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The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia, or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, which are sometimes collectively known as the Caucasian States. The total area of these countries measures about . The South Caucasus and the North Caucasus together comprise the larger Caucasus geographical region that divides Eurasia.
All of present-day Armenia is in the South Caucasus; the majority of present-day Georgia and Azerbaijan, including the exclave of Nakhchivan, also fall within the region. Parts of Iran and Turkey are also included within the region of the South Caucasus. Goods produced in the region include Petroleum, manganese ore, tea, citrus fruits, and wine. It remains one of the most politically tense regions in the post-Soviet area, and contains two heavily disputed areas: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Between 1878 and 1917, the Russian-controlled province of Kars Oblast and the county of Surmalu uezd (present-day Iğdır Province) were also incorporated into administrative regions of the South Caucasus.
Located on the peripheries of Iran, Russia and Turkey, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, and cultural rivalries and expansionism for centuries. Throughout its history, the region has come under control of various empires, including the Achaemenid, Neo-Assyrian Empire, §716. Parthian Empire, Roman Empire, Sassanian Empire, Byzantine Empire, Umayyad, Abbassid, Mongol Empire, Ottoman Empire, successive Iranian (Safavid dynasty, Afsharid dynasty, Qajar dynasty), and , all of which introduced their faiths and cultures. Throughout history, most of the South Caucasus was usually under the direct rule of the various in-Iran based empires and part of the Iranian world. "Caucasus and Iran" in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Multiple Authors In the course of the 19th century, Qajar Iran had to irrevocably cede the region (alongside its territories in Dagestan, North Caucasus) as a result of the two Russo-Persian Wars of that century to Imperial Russia.
Ancient kingdoms of the region included Colchis, Urartu, Iberia, Armenia and Albania, among others. These kingdoms were later incorporated into various Iranian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian Empire, and the Sassanid Empire, during which Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion in the region. However, after the rise of Christianity and conversion of Caucasian kingdoms to the new religion, Zoroastrianism lost its prevalence and only survived because of Persian power and influence still lingering in the region. Thus, the South Caucasus became the area of not only military, but also religious convergence, which often led to bitter conflicts with successive Persian empires (and later Muslim-ruled empires) on the one side and the Roman Empire (and later the Byzantine Empire and Russian Empire) on the other side.
The Iranian Parthians established and installed several eponymous branches in the South Caucasus, namely the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, the Arsacid dynasty of Iberia, and the Arsacid dynasty of Caucasian Albania.
After two wars in the first half of the 19th century, namely the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) and the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), the Russian Empire conquered most of the South Caucasus (and Dagestan in the North Caucasus) from the Iranian Qajar dynasty, severing historic regional ties with Iran.Allen F. Chew. An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders. Yale University Press, 1967. pp 74 By the Treaty of Gulistan that followed after the 1804-1813 war, Iran was forced to cede modern-day Dagestan, Eastern Georgia, and most of the Azerbaijan Republic to Russia. By the Treaty of Turkmenchay that followed after the 1826-1828 war, Iran lost all of what is modern-day Armenia and the remainder of the contemporary Azerbaijani Republic that remained in Iranian hands. After the 1828-1829 war, the Ottomans ceded Western Georgia (except Adjaria, which was known as Sanjak of Batum), to the Russians, who populated this new southern boundary mostly with undesirable citizens and tolerated heretics ( sektanty).
In 1844, what comprises present-day Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were combined into a single czarist government-general, which was termed a vice-royalty in 1844-1881 and 1905–1917. Following the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, Russia annexed Kars, Ardahan, Agri and Batumi from the Ottoman Turks, joined to this unit, and established the province of Kars oblast as its most south-westerly territory in the South Caucasus.
Both times these Transcaucasian entities dissolved, although the region would remain politically bound together in the Soviet Union in the form of the three separate Soviet Socialist Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, all three emerged as internationally recognized sovereign states. Transit through the South Caucasus has been hampered since 1989 due to the ongoing Turkish–Azeri blockade of Armenia.
The Russo-Georgian War took place in 2008 across the South Caucasus, contributing to further instability in the region, which is as intricate as the Middle East, due to the complex mix of religions (mainly Muslim and Orthodox Christian) and ethno-linguistic groups.
Since their independence, the three countries have had varying degrees of success in their relations with Russia and other countries. In Georgia, after the Rose Revolution in 2004, the country, like the Baltic states, began integrating into wider European society by opening up relations with NATO and the European Union. Armenia continues to foster relations with Russia, while also developing ties with the EU. Azerbaijan relies less on Russia, strategically partnering with Turkey. All three South Caucasus countries are members of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Political Community, and participate in the EU's Eastern Partnership and Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. All three South Caucasus countries are also members of NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and Partnership for Peace.
On 8 November 2023, the European Commission issued an official recommendation to grant EU candidate status to Georgia, which was confirmed on 14 December 2023. Georgia, thus becoming, the first country in the South Caucasus to receive EU candidate status. On 12 March 2024, the European Parliament passed a resolution confirming Armenia meets Maastricht Treaty requirements and that the country may apply for EU membership. On 12 February 2025, Armenia's parliament approved a bill officially endorsing Armenia's EU accession. Armenia formalizes closer ties with the West
| + !Year !Armenia !Azerbaijan !Georgia !Total | ||||
| 1897 | 798,853 | 1,806,700 | 1,919,400ჯაოშვილი, ვახტანგ. საქართველოს მოსახლეობა XVIII–XX საუკუნეებში./Jaoshvili, Vakhtang. Population of Georgia in the XVIII–XX centuries. Metsniereba, Tbilisi, 1984, pp. 92 | 4,524,953 |
| 1908 | 877,322 | 2,014,300 | ||
| 1914 | 1,014,255 | 2,278,245 | 2,697,500ჯაოშვილი, ვახტანგ. საქართველოს მოსახლეობა XVIII–XX საუკუნეებში./Jaoshvili, Vakhtang. Population of Georgia in the XVIII–XX centuries. Metsniereba, Tbilisi, 1984, pp. 95 | 5,990,000 |
| 1916–17 | 993,782 | 2,353,700 | 2,357,800 | 5,705,282 |
| First World War and Russian Revolution | ||||
| 1920–22 | 780,000 | 1,863,000 | 2,677,000 | 5,321,000 |
| 1926 | 880,464 | 2,314,571 | 2,666,494 | 5,861,529 |
| 1929 | 6,273,000 | |||
| 1931 | 1,050,633 | 6,775,000 | ||
| 1932 | 6,976,000 | |||
| 1933 | 7,110,000 | |||
| 1939 | 1,282,338 | 3,205,150 | 3,540,023 | 8,027,511 |
| 1956 | 9,000,000 | |||
| 1959 | 1,763,048 | 3,697,717 | 4,044,045 | 9,504,810 |
| 1970 | 2,491,873 | 5,117,081 | 4,686,358 | 12,295,312 |
| 1979 | 3,037,259 | 6,026,515 | 4,993,182 | 14,056,956 |
| 1989 | 3,304,776 | 7,037,867 | 5,400,841 | 15,743,484 |
| 1999–2002 | 3,213,011 Information from the 2001 Armenian National Census | 7,953,400 | 3,991,300 | 15,157,711 |
| 2009–14 | 3,018,854 | 8,922,000 | 3,713,804ჯაოშვილი, ვახტანგ. საქართველოს მოსახლეობა XVIII–XX საუკუნეებში./Jaoshvili, Vakhtang. Population of Georgia in the XVIII–XX centuries. Metsniereba, Tbilisi, 1984. | 15,654,658 |
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