Transhumanist
02-18-2012, 12:16 PM
The GeoCurrents (http://geocurrents.info/) articles listed below cover a variety of topics, including, but not limited to, ones pertaining to cuisine, genetics, linguistics, and politics. The unifying theme is the Caucasus.
Hopefully the links lead to the correct articles! There were many to add.
Where Is the Caucasus? (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/where-is-the-caucasus)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 11, 2012 | 38 Comments and 11 Reactions
For the next two weeks or so, GeoCurrents will examine the Caucasus. This unusually long focus on a particular place derives from several reasons. The Caucasus is one of the most culturally complex and linguistically diverse parts of the world, noted as well for its geopolitical intricacy and intractable conflicts. The region contains three internationally recognized sovereign states (Georgia…
Peoples, Languages and Genes in the Caucasus: An Introduction (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/peoples-languages-and-genes-in-the-caucasus-an-introduction)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 12, 2012 | 27 Comments and 3 Reactions
The Caucasus region, dominated by the imposing Great Caucasus mountain range and stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, has long been known as one of the world’s ethnically and linguistically most diverse areas. According to the Roman historian Pliny, when the Romans came to the Caucasus, they needed 134 interpreters to deal with the jumble of languages...
Keystone of the Caucasus: Ignored Ossetia and Its Snow Revolution (http://geocurrents.info/geopolitics/border-disputes/keystone-of-the-caucasus-ignored-ossetia-and-its-snow-revolution)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 13, 2012 | 21 Comments and 3 Reactions
If the arch of the Great Caucasus can be said to have a keystone, it would have to be Ossetia. This east-west range presents a formidable barrier to traffic between southern Russia and the Middle East, as it is pierced by few negotiable passes. By far the most important route across the mountains extends along the Darial Gorge through...
From Sarmatia to Alania to Ossetia: The Land of the Iron People (http://geocurrents.info/historical-geography/from-sarmatia-to-alania-to-ossetia-the-land-of-the-iron-people)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 16, 2012 | 6 Comments and 7 Reactions
The Caucasus is often noted as a place of cultural refuge, its steep slopes and hidden valleys preserving traditions and languages that were swept away in the less rugged landscapes to the north and south. Such a depiction generally seems fitting for the Ossetians, the apparent descendents of a nomadic group called the Sarmatians that dominated the grasslands of western…
Linguistic Clues to the Ossetian Past (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-clues-to-the-ossetian-past)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 17, 2012 | 8 Comments and 1 Reaction
Ossetians are a unique group in the North Caucasus, in two ways. First, they are the only ethnic group actually found on both the northern and southern slopes of the Caucasus mountain range; North Ossetia-Alania and South Ossetia are connected merely by the Roki Tunnel. Second, apart from such relative newcomers as the Russians, Ossetians are the only group in…
Genetic clues to the Ossetian past (http://geocurrents.info/population-geography/genetic-clues-to-the-ossetian-past)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 18, 2012 | 22 Comments and 6 Reactions
[Many thanks to Dave Howard for his assistance with this post!]
While it is indisputable that Ossetians speak an Iranian language, it is not immediately apparent whether they descend from an Iranian group such as the Alans, or alternatively if they are descendants of one of the autochthonous groups from the Caucasus, which adopted an Iranian language in the early Middle…
The Turkic-Speaking Greek Community of Georgia—and Its Demise (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-geography/the-turkic-speaking-greek-community-of-georgia-and-its-demise)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 19, 2012 | 14 Comments and 5 Reactions
Readers who have carefully examined the maps of the Caucasus posted recently in GeoCurrents may have noted an area marked “Greek” in south-central Georgia. This Greek zone appears on most but not all ethno-linguistic maps of the region, sometimes as a single area, and sometimes as two. Depicting Greek communities here is historically accurate but increasingly anachronistic. Since 1991, the Greek…
Is the Georgian language related to Basque, another European “outlier”? (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/is-the-georgian-language-related-to-basque-another-european-outlier)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 20, 2012 | 16 Comments and 10 Reactions
[This post is written in collaboration with Martin W. Lewis]
The history of the Georgian language reveals some interesting patterns of cross-cultural interaction. Georgian can be traced back to a ancestral language— Proto-Kartvelian—that it shares with its close relatives: Mingrelian, Svan and Laz. Spoken in the second millennium BCE, Proto-Kartvelian must have interacted closely with Proto-Indo-European, the ancestral tongue to most…
Historical Clues and Modern Controversies in the Northeastern Caucasus: Udi and Ancient Albania (http://geocurrents.info/historical-geography/historical-clues-and-modern-controversies-in-the-northeastern-caucasus-udi-and-ancient-albania)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 23, 2012 | 24 Comments and 1 Reaction
The Caucasus is rightly called a “mountain of languages.” Linguistic diversity reaches its extreme in the Russian republic of Dagestan and adjacent districts in northern Azerbaijan. The nearly three million inhabitants of Dagestan speak more than thirty languages, most of them limited to the republic. Such languages may seem inconsequential to outsiders, mere relict tongues of minor peoples.
