The Etchmiadzin uezd[a] was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The uezd bordered the Alexandropol uezd to the north, the Nor Bayazet uezd to the east, Erivan uezd to the north, the Surmalu uezd to the south, and the Kars Oblast to the west. It included all of the Armavir Province and most of the Aragatsotn Province of present-day Armenia. The administrative centre of the county was Vagorshapat (Vagharshapat), also referred to as Etchmiadzin—the administrative capital of the Armenian Apostolic Church.[2]
Etchmiadzin uezd Эчмиадзинский уезд | |
|---|---|
.png) Coat of arms | |
 Location in the Erivan Governorate | |
| Country | Russian Empire |
| Viceroyalty | Caucasus |
| Governorate | Erivan |
| Established | 1849 |
| Abolished | 1930 |
| Capital | Vagorshapat (present-day Vagharshapat) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3,684.36 km2 (1,422.54 sq mi) |
| Population (1916) | |
| • Total | 167,786 |
| • Density | 46/km2 (120/sq mi) |
| • Rural | 100.00% |
Administrative divisions
The subcounties (uchastoks) of the Etchmiadzin uezd in 1913 were as follows:[3]
| Name | 1912 population | Area |
|---|---|---|
| 1-y uchastok (1-й участок) | 35,411 | 820.62 square versts (933.92 km2; 360.59 sq mi) |
| 2-y uchastok (2-й участок) | 56,711 | 431.09 square versts (490.61 km2; 189.42 sq mi) |
| 3-y uchastok (3-й участок) | 31,332 | 982.43 square versts (1,118.07 km2; 431.69 sq mi) |
| 4-y uchastok (4-й участок) | 33,469 | 1,003.26 square versts (1,141.77 km2; 440.84 sq mi) |
Demographics
Russian Empire Census
According to the Russian Empire Census, the Etchmiadzin uezd had a population of 124,237 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 65,072 men and 59,165 women. The majority of the population indicated Armenian to be their mother tongue, with significant Tatar[b] and Kurdish speaking minorities.[6]
| Language | Native speakers | % |
|---|---|---|
| Armenian | 77,572 | 62.44 |
| Tatar[b] | 35,999 | 28.98 |
| Kurdish | 9,724 | 7.83 |
| Tat | 439 | 0.35 |
| Assyrian | 198 | 0.16 |
| Russian | 94 | 0.08 |
| Ukrainian | 81 | 0.07 |
| Georgian | 51 | 0.04 |
| Jewish | 27 | 0.02 |
| Turkish | 9 | 0.01 |
| Persian | 8 | 0.01 |
| Polish | 8 | 0.01 |
| Greek | 5 | 0.00 |
| German | 2 | 0.00 |
| Other | 20 | 0.02 |
| TOTAL | 124,237 | 100.00 |
Kavkazskiy kalendar
According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Etchmiadzin uezd had a population of 167,786 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 86,716 men and 81,070 women, 148,794 of whom were the permanent population, and 18,992 were temporary residents. The statistics indicated an overwhelmingly Armenian population with sizeable Shia Muslim and Kurdish minorities:[7]
| Nationality | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Armenians | 115,026 | 68.56 |
| Shia Muslims[c] | 41,310 | 24.62 |
| Kurds | 9,653 | 5.75 |
| Yazidis | 1,118 | 0.67 |
| Roma | 410 | 0.24 |
| Asiatic Christians | 186 | 0.11 |
| Jews | 42 | 0.03 |
| Russians | 41 | 0.02 |
| TOTAL | 167,786 | 100.00 |
Notes
References
Bibliography
- 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 1913 год [Caucasian calendar for 1913] (in Russian) (68th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1913. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022.
- 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.
40°10′22″N 44°17′33″E / 40.17278°N 44.29250°E