Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917) – Wikipedia

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1801–1917 viceroyalty of the Russian Empire

Viceroyalty in Russian Empire

Caucasus Viceroyalty

Кавказское наместничество
Administrative map of the Caucasus Viceroyalty

Administrative map of the Caucasus Viceroyalty

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Country Russian Empire
Established 1801
Abolished 1917
Capital Tiflis
(present-day Tbilisi)
 • Viceroyalty 410,423.66 km2 (158,465.46 sq mi)
Highest elevation 5,642 m (18,510 ft)
 • Viceroyalty 12,266,282
 • Density 30/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). 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[edit]

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[edit]

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]

Province Type Russian name Capital Population Size (km²) Location
1897 1916
Baku Governorate Бакинская губернія Baku 826,716 875,746 37,948.97 Baku Governorate of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Baku Gradonachalstvo Бакинское градоначальство Baku [a] 405,829 1,059.76 Baku Gradonachalstvo of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Batum Oblast Батумская область Batum (Batumi) [b] 122,811 6,975.65 Batum Oblast of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Dagestan Oblast Дагестанская область Temir-Khan-Shura (Buynaksk) 571,154 713,342 29,709.63 Dagestan Oblast of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Elizavetpol Governorate Елисаветпольская губернія Yelisavetpol (Ganja) 878,415 1,275,131 44,296.15 Elisabethpol Governorate of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Zakatal Okrug Закатальскій округъ Zakataly (Zaqatala) [c] 92,608 3,985.77 Zakataly Okrug of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Kars Oblast Карсская область Kars 290,654 364,214 18,739.50 Kars Oblast of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Kuban Oblast Кубанская область Yekaterinodar (Krasnodar) 1,918,881 3,022,683 94,783.07 Kuban Oblast of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Kutaisi Governorate Кутаисская губернія Kutais (Kutaisi) 1,058,241 1,034,468 19,956.06 Kutais Governorate of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Sukhumi Okrug Сухумскій отдѣльный округъ Sukhum (Sukhumi) [d] 209,671 6,591.42 Sukhumi Okrug of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Terek Oblast Терская область Vladikavkaz 933,936 1,377,923 72,443.86 Terek Oblast of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Tiflis Governorate Тифлисская губернія Tiflis (Tbilisi) 1,051,032 1,473,308 40,861.03 Tiflis Governorate of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Black Sea Governorate Черноморская губернія Novorossiysk 57,478 178,306 6,675.68 Black Sea Governorate of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Erivan Governorate Эриванская губернія Erivan (Yerevan) 829,556 1,120,242 26,397.11 Erivan Governorate of Caucasus Viceroyalty.png
Caucasus Viceroyalty 8,416,063 12,266,282 410,423.66

Demographics[edit]

Ethnographic map of Russian Transcaucasia, 1880.

Kavkazskiy kalendar[edit]

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:

Nationality Urban Rural TOTAL
Number % Number % Number %
Russians[e] 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[f] 221,996 11.33 1,287,495 12.49 1,509,491 12.31
Sunni Muslims[g] 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[edit]

  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. ^ The Caucasian Calendar did not distinguish between Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians.
  6. ^ Primarily Tatars.
  7. ^ Primarily Turco-Tatars.

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Atkin, Muriel (1980). Russia and Iran, 1780–1828. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816609246.
  • Baddeley, John F. (1908). The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
  • Breyfogle, Nicholas (2005). Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia’s Empire in the South Caucasus. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801442421.
  • Haxthausen, Baron August von (2016) [1854-55]. Transcaucasia and the Tribes of the Caucasus. Translated by John Edward Taylor. Introduction by Pietro A. Shakarian. Foreword by Dominic Lieven. London: Gomidas Institute. ISBN 978-1909382312.
  • Jersild, Austin (2003). Orientalism and Empire: North Caucasus Mountain Peoples and the Georgian Frontier, 1845-1917. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. ISBN 978-0773523296.
  • King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195177756.
  • Layton, Susan (1995). Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521444439.
  • Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014). Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300153088.

See also[edit]

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



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