Capital Periodicals of the XIX Century as a Mechanism for the Formation of a Historical and Cultural Portrait of the Peoples of the North Caucasus: “Notes of the Fatherland” and “Voice” by A.A. Kraevsky

The Caucasus from the 18th century firmly entered the sphere of interests of the Russian Empire. Since that time, the region was perceived by the outside world through associative thinking, which, as a rule, was limited to the statement of the visible part of the perceived. This is probably why, when describing the Caucasus by travelers, military men, ethnographers, they primarily emphasized those of its climatic, landscape and other natural characteristics that caused a certain exotic effect. Gradually, the reading public developed a desire to receive new, more objective information. In the XIX century this function of informing and educating the mass audience was taken over by the Russian press. “Notes of the Fatherland” and “Voice” by A.A. Kraevsky in the unity of the main markers of ethnic life – political and legal structure, economic life, history, culture, socio-psychological mechanisms – formed
the image of a Caucasian. To a greater extent, the capital's press presented the cultural image of the Caucasian and the ethnopsychological features that were formed with strict adherence to traditional norms. A Caucasian is a proud, strong-willed, noble person with a complex palette of feelings and emotions. Customary law and the shariat on which his life was built prescribed respect for elders and respect for women. In political and historical «pictures», the emphasis shifted to the Russian-Caucasian confrontation and the peculiarities of the integration of the region into the imperial administrative-legal field.