Hidden in Plain Sight: The Untold Story of the Caucasus

If you ask an average person in London, Chicago, or Seoul about the Caucasus, chances are they’ll hesitate. And there's a good reason why.

A lot of people confuse the Caucasus with "Caucasian race" but in reality, it's a melting pot despite it's small size. The Caucasus is wedged between the Black and Caspian seas but it's one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse places on Earth. 

The region has been at the meeting point of empires for decades. Persians, Ottomans, Byzantines, Mongols, Arabs and Russians all marched through our region and greatly impacted our architecture, cuisine, and languages.

If you look at ethnic-linguistic map of the Caucasus you'll be shocked. Even though there are a lot of different groups, you could put them in 8 main groups:

* Abkhazians 

* Circassians (Adygeys, Kabardins and etc.)

* Dagestanis (Lezgins, Avars, Dargins and etc.)

* Veinakh people (Chechens and Ingushs)

* Armenians

* Greeks (Mainly Pontic Greeks)

* Iranian people (Kurds, Ossetians, Talysh)

* Slavs (mainly Russians)

* Mongols (Kalmyks)

* Turkic people (Azerbaijanis, Kumyks and etc.)

And then you got tiny nations like Udis, Khinalugs and etc. Even though all of us nations differ, we also have common traits and traditions: 

* Hospitality

* Feasting and toasting to honour family, friends, and ancestors. Bread is sacred and dropping it or wasting it - deeply disrespectful

* Energetic dances like lezginka and improvesional music like Mugham or Georgian polyphonic singing

* Respect for family and elders

* Since we are people of mountains, we still have traditions of bravery, horsemanship, and defense of homeland run deep.

* Weddings are huge (also big business)

* Religious festivals like Orthodox Easter, Nowruz and etc.

* We usually use daggers, swords like symbols of honour

However, despite all of these we are often ignored by Western media due to we are overshadowed by big neighbours like Russia, Iran and Turkey. Media often covers wars and conflicts, which actually causes a bad PR for the region. Since we are in Eurasia, it's like a Western cultural blind spot. I wouldn't classify Caucasus as fully European, Asian or even Middle Eastern. As a result, global pop culture rarely references these areas, meaning most folk are unaware about Caucasus beyond maps.

But there's more to Caucasus than war and conflict. I think the only positive coverage we had when Azerbaijan hosted Eurovision or Khabib Nurmagomedov beat McGregor.