The Society of Abkhazia in the Russian Historical Literature of the 19th Century: An Example from Nikolai Dubrovin’s Work "History of the War and Rule of the Russians in the Caucasus"

Abstract

This article focuses on the depiction of Abkhazia and its society in the nineteenth-century work of Russian historiographer Nikolai Dubrovin, titled History of the War and Rule of the Russians in the Caucasus. In the second part of its first volume, published in 1871, the author devotes considerable attention to this country. As it turns out, the knowledge about Abkhazia presented by Dubrovin is a remarkable example of substantial sophistication, based on a reliable indication of basic facts, often enriched with supplementary, sometimes anecdotal information. The overall depiction of Abkhazia and its society highlights the presence of ancient, yet dynamic, social structures that are slowly transforming over time. Although Dubrovin does not make this statement explicitly, readers can infer that an economically almost autarchic country with a quasi-feudal social structure and a weak central authority was, over time-and partly due to the changing political situation in the Caucasus and the growth and consolidation of Russian influence-becoming more susceptible to the challenges of nineteenth-century modernity.