러시아ㆍ유라시아

Today the southern part of the Caucasus mountains and western part of Caspian Sea belong to Azerbaijan and Iran. From a historical view, this area is a point of acculturation between the East and the West. Since the 1st millennium B.C., many nomadic tribes(Scythians, Sarmatians, Allans) of the Steppe migrated and reached here. At the same time the strong influences from the south(Manna, Media, Achaemenid Persia, Partia, Sassanid Persia) reached this area too. Since the Middle Ages, Arabs, Turks and Mongols attacked and settled down this area. As a result there happened a complex acculturation in the blood, religion, and culture. In the modern times, Russia, Ottoman Turk, and Iran clashed mutually and Azerbaijan people was doomed to divide into two parts. So the diplomatic relations among Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Turkey and Iran are getting more and more complicated. The representative ancient states in this area are Atropatena and Caucasian Albania. Recently archaeologists excavated several sites in Gabala the capital of Caucasian Albania and could accumulate abundant data about the exchange of cultural features among many states for example Partia, Sassanid Persia, Greece, Rome, Sarmatia, and Alan. So from now we are able to study the acculturation phenomenon by not only old documents but also the archaeological material