Education and enlightenment in the North Caucasus as factors in the expansion of Russian authority in the region during the first half of the 19th century

The article examines the role of education and enlightenment in the process of establishing and expanding Russian authority in the North Caucasus during the first half of the 19th century. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that education and enlightenment played a significant role in Russia’s overall strategy for integrating the Caucasus into the imperial space. The scientific novelty lies in the systematic consideration of educational initiatives as one of the tools of the Russian Empire’s “soft power,” aimed at integrating mountain peoples, forming loyal elites, and spreading Russian cultural influence. The article traces the evolution of the Russian government’s approaches to organizing education for the mountaineers, identifying difficulties and contradictions in this process. Forms such as amanat schools, military educational institutions, attempts to establish secular schools, and the significance of spreading the Russian language are examined. The results show that despite the limited scale, financial and personnel challenges, as well as resistance from parts of the local population, educational policy in the first half of the 19th century laid the foundations for the subsequent integration of North Caucasian peoples into the all-Russian cultural and political space, contributing to the gradual formation of a mountain intelligentsia oriented toward Russia and thereby strengthening the empire’s position in this strategically important region.