Caucasian tangle.

Caucasia is the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea; it is divided into two parts I by the Caucasus Mountains. The portion to the north, known as the Caucasus, has gently sloping plains ending in low, marsh y steppes. Lying within Russia, it contains the republics of Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Alania (North Ossetia), Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Adygea. The southern and larger portion of CaUcasia, Transcaucasia, is rugged, with chains of mountains (the Lesser Caucasus) running parallel to the central range of the Caucasus Mountains. This region consists of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Caucasia is noted for fertile lands, mineral deposits, and, in modern times, oil fields.

This is an area of amazingly complex ethnicity. In Dagestan alone, more than 30 languages are spoken. Ethnic groups are more numerous and more fiercely independent and rebellious than in the Balkans. There are isolated enclaves from one ethnic group encircled by others to which they are hostile.

Russian attempts to conquer the rich region, containing independent principalities, began early in the 18th century. The Russians assumed control in the 19th century after a series of wars, with Persia and the Ottoman Empire also disputing control over the region. The people of Georgia and Armenia, dominantly Christian, accepted Russian control as protection from Turkish persecution. However, the Muslim population from the Caucasus bitterly fought Russian domination. Russian rule was marked by brutality and the repression of the Native peoples. After the collapse of tsarist Russia in World War I, the southern section of Caucasia became independent republics. In 1922, they formed the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (SFSR), one of the four original union republics of the USSR.

Caucasia was subjected to mass purges and executions under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. In 1943, almost all the Chechen, Ingush, Karachai, Kalmyk, and Balkar peoples were deported to Siberia. When the exiles were allowed to return after Stalin's death, they found that someone else had grabbed their land. Little wonder then that there is a deep and lingering hatred of Russia in this area. Although in one of the great ironies of history, Stalin himself was a Caucasian from Georgia.

But, Russia can't abandon the region. To the immediate north of Caucasia is a region called The Kuban. It stretches across the provinces of Krasnodar and Stavropol and is Russia's breadbasket. If chaos in the Caucasian republics spreads north it might disrupt the vital grain harvest of The Kuban. Then, Russia would have to spend vast sums of money it doesn't have to import food.