The Politics of Genocide Claims and the Circassian Diaspora (http://geocurrents.info/historical-geography/the-politics-of-genocide-claims-and-the-circassian-diaspora)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 24, 2012 | 35 Comments and 3 Reactions
Allegations of genocide are often politically charged. On January 23, 2012, the French parliament voted to criminalize the denial of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. In Turkey, by contrast, it is illegal to assert that the same acts were genocidal. The Turkish government remains adamant, threatening to impose unspecified sanctions on …
The linguistic and genetic mosaic of the Northwest Caucasus (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/the-linguistic-and-genetic-mosaic-of-the-northwest-caucasus)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 25, 2012 | 11 Comments and 5 Reactions
The Northwest Caucasus – including Russia’s internal republics of Adygea, Karachai-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, as well as parts of Krasnodar Krai in Russia proper – presents a veritably kaleidoscopic ethno-linguistic picture. As can be seen from this ethno-linguistic map of Karachai-Cherkessia, based on 2002 census data, Indo-European-speaking groups such as the Russians (shown in blue) and the Ossetians (in brown) coexist…
Circassians in Israel (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/circassians-in-israel)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 26, 2012 | 14 Comments and 3 Reactions
While Israel serves as a gathering place for the world-wide Jewish diaspora, it too hosts smaller diasporic communities of its own. One such community is that of the Circassians. Members of this community live in two villages: Kfar-Kama in the lower Galilee (population 2,900) and Reyhaniye further north, on the border with Syria (population 1,000). The roots of this community…
Dreams of a Circassian Homeland and the Sochi Olympics of 2014 (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/dreams-of-a-circassian-homeland-and-the-sochi-olympics-of-2014)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 27, 2012 | 0 Comments and 6 Reactions
The resurgence of Circassian identity in recent years faces daunting obstacles. Many Circassians believe that the long-term sustainability of their community requires a return to the northwestern Caucasus, but both the Russian state and the other peoples of the region resist such designs. Circassians are thus focusing much of their efforts on global public opinion, building a protest movement in…
The Circassian Mystique and Its Historical Roots (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/the-circassian-mystique-and-its-historical-roots)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 30, 2012 | 16 Comments and 10 Reactions
Although little known today, the Circassians were once a famous people, celebrated for their military élan, physical mien, and resistance to Russian expansion. In the nineteenth century, “Circassophilia” spread from Europe to North America, where numerous writers expressed deep admiration for the mountaineers of the eastern Black Sea. Prominent physical anthropologists deemed Circassian bodies the apogee of the human form…
Sochi 2014: A Subtropical Winter Olympics? (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/sports/sochi-2014-a-subtropical-winter-olympics)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 31, 2012 | 5 Comments and 14 Reactions
In 2010, Foreign Policy magazine asked Russian opposition leader and Sochi native Boris Nemtsov why he opposed the 2014 Winter Olympics in his hometown. Nemtsov’s reply was broad ranging. He decried the displacement of 5,000 people while warning that corruption and organized crime would devour most of the construction funds showered on the city. He began his critique, however, with…
The national cuisines of the South Caucasus as a melting pot of Mediterranean, Persian and Central Asian influences (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-national-cuisines-of-the-south-caucasus-as-a-melting-pot-of-mediterranean-persian-and-central-asian-influences)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | February 1, 2012 | 2 Comments and 6 Reactions
As was pointed out by Martin Lewis in an earlier post, Caucasus is “a key place, one that historically linked the Black Sea and Caspian Sea basins, and, more broadly, the greater Mediterranean world with the Central Asian realm of the Silk Roads”. The complex mosaic…
[Many thanks to Lusine Sargsyan for sharing Armenian recipes and for a cooking demonstration!]
