Military-Administrative and Demographic Aspects of the Kuban Cossack Settlements Formation on the Adagum Cordon Line in the Trans-Kuban (1860s)

Based on documentary materials, this paper reviews the development of Northwestern Caucasus by the Cossacks in the 1860s. For the development of new territories, a defensive-offensive strategy was used. With the help of fortified settlement structures, the advancement and retention of Russian borders in the trans-Kuban areas were carried out. The “inducted” settlements are of particular interest because they were invariably tied to the cordon lines during the settlement period of the Trans-Kuban region. Among them, Cossack villages were the most stable settlement type. The focus of the scientific problem is the civil-settlement aspect and the military-organizational narrative of the Adagum cordon line. Historical settlements arose from a complex interweaving of politics and geography, power, and settlement modus vivendi, reflecting not only the Cossacks' way of life but also their identity. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and determine the significance of the Cossack settlement structures throughout the regional historical process to understand the process of development of the Trans-Kuban areas and the emerging network of fortification objects with key settlement structures in the form of fortified stanitsa settlements, as well as the penetration of Russian influence into a new area of the historical region of Kuban. This article is intended for historians and anyone interested in the history of the Cossacks.