Baku Governorate

Baku Governorate (English) Бакинская губерния (Modern Russian) Бакинская губернiя (Pre-1918 Russian)
Coat of Arms
Coat of arms of Baku Governorate
Established	1846 as Shemakha Governorate; renamed to Baku Governorate in 1859
Abolished	1917
Political status Region	Governorate Caucasus
Area
Area - Rank	34,400 verst² n/a
Population (1897 census)
Population - Rank - Density - Urban - Rural	789,659 inhabitants n/a 23 inhab. / verst² 19.80% 80.20%
Government
First Head Last Head	n/a n/a

Baku Governorate (Russian: Бакинская губерния, Pre-Reform Russian: Бакинская губернiя) was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Baku. Area (1897): 34,4000 sq. verstas, population (1897): 789,659.^[1] The only foreign border of the governorate was Persia, in the south. Within the empire it bordered with Elisabethpol Governorate (Tiflis and Erivan Governorates before 1868) and Dagestan Oblast.

The governorate was established in 1846 as Shemakha Governorate, in place of several military precincts. In 1849 Shahur-Daralagoz uzeyd was part of newly founded Erivan Governorate. After the devastating 1859 Shamakhi earthquake it was decided to transfter the capital of the Province from Shemakha to Baku. On July 12, 1859 the governorate's name was changed accordingly. The coat of arms of the governorate was instituted on July 5, 1878. Initially Baku Governorate included Karabakh and Zangezur, which were separated in 1868 to create Elisabethpol Governorate.

The governorate was preserved until the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, when it was split into Baku Governorate and Lankaran General-Governorate.

Administrative division

Baku Governorate had six uyezds (in 1868 Nukha and Shusha uyezds were attached to Elisabethpol Governorate):

• Baku
• Kuba (attached in 1860)
• Shemakha
• Geokchai
• Dzhevat
• Lenkoran

Demographics

As of 1897, 789,659 people populated the governorate, of them 55% were male. Azeris (mostly Shiite) constituted the majority of the population. Significant minorities consisted of Russians, Armenians, Lezgins, Tats, Talysh and Jews.^[1]

Ethnic groups in 1897^[2]

Known governors

• Konstantin Tarkhanov-Mouravov, 1859–1863
• Mikhail Kolyubakin, 1863–1872
• Dmitry Staroselsky, 1872–1875
• Valeriy Pozen, 1875–1882
• Justin von Huebsch Grostal, 1882–1888
• Vladimir Rogge, 1888–1899
• Dmitry Odintsov, 1899–1904
• Mikhail Nakashidze, 1904–1905
• Andrei Fadeyev, 1905
• Vladimir Alyshevsky, 1905–1915
• Leo Potulov, 1916–1917^[3]

References

• Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (Russian)
• Герб Бакинской губернии

External links

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Baku (government)". Encyclopædia Britannica 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press