Transcript The Caucasus region has been in constant turmoil

This region is a great lesson in Geography!
The Caucasus region has been in constant turmoil
throughout its history due to its Geography.
The good news for the
region has been its
Geography.
Trade routes
Invasions
The bad news
has been its
Geography.
The Caucasus region is a trade and cultural
crossroads.
Because of its
location, the
region is a
crossroads of
trade and
invasion for
countless
cultures and
empires.
Sitting in the mountain
ranges between the Black
and Caspian Sea, the land
is fertile and rich.
The various
mountains also
serve to separate
people. The region is made up of
numerous ethnic groups that live
on a area of land smaller than
California.
Various languages and
ethnicities inhabit the region.
Orthodox
church
There are also two
strong religions in the
area – Orthodox
Christian and Islam.
Muslim mosque
With the fall of the Soviet
Union, many new countries
gained their independence.
Dozens of small regions with
ethnic groups that were not
Russian wanted
independence. The
Russians still control most
of them.
They remain part of
Russia due to:
The Russian Army
The region that has seen the
most fighting is Chechnya.
It is estimated that Russia has
destroyed some 80% of the
Chechnyan capital of Grozny
Grozny
Because they have no chance to win a war with the Russians,
many fundamentalist Muslim Chechnyans have been waging
a war of terrorism against Russia and Russians.
Blew up a Russian airliner
Blew up an apartment
building
Took over a Moscow
theatre for several days.
Hundreds were killed
when Russian soldiers
botched the rescue
attempt.
But the most brazen terrorist attack came in Beslan, where
Chechen terrorists captured an elementary school in 2005.
Over 1,000 people were taken hostage, mostly children.
When explosion
sounded inside the
school, the Russian
troops rushed in. Over
350 people were killed.
The terrorists claimed revenge for the destruction of
most Chechnyan cities.
Terrorists before attacking Beslan.
Streets of Grozny.
While it is quiet in Chechnya today, the people still want to
break away from Russia.
In 2008, the Georgians
“invaded” South Osetia, a
part of Georgia. The
Osetians asked Russia for
help. The Russian army
rolled in and drove the
Georgians back.
Russian troops now
occupy South Osetia
Russians also invaded
the Abkhazia region but
eventually moved back
into Russia.
This conflict had the potential to grow into a larger conflict
because Georgia is linked with Western Europe and the USA.
Can you name a circumstance when a small conflict turned
into a world war?
The region remains in turmoil with ethnic and religious strife st
evident
In Geography, what do we call a region that has strong
religious and/or ethnic groups living close together?
A SHATTERBELT!