Transcaucasia

Transcaucasia (Russian: Закавказье) or the South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia. More specifically, Transcaucasia spans the southern portion of the Caucasus Mountains and its lowlands, straddling the border between the continents of Europe and Asia, and extending southwards from the southern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range of southwestern Russia to the Turkish and Armenian borders, and from the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea coast of Iran in the east. The area includes the southern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, the entire Lesser Caucasus mountain range, the Colchis Lowlands, the Kura-Aras Lowlands, the Talysh Mountains, the Lenkoran Lowlands, Javakheti and the eastern portion of the Armenian Highland. Together with Ciscaucasia (North Caucasus), Transcaucasia is a part of the larger Caucasus geographical region that divides Eurasia.

All of Armenia is in Transcaucasia; the majority of Georgia and Azerbaijan, including the exclave of Nakhchivan, fall within the region. Parts of Iran and Turkey are also included within the region of Transcaucasia. Goods produced in the region include oil, manganese ore, tea, citrus fruits, and wine. It remains one of the most politically tense regions in the post-Soviet area, and contains three heavily disputed areas: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Between 1878 and 1917 the Russian occupied province of Kars Oblast was also incorporated into the Transcaucasus, although the region of Kars (including neighbouring Ardahan) is geographically and historically also considered to be part of Eastern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, and is where the Anatolian high plateau converges with the Lesser Caucasus mountain range.

Caucasus

The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas.

It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europe's highest mountain, Mount Elbrus, 5,642 metres (18,510 ft). Politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the northern parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

The region is known for its linguistic diversity: aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian, and Northeast Caucasian families are indigenous to the area.

Name

Pliny the Elder's Natural History (AD 77–79) derives the name of the Caucasus from the Scythian kroy-khasis (“ice-shining, white with snow”).

Throughout Persian history, particularly Sassanid Persia, the Caucasus region was the furthest point of Persian expansion, with areas to the north of Northern Caucasus practically impregnable. Therefore, the mythical mountain of Cafcuh, the highest mountain in the world, was said to be situated in this region, making the Caucasus the limit of the world. Therefore, the Caucasus was the name given to this area for its association with the legendary mountain. The modern name of the region in local languages are all similar to the mountain name, with the main difference being that f has been replaced with a softer w and the last letter being replaced with z.

Caucasus Mountains

The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region.

The Caucasus Mountains include the Greater Caucasus Range, which extends from the Caucasian Natural Reserve in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, aligned west-northwest to east-southeast and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian Sea; and the Lesser Caucasus, which runs parallel to the greater range, at a distance averaging about 100 km (62 mi) south. The Meskheti Range is a part of the Lesser Caucasus system. The Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges are connected by the Likhi Range, which separates the Kolkhida Lowland from the Kura-Aras Lowland. In the southeast the Aras River separates the Lesser Caucasus from the Talysh Mountains which straddle the border of southeastern Azerbaijan and Iran. The Lesser Caucasus and the Armenian Highland constitute the Transcaucasian Highland, which at their western end converge with the highland plateau of Eastern Anatolia in the far north east of Turkey. The highest peak in the Caucasus range is Mount Elbrus in the Greater Caucasus, which rises to a height of 5,642 metres (18,510 ft) above sea level. Mountains near Sochi hosted part of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Caucasus (Fabergé egg)

The Caucasus Egg is a jewelled enameled Easter egg made by Michael Perkhin under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1893. The egg was made for Alexander III of Russia, who presented it to his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Currently the egg is a long term installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, as part of the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation.

The Egg

The egg is made of yellow and varicoloured gold, silver, ruby enamel, rose-cut diamonds, portrait diamonds, platinum, ivory, pearls, rock crystal and watercolour on ivory.

It commemorates the Imperial hunting lodge in Abastumani in Caucasus where Grand Duke George spent most of his life after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Miniatures were done and signed by Krijitski. The miniatures are revealed by opening four pearl-bordered doors around the egg. Each door bears a diamond-set numeral of the year, forming the year 1893. Behind the hinged cover at the top is a portrait of the Grand Duke in his naval uniform.