Slaves trade at the Black Sea coast of the North-West Caucasus in the picturesque and written sources of 19th century

Тhe article discovers the problem reflection of the realities of the North Caucasian slave trade in paintings and written sources of the 19th century. Within the boundaries of the North-West Caucasus, the authors analyzed the sources of slavery among the Circassians, the driving forces of the slave trade within the local people, the geographical location of the most significant slave markets in the region. The article characterizes the role of the Ottoman merchants in the process of exporting the slaves in the pre-Russian and Russian period during administrative and political affiliation of the Black Sea coast of North-West Caucasus. It describes the trade specifics of the Circassian women-slave trade in the region. It analyzes the pricing policy towards Caucasian female prisoners. The examples of predictions of the European travelers regarding the following future of slaves in the East are presented the nature and the consequences of the military and administrative measures implemented by the Russian Empire in 1830s in order to prevent the export of slaves from the Black Sea coast of the North Caucasus. It describes the efforts of the Ottoman and Circassian slave traders to continue the smuggling human trafficking. In the examples of masking ships, secret meeting places, the destruction of evidence in the case of verification by the teams of Russian warships, etc. The article determines the degree of reliance of the historical data reflections in the testimonies made by the artists of the studied period.