The Lesser Caucasus, also called Caucasus Minor, is the second of the two main

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

s of

Caucasus mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

, of length about . The western portion of the Lesser Caucasus overlaps and converges with east Turkey and northwest Iran. It runs parallel to the

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

, at a distance averaging about south from the Likhi Range (

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) and limits east Turkey from the north and north-east. It is connected to the Greater Caucasus by the Likhi Range (Georgia) and separated from it by the Kolkhida Lowland (Georgia) in the west and Kura-Aras Lowland (

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

) (by the Kura River) in the east. The highest peak is Aragats, . The borders between Georgia, Turkey,

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

, Azerbaijan and Iran run through the range, although its crest does not usually define the border. The range was historically called ''Anticaucasus'' or ''Anti-Caucasus'' (Greek: Αντι-Καύκασος, Russian: Антикавка́з, Анти-Кавка́з). This usage is commonly found in older sources. Current usage tends towards using the name Lesser Caucasus, but Anticaucasus can still be found in modern texts.

References

+ Mountain ranges of Azerbaijan Mountain ranges of Georgia (country) Mountain ranges of Armenia Mountain ranges of Turkey Mountain ranges of Iran Physiographic sections Mountain ranges of the Republic of Artsakh {{Turkey-geo-stub