THE TRANSFORMATION OF COMMUNICATION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS DURING THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY: OVERWHELMING IMPACT OF NOVEL TECHNO-LOGIC DEVICE: TELEPHONE

Abstract

The industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, as in many other fields, opened the door to the development of communication technologies. One of the thriving communication technolo-gies of the nineteenth century was telephone networks. Widespread utilizing of the telephone networks became a phenomenon that developed worldwide, including in the South Caucasus which was the province of Tsarist Russia that period of time. Baku which was the pearl of the South Caucasus in that period time, the emergence of the first telephone lines there in 1880 and 1881 was greatly influenced by Baku's "black gold". The telephone, the newest communica-tion gadget of the time, was vital for the integration of Baku's oil industry into the widespread global economy. By the end of the 1880s, Tbilisi had caught up with Baku about utilizing tele-phone. The development and construction of telephone lines in the South Caucasus were linked to the names of foreign companies generally. The pioneers in the development of communica-tion technologies in the South Caucasus which were Branobel and Siemens & Halske companies, their presence especially in present-day Azerbaijan and Georgia, are frequently emphasized in this research. The activities of the Branobel brothers in Baku and Siemens & Halske in Tbilisi and Gedabey were noteworthy during that period. The source of raw materials for telephone and telegraph networks, which were communication technologies of their time was Gedabey’s copper mines in the South Caucasus. Due to this research attempts to explain the importance of telephone lines, a novel example of the developing communication age, in the region. Utilizing methods common to history, such as source research, classification, analysis, and synthesis, this study aims to illustrate the importance of telephone networks, a rising communication technol-ogy in the South Caucasus.