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North Caucasus in Eastern European Cultural and Political Spaces (Antiquity, Middle Ages): Integration Factors
Traditionally, the North Caucasian region is viewed as part of the Caucasus, which is also habitually endowed with the role of a bridge between Europe and Asia. Without claiming to be a complete revision of this approach, which has brought significant
results, this article formulates a fundamentally different approach to understanding the history of the North Caucasus, associated with determining the intensity and direction of interregional contacts. Based on the analysis of these contacts, it is concluded that the North Caucasus belongs (in terms of ethnic, cultural and political history) to the Eastern Europe macro-region. The South Caucasus also looks like a region fully integrated into the Western Asia macroregion. Accordingly, the ties between the two sides of the Caucasus, if not minimal, are very much inferior to their contacts with adjacent macro-regions. The Iranian-speaking and Turkic-Mongolian steppe worlds are absolutely important for understanding how the history of the peoples of the North Caucasus, including their ethnogenesis, developed. During the XVI century the contact area of the North Caucasus covered the entire Eastern
European macro-region: Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, the Russian state, Moldova, the Crimean Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Nogai Horde.
results, this article formulates a fundamentally different approach to understanding the history of the North Caucasus, associated with determining the intensity and direction of interregional contacts. Based on the analysis of these contacts, it is concluded that the North Caucasus belongs (in terms of ethnic, cultural and political history) to the Eastern Europe macro-region. The South Caucasus also looks like a region fully integrated into the Western Asia macroregion. Accordingly, the ties between the two sides of the Caucasus, if not minimal, are very much inferior to their contacts with adjacent macro-regions. The Iranian-speaking and Turkic-Mongolian steppe worlds are absolutely important for understanding how the history of the peoples of the North Caucasus, including their ethnogenesis, developed. During the XVI century the contact area of the North Caucasus covered the entire Eastern
European macro-region: Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, the Russian state, Moldova, the Crimean Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Nogai Horde.
the Eastern European macroregion, the North Caucasus, the Maikop Archaeological Culture, the Migration Period, the Khazar Khaganate, the Golden Horde, the Russian State, the Crimean Khanate, Circassia