Elisabethpol Governorate

Elisabethpol Governorate or Elizavetpol Governorate or Elizavetapol Governorate (Russian: Елизаветпольская губерния; in pre-1918 Russian spelling: Елисаветпольская губернія) was one of the guberniyas of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Elisabethpol (official name for Ganja in 1805–1918). Its area was 44,136 sq. kilometres,[1] and it had 878,415 inhabitants by 1897.[2]

Elisabethpol Governorate

Елизаветпольская губерния
Coat of arms
Administrative map (1913)
CountryRussia
Political statusGovernorate
RegionCaucasus
Established1868
Abolished1917
Area
 • City44,136 km2 (17,041 sq mi)
Population
 (1897)
 • City878,415
 • Density20/km2 (52/sq mi)
 • Urban
10.16%
 • Rural
89.84%

Geography

The area of the governorate includes:

  • the southern slope of the main Caucasus range in the northeast, where Mount Bazardüzü and other peaks rise above the snow-line
  • the arid steppes beside the Kura river, reaching 1000 ft. of altitude in the west and sinking to 100–200 ft. in the east, where irrigation is necessary
  • the northern slopes of the Transcaucasian escarpment and portions of the Armenian Highlands, which is intersected towards its western boundary, near Lake Sevan, by chains of mountains consisting of trachytes and various crystalline rocks.[3]

Elsewhere the country has the character of a plateau, 7,000 to 8,000 ft. high, deeply trenched by tributaries of the Aras. All varieties of climate are found from that of the snowclad peaks, Alpine meadows, and stony deserts of the high levels, to that of the hill slopes and of the arid Caspian steppes.[3]

History

Elisabethpol Governorate was created in 1868 from parts of Baku Governorate and Tiflis Governorate. This included lands of the former Ganja Khanate, Shaki Khanate, and Karabakh Khanate. It bordered with Baku Governorate, Tiflis Governorate, Yerevan Governorate, Dagestan Oblast, and Persia.

Starting in 1905, there were attempts by the region's ethnic Armenians to separate the highland areas (commonly known as Mountainous Karabagh) from the rest of Elisabethpol. Another attempt to create an independent Armenian state in the region was the Republic of Mountainous Armenia in 1921.

On the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, Elisabethpol Governorate was renamed Ganja Governorate. The area to the south of the Murov Range was made into Karabakh Governorate General. The governorate system was abolished in the early 1920s.

Today, the territory of the former Elisabethpol Governorate is in western Azerbaijan and adjacent areas of Armenia.

Administrative division

Elisabethpol Governorate was originally divided into eight uyezds:[1]

Demographics

The 1886 population estimate was 728,943, living in 3 cities (Elisabethpol, Nukha, and Shusha) and 1521 villages. [4]

According to the 1897 census, the total population was 878,415. Tatars (historically the term included Azerbaijanis) at 534,086 (60.8%) and Armenians at 292,188 (33.3%) were the largest ethnic groups. Other ethnic groups included Lezgins (14,503 or 1.7%; reported at the time as Кюринцы and Гапутлинцы ), Russians (14,146 or 1.6%), Udis (7,040 or 0.8%), Germans (3,194 or 0.4%) and Kurds (3,042 or 0.3%).

According to 1886 statistics reported in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary,[4] the Orthodox Christians constituted 0.21% of the Governorate's population, and various "sectarians" (сектанты) around 1% (i.e., some 7,300 people). This means that most of the ethnic Russians in the Governorate at the time (1.11% of the Governorate's 728,943 population in 1886) were members of various dissenter communities, such as Doukhobors and Molokans.

Ethnic groups in 1897

Source:[5]

Uyezd Tatars (Azerbaijanis) Armenians Lezgins Russians Belarusians Germans Kurds Udis
TOTAL 60.8% 33.3% 1.7% 1.6% ... ... ... ...
Aresh 70.1% 20.5% 8.7% ... ... ... ... ...
Jebrayil 74.1% 23.7% ... 1.1% ... ... ... ...
Javanshir 71.6% 26.9% ... ... ... ... ... ...
Elisabethpol 63.9% 26.4% ... 4.4% 1.7% 1.9% ... ...
Zangezur 51.6% 46.1% ... ... ... ... 1.3% ...
Kazakh 57.2% 38.9% ... 3.0% ... ... ... ...
Nukha 69.3% 15.7% 7.1% ... ... ... ... 5.8%
Shusha 45.3% 53.3% ... 1.0% ... ... ... ...

Known governors
  • Fokion Bulatov, 1868–1876
  • Alexander Nakashidze, 1880–1897
  • Ivan Kireyev, 1897–1900
  • Nikolai Lutsau, 1900–1905
  • Yegor Baranovsky, 1905 (acting)
  • Alexander Kalachev, 1905–1907
  • Samkalov, 1907–1908
  • Georgi Kovalev, 1908–1916
  • Mikhail Poyarkov, 1916–1917[6]

References
  1. (in Russian) Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedia: Elisabethpol Governorate
  2. (in Russian) Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedia: Elisabethpol Governorate – additional information to the article
  3.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Elisavetpol". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 280.
  4. Елизаветпольская губерния (Elizavetpol Governorate) in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian)
  5. Демоскоп Weekly - Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку и уездам. Российской Империи кроме губерний Европейской России
  6. Lands of Ganja Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine

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