'The Land is Spoiled By Water': Cossack Colonisation in the North Caucasus

Abstract

A frontier environmental history of Cossack settlers in the North Caucasus reveals some of the weaknesses of the Russian imperial mission. Cossacks transformed the landscape of settlement through deforestation and canalisation; the resulting floods and disease regime put severe limits on their ability to be economic colonisers or cultural assimilators. In many respects, the land proved to be a tougher enemy than the mountain people whom they were sent to conquer.