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Elisabethpol Governorate Елизаветпольская губернія
Governorate
FlagCoat of arms
Administrative map of the Elisabethpol Governorate
Country	Russian Empire
Viceroyalty	Caucasus
Established	1867
Abolished	1920
Capital	Elisabethpol (Ganja)
Area
• Total	44,136 km (17,041 sq mi)
Highest elevation	3,724 m (12,218 ft)
Population
• Total	1,275,131
• Density	29/km (75/sq mi)
• Urban	12.24%
• Rural	87.76%

The Elisabethpol Governorate (pre-reform Russian: Елизаветпольская губернія; Template:Lang-az) was one of the guberniyas of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Elisabethpol (Ganja). The area of the governorate stretched 44,136 sq. kilometres and included 878,415 inhabitants by 1897. The Elisabethpol Governorate bordered the Erivan Governorate to the west, the Tiflis Governorate and Zakatal Okrug to the north, the Dagestan Oblast to the northeast, the Baku Governorate to the east, and Persia to the south.

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.

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 in the snowclad peaks, Alpine meadows, and stony deserts of the high levels, to that of the hill slopes and of the arid Caspian steppes.

History

Elisabethpol Governorate was created by the decree "On the transformation of the administration of the Caucasian and Transcaucasian region" dated December 9, 1867. The province included the Elisabethpol Uyezd of the Tiflis Governorate, the Nukha and Shusha uyezds of the Baku Governorate and part of the abolished Ordubad uyezd. By the same decree, the Kazakh and Zangezur uyezds were formed as part of the province. In 1873, due to the disaggregation of the uyezd, three new uyezds were formed in the Governorate - Aresh, Jebrail and Jevanshir. The governorate included lands of the former Ganja Khanate, Shaki Khanate, and Karabakh Khanate. It bordered with Baku Governorate, Tiflis Governorate, Erivan Governorate, Dagestan Oblast, and Persia.

From 1905, there were attempts by Armenian intelligentsia of the Russian Empire to separate the highland areas (commonly known as Mountainous Karabagh) from the rest of Elisabethpol into a zemstvo (self-governing rural community) province.

On the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in May 1918, the Elisabethpol Governorate was renamed to the Ganja Governorate to de-Russify the region. The neighboring Democratic Republic of Armenia claimed the entirety of the western highland sections of the governorate which as a whole formed a small Armenian majority, however, Armenian control did not exceed the western parts of Zangezur, Kazakh and Karabakh. In 1919, the entirety of Karabakh south of the Murov Range with British support was separated into the Karabakh General Governorship, following the subjugation of the Karabakh Armenian Council.

The governorate provincial system was abolished in the early 1920s after the Sovietization of Azerbaijan. In early 1921, after the Sovietization of Armenia, a Dashnak Armenian revolt which spawned in Yerevan spread to the Zangezur Uyezd, the revolt becoming known as the Republic of Mountainous Armenia. The rebels led by Garegin Nzhdeh finally departed Zangezur in the summer of 1921 after receiving guarantees the district would remain within Soviet Armenia.

In the present-day, the territory of the former Elisabethpol Governorate forms the bulk of western Azerbaijan, and adjacent areas of northeast and southeast Armenia.

Administrative divisions

Elisabethpol Governorate was originally divided into eight uezds:

• Aresh (Template:Lang-ru)
• Jebrail (Template:Lang-ru)
• Jevanshir (Template:Lang-ru)
• Elisabethpol (Template:Lang-ru
• Zangezur (Template:Lang-ru)
• Kazakh (Template:Lang-ru)
• Nukha (Template:Lang-ru)
• Shusha (Template:Lang-ru)

Demographics

Population Estimate of 1886

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

According to 1886 statistics reported in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, 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.

Russian Imperial Census of 1897

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%).

Caucasian Calendar of 1917

The 1917 Caucasian Calendar which produced statistics of 1916 indicates 1,275,131 residents in the Elisabethpol Governorate, including 676,377 men and 598,754 women, 1,213,626 of whom were the permanent population, and 61,505 were temporary residents.

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

References

1. Many Udis were also included in the number of Armenians, primarily in the Nukha Uyezd.

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. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 280.
4. Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Собр. 2-е. Т. XLII. Ч. 2. Ст. 45259.
5. Azərbaycan Xalq Cümhuriyyəti Ensiklopediyası: I cild. pp. 420–423.
6. Мильман А. Ш. (1966). Политический строй Азербайджана в XIX — начале XX веков (административный аппарат и суд, формы и методы колониального управления). Баку: Азернешр. p. 157.
7. Кавказский календарь .... на 1913 год (in Russian). Tiflis: Office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. 1913. pp. 271–317.
8. ^ Елизаветпольская губерния (Elizavetpol Governorate) in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian)
9. Демоскоп Weekly - Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку и уездам. Российской Империи кроме губерний Европейской России
10. ^ Кавказский календарь .... на 1917 год (in Russian). Tiflis: Office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. 1917. pp. 355–358.
11. Lands of Ganja Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine

40°40′58″N 46°21′38″E / 40.6828°N 46.3606°E / 40.6828; 46.3606

• Elisabethpol Governorate
• Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)
• Governorates of the Caucasus
• Modern history of Azerbaijan
• Modern history of Armenia
• States and territories established in 1868
• States and territories disestablished in 1917
• 1868 establishments in the Russian Empire
• 1917 disestablishments in Russia
• 19th century in Azerbaijan
• 20th century in Azerbaijan