Los paisajes del Cáucaso en la Geografía rusa: entre el modelo científico y la representación socio-cultural

Abstract

The Caucasus found its place in the very heart of Russian imagery of mountain landscape.It also became one of the most important centers of field studies for Russian «Landscapescience» which gradually transformed Russian geography into one of the instruments of newlands colonization and development of natural resources. In this paper the interrelation betweenthe Caucasian landscape, its cultural representations and its scientific models during the XVIIIth,XIXth and XXth centuries is reconstituted to demonstrate complexity of scientific andcultural representations and relativity of scientific interpretation of space. Subjective and objective,sensual and sensible, the landscape unfolds, in this context, as a new scientific thinking,paying due respect to history of peoples and their cultures.