Erivan Governorate


Erivan Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Erivan. Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometres. It roughly corresponded to what is now most of central Armenia, the Iğdır Province of Turkey, and the Nakhichevan exclave of Azerbaijan. At the end of the 19th century, it bordered the Tiflis Governorate to the north, the Elisabethpol Governorate to the east, the Kars Oblast to the west, and Persia and the Ottoman Empire to the south.
In 1828, the khanates of Erivan and the Nakhichevan were annexed from Persia by the Russian Empire in accordance with the Treaty of Turkmenchay. They were included into a single administrative unit named the Armenian Oblast. In 1850 the oblast was reorganized into a governorate, and by 1872, it consisted of seven uyezds. Louis Joseph Jérôme Napoléon, grandnephew of Napoleon I, was made governor in 1905 to help calm the governorate after the Armenian-Tatar conflicts.

Administrative division

Erivan Governorate consisted of the following uyezds:
№UyezdAdministrative centerArea, km2Population
1AleksandropolAleksandropol3,759.8168,435
2NakhichevanNakhichevan3,858.886,878
3Novo-BayazetNovo-Bayazet6,123.8112,111
4SurmaliIgdyr3,245.088,844
5Sharur-DaralagyozBash-Norashen2,972.376,551
6ErivanErivan3,032.0127,072
7EchmiadzinVagharshapat3,858.0124,643

Demographics

According to the Russian census of 1897, the Erivan Governorate had 829,556 inhabitants. 56% of the governorate's population were Armenians, 37.5% was Tatars. The Azerbaijanis were in a majority in the Erivan, Nakhichevan, Sharur-Daralagyoz, and Surmali districts; the other three uyezds were predominantly Armenian. Other ethnic minorities included Kurds, Russians, as well as smaller numbers of Assyrians, Greeks, Georgians, Jews, Poles, and Gypsies.

Ethnic groups in 1897

Ethnic groups in Erivan Governorate according to 1897 Russian census.
UyezdArmeniansAzerbaijanisKurdsRussiansAssyrians
TOTAL53,2%37,8%6,0%1,6%...
Aleksandropol85,5%4,7%3,0%3,4%...
Nakhichevan34,4%63,7%.........
Novo-Bayazet66,3%28,3%2,4%2,2%...
Surmali30,4%46,5%21,4%......
Sharur-Daralagyoz27,1%67,4%4,9%......
Erivan38,5%51,4%5,4%2,0%1,5%
Echmiadzin62,4%29,0%7,8%......

Governors

List of the governors of Erivan Governorate.