Russian colonial policies in South Caucasus were aimed at the greater integration of the population through a combination of military force, public education, civil service employment and accommodation of non-Orthodox religious practices. But how did these policies affect the Muslim South Caucasian community? This chapter will focus on some of the political, economic and cultural ramifications of Russian colonialism in the region. We will see that theatre was an important vehicle through which the state introduced Russian and European culture to local South Caucasian communities. Baku’s oil wealth aided the rise of a new generation of indigenous Muslim industrialists, some of whom became philanthropists and helped pioneer a new educational reform movement in South Caucasus. Shi'i and Sunni institutions of learning also underwent a profound change as the state prohibited its citizens from attending theological seminaries in Najaf and Karbala and instead created state-sponsored madrasas inside the Russian Empire. By the turn of the twentieth century, a variety of radical discourses emerged among Muslim intellectuals, including Pan-Turkism, Pan-Islamism, liberalism and a variety of socialist ideologies. Following the Russian Revolution of 1905, and the Muslim–Armenian ethnic conflict of the same year, many radical intellectuals channelled their revolutionary energy into building a vibrant press and greater educational reforms for Muslim institutions, including for girls.

Russian conquest of South Caucasus

South Caucasus refers to the territory located between the Caucasus Mountains (to the north), the Black Sea (to the west), the Caspian Sea (to the east) and the Iranian Plateau (to the south). Today, it is home to the three republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. The region, including Dagestan, became part of the Safavid Empire (1501–1736) in the sixteenth century. The Safavid ruler, Shah Isma'il (1487–1524, r. 1501–24), gained control over the region north and south of the Aras River and declared Twelver Shi'ism the official religion of his new state. Shi'ism gradually became the dominant religion through both coercion and lavish expenditure on Shi'i religious festivals. Tabriz and Ardabil became centres of theological and philosophical training for the Safavids. Accounts differ on the financial administration of the Safavid era and whether the two regions, north and south of the Aras River, were part of the same administrative unit.