Representation of the Industrial Development of the Caucasus (as a Part of the Russian Empire) at the End of the XIXth and the Beginning of the XXth Centuries

At the end of the XIX century the rapid rise of industry, caused by financial reforms and the expansion of the railway network, occurred in the Russian Empire. Thus, industrial enterprises specialized in mining, processing and transportation of minerals were actively developed on the Black Sea coast as well as in the regions of the North Caucasus. The region's industry was advertised in guide books about the Caucasus. The guide books contained more and less detailed description of the region, advertising and information on the economic development of individual regions. Entrepreneurs, whose firms located in the Caucasus, demonstrated industrial products at the All-Russian and regional trade fairs. Trade fairs attracted broad audience and introduced the achievements of industry and advertised industrial products. The authors of the guidebooks and organizers of trade fairs interpreted the process of the economic development of the Caucasus to a wide audience. The research objective is to analyze different ways of representations of the industrial development of the region, and to describe the dynamic trends of the "commercial" ways of representing the industrial development of the Caucasus. The purpose of the study was to examine how the representations of industrial products of enterprises located in the Caucasus during the period of intensive industrial development (1890-1913) were changed based on analysis of commercial advertisements and exhibition materials. The first chapter reviews the context of the economic development of the region after the accession of the Caucasus to the Russian Empire. Special attention is paid to the construction of an extensive network of transport communications. In the second chapter I have considered representations of industrial products based on analysis of commercial advertisements and exhibition materials.