The Kutaisi or Kutais Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') 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. ...

. It roughly corresponded to most of western

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 ...

throughout most of its existence, and most of the

Artvin Province Artvin Province ( tr, ; ka, , ''Artvinis p’rovincia''; Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artviniş dobadona'') is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the northeastern corner of the country, on the border w ...

(except the

Hopa Hopa ( Laz and , Hamshen ) is a city and district of Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish Black Sea coast about from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the border with Georgia. Geography Hopa is on t ...

and

Yusufeli Yusufeli ( hy, Բերդագրակ, Berdagrak; ka, ახალთი, Akhalti) is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the bank of Çoruh River 104 km south-west of the city of Artvin, on ...

districts) of Turkey between 1878 and 1903. Created out of part of the former

Georgia-Imeretia Governorate The Georgia-Imeretia Governorate (russian: Грузино-Имеретинская губерния) was a short-lived governorate (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, administered from Tiflis (Tbilisi). Roughly cor ...

in 1846, the governorate also included Akhaltsikhe uezd before its cession to 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 ...

in 1867. The Kutaisi Governorate bordered the Sukhumi Okrug to the northwest, the

Kuban Oblast The Kuban Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of the Kuban and Circassia regions. It was created in 1860 out of Kuban Cossack territories that had once been part of ...

to the north, the

Terek Oblast The Terek Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, roughly corresponding to the central part of Russia's North Caucasian Federal District. Тhe ''оblast'' was created out of the former territories of t ...

to the northeast, the Tiflis Governorate to the southeast, the Batum Oblast to the southwest, and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

to the west. The governorate was eponymously named for its administrative center, Kutais (present-day Kutaisi).

History

The Kutaisi Governorate was formed in 1846 as a result of the division of the

. In 1883, the governorate included the Sukhumi Okrug and two districts (Artvin and Batum) of the then abolished Batum Oblast. In 1903, the Artvin and Batum districts were detached and re-formed into the Batum Oblast. In 1905, the Sukhumi Okrug also received the status of a special district of the Russian Empire, tantamount to a governorate or oblast. Following the Russian Revolution, in 1918 the Kutaisi Governorate became part of the short-lived

Georgian Democratic Republic 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 F ...

Administrative divisions

The counties (''

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 ...

s'') of the Kutaisi Governorate in 1917 were as follows:

Demographics

Russian Empire census (1897)

According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, the Kutaisi Governorate had a population of 1,058,241, including 549,504 men and 508,737 women. The plurality of the population indicated

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 ...

to be their mother tongue, with significant Imeretian and

Mingrelian Mingrelian may refer to: *the Mingrelians *the Mingrelian language Mingrelian or Megrelian (, ) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. The language was also called kol ...

speaking minorities who were considered to be within the

Kartvelian Kartvelian may refer to: * Anything coming from or related to Georgia (country) * Kartvelian languages * Kartvelian alphabet, see Georgian alphabet * Kartvelian studies * Georgians {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

language group.

Caucasian Calendar (1917)

According to the 1917 publication of the ''Caucasian Calendar'', the Kutaisi Governorate had 1,034,468 residents in 1916, including 546,957 men and 487,511 women, 990,297 of whom were the permanent population, and 44,171 were temporary residents. The population total of the governorate is slightly less than in 1897 due to the province's administrative reorganization involving the detachment of the Artvin, Batum and Sukhumi okrugs (to be administered separately):

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917) Governorates of the Caucasus Kutaisi Modern history of Georgia (country) States and territories established in 1846 States and territories disestablished in 1917 1840s establishments in Georgia (country) 1917 disestablishments in Georgia (country) 1846 establishments in the Russian Empire 1917 disestablishments in Russia {{Georgia-geo-stub