This book examines the history of Muslim Azerbaijan under Christian Orthodox Russian imperial rule and the attempts of the Russian administrators of the Caucasus to integrate the region into the empire. Firouzeh Mostashari presents the formation of a Russian colonial administration in the Muslim Caucasus; subsequent social, political and economic development and the local response to conquest, military rule and Russification. Central to the study is the concept of a religious and cultural frontier separating Orthodox Russia and Muslim Azerbaijan. "On the Religious Frontier" offers a fascinating insight into how the seeds of conflict in today's Caucasus were sown during Tsarist Russia.