The Caucasus is the region forming a natural bridge across the broad isthmus of land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

The region is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus Ranges which form a natural boundary between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The region covers around 44,000 square kilometers and is predominantly mountainous (Mount Elbrus at an elevation of 5,642 meters is the highest peak in Europe). It extends southward from the lowlands of the Kuma and Manych river basins (the Kuma-Manych Depression) in the north to the northern frontiers of Turkey and Iran in the south.  

The Caucasus comprises the independent countries of the South Caucasus (also known as the Transcaucasus) of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan - and the Russian Federation republics and federal regions of the North Caucasus (also known as the Ciscaucasus) of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea, Krasnodor Krai and Stavropol Krai*.

A vital trade route and part of the network of ancient Silk Road routes between East and West, the Caucasus has stood at the crossroads of Asian and European cultures as far back as the Bronze Age. Throughout its turbulent history the region located on the peripheries of Turkey, Iran and Russia, has suffered numerous invasions and occupations; being ruthlessly subject to the political, military, religious and cultural rivalries and expansionism for centuries by its powerful neighbouring empires. And even today with internal rivalries and political dissent with the Russian Federation, the Caucasus (particularly the North Caucasus) is not considered a stable zone.

European History On-line describes the Caucasus history:

"The multi-ethnic Caucasus was subject to foreign imperial domination for the great majority of its history, during which it experienced long periods of incorporation in the Persian, Arabian, Mongol, Ottoman, Russian and Soviet empires. In cultural terms, the post-Soviet Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the autonomous North-Caucasian entities within the Russian Federation) is a heterogeneous region in which the followers of a number of religions (Shiite and Sunni Islam, Russian and Georgian Orthodoxy, the Armenian-Gregorian Church, Judaism) practice their faith.  In essence, the region acts as a transition between East and West, Europe and the Middle East". 

Not surprisingly the Caucasus is home to a highly diverse mix of races; with at least 50 different ethnic groups and a wide array of languages.

**Since 18 March 2014, Russia is made up of 85 Federal Subjects. They are grouped into eight Federal Districts. The Federal Subjects are divided into oblasts, republics, krais, autonomous okrugs, federal cities and autonomous oblasts. Republics are generally independent, each having its own constitution and legislature. The North Caucasus Federal District is one of the eight Federal Districts of Russia. It is located in the geographical area of the North Caucasus. The federal district was split from Southern Federal District in January 2010.

Earliest human traces in the Caucasus region. Farming begins to replace hunting and gathering.

Rise of the Kuban culture characterised by thousands of burial mounds on the steppes of the Caucasus. Use of copper and bronze for weaponry.

Scythian* occupation of large swaths of territory throughout Eurasia, from the Black Sea across Siberia to the borders of China.

*The Ancient Greeks gave the name Scythia (or Great Scythia) to all the lands north-east of Europe and the northern coast of the Black Sea.

669-627 BC                                                                         

Assyrian Empire reaches as far as the Caucasus Mountains. Known as the Empire of the East, it exists for around six centuries spanning the Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age.                              

400 - 300 BC                                                                      

Zoroastrianism becomes the dominant religion of the region.

Formation of the Armenian Empire

Christian missionaries reach the Caucasus. Introduction of Christianity.

Conquests in the Caucasus by Alexander the Great

6^th Century AD    

Sassanid (Persian) Empire conquers the eastern Caucasus (present day Dagestan).  Up until the early 19^th century, the Persian Empire mostly controls the southern Caucasus and Dagestan.

7th Century AD   

Arab invasion and partial introduction of Islam.

9^th Century AD                                                                        

Formation of the Kingdom of Georgia

10^th Century AD                                                                  

The state of Alania created by the Christian Alans, ancestors of the modern Ossetians. The region flourishes and rules most of the Northern Caucasus.

Georgian King David the Builder drives Muslims from the Caucasus and makes the Kingdom of Georgia a strong regional power. From 1194 - 1204 Georgian Queen Tamar's forces crush Turkish invasions. Georgia becomes the strongest Christian state in the Caucasus - Near East area.

13^th Century AD                                                                      

Mongols invade from the east. Later in the century, invasion and mass destruction by Tamerlane (Timur) from Central Asia

14^th and 15^th Centuries AD                                                 

Tartar rule puts an end to a period of Islamic Persian and Ottoman Empire dominance.

16^th Century AD                                                                      

Caucasus continues to serve as a battleground between Persian and Ottoman forces, with the two great powers attempting to gain control over the region.

18^th Century AD                                                   

Formation of the Russian Empire, the third largest empire to ever exist in the world (after Britain and the Mongols). Beginning of Russian penetration into the Caucasus. Peter The Great begins the Russian penetration into the Caucasus, occupying Derbent, Dagestan and Baku, Azerbaijan. Persia then cedes a wide area of khanates of the eastern Caucasus.

19^th Century AD                                                   

1804-13 & 1826-28 Russo-Persian Wars. Russia contests dominance of Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Iran over the Caucasus. 

1817 - 1864 Caucasian War. Russian Empire invades and annexes areas of the North Caucasus. Circassian Massacre and ethnic cleansing of indigenous peoples from the Black Sea coast, most of whom are expelled to the Ottoman Empire.

1914-18 World War I. 

1917-22 Russian Revolution and Civil War. Collapse of the Russian Empire. Muslim dominated parts of the Caucasus divided into five autonomous regions: Dagestan, Chechnya, Adygea, Karbardino-Bulkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.1922 Establishment of the Soviet Union (officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR).

Mid-1920’s to 1953, Joseph Stalin leads the Soviet Union. Mass repressions, ethnic cleansing, mass deportations, hundreds of thousands of executions, and famines which killed millions.

1939-45 World War II.

1942 Battle of the Caucasus. German troops capture Rostov on Don, Russia, with the aim of opening the Caucasus region of the southern Soviet Union, and the oil fields beyond at Maykop, Grozny, and ultimately Baku, to the Germans. Following a decisive German defeat at Stalingrad (often referred to as the turning point of WW II), German troops in the Caucasus are forced to retreat.

1944 On pretext of collaboration with the German forces, Stalin orders mass deportation of Balkar, Chechen, Ingush and Karachay peoples to Central Asia and Siberia.

1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union.

1991 - 2009

Chechen War (c. Al Jazeera)

Territorial disputes are triggered in the Caucasus, including the Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994) between majority ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijan), the East Prigorodny Conflict (1989-1991) an inter-ethnic conflict in the eastern part of the Prigorodny district in the Republic of North Ossetia – Alania, the War in Abkhazia (1992-93) largely between Georgia and Russian government and Abkazian separatists; and the First and Second Chechen Wars (1994-96 and 1999-2009) between separatist Chechens and the Russian government.

To 2019 Insurgency incidents and terrorist activities continue within the North Caucasus and the Russian Federation***. 

Commentators in more recent years report however that the situation is stabilising and that the region has over more recent years, become relatively peaceful.