South Caucasus
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 falls 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 Moscow (analogous to the Roman terms Transalpine and Transpadania).
The region was unified as a single political entity twice – during the Russian civil war (Trans-Caucasian Democratic Federative Republic) from 9 April 1918 to 26 May 1918, and under the Soviet rule (Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic) from 12 March 1922 to 5 December 1936.
The region remains one of the most complicated in the post-Soviet area, and comprises three disputed areas – Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
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See also
- North Caucasus (Ciscaucasia)
- Ibero-Caucasian languages
- Peoples of the Caucasus
