Russians in the North Caucasus in the 19th century: colonization-resettlement and sociocultural processes

Abstract

The article reviews the Russian peasant and military-Cossack colonization of the North Caucasus in the 19th century, its importance for the region. The authors focused greater attention on various aspects of the sociocultural interaction between Russian settlers and Caucasian mountain peoples. The methodology is based on a combination of historical and anthropological studies, analysis of ethnomigration, colonization - resettlement and sociocultural processes, frontier theory. Active Russian colonization changed the sociocultural and ethnic landscape of the North Caucasus, contributed to the development of agriculture, industry and urban growth. Institutional and sociocultural exchange, the accession of the cultures of the Caucasian mountain peoples to the sociocultural matrix of the Russian state were being intensified. A unique frontier culture of the Caucasian borderlands was being formed. The natural sociocultural integration that took place between the Cossacks, Russian settlers and the Caucasian mountain peoples in the 19th century did not become a priority of state policy at that time. The majority of the mountain population remained outside the influence of Russian culture, was not included in the modernization and urbanization processes. This became a socio-cultural factor in the preservation of conflict in the region in the 20th century.