Caucasus Viceroyalty
Кавказское наместничество
Administrative map of the Caucasus Viceroyalty
Administrative map of the Caucasus Viceroyalty
CountryRussian Empire
Established1801
Abolished1917
CapitalTiflis
(present-day Tbilisi)
Area
  Viceroyalty410,423.66 km2 (158,465.46 sq mi)
Highest elevation5,642 m (18,510 ft)
Population
 (1916)
  Viceroyalty12,266,282
  Density30/km2 (77/sq mi)
  Urban
15.97%
  Rural
84.03%

The Caucasus Viceroyalty (Russian: Кавка́зское наме́стничество, romanized: Kavkázskoye naméstnichestvo) was the Russian Empire's administrative and political authority in the Caucasus region exercised through the offices of glavnoupravlyayushchiy ("high commissioner") (1801–1844, 1882–1902) and namestnik ("viceroy") (1844–1882, 1904–1917), situated in the modern areas of the Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia plus two breakaway states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two terms are commonly, but imprecisely, translated into English as viceroy, which is frequently used interchangeably with governor general. More accurately, glavnoupravlyayushchiy is referred to as the High Commissioner of the Caucasus, and namestnik as Viceroy.

Over more than a century of the Russian rule of the Caucasus, the structure of the viceroyalty underwent a number of changes, with the addition or removal of administrative positions and redrawing of provincial divisions.[1]

History

The first time Russian authority was established over the peoples of the Caucasus was after the Russian annexation of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (eastern Georgia) in 1801. General Karl Knorring was the first person to be assigned to govern the Caucasus territory, being officially titled as the Commander-in-Chief in Georgia and Governor-General of Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi). Under of his successors, notably Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, General Aleksey Yermolov, Count Ivan Paskevich, and Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, Russian Transcaucasia expanded to encompass territories acquired in a series of wars with the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, and local North Caucasian peoples. The scope of its jurisdiction eventually came to include what is now Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the North Caucasus, as well as parts of Northeastern Turkey (today the provinces of Artvin, Ardahan, Kars, and Iğdır).[2]

Headquartered at Tiflis, the viceroys acted as de facto ambassadors to neighboring countries, commanders in chief of the armed forces, and the supreme civil authority, mostly responsible only to the Tsar. From February 3, 1845, to January 23, 1882, the viceregal authority was supervised by the Caucasus Committee as the Caucasus Krai, which consisted of representatives of the State Council and the ministries of Finances, State Domains, Justice, and Interior, as well as of members of special committees. After the 1917 February Revolution, which dispossessed Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian crown, the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus was abolished by the Russian Provisional Government on March 18, 1917, and all authority, except in the zone of the active army, was entrusted to the civil administrative body called the Special Transcaucasian Committee or Ozakom (short for Osobyy Zakavkazskiy Komitet, Особый Закавказский Комитет).

Administrative divisions

In 1917, there were six guberniyas ("governorates"), five oblasts ("regions"), two special administrative okrugs ("districts"), and a gradonachalstvo ("municipal district") within the Caucasus Viceroyalty:[3][4]

Province Type Russian name Capital Population Size (km²) Location
1897 1916
Baku Governorate Бакинская губернія Baku826,716875,74637,948.97
Baku Gradonachalstvo Бакинское градоначальство Baku [lower-alpha 1]405,8291,059.76
Batum Oblast Батумская область Batum (Batumi) [lower-alpha 2]122,8116,975.65
Dagestan Oblast Дагестанская область Temir-Khan-Shura (Buynaksk)571,154713,34229,709.63
Elizavetpol Governorate Елисаветпольская губернія Yelisavetpol (Ganja)878,4151,275,13144,296.15
Zakatal Okrug Закатальскій округъ Zakataly (Zaqatala) [lower-alpha 3]92,6083,985.77
Kars Oblast Карсская область Kars290,654364,21418,739.50
Kuban Oblast Кубанская область Yekaterinodar (Krasnodar)1,918,8813,022,68394,783.07
Kutaisi Governorate Кутаисская губернія Kutais (Kutaisi)1,058,2411,034,46819,956.06
Sukhumi Okrug Сухумскій отдѣльный округъ Sukhum (Sukhumi) [lower-alpha 4]209,6716,591.42
Terek Oblast Терская область Vladikavkaz933,9361,377,92372,443.86
Tiflis Governorate Тифлисская губернія Tiflis (Tbilisi)1,051,0321,473,30840,861.03
Black Sea Governorate Черноморская губернія Novorossiysk57,478178,3066,675.68
Erivan Governorate Эриванская губернія Erivan (Yerevan)829,5561,120,24226,397.11
Caucasus Viceroyalty 8,416,063 12,266,282 410,423.66

Demographics

Ethnographic map of Russian Transcaucasia, 1880.

Kavkazskiy kalendar

According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Caucasus Viceroyalty had a population of 12,266,282 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 6,442,684 men and 5,823,598 women, 9,728,750 of whom were the permanent population, and 2,537,532 were temporary residents:[4]

Nationality Urban Rural TOTAL
Number % Number % Number %
Russians 757,908 38.68 3,262,359 31.65 4,020,267 32.77
Armenians 518,164 26.45 1,341,499 13.02 1,859,663 15.16
Georgians 163,482 8.34 1,628,128 15.80 1,791,610 14.61
North Caucasians 48,722 2.49 1,469,783 14.26 1,518,505 12.38
Shia Muslims[lower-alpha 5] 221,996 11.33 1,287,495 12.49 1,509,491 12.31
Sunni Muslims[lower-alpha 6] 82,384 4.20 862,064 8.36 944,448 7.70
Asiatic Christians 38,096 1.94 170,827 1.66 208,923 1.70
Other Europeans 52,000 2.65 87,623 0.85 139,623 1.14
Kurds 3,331 0.17 93,761 0.91 97,092 0.79
Jews 66,260 3.38 26,878 0.26 93,138 0.76
Roma 1,855 0.09 40,785 0.40 42,640 0.35
Yazidis 5,117 0.26 35,765 0.35 40,882 0.33
TOTAL 1,959,315 100.00 10,306,967 100.00 12,266,282 100.00

High commissioners and viceroys of the Caucasus

Notes

  1. The Baku gradonchalstvo did not exist in 1897.
  2. The Batum oblast was included in the Kutaisi Governorate in 1897; The population of its territory within the Kutaisi Governorate was 144,584 according to the 1897 census.
  3. The Zakatal okrug was included in the Tiflis Governorate in 1897; The population of its territory within the Tiflis Governorate was 84,224 according to the 1897 census.
  4. The Sukhumi okrug was included in the Kutaisi Governorate in 1897; The population of its territory within the Kutaisi Governorate was 106,179 according to the 1897 census.
  5. Primarily Tatars.[5]
  6. Primarily Turco-Tatars.[5]

References

  1. (in Armenian) Hambaryan, Azat S. (1981). "Հայաստանի սոցիալ-տնտեսական և քաղաքական դրությունը 1870-1900 թթ." [Armenia's social-economic and political situation, 1870–1900] in Hay Zhoghovrdi Patmut'yun [History of the Armenian People], ed. Tsatur Aghayan et al. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, vol. 6, pp. 15–17.
  2. Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014). Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780300153088.
  3. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  4. 1 2 Кавказский календарь на 1917 год, pp. 178–237.
  5. 1 2 Hovannisian 1971, p. 67.

Bibliography

Further reading

See also

41°43′21″N 44°47′33″E / 41.72250°N 44.79250°E / 41.72250; 44.79250

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