In-Between Empires: Muslim Subjects of the Tsar in the 19th-Century Southern Caucasus, 03.07.2025
July 3, 2025 | 19:00 h | Max Weber Stiftung – Georgia Branch Office | Rustaveli Avenue 20, Tbilisi
Lecture by Evgeniya Prusskaya (Marburg University)

The nineteenth century marked a period of continuous expansion of the Russian Empire into the southern Caucasus. As a result of several Russian-Ottoman and Russian-Persian wars throughout the century, large territories inhabited by significant Muslim populations fell under the rule of the Romanov Empire. The territories, neighboring the Ottoman and Qajar Empires, emerged as a dynamic borderlands characterized by the constant migration of diverse population groups. The Muslim population in the region comprised both Sunni and Shi‘a communities, who were dispersed across various areas and maintained strong familial, economic, and religious ties across the three empires.
The lecture will address this in-between position and the transimperial connections of Muslim
communities under Russian rule in the southern Caucasus during the nineteenth century, when
borders between the empires shifted several times. In fact, Muslims in the region belonged to a
broader Ottoman-Russian-Persian Muslim world within which they lived and moved. The in-between position of Tsar’s Muslim subjects shaped the policies of the three rival empires toward
them. At the same time, Muslims developed various strategies for navigating this space,including taking advantage of inter-imperial tensions and differing legal systems in the region to pursue their own interests.
Working language:
English without interpretation
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OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Nino Tsertsvadze (June 19, 2025). In-Between Empires: Muslim Subjects of the Tsar in the 19th-Century Southern Caucasus, 03.07.2025. MWS Georgia Branch Office. Retrieved May 13, 2026 from https://mwsgeorgia.hypotheses.org/8505

