Russian-Ottoman Border in the East Transcaucasia in the 20s-30s of the 18th century: Problems of Demarcation, Reaction of Frontier Communities

Abstract

The paper analyses one of the issues of the eastern policy of Russia of the Peter’s era, related to the creation of the Russian-Ottoman frontier on the territory west to the Caspian Sea. The difficulties in the process of carrying out demarcation in the border zone caused by the negative reaction of various actors in the border life are discussed. The author introduces a new source – a historical map of the Caspian territories, on which the border between the Russian and Ottoman Empire is drawn; demarcation work, conducted by the committee, is shown. The study reveals that the Russian-Ottoman border line divided the communities of the East Transcaucasia without consideration of historical traditions of conducting economic activity and ethnocultural contacts, thus certain difficulties and unsteadiness occurred in the border zone. The reaction of the frontier participants make it possible, in general, to determine the attitude of the Caucasian and Persian political elites to the emergence of the Russian and Ottoman Empires in the Caucasus-Caspian region. The obtained scientific results are unique from the point of view of humanitarian knowledge, and they can be used for further development of various issues of the Caucasian foreign policy of the Russian and Ottoman Empires of the 18th century by Russian and foreign researchers.

Keywords

• persian campaign of 1722-1723
• peter’s era in russia
• russian-ottoman frontier
• western caspian region
• demarcation of borders
• historical map
• reaction of frontier communities