The Northern Caucasus occupies a special place in Russian history from the 18th century through to the October revolution. Conquered by Russia during the bloody wars of the 19th century, it was gradually “pacified”, becoming the underdeveloped, exotic Eastern outskirt of the country. At the same time, it subjugated its conquerors by becoming crucial to the idea of Russia as a great empire. Time has come to reread the history of the Northern Caucasus, to free it from old colonial stereotypes and new confabulations. This book, compiled by a group of historians and ethnographers from the academic centers of Makhchkala, Nalchik, Grozny and Moscow, invites the reader to reassess familiar themes: the Caucasian war, the exodus of mountain-dwellers from the Russian Caucasus into the Ottoman Empire, Russian colonization, Caucasian reform and revolution, as well as new areas of research, such as the idea of the Caucasian frontier, Islamic discourse, orientalism and more.