Frederik Coene: The Caucasus. An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2009. XVI, 238 S., 4 Abb., zahl. Ktn, 4 Tab. ISBN: 978-0-415-48660-6

Frederik Coene: The Caucasus. An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2009. XVI, 238 S., 4 Abb., zahl. Ktn, 4 Tab. ISBN: 978-0-415-48660-6.

Frederik Coene is a diplomat with a quite long experience of work throughout the Caucasus. In 2010, he authored a book that sheds light on different dimensions of the region’s history and beyond. His “introduction” to the Caucasus consists of eight chapters dealing with the geography, the regional and political territorial division, and a description of the regional population and society as well as of the current and historical conflicts in the broad area between the Black and Caspian Sea shores. The further parts of the book are devoted to the place and role of the Caucasus in the international politics, its economy and to the main aspects of its cultural life.

The monograph contains a number of different kind of graphics and maps which illustrate the Caucasian geography, main oil and trade routes but also population statistics by ethnic and language groups.

First of all, it should be mentioned that the description and analysis of any historical landscape or region such as the Caucasus is a difficult task that challenges the linguistic and other abilities of an author. The history of the Caucasus has been intertwined with the Russian, Ottoman and Persian Empires for centuries. A profound study of the region is possible therefore in an interdisciplinary way only by combining the research results from different area studies such as the Ottoman, Persian and Persianite as well as Russian and Soviet Studies. From a local perspective, Georgian and Armenian sources, and at least since the nineteenth century Azerbaijani written sources are of crucial importance for any study of the regional past. Coene’s monograph is based on the author’s evaluation of a large number of Russian literature and of the previous Western academic research on the Caucasus. Coene’s aim was to deliver a short overview on different dimensions of the Caucasus by elucidating both of its past and present. The author reached that by doing so. And the parts on the present-day territorial division of the Russian part of the Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and the conflicts, international politics and economy are the best of the book. Coene delivers clearly and well-structured descriptions of the main inter-ethnic cleavages in Dagestan and other part of the Northern Caucasus and of the Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-Ossetian and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the Nagornyi Karabakh province. The readers get aware of the main facts, names and dates. Coene managed a quite difficult task to author a neutral narrative on all above-mentioned conflicts and wars.

A chapter on Suggested reading at the end of the book is of assistance for anyone willing to obtain more information and more profound knowledge about the Caucasus. The Routledge-published monograph of Coene on the Caucasus is a well-written overview of the important geopolitical space between present-day Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Zaur Gasimov, Istanbul