The Akhalkalaki uezd was a county (''

uezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

'') of the

Tiflis Governorate The Tiflis Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi). In 1897, it constituted 44,607 sq. kilometres in area and had a population ...

of the Caucasus Viceroyalty 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. ...

, and then of

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 ...

, with its administrative center in Akhalkalak (present-day

Akhalkalaki Akhalkalaki ( ka, ახალქალაქი, tr; hy, Ախալքալաք / Նոր-Քաղաք, translit=Axalk’alak’ / Nor-K’aġak’) is a town in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Ak ...

).Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedia
Tiflis Governorate
The uezd bordered the

Gori uezd The Gori uezd was a county (''uezd'') of the Tiflis Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, and then of Democratic Republic of Georgia, with its administrative center in Gori.Brockhaus and Efron EncyclopaediaTiflis Governor ...

to the north, the

Borchaly uezd The Borchaly uezd, was a county (''uezd'') of the Tiflis Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, and later of the independent and Soviet republics of Georgia. Its administrative center was the town of Shulavery (present-da ...

to the east, the

Alexandropol uezd The Alexandropol uezd, known after 1924 as the Leninakan uezd, was a county (''uezd'') of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The ''uezd'' bordered the governorate's Etchmiadzin and Nor Bayazet ''uezds'' to t ...

of the

Erivan Governorate The Erivan Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Erivan (present-day Yerevan). Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometеrs, roughly correspondin ...

and the

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

and

Ardahan Ardahan (, ka, არტაანი, tr, hy, Արդահան, translit=Ardahan Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the capital of Ardahan Province. History Ancient and medieval Ardahan ...

''okrugs'' of the

Kars Oblast The Kars Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The ''oblast'' bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Oblast ...

to the south, and the Akhaltsikhe uezd to the west. The area of the uezd roughly corresponded to the contemporary

Samtskhe–Javakheti Samtskhe–Javakheti ( ka, სამცხე-ჯავახეთი, , ) is a region (mkhare) in southern Georgia with a population of 151.110 (2021) and an area of . The region has Akhaltsikhe as its administrative center, while Besik Amirana ...

region of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

History

The territory of the Akhalkalaki uezd, then part of the Akhaltsikhe uezd, entered into the

Kutais Governorate The Kutaisi or Kutais Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of western Georgia throughout most of its existence, and most of the Artvin Province (except th ...

of the Russian Empire following the Russo-Turkish War of 1828. By 1874, the Akhkalaki uezd was detached from the hitherto larger Akhaltsikhe uezd, becoming a constituent county of the Tiflis Governorate. Following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), 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 ad ...

, the Akhalkalaki uezd was incorporated into the short-lived

, however, it was strongly disputed by the

Democratic Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middle ...

which also claimed the county on the grounds of history and ethnography. As a result of the Ottoman occupation of the ''uezd'', of the initial 80,000 Armenians in 1918, 30,000 died whilst the surviving 40,000 still in the district were affected by famine and concubinage.

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

during the Paris Peace Conference discussions on the fate of the independent Transcaucasian republics assessed the ethnographic situation in the southwestern ''uezds'' of the Tiflis Governorate:

On the grounds of nationality, therefore, these districts ought to belong to Armenia, but they command the heart of Georgia strategically, and on the whole it would seem equitable to assign them to Georgia, and give their Armenian inhabitants the option of emigration into the wide territories assigned to the Armenians towards the south-west.

Administrative divisions

The subcounties (''

uchastok An uchastok (russian: yча́сток}, plural russian: yча́стки, translit=uchastki, label=none), or dilyanka in Ukrainian usage ( uk, ділянка, plural uk, ділянки, translit=dilyanki, label=none), was a territorial-administrat ...

s'') of the Akhalkalaki uezd were as follows:

Demographics

Russian Empire census (1897)

According to the

Russian Empire Census The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897 ( pre-reform Russian: ) was the first and only nation-wide census performed in the Russian Empire (the Grand Duchy of Finland was excluded). It recorded demographic data as ...

of 1897, the Akhalkalaki uezd had a population of 72,709, including 37,903 men and 34,806 women. The majority of the population indicated

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

to be their mother tongue, with significant Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani),

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 ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

speaking minorities.

Caucasian Calendar (1917)

According to the 1917 publication of the ''Caucasian Calendar'', the Akhalkalaki uezd had 107,173 residents in 1916, including 56,140 men and 51,033 women, 106,307 of whom were the permanent population, and 866 were temporary residents:

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 41, 24, 20, N, 43, 29, 10, E, display=title Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917) Tiflis Governorate Uezds of Tiflis Governorate Modern history of Georgia (country) 1880 establishments in the Russian Empire States and territories established in 1880 States and territories disestablished in 1918