The range stretches for about 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from west-northwest to east-southeast, between the
Taman Peninsula of the
Black Sea to the
Absheron Peninsula of the
Caspian Sea: from the
Western Caucasus in the vicinity of
Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea and reaching nearly to
Baku on the Caspian.
The Central Caucasus between Mount Elbrus and
Mount Kazbek
The Eastern Caucasus between Mount Kazbek and the
Caspian Sea
In the wetter Western Caucasus, the mountains are heavily
forested (
deciduous forest up to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft),
coniferous forest up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) and
alpine meadows above the
tree line). In the drier Eastern Caucasus, the mountains are mostly treeless.
The watershed of the Caucasus was the border between the Caucasia province of the
Russian Empire in the north and the
Ottoman Empire and
Persia in the south (1801) until the
Russian victory in 1813 and the
Treaty of Gulistan which moved the border of the Russian Empire well within Transcaucasia.[2]
The border between
Georgia and
Russia still follows the watershed almost exactly (except for Georgia's western border, which extends south of the watershed, and a narrow strip of territory in northwestern
Kakheti and northern
Mtskheta-Mtianeti where Georgia extends north of the watershed), while
Azerbaijan is south of the watershed except that its northeastern corner has five districts north of the watershed (
Khachmaz,
Quba,
Qusar,
Shabran, and
Siazan).
^18th-century definitions drew the boundary north of the Caucasus, across the
Kuma–Manych Depression. This definition remained in use in the Soviet Union during the 20th century.
In western literature, the continental boundary has been drawn along the Caucasus watershed since at least the mid-19th century.
See e.g. Baron von Haxthausen, "Transcaucasia" (1854); review
Dublin university magazine
Douglas W. Freshfield, "
Journey in the Caucasus", Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Volumes 13–14, 1869.