Publications of “intelligent chernomortsy” in the newspaper Kavkaz

December 1844 was a turning point for the Caucasus, when it was decided to create the Caucasus Viceroyalty, which led to significant changes in the administrative, economic and cultural spheres. This article studies a new information field system associated with the publication of the annual Kavazskiy Kalendar’ [Caucasus Calendar] and the weekly newspaper Kavkaz, initiated by Prince M.S. Vorontsov in 1846, which was necessary for the media support of his administrative and cultural reforms. It has been proved that the newspaper Kavkaz, whose editing was entrusted to O.I. Konstantinov, played an important role in the study of the history, ethnography and folklore of the Caucasus, as well as in the collection of local literary materials. It is shown that in the period of the Caucasian War on the territory of the Black Sea Cossack Army a type of “intelligent chernomorets [resident of the Black Sea region] of the 1840s” was formed. In the course of the study, the main emphasis was placed on the intellectual biography of the keeper of the spiritual school V.F. Zolotarenko, a representative of this type. As a result of our research, we were able to establish the authorship of three previously non-atributed essays published in the newspaper Kavkaz in the period from 1848 to 1850. We prove that one of them was written by V.F. Zolotarenko; the others were written by I.D. Popko. This allowed clarifying the bibliographic information concerning the creative heritage of both authors and broadening the understanding of the thematic diversity of the newspaper Kavkaz in the context of studying the literary and local history aspects of the formation of the regional cultural tradition. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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