But generally in from 18 to 33 out of the 72 governments in European Russia (including Caucasia) and Poland the yield of cereals is not sufficient for the wants of the people.
But, apart from Georgia, historical interest in Caucasia centres in the long and persistent attempts which the Russians made to conquer it, and the heroic, though unavailing, resistance offered by the mountain races, more especially the Circassian and Lesghian tribes.
By the peace of Gulistan in 1813 Persia ceded to Russia several districts in eastern Caucasia, from Lenkoran northwards to Derbent.
Caucasia, having been connected with the Rostov-Vladikavkaz line, has consequently also been brought into touch with the Russian railways.
Caucasia, lies the " black earth " region.
Climate.-Owing in part to the great differences in altitude in different regions of Caucasia and in part to the directions in which the mountain ranges run, and consequently the quarters towards which their slopes face, the climate varies very greatly according to locality.
Ethnology.-The population of Caucasia is increasing rapidly.
Flora and Fauna.-Plant-life, in such a mountainous country as Caucasia, being intimately dependent upon aspect and altitude, is treated under Caucasus.
For the petroleum industry and the mining of the Caucasus region, see Caucasia.
Generally speaking, it may be characterized as a climate of extremes on the Armenian highlands, in the Kura valley and in northern Caucasia, and as maritime and genial in Lenkoran, on the Black Sea coastlands, and in the valley of the Rion.
Hydrography.-Nearly all the larger rivers of Caucasia have their sources in the central parts of the Caucasus range.
In 1894 municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in Siberia, and in 1895 to some in Caucasia.
In addition to agriculture, which (with the exception of the Usuri Cossacks) is sufficient to supply their needs and usually to leave a certain surplus, they"carry on extensive cattle and horse breeding, vine culture in Caucasia, fishing on the Don, the Ural, and the Caspian, hunting, bee-culture, &c. The extraction of coal, gold and other minerals which are found on their territories is mostly rented to strangers, who also own most factories.
In Asia wine is produced, according to Thudichum, principally in Caucasia and Armenia.
It is estimated that nearly 54,0 00 acres are under vineyards in northern Caucasia and some 278,000 acres in Transcaucasia, the aggregate yield of wine being.
It is in this valley that the principal towns (except Vladikavkaz at the north foot of the Caucasus) of Caucasia are situated, namely, Baku (179,133 inhabitants in 1900), Tiflis (160,645 in 1897), Kutais (32,492), and the two Black Sea ports of Batum (28,512) and Poti (7666).
It occupies an advantageous position on the great artery of Russian trade, at a place where the manufactured and agricultural products of the basin of the Oka meet the metal wares from that of the Kama, the corn and salt brought from the south-eastern governments, the produce of the Caspian fisheries, and the various wares imported from Siberia, Central Asia, Caucasia and Persia.
It owes its origin to its mineral waters, which have long been known to the inhabitants of Caucasia.
Mingrelia and Imeretia (valley of Rion) are the gardens of Caucasia, but the high valleys of Svanetia, farther north on the south slopes of the Caucasus mountains, are wild and difficult of access.
Novorossiysk is connected by a branch railway to Tikhoryetskaya (169 m.) with the main Caucasian line, which crosses the Volga near Tsaritsyn, and has become an important centre for the export of corn, and since the petroleum wells of Groznyi in northern Caucasia were tapped it has become an entrepot for the export of petroleum.
Of the total population 3,725,543 lived in northern Caucasia and 5,564,547 in Transcaucasia (including Daghestan).
Outside the domain of myth, the earliest connexion of the Greeks with that part of the world would appear to have been through the maritime colonies, such as Dioscurias, which the Milesians founded on the Black Sea coast in the 7th century B.C. For more than two thousand years the most powerful state in Caucasia was that of Georgia, the authentic history of which begins with its submission to Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. The southern portion of Transcaucasia fell during the ist century B.C. under the sway of Armenia, and with that country passed under the dominion of Rome, and so eventually of the Eastern empire.
Owing to its situation on the navigable river Don and at the junction of three railways, radiating to north-western Russia, Caucasia and the Volga respectively, Rostov has become the chief seaport of south-eastern Russia, being second in importance on the Black Sea to Odessa only.
Rostov is the chief centre of steam flour-mills for south-eastern Russia and Caucasia.
Rye and wheat are the most important crops harvested in northern Caucasia, but oats, barley and maize are also cultivated, whereas in Transcaucasia the principal crops are maize, rice tobacco and cotton.
She married in her seventeenth year a man very much her senior, Nicephore Blavatsky, a Russian official in Caucasia, from whom she was separated after a few months; in later days, when seeking to invest herself with a halo of virginity, she described the marriage as a nominal one.
The actual distribution of arable land, forests and meadows, in European Russia and Poland is shown in the following table The land in European Russia and Poland (Caucasia being excluded) is divided amongst the different classes of owners as follows Down to January 1st 1903, the peasants had actually redeemed out of the land allotted to them in 1861 a total of 280,530,516 acres..
The average number of women to every 100 men in the Russian governments proper was 102.9; in Poland, 98.6; in Finland, 102.2; in Caucasia, 88.9; in Siberia, 93'7; and in Turkestan and Transcaspia, 83 o.
The export of both local produce and goods shipped by rail from other ports of Transcaucasia is considerable, Batum and Poti being the two chief ports of Caucasia.
The Kuma, the Terek and the Kura, with the Aras, which receives the waters of Lake Gok-cha, belong to Caucasia.'
The principal approach to Caucasia from Russia by rail is the line that runs from Rostov-on-Don to Vladikavkaz at the foot of the central Caucasus range.
The second-class fortresses are Kronstadt and Sveaborg in the Gulf of Finland, Ivangorod in Poland, Libau on the Baltic Sea, Kerch on the Black Sea and Vladivostok on the Pacific. In the third class are Viborg in Finland, Ossovets and Ust Dvinsk (or Dunamunde) in Lithuania, Sevastopol and Ochakov on the Black Sea, and Kars and Batum in Caucasia.
The southern boundary of Caucasia is in part coincident with the river Aras (Araxes), in part purely conventional and political.
The Tatars of Caucasia, who inhabit the upper Kuban, the steppes of the lower Kuma and the Kura, and the Aras, number about 1,350,000.
The vegetation is extremely rich, its character suggesting the sub-tropic regions of Japan (see CAUCASIA).
The wild animals of Caucasia are for the most part the same as those which frequent the mountainous parts of central Europe, though there is also an irruption of Asiatic forms, e.g.
This custom, which is still observed among the Jews of Caucasia (Tchorni, Sepher ha-Masaoth, pp. 191-192), is very ancient, as it is mentioned in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 64).
To the ancient Greeks Caucasia, and the mighty range which dominates it, were a region of mystery and romance.
Towards the end of the Glacial period the Tian-shan Mountains had a flora very like that of northern Caucasia, combining the characteristics of the flora of the European Alps and the flora of the Altai, while the prairies had a flora very much like that of the south Russian steppes.