Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)

The Caucasus Viceroyalty was a colony of the Russian Empire located in the Caucasus region, existing from 1801 to 1917 under the governance of various administrative offices. It included the present-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the partially-recognised states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the Russian republics of Adygea, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia–Alania and portions of Russia and Turkey.

Russia conquered the Caucasus in the early 19th century, beginning with the annexation of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and continuing with the Caucasian War and a series of conflicts against the Ottoman and Persian empires. Russian colonial administrators used divide and rule tactics, favouring majority-Christian ethnic groups (particularly Georgians, Armenians and Ossetians) over predominantly-Muslim ones.

History

The first time Russian authority was established over the peoples of the Caucasus was after the Russian annexation of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (eastern Georgia) in 1801. General Karl Knorring was the first person to be assigned to govern the Caucasus territory, being officially titled as the Commander-in-Chief in Georgia and Governor-General of Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi). Under his successors, notably Prince Pavel Tsitsianov, General Aleksey Yermolov, Count Ivan Paskevich, and Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, Russian Transcaucasia expanded to encompass territories acquired in a series of wars with the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, and local North Caucasian peoples. The scope of its jurisdiction eventually came to include what is now Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the North Caucasus, as well as parts of Northeastern Turkey (today the provinces of Artvin, and Iğdır).

Russia utilised a divide and rule strategy in the Caucasus, favouring local Christian groups (or, in the case of the Ossetians, converting them to Christianity) over Muslims. Georgians and Armenians were uniquely recognised as "culturally advanced" due to their Christian faith and often collaborated with colonial administration in the South Caucasus, while Muslim Azerbaijanis were designated as "culturally backward" and did so less frequently. The Ossetians, who adhered to a melange of beliefs including Christian, Islam and pagan traditions prior to Russian colonisation, were conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army, separating them from other ethnic groups in the North Caucasus. The Russian government also used Arabic as the official language of colonial administration in the North Caucasus following the defeat of Imam Shamil's Caucasian Imamate; at the time, Arabic was the ''lingua franca'' of the region's Muslim population.

Headquartered at Tiflis, the viceroys acted as '' de facto'' ambassadors to neighboring countries, commanders in chief of the armed forces, and the supreme civil authority, mostly responsible only to the Tsar. From 3 February 1845 to 23 January 1882, the viceregal authority was supervised by the Caucasus Committee as the Caucasus Krai, which consisted of representatives of the State Council and the ministries of Finances, State Domains, Justice, and Interior, as well as of members of special committees. After the 1917 February Revolution, which dispossessed Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian crown, the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus was abolished by the Russian Provisional Government on 18 March 1917, and all authority, except in the zone of the active army, was entrusted to the civil administrative body called the Special Transcaucasian Committee or ''Ozakom'' (short for ''Osobyy Zakavkazskiy Komitet'', Особый Закавказский Комитет).

Administrative divisions

Over more than a century of the Russian rule of the Caucasus, the structure of the viceroyalty underwent a number of changes, with the addition or removal of administrative positions and redrawing of provincial divisions. In 1917, there were six ''guberniyas'' ("governorates"), five ''oblasts'' ("regions"), two special administrative ''okrugs'' ("districts"), and a '' gradonachalstvo'' ("municipal district") within the Caucasus Viceroyalty:

Demographics

''Kavkazskiy kalendar''

According to the 1917 publication of ''Kavkazskiy kalendar'', the Caucasus Viceroyalty had a population of 12,266,282 on , including 6,442,684 men and 5,823,598 women, 9,728,750 of whom were the permanent population, and 2,537,532 were temporary residents:

Largest cities

High commissioners and viceroys of the Caucasus

* Karl Heinrich von Knorring 1801–1802
*Pavel Tsitsianov 1802–1806
* Ivan Gudovich 1806–1809
*Alexander Tormasov 1809–1811
* Philip Paulucci 1811–1812
*Nikolay Rtishchev 1812–1816
*Aleksey Yermolov 1816–1827
*Ivan Paskevich 1827–1831
* Gregor von Rosen 1831–1838
*Yevgeny Golovin 1838–1842
* Aleksandr Neidgardt 1842–1844
* Mikhail Vorontsov 1844–1854
*Nikolay Muravyov-Karsky 1854–1856
* Aleksandr Baryatinsky 1856–1862
* Grigol Orbeliani (acting) 1862
* Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich 1862–1882
*Aleksandr Dondukov-Korsakov 1882–1890
* Sergei Sheremetyev 1890–1896
* Grigory Golitsyn 1896–1904
* Yakov Malama (acting) 1904
* Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov 1904–1916
* Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich 1916–1917

Notes

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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See also

* Caucasus Viceroyalty (1785–1796)
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1801 establishments in Asia
1801 establishments in Europe
1800s establishments in Georgia (country)
1801 establishments in the Russian Empire
1917 disestablishments in Asia
1917 disestablishments in Europe
1917 disestablishments in Georgia (country)
1917 disestablishments in Russia
19th century in Armenia
19th century in Azerbaijan
19th century in Georgia (country)
20th century in Armenia
20th century in Azerbaijan
20th century in Georgia (country)
Former Russian colonies
Governorates-General of the Russian Empire
History of the Caucasus under the Russian Empire
History of Transcaucasia
Modern history of Armenia
Modern history of Azerbaijan
Modern history of Georgia (country)
Viceroyalties of the Russian Empire

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