The food and wine of Georgia (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-food-and-wine-of-georgia)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | February 2, 2012 | 0 Comments and 3 Reactions
Georgia has a rich and woefully underappreciated culture. Its history stretches back for millennia, and its literary traditions are deep. Georgia has its own epic literature, with The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin serving as the national classic. The poet, Shota Rustaveli, was prince and treasurer at the twelfth-century court of Queen Tamar of Georgia, under whose rule Georgia reached…
The Role of the Caucasus in Russian Cultural and Intellectual History (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-role-of-the-caucasus-in-russian-cultural-and-intellectual-history)
By Vitaliy L. Rayz | February 3, 2012 | 1 Comment and 13 Reactions
(by guest blogger Vitaliy L. Rayz, in collaboration with Martin W. Lewis)
The present GeoCurrents series has focused on the peoples of the Caucasus, examining Russia and Russians only insofar as they have impacted the region. But the Caucasus has played a significant role in the politics of Russia, and in its cultural history as well. The most prominent Russian poets…
The Many Armenian Diasporas, Then and Now (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/the-many-armenian-diasporas-then-and-now)
By Martin W. Lewis | February 6, 2012 | 0 Comments and 6 Reactions
Armenians have long been scattered over many countries, whether as permanent migrants or temporary sojourners. Today, only about a third of their population lives in Armenia, with the rest spread over a wide area, as can be seen on the map posted here. This pattern largely reflects the movements caused by deadly mass expulsions of the early 20th century that...
The Centrality of the Caucasus (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/the-centrality-of-the-caucasus)
By Martin W. Lewis | February 7, 2012 | 5 Comments and 4 Reactions
For the past month, GeoCurrents has focused on the Caucasus, exploring the region’s history, languages, cuisines, and more. Two additional posts will conclude the series. We will subsequently pause to introduce some new features of the blog, and then we will move on to examine a different part of the world.
Mapping the Ethno-Linguistic Mosaic of the Caucasus (http://geocurrents.info/cartography/mapping-the-ethno-linguistic-mosaic-of-the-caucasus)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | February 8, 2012 | 38 Comments and 12 Reactions
If any conclusion can be drawn from our longer-than-planned yet shorter-than-desired exploration of the Caucasus, it is that this region presents a kaleidoscopic picture of ethno-linguistic groups. The relationships between these groups are often less than amicable and can even lead, or at least contribute, to geopolitical tensions on a grand scale. The languages spoken by these groups are fascinating…
Hopefully the links lead to the correct articles! There were many to add.
Where Is the Caucasus? (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/where-is-the-caucasus)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 11, 2012 | 38 Comments and 11 Reactions
For the next two weeks or so, GeoCurrents will examine the Caucasus. This unusually long focus on a particular place derives from several reasons. The Caucasus is one of the most culturally complex and linguistically diverse parts of the world, noted as well for its geopolitical intricacy and intractable conflicts. The region contains three internationally recognized sovereign states (Georgia…
Peoples, Languages and Genes in the Caucasus: An Introduction (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/peoples-languages-and-genes-in-the-caucasus-an-introduction)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 12, 2012 | 27 Comments and 3 Reactions
The Caucasus region, dominated by the imposing Great Caucasus mountain range and stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, has long been known as one of the world’s ethnically and linguistically most diverse areas. According to the Roman historian Pliny, when the Romans came to the Caucasus, they needed 134 interpreters to deal with the jumble of languages...
Keystone of the Caucasus: Ignored Ossetia and Its Snow Revolution (http://geocurrents.info/geopolitics/border-disputes/keystone-of-the-caucasus-ignored-ossetia-and-its-snow-revolution)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 13, 2012 | 21 Comments and 3 Reactions
If the arch of the Great Caucasus can be said to have a keystone, it would have to be Ossetia. This east-west range presents a formidable barrier to traffic between southern Russia and the Middle East, as it is pierced by few negotiable passes. By far the most important route across the mountains extends along the Darial Gorge through...
From Sarmatia to Alania to Ossetia: The Land of the Iron People (http://geocurrents.info/historical-geography/from-sarmatia-to-alania-to-ossetia-the-land-of-the-iron-people)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 16, 2012 | 6 Comments and 7 Reactions
The Caucasus is often noted as a place of cultural refuge, its steep slopes and hidden valleys preserving traditions and languages that were swept away in the less rugged landscapes to the north and south. Such a depiction generally seems fitting for the Ossetians, the apparent descendents of a nomadic group called the Sarmatians that dominated the grasslands of western…
Linguistic Clues to the Ossetian Past (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-clues-to-the-ossetian-past)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 17, 2012 | 8 Comments and 1 Reaction
Ossetians are a unique group in the North Caucasus, in two ways. First, they are the only ethnic group actually found on both the northern and southern slopes of the Caucasus mountain range; North Ossetia-Alania and South Ossetia are connected merely by the Roki Tunnel. Second, apart from such relative newcomers as the Russians, Ossetians are the only group in…
Genetic clues to the Ossetian past (http://geocurrents.info/population-geography/genetic-clues-to-the-ossetian-past)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 18, 2012 | 22 Comments and 6 Reactions
[Many thanks to Dave Howard for his assistance with this post!]
