AHC - Ukraine & Caucasus become Europe's American Midwest

Up until the 1700s, Southern/Eastern Ukraine and the Caucasus were comparable to the American Midwest. They were sparsely populated virgin lands with excellent agricultural potential. However, by 1900 the United States had developed and industrialized the heartland of North America while Ukraine and the Caucasus were not able to reach such levels. Is it possible for a country to gain the territory and develop it along similar lines as the Midwest? PoDs can go back as far as you like.
 
sparsely populated virgin land
The Caucasus? If it did have a low population (debateable) that would only be because of the depredations of nomads like the Mongols and others. But virgin lands? Definitely not. These mountains have some of the oldest human settlementd in history. The mix of peoples and languages, many unique to the region, suggests that many of them have been established in the same place for millennia. Play with the Ukrainian steppe in this way if you must, but get your tanks out of the Caucasus!
 
The Caucasus? If it did have a low population (debateable) that would only be because of the depredations of nomads like the Mongols and others. But virgin lands? Definitely not. These mountains have some of the oldest human settlementd in history. The mix of peoples and languages, many unique to the region, suggests that many of them have been established in the same place for millennia. Play with the Ukrainian steppe in this way if you must, but get your tanks out of the Caucasus!
*North Caucasus, near the Sea of Azov. Near the "Central Black Earth Region" of Russia. According to climate and topographical data, it is about as close to the American Midwest as you can get in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Also, the Midwest was inhabited for thousands of years so I'm not sure if you understand my wording. Lands don't have to be uninhabited to be "virgin". They just need to be uncultivated.
 
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*North Caucasus, near the Sea of Azov. Near the "Central Black Earth Region" of Russia. According to climate and topographical data, it is about as close to the American Midwest as you can get in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Also, the Midwest was inhabited for thousands of years so I'm not sure if you understand my wording. Lands don't have to be uninhabited to be "virgin". They just need to be uncultivated.
yah the Caucasus were cultivated
 
*North Caucasus, near the Sea of Azov. Near the "Central Black Earth Region" of Russia. According to climate and topographical data, it is about as close to the American Midwest as you can get in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Also, the Midwest was inhabited for thousands of years so I'm not sure if you understand my wording. Lands don't have to be uninhabited to be "virgin". They just need to be uncultivated.

Ah, so the northern part of what is today Krasnodar Krai, the steppe area north of the Kuban River? I don't normally think of that as part of 'the Caucasus' (though administratively it appears to be), so you can have it.

In other words inhabited by nomads and pastoralists rather than settled agriculturalists?
 
What? Southern Ukraine and the Caucasus-Volga area experienced a population booming during this time, the population of some regions growing more than 12 times over the 19th century.
 
*North Caucasus, near the Sea of Azov. Near the "Central Black Earth Region" of Russia. According to climate and topographical data, it is about as close to the American Midwest as you can get in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Also, the Midwest was inhabited for thousands of years so I'm not sure if you understand my wording. Lands don't have to be uninhabited to be "virgin". They just need to be uncultivated.

As far as the Northern Caucasus is involved, serious Russian presence there started in the 2nd half of the XVIII and there was a tedious process of squeezing out the native population, staring with the Nogais, and substituting it with the Cossack settlers. Each step further Southward meant dealing with the new hostile neighbors who were well familiar with the firearms and did not depend on getting them from the invaders; if anything, Russians adopted their sword, “Shashka” and the Kuban Cossacks got the Circassian national dress as an uniform. Anyway, Kuban area was/is a well-developed agricultural region so I’m not sure about the nature of your problem.
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
Very interesting. I have a few PODs.

*Persian Empire conquers Sarmatia and Caucasus and gives an equal status to these peoples.

*Byzantine Empire retains power of the Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus and expands into the Ukraine taking in the Scythians,Avars,Caucasians,Turks living there and soon they are managing a large empire and a stable one bordering the ally,Russia.

*Scythians and Caucasians begin their empire building.

*A stronger and a larger Armenia or Georgia.

Edit: One more,Greeks under Alexander conquer the Pontic Steppes and the Caucasus and the people there are treated akin to Egyptians and Romans. You now have a prosperous Steppe and Caucasus.
 
If Ukraine gets independence in 1917 or Tsarist Russia wins WWI and slowly becomes a high income economy over the course of the century, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine has its population multiply five times or more over during the 1914-2019 time period. That would give them 160+ million people by the present. If they fully develop, that could give them an 8+ trillion dollar economy.
 
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