Akaki Khoshtaria ( ka, აკაკი ხოშტარია, russian: Акакий Мефодьевич Хоштария, ''Akakiy Mefodievich Khoshtariya'') (1873 – 1932) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

entrepreneur, socialite, and philanthropist. His principal business interests centered on

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and

northern Iran Northern Iran consists of the southern border of the Caspian Sea and the Alborz mountains. It includes the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan. (Ancient kingdom of Hyrcania, medieval region of Tabaristan). The major provinces, Gilan ...

Biography

Akaki Khoshtaria was born into the petty Georgian nobility, ''

aznauri ''Aznauri'' ( ka, აზნაური, ; pl. ''aznaurni'', აზნაურნი, or ''aznaurebi'', აზნაურები) was a class of Georgian nobility. The word derives from Middle Persian ''āznāvar'', which, in turn, corresponds ...

'', near

Abasha Abasha ( ka, აბაშა) is a town in western Georgia with a population of 4,941. It is situated between the rivers of Abasha and Noghela, at 23m above sea level and is located some to the west of Tbilisi. The settlement of ''Abasha'' acq ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Educated as an agronomist in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Khoshtaria made his fortune as a businessman and financier in the

south Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

. He owned several assets in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

, sponsored cultural establishments in Georgia and provided bursaries for Georgian students abroad. He was particularly interested in oil fields in Azerbaijan and Northern Iran. During the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, he was close to pro-independence revolutionaries in Georgia and helped the government of the

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to ...

purchase a vessel for its embryonic navy. After the fall of the republic to a Bolshevik invasion in 1921, Khoshtaria emigrated to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he died in 1932 and was interred at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

.აკაკი ხოშტარია რეზა-შაჰის ინაუგურაციაზე: ჩვენი პუბლიკაცია
/ ჯემშიდ გიუნაშვილი // საქართველოს რესპუბლიკა. - 2010. - 7 მაისი. - N85 (6451). - 5 გვ. Khoshtaria's wife Minadora née Turkia (1881–1924) is buried at the Doulab Russian Orthodox Cemetery in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. A mausoleum for her commissioned by Khoshtaria is influenced by the medieval Georgian church architecture and is the only Georgian Christian monument in Iran. Their daughter, Minadora (1918–1985), married, in Paris, in 1942, Mikhail Bagration-Mukhransky, a Georgian émigré and scion of the last princes of Mukhrani, who is the paternal uncle of

Khétévane Bagration de Moukhrani Princess Ketevan Bagration of Mukhrani also known as Khétévane Bagrationi–Orsini, Ketevan Bagrationi–Mukhraneli, or Ketevan Bagrationi–Mukhranbatoni ( ka, ქეთევან ბაგრატიონ–მუხრანელი) (b ...

, Georgia's ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 to 2014. Ferrand, Jacques (1983), ''Familles princières de Géorgie: essai de reconstitution généalogique (1880-1983) de 21 familles reconnues princières par l'Empire de Russie'', pp. 30-32. Montreuil, France: J. Ferrand.

Khoshtaria concessions in Iran

In 1916, Khoshtaria obtained from the Iranian government a 25-year concession to drill for oil in northern Iran. This was aided by the Russian military occupation of the region during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In order to exploit his concessions Khoshtaria organized the Russo-Persian Oil Producing and Trading Company, Rupento. However, the war and the Russian Revolution prevented its immediate development and Khoshtaria sold his interests to the

Anglo-Iranian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number ...

(AIOC) for £200,000 in 1920. The Iranian government refused to recognize the validity of this deal, leading to international dispute over the northern Iranian oil in the 1920s.Ford, Alan W. (1954), ''The Anglo-Iranian Oil Dispute of 1951-1952: A Study of the Role of Law in the Relations of States'', pp. 20-21. University of California Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khoshtaria, Akaki 1873 births Billionaires from Georgia (country) 1932 deaths People from Abasha People from Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti People from Kutais Governorate Mingrelians Businesspeople from Georgia (country) Expatriates from Georgia (country) in Iran Russian businesspeople in the oil industry Burials at Doulab Cemetery