, also referred to as Transcaucasia or Transcaucasus, is the southern portion of the Caucasus region between Europe and Asia, extending from the Greater Caucasus to the Turkish and Iranian borders, between the Black and Caspian Seas.
The area includes the Colchis Lowland, Kura Lowland, Talysh Mountains, Lenkoran Lowland, Caucasus Minor, and Javakheti-Armenian Uplands.
All of Armenia is in Transcaucasia; the majority of Georgia and Azerbaijan, including the exclave of Naxçivan, fall within this area. The countries of the region are producers of oil, manganese ore, tea, citrus fruits, and wine.
In Western languages, the terms Transcaucasus and Transcaucasia are translations of the Russian zakavkazje meaning "the area beyond the Caucasus Mountains", i.e., as seen from the Russian capital (analogous to the Roman terms Transalpine and Transpadania).
The region remains one of the most complicated in the post-Soviet area, and comprises three heavily disputed areas – Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
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The region was unified as a single political entity twice – during the Russian Civil War (Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic) from 9 April 1918 to 26 May 1918, and under the Soviet rule (Transcaucasian SFSR) from 12 March 1922 to 5 December 1936.
The area of Transcaucasia, in particular where modern day Georgia and Armenia are located, is one of the native areas of the wine producing vines vitis vinifera. Some experts speculate that this maybe the birthplace of wine production. [1] Archeological excavation and carbon dating of grape pips from the area have dated back to 7000-5000BC. [2]
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