While it is indisputable that Ossetians speak an Iranian language, it is not immediately apparent whether they descend from an Iranian group such as the Alans, or alternatively if they are descendants of one of the autochthonous groups from the Caucasus, which adopted an Iranian language in the early Middle…
The Turkic-Speaking Greek Community of Georgia—and Its Demise (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-geography/the-turkic-speaking-greek-community-of-georgia-and-its-demise)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 19, 2012 | 14 Comments and 5 Reactions
Readers who have carefully examined the maps of the Caucasus posted recently in GeoCurrents may have noted an area marked “Greek” in south-central Georgia. This Greek zone appears on most but not all ethno-linguistic maps of the region, sometimes as a single area, and sometimes as two. Depicting Greek communities here is historically accurate but increasingly anachronistic. Since 1991, the Greek…
Is the Georgian language related to Basque, another European “outlier”? (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/is-the-georgian-language-related-to-basque-another-european-outlier)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 20, 2012 | 16 Comments and 10 Reactions
[This post is written in collaboration with Martin W. Lewis]
The history of the Georgian language reveals some interesting patterns of cross-cultural interaction. Georgian can be traced back to a ancestral language— Proto-Kartvelian—that it shares with its close relatives: Mingrelian, Svan and Laz. Spoken in the second millennium BCE, Proto-Kartvelian must have interacted closely with Proto-Indo-European, the ancestral tongue to most…
Historical Clues and Modern Controversies in the Northeastern Caucasus: Udi and Ancient Albania (http://geocurrents.info/historical-geography/historical-clues-and-modern-controversies-in-the-northeastern-caucasus-udi-and-ancient-albania)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 23, 2012 | 24 Comments and 1 Reaction
The Caucasus is rightly called a “mountain of languages.” Linguistic diversity reaches its extreme in the Russian republic of Dagestan and adjacent districts in northern Azerbaijan. The nearly three million inhabitants of Dagestan speak more than thirty languages, most of them limited to the republic. Such languages may seem inconsequential to outsiders, mere relict tongues of minor peoples.
The Politics of Genocide Claims and the Circassian Diaspora (http://geocurrents.info/historical-geography/the-politics-of-genocide-claims-and-the-circassian-diaspora)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 24, 2012 | 35 Comments and 3 Reactions
Allegations of genocide are often politically charged. On January 23, 2012, the French parliament voted to criminalize the denial of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. In Turkey, by contrast, it is illegal to assert that the same acts were genocidal. The Turkish government remains adamant, threatening to impose unspecified sanctions on …
The linguistic and genetic mosaic of the Northwest Caucasus (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/the-linguistic-and-genetic-mosaic-of-the-northwest-caucasus)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 25, 2012 | 11 Comments and 5 Reactions
The Northwest Caucasus – including Russia’s internal republics of Adygea, Karachai-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, as well as parts of Krasnodar Krai in Russia proper – presents a veritably kaleidoscopic ethno-linguistic picture. As can be seen from this ethno-linguistic map of Karachai-Cherkessia, based on 2002 census data, Indo-European-speaking groups such as the Russians (shown in blue) and the Ossetians (in brown) coexist…
Circassians in Israel (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/circassians-in-israel)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | January 26, 2012 | 14 Comments and 3 Reactions
While Israel serves as a gathering place for the world-wide Jewish diaspora, it too hosts smaller diasporic communities of its own. One such community is that of the Circassians. Members of this community live in two villages: Kfar-Kama in the lower Galilee (population 2,900) and Reyhaniye further north, on the border with Syria (population 1,000). The roots of this community…
Dreams of a Circassian Homeland and the Sochi Olympics of 2014 (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/dreams-of-a-circassian-homeland-and-the-sochi-olympics-of-2014)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 27, 2012 | 0 Comments and 6 Reactions
The resurgence of Circassian identity in recent years faces daunting obstacles. Many Circassians believe that the long-term sustainability of their community requires a return to the northwestern Caucasus, but both the Russian state and the other peoples of the region resist such designs. Circassians are thus focusing much of their efforts on global public opinion, building a protest movement in…
