Kutaisi Governorate
Kutaisi Governorate
Кутаисская губернія | |
---|---|
![]() Administrative map of the Kutaisi Governorate (1905–1917) | |
Country | Russian Empire |
Viceroyalty | Caucasus |
Established | 1849 |
Abolished | 1917 |
Capital | Kutais (present-day Kutaisi) |
Area | |
• Total | 19,956.06 km2 (7,705.08 sq mi) |
Highest elevation (Shkhara) | 5,193 m (17,037 ft) |
Population (1916) | |
• Total | 1,034,468 |
• Density | 52/km2 (130/sq mi) |
• Urban | 8.51% |
• Rural | 91.49% |
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The Kutaisi or Kutais Governorate[a] was a province (guberniya) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of western Georgia throughout most of its existence, and most of the Artvin Province (except the Hopa and Yusufeli districts) of Turkey between 1878 and 1903. Created out of part of the former Georgia-Imeretia Governorate in 1846, the governorate also included Akhaltsikhe uezd before its cession to the Tiflis Governorate in 1867. The Kutaisi Governorate bordered the Sukhumi Okrug to the northwest, the Kuban Oblast to the north, the Terek Oblast to the northeast, the Tiflis Governorate to the southeast, the Batum Oblast to the southwest, and the Black Sea to the west. The governorate was eponymously named for its administrative center, Kutais (present-day Kutaisi).[1]
History
[edit]The Kutaisi Governorate was formed in 1846 as a result of the division of the Georgia-Imeretia Governorate. In 1883, the governorate included the Sukhumi Okrug and two districts (Artvin and Batum) of the then abolished Batum Oblast. In 1903, the Artvin and Batum districts were detached and re-formed into the Batum Oblast. In 1905, the Sukhumi Okrug also received the status of a special district of the Russian Empire, tantamount to a governorate or oblast.[1]
Following the Russian Revolution, in 1918 the Kutaisi Governorate became part of the short-lived Georgian Democratic Republic.[1]
Administrative divisions
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Kutaysskaya_guberniya.jpg/220px-Kutaysskaya_guberniya.jpg)
The counties (uezds) of the Kutaisi Governorate in 1917 were as follows:[2]
Name | Capital | Population | Area | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1897 | 1916 | |||
Zugdidi uezd (Зугдидскій уѣздъ) | Zugdidi | 114,869 | 127,978 | 2,346.43 square versts (2,670.38 km2; 1,031.04 sq mi) |
Kutaisi uezd (Кутаисскій уѣздъ) | Kutais (Kutaisi) | 221,665 | 291,969 | 2,042.64 square versts (2,324.65 km2; 897.55 sq mi) |
Lechkhumi uezd (Лечхумскій уѣздъ) | Tsagery (Tsageri) | 47,779 | 61,914 | 4,281.88 square versts (4,873.05 km2; 1,881.49 sq mi) |
Ozurgeti uezd (Озургетскій уѣздъ) | Ozurgety (Ozurgeti) | 90,326 | 115,339 | 1,899.04 square versts (2,161.23 km2; 834.45 sq mi) |
Racha uezd (Рачинскій уѣздъ) | Oni | 60,421 | 88,162 | 2,476.58 square versts (2,818.50 km2; 1,088.23 sq mi) |
Senaki uezd (Сенакскій уѣздъ) | Senaki | 115,785 | 159,678 | 1,869.20 square versts (2,127.27 km2; 821.34 sq mi) |
Shorapani uezd (Шорапанскій уѣздъ) | Kvirily (Zestafoni) | 156,633 | 189,428 | 2,619.35 square versts (2,980.98 km2; 1,150.96 sq mi) |
Demographics
[edit]Russian Empire census (1897)
[edit]According to the Russian Empire Census, the Kutaisi Governorate had a population of 1,058,241 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 549,504 men and 508,737 women. The plurality of the population indicated Georgian to be their mother tongue, with significant Imeretian and Mingrelian speaking minorities who were considered to be within the Kartvelian language group.[3]
Language | Native speakers | % |
---|---|---|
Georgian | 343,929 | 32.50 |
Imeretian | 270,513 | 25.56 |
Mingrelian | 238,655 | 22.55 |
Abkhaz | 59,469 | 5.62 |
Turkish | 46,665 | 4.41 |
Armenian | 24,043 | 2.27 |
Russian | 19,273 | 1.82 |
Svan | 15,669 | 1.48 |
Greek | 14,482 | 1.37 |
Jewish | 7,006 | 0.66 |
Ossetian | 4,240 | 0.40 |
Ukrainian | 4,008 | 0.38 |
Polish | 1,938 | 0.18 |
Kurdish | 1,824 | 0.17 |
German | 1,065 | 0.10 |
Persian | 1,022 | 0.10 |
Tatar[b] | 750 | 0.07 |
Estonian | 621 | 0.06 |
Lithuanian | 450 | 0.04 |
Romanian | 197 | 0.02 |
Belarusian | 162 | 0.02 |
Sartic | 156 | 0.01 |
Avar-Andean | 148 | 0.01 |
English | 135 | 0.01 |
Kazi-Kumukh | 111 | 0.01 |
Other | 1,710 | 0.16 |
TOTAL | 1,058,241 | 100.00 |
