Abkhazia in books published by Russian authors of the 19th century

Abstract

An analytical review of books dedicated to Abkhazia written by the 19th century Russian authors is presented in the article. Information about the history and culture of Abkhazia as well as of other regions of the Caucasus and parts of southern Russia can be found in the publications. The material under review revealed a trend of increasing interest in Abkhazia among Russian authors. If in the first half of the said century, information about Abkhazia had been published only in two books, all other books date back to the second half of the century. Their authors include the military, state officials, publicists, scientists, people of civil professions and religious figures. As a rule, they would write about the history of Abkhazia, the ethnographic and religious condition of the region; they reported on the ethnic composition of the peoples (tribes), the number, borders, monuments of Christian architecture; to a lesser extent, they paid attention to the political structure of the Abkhazian principality. Many of them wrote about the dramatic events of the 1860s and 1870s. Despite the fact that the books included in the review are not scientifically and artistically equivalent, they can serve as a significant source for the study of the history and culture of 19th-century Abkhazia as a whole.