{"product_id":"old-ethnographic-map-of-dagestan-russia-by-kondratenko-1895-makhachkala-derbent-khasavyurt-buynaksk-kizlyar","title":"Old Map of Dagestan, Russia by Kondratenko, 1895: Makhachkala, Derbent, Khasavyurt, Buynaksk, Kizlyar","description":"\u003cp\u003eЭтнографическая карта Дагестанской области. С показанием границ округов, полицейских участков и сельских обществ is Kondratenko’s audacious 1895 portrait of a land where language, lineage, and landscape interlock. One of the first detailed ethnographic maps of the Caucasus, it distills the mountainous marches between the Caspian littoral and the high ramparts of the Greater Caucasus into a lucid, color‑coded mosaic. Thirty distinct peoples—among them Persians, Tats, Avars, Tatars, and Jews—are differentiated with crisp clarity, their territories tinted in bright, discrete hues and keyed to an authoritative legend. Bold boundary lines thread across valleys and passes to mark districts and police jurisdictions, while rivers and ridgelines quietly reveal the natural logic behind many frontiers. A decorative cartouche and intricate title typography crown the composition, underscoring both scholarly ambition and courtly aesthetic refinement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts maker, Lieutenant‑General Elisey Isidorovich Kondratenko, was not merely an officer but a meticulous researcher intent on mastering the human geography of an unruly frontier. Drawing on family lists and the reach of state police networks, he assembled a dataset of unusual intimacy and scale, yielding a synoptic view rarely attainable in the 19th century. The map draws intellectual lineage from a separate atlas of Caucasian ethnography issued in 1893, here refined and expanded into a dedicated statement for Dagestan. In Kondratenko’s hands, administrative exactitude becomes ethnographic revelation: the careful dovetailing of social units and state districts serves both as an instrument of governance and as a rare scientific record of self‑defined communities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesign carries the argument. Distinct, luminous colors settle into tessellated patches that follow foothills, river terraces, and alpine basins; each tint returns in the legend with an ethnonym that invites close reading. Boundary hierarchies are rendered with satisfying boldness—thicker lines for districts, finer strokes for police precincts—so the state’s administrative skeleton is visible at a glance. Relief shading and the disciplined tracing of mountain chains conjure the Caucasus as more than backdrop: a determining force in where peoples live and how they meet. Rivers like the Sulak and Samur, and the lowlands sweeping toward the Terek, double as cultural seams, while the title block’s calligraphy and the ornamental cartouche add a flourish of metropolitan polish to a map born of rugged terrain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKondratenko’s composition is as much a social diagram as a geographic one. The notation of rural communities (selskie obshchestva) discloses how kinship, village federations, and customary law knit together—and sometimes resist—imperial overlays. Ethnic distributions ripple from highland enclaves to steppe margins, articulating the complex identities for which Dagestan is renowned. With the region’s population estimated around 570,000 in the 1890s, density gradients and settlement clusters emerge without crowding the page, maintaining legibility where many sources falter. The result is a precise tableau of difference and adjacency, produced in a province that had formally joined the Russian Empire in 1802 yet retained a famously independent spirit—a tension the map captures with exact, unemotional linework.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGeography grounds the narrative in familiar names. Along the Caspian shore lie the precincts encompassing today’s Makhachkala, while southward the ancient stronghold of Derbent guards the famed Caspian Gates. North and west, the plains around present‑day Khasavyurt give way to the rising foothills that cradle Buynaksk, and farther north the vineyards and wetlands near Kizlyar meet the great northern rivers. Valleys carved by the Avar and Andi Koisu, uniting as the Sulak, mark corridors and divides that Kondratenko turns into legible boundaries. By aligning ethnic color fields with administrative districts and the sinew of mountain and river, the map lays bare the durable grammar of Dagestan—its passages, fortresses, watersheds, and peoples—rendered with a precision that continues to inform and fascinate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCities and towns on this map\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMakhachkala — Population: ~600,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDerbent — Population: ~120,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKhasavyurt — Population: ~120,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBuynaksk — Population: ~70,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKizlyar — Population: ~50,000\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNotable Features \u0026amp; Landmarks\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDelineation of different ethnic territories with distinct colors.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBoundaries of districts and police stations marked with bold lines.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA legend explaining the color coding related to different ethnic groups.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGeographic features, including mountains and rivers serving as boundaries.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe title block featuring intricate typography.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical and design context\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYear Created: 1895.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Dagestan region formally became part of the Russian Empire in 1802, yet its citizens retained a strong sense of independence.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe region has a history of resistance against Russian control and has been involved in separatist movements.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKondratenko used data largely obtained through family lists and state police networks, making it a unique source of ethnographic data.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe map was initially part of a separate atlas published in 1893, chronicling ethnographic studies of the Caucasian region.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe map employs bright colors to represent different ethnic groups and administrative boundaries.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFeatures a decorative cartouche that enhances the map's aesthetic appeal.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt is considered one of the first detailed ethnographic maps of the Caucasian region.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReflects the complexity of nationality and identity in a region known for its diverse ethnic makeup.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 90in (230cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 24x36in (60x90cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003ebest old maps\u003c\/a\u003e to see if something else catches your eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlease \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003econtact me\u003c\/a\u003e to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex\/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"12x18in (30x45cm) \/ Map","offer_id":57597868999040,"sku":"UM00264444A","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x18in (30x45cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57597869031808,"sku":"UM00264445A","price":95.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x18in (30x45cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":57597869064576,"sku":"UM00264446A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":57597869097344,"sku":"UM00264447A","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":57597869130112,"sku":"UM00264448A","price":95.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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