Faith | Male | Female | Both | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | |||
Eastern Orthodox | 462,243 | 438,687 | 900,930 | 85.13 |
Muslim | 64,043 | 53,577 | 117,620 | 11.11 |
Armenian Apostolic | 11,610 | 7,370 | 18,980 | 1.79 |
Judaism | 4,674 | 4,190 | 8,864 | 0.84 |
Armenian Catholic | 2,631 | 2,894 | 5,525 | 0.52 |
Roman Catholic | 3,065 | 1,195 | 4,260 | 0.40 |
Lutheran | 999 | 676 | 1,675 | 0.16 |
Old Believer | 156 | 92 | 248 | 0.02 |
Karaite | 29 | 17 | 46 | 0.00 |
Reformed | 15 | 13 | 28 | 0.00 |
Buddhist | 16 | 5 | 21 | 0.00 |
Anglican | 12 | 6 | 18 | 0.00 |
Baptist | 2 | 10 | 12 | 0.00 |
Mennonite | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0.00 |
Other Christian denomination | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.00 |
Other non-Christian denomination | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
TOTAL | 549,504 | 508,737 | 1,058,241 | 100.00 |
Kavkazskiy kalendar
[edit]According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Kutaisi Governorate had a population of 1,034,468 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 546,957 men and 487,511 women, 990,297 of whom were the permanent population, and 44,171 were temporary residents. The population total of the governorate is slightly less than in 1897 due to the province's administrative reorganization involving the detachment of the Artvin, Batum and Sukhumi okrugs (to be administered separately):[2]
Nationality | Urban | Rural | TOTAL | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
Georgians | 56,543 | 64.20 | 936,869 | 98.99 | 993,412 | 96.03 |
Jews | 11,346 | 12.88 | 6,450 | 0.68 | 17,796 | 1.72 |
Russians | 14,506 | 16.47 | 1,379 | 0.15 | 15,885 | 1.54 |
Armenians | 3,416 | 3.88 | 1,189 | 0.13 | 4,605 | 0.45 |
Asiatic Christians | 1,450 | 1.65 | 29 | 0.00 | 1,479 | 0.14 |
Other Europeans | 654 | 0.74 | 328 | 0.03 | 982 | 0.09 |
Sunni Muslims[c] | 70 | 0.08 | 74 | 0.01 | 144 | 0.01 |
Shia Muslims[d] | 95 | 0.11 | 38 | 0.00 | 133 | 0.01 |
North Caucasians | 0 | 0.00 | 32 | 0.00 | 32 | 0.00 |
TOTAL | 88,080 | 100.00 | 946,388 | 100.00 | 1,034,468 | 100.00 |
Notes
[edit]- ^
- ^ Before 1918, Azerbaijanis were generally known as "Tatars". This term, employed by the Russians, referred to Turkic-speaking Muslims of the South Caucasus. After 1918, with the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and "especially during the Soviet era", the Tatar group identified itself as "Azerbaijani".[4][5]
- ^ Primarily Turco-Tatars.[7]
- ^ Primarily Tatars.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014). Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300153088.
- ^ a b Кавказский календарь на 1917 год, pp. 198–205.
- ^ a b "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- ^ Bournoutian 2018, p. 35 (note 25).
- ^ Tsutsiev 2014, p. 50.
- ^ "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- ^ a b Hovannisian 1971, p. 67.
Bibliography
[edit]- Bournoutian, George A. (2018). Armenia and Imperial Decline: The Yerevan Province, 1900–1914. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-06260-2. OCLC 1037283914.
- Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971). The Republic of Armenia: The First Year, 1918–1919. Vol. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520019843.
- Кавказский календарь на 1917 год [Caucasian calendar for 1917] (in Russian) (72nd ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1917. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021.
- Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014). Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus (PDF). Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300153088. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2023.
External links
[edit]- Kropotkin, Peter Alexeivitch; Bealby, John Thomas (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). p. 955.
- Kutaisi Governorate
- Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)
- Governorates of the Caucasus
- Kutaisi
- Modern history of Georgia (country)
- States and territories established in 1846
- States and territories disestablished in 1917
- 1840s establishments in Georgia (country)
- 1917 disestablishments in Georgia (country)
- 1846 establishments in the Russian Empire
- 1917 disestablishments in Russia
- Georgia (country) geography stubs