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The article contains a historiographical review of pre- revolutionary, Soviet and contemporary studies on various aspects of political, legal, economic and socio-cultural integration of the peoples of the North Caucasus into Russia at the end of the 18th – 20th centuries. The authors carry out a historiographical review of pre-revolutionary and Soviet studies, in which the problem of the formation of the Russian-Caucasian socio-cultural unity at the end of the 18th – 20th centuries is studied. The priority of problems in the pre-revolutionary period was determined by military- strategic tasks in the context of active policy of Russia in the Caucasus, the traditional social institutions, life and customs of the highlanders, their relationship with the imperial authorities were studied in order to integrate the region into the Russian socio-political, economic and cultural system and further modernization of North Caucasian societies. The Soviet period of the historiography of the problem is characterized by the dominance of the Marxist-Leninist methodology, the structuring of the main problems of the history of Russian-North Caucasian relations, the appearance of the first generalizing works on the history of the region, terminological searches in the study of the process of joining and development of the region by the Russian Empire. The authors carry out a historiographical review of modern research, in which the problem of the formation of the Russian-Caucasian sociocultural unity at the end of the 18th – 20th centuries is studied. The modern historiography of the integration and modernization processes in the North Caucasus is characterized by methodological pluralism, which opened up new opportunities for interpreting various social processes in the region in the last third of the 18th – early 20th centuries. The formation of new scientific schools of Caucasian studies was distinguished by different approaches to identifying key factors and processes in the history of the region, a number of authors proceeded from the idea of the independence of its development as part of the Russian state.

The article studies the history of local history of Stavropol Territory and the North Caucasus in the 1920s, the period of formation of local history in the country. The purpose of the study is to restore the history of the first local history organizations and institutions in the Stavropol Territory based on documents from central and regional archives, museum collections, to identify their role in national history, culture, the development of scientific knowledge, and the preservation of historical and cultural heritage. For the first time, based on documentary heritage the role of the Stavropol Ethnological and Archaeological Commission in the development of the local history movement not only in Stavropol, but also in the North Caucasus is shown. The main activities of the ethnological and archaeological commission for the ethnographic study of the Stavropol province, the Kalmyks, the Nogais, the Turkmens, Russian settlers, German colonists living in it are analyzed; archaeological research of the region in order to identify, fix and register ancient monuments; cultural and protective activities; educational work with the population; archaeographic and archival research. The role of the Stavropol Ethnological and Archaeological Commission in coordinating local lore forces in the study of the North Caucasus region, establishing close scientific contacts with local historians of Krasnodar, Vladikavkaz, Rostov-on-Don, Nalchik, Pyatigorsk is shown. The article introduces the sources related to the activities of G.N. Prozritelev, one of the founders of the Stavropol Museum-Reserve of Local Lore, a well-known public figure and Caucasian scholar of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The study shows how the system of local history organizations took shape in the North Caucasus, the role played by the Central Bureau of Local History (CBLH) formed in 1922, which contributed to the beginning of the ―golden decade‖ in the history of local history.

The history of the Cossacks is one of the promising areas of domestic Caucasian studies. The greatest attention of researchers is attracted by the history of the Terek, Kuban, Don and Linear Cossack troops, which is closely connected with the history of the colonization of the North Caucasus and the South of Russia. The article discusses the historiography of studying the history of the Cossacks through the prism of the works of Stavropol historians, in relation to the pre-revolutionary period, the works of those military historians and researchers who lived for a certain time on the territory of Stavropol and wrote about the history of the Cossacks. The change in the stages of historiography was associated with a change in political orientations in society and affected its content. The pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern stages of the national historiography of the problem of the South Russian Cossacks are considered sequentially, the works of historians, problems, trends and features of research are analyzed. It is shown that a significant role in the formation of the historiographic tradition of studying the history of the Cossacks was played by military historians of the 19th - early 20th centuries, whose writings were of a military-strategic nature and were made in the form of military-topographical, military-statistical, statistical-geographical and historical-geographical descriptions. The Soviet stage is characterized by significant research in the field of the military-political history of the North Caucasus in the 19th century, the appearance of the first generalizing works, including those on the history of the North Caucasus, those territories where the Cossacks densely lived. A distinctive feature of the current stage of domestic historical science is the emergence of new approaches and methods to the study of the history of the Cossacks, the definition of the following areas of research: the phenomenon of the Russian Cossacks; Cossacks and Russian statehood; historical traditions of Cossack self-government; the interaction of the Cossacks, authorities and the church at various stages of the history of Russia; Cossacks in the state-national and cultural policy of the Russian Empire; Cossack colonization in the North Caucasus and the history of the Caucasian War; Cossacks and the Soviet power, decossackization, Cossacks during the Great Patriotic War, problems of the revival of the Cossacks; modern development of the Cossacks in Russia; Cossacks in the history and culture of foreign states; Cossacks in the space of historical memory of Soviet and post-Soviet societies; preservation of the historical heritage, material and spiritual culture of the Russian Cossacks.

A series of articles deals with various forms of historical knowledge in the intercultural space of the North Caucasus in the XIX - early XX centuries. Article 2 features formation of an academic model of research in the history of the region. It was due to the activities of St.Petersburg Academy of science, which was arranging expeditions from the mid - XIX to the early XX centuries. The expeditions accumulated bulk of knowledge about the history and culture of local peoples. The main centers for regional studies were located in Russian capitals: Imperial Russian Geographic Society, Imperial Society of Devotees of Science, Anthropology and Ethnography, Imperial Moscow Archaeological Society and Imperial Archaeological Commission. Their research programs on history, archaeology and ethnography of the North Caucasus as well as the research methods prompted the revival of academic studies of the historic heritage of the region, consolidation of local researchers' efforts and development of the regional Historiographical traditions. The V (Tiflis) Archaeological congress (1881) became the starting point to systematic studies of the region by local researchers. The congress also defined objectives and directions of development of region studies, which are valid up to the present time. To conclude, the interaction of metropolitan and local academic institutions, societies and particular researchers determined the process of formation of the academic tradition of the North Caucasus historical studies.

A series of articles examines the problem of functioning of different forms of historical knowledge in cross-cultural space of the North Caucasus in 19 - early 20th century. The first paper focuses on functioning of local oral tradition, an Islamic historical writing and the European model of history introduced by the Russian Empire which in the form of popular history (nonacademical) was positioned by the Russian teachers, military and officials. The conclusion is drawn that the European model of historical knowledge began to displace other practices of constructing the past from the region as "erroneous" and "unscientific"ones .

The article deals with a topical academic problem of the history of development of historical narratives in the Russian province in the late XIX - early XX centuries. It focuses on the history of foundation and activities of Stavropol Society for the exploration of North Caucasus region. The author is the first researcher to use archival resources in order to analyze the Society's manifold activities: archeological, ethnographical, historical, educational, as well as activities relating to museums, publishing and preservation of ancient monuments.