The Caucasus embraces a vast territory and comprises four countries: Azerbaijan - 86,6 thousand km², Georgia - 69,7 thousand km², Armenia - 29,8 thousand km² and Russia (Northern Caucasus) - 355,1 thousand km². V. Dokuchaev called the Caucasus a natural soil museum, which is a direct consequence of complex bioclimatic and lithologic-geomorphologic conditions. A whole series of new soils were identified in the Caucasus: cinnamonic, mountain-meadow, yellow-brown forest etc, which later acquired "the right of world citizenship". Initial information about the Caucasian soils and their various uses is given in the annals of ancient Greek and Roman historians and geographers: Herodotus, Strabo, and Xenophon. The scientific study of Caucasian soils began with V. Dokuchaev. The first scientific information on Caucasian soils is given in his well-known book "Russian Charnozem" and the beginning of modern soil science is related to its publication in 1883. In 1898-1900 V. Dokuchaev conducted field explorations in the Caucasus that resulted in the discovery of vertical zonality of soils. This discovery laid the foundation for the study of soils geography of mountainous countries. During the studies of Caucasian soils V. Dokuchaev and his pupils worked out a series of fundamental concepts of soil science. In the first half of 20th century soil science was widely developed and it presented a significant branch of study of the natural resources of certain countries of the Caucasus. In Georgia and Azerbaijan the explorations were lead by S.A. Zakharov and his pupils, in Armenia by B.I. Galstian, and in the Northern Caucasus by A.M. Pankov, S.I. Turemnov, and their disciples. These works provided vast information on the soils of the Caucasus. Soil studies were then extended, with large-scale studies initiated to support the development of big amelioration projects, such as the expansion of areas for subtropical agriculture.

In addition to the identification of the vertical zonality of soils, the studies in the Caucasus laid the groundwork for the further study of the provincialism and foothill zonality of soils and the idea of soil metamorphism appeared. In the middle of the 20th century Institutes of Soil Science were established in the countries of the South Caucasus that made a large contribution to the development of soil science in the Caucasus. The soil studies in the Caucasus include a wide spectrum: genesis, geography, cartography, classification, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, biology, melioration, protection, rational use, etc. The results of the long-term investigations of Caucasian soils have been reported in numerous articles and monographs and in presentations at various congresses and symposia. A large number of soil maps of different scales have been made for the Caucasus. The map of Georgia with a scale of 1 : 400 000 was drawn up on the basis of up to date international soil classification (WRB) and is well-known to many soil science experts in the world. Current studies of Caucasian soils give detailed characteristics of the soil cover, both as a natural body and of its productive power.