We're pleased to release another map of German colonies in Russia. This time it is of the Caucasus Colonies, all currently situated in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
For those keeping track, the Karl Stumpp source map we used was "Map of the German settlements in the North and South Caucasus." This was not the most accurate of Dr. Stumpp's maps. It was too large of an area to cover on such a small map. The scaling of the map simply didn't lend itself well to measurement. It did indicate the general area of a village, but some were 10-20 miles our from where it was placed on the map, and some village locations were reversed. But between the German-Russian Handbook, Google Maps and the Global Gazetteer, it was possible to confirm the location of 109 German villages in this area, with a find rate of about 63%.
Of the 109 colonies, 83 are in the North Caucasus (north of the 42nd parallel) and 26 colonies are in the South Caucasus area, including the eight Mother colonies established between 1817 and 1820: Alexanderdorf, Elisabethtal, Katharinenfeld, Marienfeld, Petersdorf, Neu Tiflis, Annenfeld and Helenendorf. There are conflicting sources as to the founding dates, and in cases like that, we always use the earliest year.
For those keeping track, the Karl Stumpp source map we used was "Map of the German settlements in the North and South Caucasus." This was not the most accurate of Dr. Stumpp's maps. It was too large of an area to cover on such a small map. The scaling of the map simply didn't lend itself well to measurement. It did indicate the general area of a village, but some were 10-20 miles our from where it was placed on the map, and some village locations were reversed. But between the German-Russian Handbook, Google Maps and the Global Gazetteer, it was possible to confirm the location of 109 German villages in this area, with a find rate of about 63%.
Of the 109 colonies, 83 are in the North Caucasus (north of the 42nd parallel) and 26 colonies are in the South Caucasus area, including the eight Mother colonies established between 1817 and 1820: Alexanderdorf, Elisabethtal, Katharinenfeld, Marienfeld, Petersdorf, Neu Tiflis, Annenfeld and Helenendorf. There are conflicting sources as to the founding dates, and in cases like that, we always use the earliest year.
There were also ten Russian cities in this region that integrated close to 3,000 German immigrants into their cities, and they are included on the map and commented as such in the notes for each.
If your looking for a particular Caucasus village that we don't have yet and you have some detailed information about where it is, please let us know. We'll try find it and put it on our map. And if anyone is aware of an updated map of villages in this area, we'd be very happy to hear about it. Although it's frustrating having such a low find rate, we do what we can with what we have.
# # #
