Baku Uyezd

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Baku Uyezd
Бакинский уезд
Coat of arms of Baku Uyezd
Coat of arms
Baku Uyezd of Baku Governorate.png
CountryRussian Empire
Political statusUyezd
GovernorateBaku
Established1840
Abolished1929
Area
 • Total4,200 km2 (1,600 sq mi)
Population
 (1926)
 • Total527,220
 • Density130/km2 (330/sq mi)

The Baku Uyezd (Russian: Бакинский уезд, Azerbaijani: Bakı qəzası) was an administrative unit within the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire and then of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Azerbaijan SSR with its centre in the city of Baku until its formal abolishment in 1929 by Soviet authorities. The uyezd was located in eastern part of the Baku Governorate, bordering Caspian sea to the east, Shamakhi Uyezd to the west, Kuba Uyezd to the north and Lankaran Uyezd to the south.[1] The administrative center of the uyezd was Baku.[2]

History[]

After the capture of the Baku Khanate by the Russian Empire in 1806, during the Caucasus Campaign, the khanate was removed and was made a province of the Russian Empire. The uyezd was created in 1840 and was initially made part of the Caspian Oblast and later part of Shamakhi Governorate in 1846. As a result of the devastating earthquake in Shamakhi in 1859, the administrative center of the Shamakhi Governorate was transferred to Baku, resulting in the subsequent renaming of the governorate to the Baku Governorate.[2]

After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, the area of modern-day Azerbaijan became part of Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, during which the city of Baku and its peripheries were under the control of the Baku Commune which perpetrated the March Days Massacre against the Azerbaijani population of Baku. Shortly after the dissolution of Transcaucasia and the establishment of 3 independent republics including the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Baku again became the site of massacre in the revengeful September Days Massacre against the Armenian population, following the Battle of Baku and the city's capture by Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces. Baku subsequently became the new capital of the nascent Azerbaijani republic, the government relocating there from its original western capital in Ganja, which was also the capital of the neighboring Elisabethpol Governorate.

In 1920, after the decisive establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, the Baku Uyezd was retained as an administrative unit within the Azerbaijan SSR until its formal abolishment in 1929 during a territorial-administrative reorganisation of the nation.

Population[]

According to the 1897 Russian Empire census, 182,897 people lived in the uyezd, of which 111,904 were in the city of Baku. The census recorded 63,415 native speakers of Azerbaijani (Labelled as Tatar prior to 1918) and 45,510 Russian-speakers.[3]

The population of the uyezd rose significantly to 527,220 people by 1926 as a result of the significant expansion of the Baku Oil Fields.[4]

Ethnic composition in 1897[]

Uyezd Tatars (Azerbaijanis) Russians Tats Armenians Germans Persian Jews
Baku 34,7% 24,0% 18,9% 12,3% 1,8% 2,6% 1,1%

References[]

  1. ^ Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014). Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 59. ISBN 9780300153088.
  2. ^ a b "Administrative Territorial Division" (PDF). preslib.az. p. 9.
  3. ^ "Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку и уездам Российской Империи кроме губерний Европейской России" (in Russian). Демоскоп.
  4. ^ "Population of Baku Uyezd". Demoskop Weekly.
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