The Greater Caucasus is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains. It stretches for about from west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Taman Peninsula of the Black Sea to the Absheron Peninsula of the Caspian Sea: from the Western Caucasus in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian.
Geography
The range is traditionally separated into three parts:
In the wetter Western Caucasus, the mountains are heavily forested (deciduous forest up to , coniferous forest up to and above the tree line). In the drier Eastern Caucasus, the mountains are mostly treeless.
Europe–Asia boundary
The
Drainage divide of the Caucasus is also considered by some to be the boundary between
Eastern Europe and
Western Asia. The European part to the north of the watershed is known as
North Caucasus; the Asiatic part to the south as
Transcaucasia, which is dominated by the
Lesser Caucasus mountain range and whose western portion converges with Eastern Anatolia.
[18th-century definitions drew the boundary north of the Caucasus, across the Kuma–Manych Depression. This definition remained in use in the Soviet Union during the 20th century.
In western literature, the continental boundary has been drawn along the Caucasus watershed since at least the mid-19th century.
See e.g. Baron von Haxthausen, "Transcaucasia" (1854); review Dublin university magazine
Douglas W. Freshfield, " Journey in the Caucasus", Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Volumes 13–14, 1869.]
Most of the border of Russia with Georgia and Azerbaijan runs along most of the Caucasus' length. The Georgian Military Road (Darial Gorge) and Trans-Caucasus Highway traverse this mountain range at altitudes of up to .
Watershed
The watershed of the Caucasus was the border between the
Caucasia province of the
Russian Empire in the north and the
Ottoman Empire and
Qajar dynasty in the south (1801) until the Russian victory in 1813 and the Treaty of Gulistan which moved the border of the Russian Empire well within Transcaucasia.
[Encyclopædia Britannica o 1833, vol 5, p. 251.]
The border between Georgia and Russia still follows the watershed almost exactly (except for Georgia's western border, which extends south of the watershed, and a narrow strip of territory in northwestern
Kakheti and northern Mtskheta-Mtianeti where Georgia extends north of the watershed), while Azerbaijan is south of the watershed except that its northeastern corner has five districts north of the watershed (Khachmaz, Quba,
Qusar District,
Shabran District, and
Siyazan District).
Peaks
-
Mount Elbrus, , is the highest mountain in Europe.
-
Dykh-Tau, ,
-
Shkhara, ,
-
Koshtan-Tau, ,
-
Shota Rustaveli Peak, ,
-
Kazbek (Mkinvartsveri), ,
-
Tebulosmta, ,
-
Diklosmta, ,
-
Bazardüzü, ,
-
Babadag, ,
-
Katyn-Tau, ,
-
, ,
-
Dzhangi-Tau, ,
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Tetnuldi, ,
-
Ushba, ,
-
Ailama, ,
-
Mount Karakaya, , , highest of the Skalisty Range, Caucasus
Passes
See also
Notes