The Circassian Mystique and Its Historical Roots (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/the-circassian-mystique-and-its-historical-roots)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 30, 2012 | 16 Comments and 10 Reactions
Although little known today, the Circassians were once a famous people, celebrated for their military élan, physical mien, and resistance to Russian expansion. In the nineteenth century, “Circassophilia” spread from Europe to North America, where numerous writers expressed deep admiration for the mountaineers of the eastern Black Sea. Prominent physical anthropologists deemed Circassian bodies the apogee of the human form…
Sochi 2014: A Subtropical Winter Olympics? (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/sports/sochi-2014-a-subtropical-winter-olympics)
By Martin W. Lewis | January 31, 2012 | 5 Comments and 14 Reactions
In 2010, Foreign Policy magazine asked Russian opposition leader and Sochi native Boris Nemtsov why he opposed the 2014 Winter Olympics in his hometown. Nemtsov’s reply was broad ranging. He decried the displacement of 5,000 people while warning that corruption and organized crime would devour most of the construction funds showered on the city. He began his critique, however, with…
The national cuisines of the South Caucasus as a melting pot of Mediterranean, Persian and Central Asian influences (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-national-cuisines-of-the-south-caucasus-as-a-melting-pot-of-mediterranean-persian-and-central-asian-influences)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | February 1, 2012 | 2 Comments and 6 Reactions
As was pointed out by Martin Lewis in an earlier post, Caucasus is “a key place, one that historically linked the Black Sea and Caspian Sea basins, and, more broadly, the greater Mediterranean world with the Central Asian realm of the Silk Roads”. The complex mosaic…
[Many thanks to Lusine Sargsyan for sharing Armenian recipes and for a cooking demonstration!]
The food and wine of Georgia (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-food-and-wine-of-georgia)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | February 2, 2012 | 0 Comments and 3 Reactions
Georgia has a rich and woefully underappreciated culture. Its history stretches back for millennia, and its literary traditions are deep. Georgia has its own epic literature, with The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin serving as the national classic. The poet, Shota Rustaveli, was prince and treasurer at the twelfth-century court of Queen Tamar of Georgia, under whose rule Georgia reached…
The Role of the Caucasus in Russian Cultural and Intellectual History (http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/the-role-of-the-caucasus-in-russian-cultural-and-intellectual-history)
By Vitaliy L. Rayz | February 3, 2012 | 1 Comment and 13 Reactions
(by guest blogger Vitaliy L. Rayz, in collaboration with Martin W. Lewis)
The present GeoCurrents series has focused on the peoples of the Caucasus, examining Russia and Russians only insofar as they have impacted the region. But the Caucasus has played a significant role in the politics of Russia, and in its cultural history as well. The most prominent Russian poets…
The Many Armenian Diasporas, Then and Now (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/the-many-armenian-diasporas-then-and-now)
By Martin W. Lewis | February 6, 2012 | 0 Comments and 6 Reactions
Armenians have long been scattered over many countries, whether as permanent migrants or temporary sojourners. Today, only about a third of their population lives in Armenia, with the rest spread over a wide area, as can be seen on the map posted here. This pattern largely reflects the movements caused by deadly mass expulsions of the early 20th century that...
The Centrality of the Caucasus (http://geocurrents.info/place/russia-ukraine-and-caucasus/caucasus-series/the-centrality-of-the-caucasus)
By Martin W. Lewis | February 7, 2012 | 5 Comments and 4 Reactions
For the past month, GeoCurrents has focused on the Caucasus, exploring the region’s history, languages, cuisines, and more. Two additional posts will conclude the series. We will subsequently pause to introduce some new features of the blog, and then we will move on to examine a different part of the world.
Mapping the Ethno-Linguistic Mosaic of the Caucasus (http://geocurrents.info/cartography/mapping-the-ethno-linguistic-mosaic-of-the-caucasus)
By Asya Pereltsvaig | February 8, 2012 | 38 Comments and 12 Reactions
If any conclusion can be drawn from our longer-than-planned yet shorter-than-desired exploration of the Caucasus, it is that this region presents a kaleidoscopic picture of ethno-linguistic groups. The relationships between these groups are often less than amicable and can even lead, or at least contribute, to geopolitical tensions on a grand scale. The languages spoken by these groups are fascinating…