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Abstract:

The article continues the review of books by the 19^th century Russian authors, containing information about Abkhazia. Among the studied editions, there are books that are well-known and have widespread use in science, as well as rare ones, which have not been given due attention. The reviewed publications contain information about a physical-geographical, military-topographic, military-statistical, historical-ethnographic, linguistic and archaeological peculiarities of Abkhazia. The authors of the books were people of different professions: military men, officials, clergymen and representatives of scientific communities. The article attempts to establish the differences in the authors’ research interest in Abkhazia. In terms of their volume, the materials of the analyzed texts are various; some of them represent a section or chapter of a book, and sometimes it is a generalizing publication entirely devoted to Abkhazia. Despite the discrepancies encountered between publications in the description of the ethnic appearance of the Abkhaz people, they all contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about it, and played an important role in the formation of scientific Abkhazian Studies. Biased assessments and condemnatory characteristics given by individual authors to historical circumstances have been subjected to critical analysis.