Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)

The Caucasus Viceroyalty was a colony of the Russian Empire located in the Caucasus region, existing from 1801 to 1917 under the governance of various administrative offices. It included the present-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the partially-recognised states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the Russian republics of Adygea, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia–Alania and portions of Russia and Turkey.

Russia conquered the Caucasus in the early 19th century, beginning with the annexation of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and continuing with the Caucasian War and a series of conflicts against the Ottoman and Persian empires. Russian colonial administrators used divide and rule tactics, favouring majority-Christian ethnic groups (particularly Georgians, Armenians and Ossetians) over predominantly-Muslim ones.