The ethnic map of Stavropol krai: Space–time dynamics for the last half-century

The paper analyzes changes in the ethnic composition of the population of Stavropol krai and the transformation of its ethnic map from 1959 to 2010. It has been determined that the geographical position and the demographic and migration situation are the main reasons for the dynamics of these processes. Stavropol krai is a kind of contact zone between Orthodoxy and Islam and between the areas of the settlement patterns of ethnic groups of the Indo-European, North Caucasian, and Altaic language families. The proximity of Stavropol krai to Dagestan, Chechnya, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay-Cherkessia largely explains the multiethnicity of its population. In moments of extreme migration activity, the krai’s territory was turned into a kind of corridor for migration, a buffer zone, and a transit area. Foreign migrants, mainly from South Caucasian countries, have made a great contribution to the modern ethnic composition of the krai’s population. Five stages can be distinguished in the structural dynamics of Stavropol krai’s ethnic population in since 1959: very stable, stable, turning, dynamic, and relatively dynamic. At the present stage, Stavropol krai has centers of multiethnicity, an ethnic semiperiphery, and an ethnic periphery.