Integration Processes at the Sochi Coast of the Black Sea in the Second Half of the 19th - the First Third of the 20th Centuries

The integration of the native peoples (Circassians/Adygeans, Shapsugs) and migrants at the Sochi coast of the Black Sea is analyzed in the article based on state archive materials, memories and analytical works of the participants of the events of the second half of the 19th - the first third of the 20th centuries. Some of the archival information was first introduced into scientific discourse. The topic is of theoretical and applied relevance. It is not sufficiently studied in the Western Caucasus regional historiography, and it is an object of political debate. The characteristic features of the sociocultural and economic integration of different ethnic groups are revealed in the article. The native population of the Black Sea region and migrants were introduced into the legal field of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th - the first third of the 20th centuries. Personal freedom and land allotments were provided to them. The social status of Circassian and Russian community members became identical. This further spread to all migrants at the time. The development of agriculture in the region was a sign of economic integration. The Russian administration used the term "colonization of the Black Sea region" in the 19th century. The essence of this term was the region's settlement and introduction of land into economic use. Migrants made a major contribution to this process. Russian migrants' and Cossacks' adaptation to the new conditions was not always successful. Migrants from Turkey (Armenians, Greeks), Georgia (Georgians) adapted their farming to the landscape environment successfully. Their economic specialization (horticulture, tobacco growing, animal husbandry) proved to be more stable and was preserved in the first third of the 20th century. The author believes that the population's sociocultural and economic integration into the modernized (socialist) society was successfully pursued by the state in the 1920s-1930s. Changes in the forms of economy, cooperation in agriculture, a new (recreational) specialization were the signs of economic integration. The population increase and the social infrastructure development in the region were consequences of the integration. The USSR citizen's unified rights and obligations were granted to all ethnoses with no exceptions. Identical executive authorities were formed throughout the country, including the Sochi Black Sea Coast. These were rural councils and agricultural enterprises in national settlements (Russian, Armenian, Greek, Georgian and others). Representatives of ethnic groups became heads of administrative bodies and artels in rural areas. Korenizatsiya ("putting down roots") was of great importance. Korenizatsiya measures included elimination of illiteracy, establishment of primary schools (of the first stage) and training of population in them, record keeping in native (ethnic) languages, formation of the national personnel.

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