Batum Okrug
Batum Okrug
Батумский округ | |
---|---|
| |
Country | Russian Empire |
Oblast | Batum |
Viceroyalty | Caucasus |
Established | 1878 |
Abolished | 1918 |
Seat | Batum |
Uchastoks | Upper-Adjara, Goni, Kintrishi, and Lower Adjara |
Area | |
• Total | 3,703 km2 (1,430 sq mi) |
Population (1916) | |
• Total | 85,397 |
• Density | 23/km2 (60/sq mi) |
The Batum Okrug (Russian: Батумский округ; Georgian: ბათუმის ოკრუგი) was one of the two okrugs of the Batum Oblast of the Russian Empire, existing between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, the town of Batumi, presently part of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara within Georgia. The okrug bordered with the Artvin Okrug in the south, the Ardahan Okrug in the southeast, the Tiflis Governorate in the northeast, the Kutaisi Governorate (of which it was a part 1883–1903) in the north, and the Trebizond Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in the west.
History[]
The Batum Oblast was created out of the territories of the Ottoman Empire's , following the region's annexation into the Russian Empire in the aftermath of the 1878 Russo-Turkish War.
Established in 1878, the Batum Oblast was later downgraded to an okrug in 1883 and incorporated into the Kutais Governorate (until 1903).[1]
According to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Russian SFSR ceded the Batum Oblast to the Ottoman Empire, however, the Transcaucasian Seim, the authority in Transcaucasia by 1918, rejected the treaty, opting to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire on its own terms. Such action led to the former's dissolution and the subsequent Treaty of Batum, which resulted in the inevitable re-annexation of Batum to the Ottoman Empire.
After the Mudros Armistice, in which the Ottoman Empire was forced to withdraw its troops from the territories of the former Russian Transcaucasus including Batum, British troops under the 27th Division occupied the district to support the British military presence in the Transcaucasus, and to serve as a terminal for supplying Denikin's Volunteer Army.
The Batum Oblast was finally evacuated by the British in the summer of 1919, and handed over to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, whom administered the district until it was occupied by Turkish revolutionaries, leading to the Treaty of Kars which resulted in the partition of the district. The north including the port of Batum was retained by Georgia as an autonomy, and the southern Artvin district was incorporated into the fledgling Republic of Turkey as the Artvin Province.
Administrative divisions[]
The uchastoks (sub-counties) of the Batum Okrug were:[2]
- Upper-Adjara (Верхне-Аджарский участок)
- Goni (Гонийский участок)
- Kintrishi (Кинтришский участок)
- Lower-Adjara (Нижне-Аджарский участок)
Demographics[]
Russian Empire census (1897)[]
According to the Russian Empire census of 1897, the Batum Okrug had a population of 88,444, including 53,149 men and 35,295 women. The majority of the population indicated Georgian to be their mother tongue, with significant Russian, Armenian and Greek speaking minorities.[3]
Language | Native speakers | % |
---|---|---|
Georgian | 56,498 | 63.88 |
Russian | 7,217 | 8.16 |
Armenian | 7,120 | 8.05 |
Greek | 4,650 | 5.26 |
Turkish | 3,199 | 3.62 |
Kurdish | 1,699 | 1.92 |
Ukrainian | 1,637 | 1.85 |
Jewish | 1,076 | 1.22 |
Polish | 890 | 1.01 |
Persian | 765 | 0.86 |
Abkhazian | 687 | 0.78 |
Mingrelian | 635 | 0.72 |
German | 356 | 0.40 |
Tatar[a] | 350 | 0.40 |
Imeretian | 341 | 0.39 |
Lithuanian | 157 | 0.18 |
Sartic | 156 | 0.18 |
Belarusian | 76 | 0.09 |
Avar-Andean | 56 | 0.06 |
Kazi-Kumukh | 47 | 0.05 |
English | 38 | 0.04 |
Ossetian | 28 | 0.03 |
Romanian | 27 | 0.03 |
Svan | 17 | 0.02 |
Estonian | 11 | 0.01 |
Other | 711 | 0.80 |
ТОТАL | 88,444 | 100.00 |
Caucasian Calendar (1917)[]
The 1917 Caucasian Calendar which produced statistics of 1916 indicates 85,397 residents in the Batum Okrug, including 47,532 men and 37,865 women, 61,347 of whom were the permanent population, and 24,050 were temporary residents:[4]
Nationality | Center | Rural | TOTAL | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Georgians | 6,481 | 45,627 | 52,108 | 61.0% |
Turks | 75 | 14,163 | 14,238 | 16.7% |
Russians | 4,825 | 3,394 | 8,219 | 9.6% |
Armenians | 5,524 | 240 | 5,764 | 6.7% |
Asiatic Christians | 1,097 | 1,078 | 2,175 | 2.5% |
Other Europeans | 855 | 96 | 951 | 1.1% |
Jews | 597 | 10 | 607 | 0.7% |
Kurds | 8 | 544 | 552 | 0.4% |
Azerbaijanis | 386 | 25 | 411 | 0.5% |
North Caucasians | 172 | 180 | 352 | 0.4% |
TOTAL | 20,020 | 65,377 | 85,397 | 100.0% |
Notes[]
- ^ Later known as Azerbaijani.
References[]
- ^ Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014), Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus, New Haven and London, p. 38, ISBN 978-0-300-15308-8, OCLC 884858065, retrieved 2021-12-25
- ^ Кавказский календарь .... на 1913 год (in Russian). Tiflis: Office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. 1913. pp. 271–317.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
- ^ Кавказский календарь .... на 1917 год (in Russian). pp. 351–352.
See also[]
- Batum Oblast
- Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)
- Modern history of Georgia (country)
- History of Adjara
- 19th century in Georgia (country)
- 1900s in Georgia (country)
- 1910s in Georgia (country)
- States and territories established in 1878
- States and territories disestablished in 1883
- States and territories established in 1903
- States and territories disestablished in 1917
- 1870s establishments in Georgia (country)
- 1917 disestablishments in Georgia (country)
- 1878 establishments in the Russian Empire
- 1880s disestablishments in the Russian Empire
- 1903 establishments in the Russian Empire
- 1917 disestablishments in Russia