Surmalu Uyezd

The Surmalu uezd was a county (''uezd'') of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It bordered the governorate's Etchmiadzin and Erivan uezds to the north, the Kars Oblast to the west, Persia to the east, and the Ottoman Empire to the south. The district made up most of the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey. As part of the Russian Transcaucasus, the Surmalu uezd possessed economical importance for its abundantly rich salt mines in Kulp (Tuzluca), and spiritual importance to Armenians as the location of the culturally significant Mount Ararat. The administrative center of the ''uezd'' was the town Igdyr (present-day Iğdır).

Etymology

The district's name derives from the old Armenian city Surmari which evolved from ''Surb Mari'' ( hy, Սուրբ Մարի, lit=Saint Mary). The castle of Surmari still stands today in the village near the Armenia–Turkey border within the Tuzluca district of Turkey's Iğdır Province.

History

A part of Persia's Erivan Khanate, Surmalu was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Turkmenchay in the aftermath of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–28. The district was first administered as part of the Armenian Oblast and then the Erivan Governorate. In 1829, Baltic German explorer Friedrich Parrot of the University of Dorpat (Tartu) traveled to Surmalu as part of his expedition to climb Mount Ararat. Accompanied by Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian and four others, Parrot made the first ascent of Ararat in recorded history from the Armenian monastery of St. Hakob in Akhuri (modern Yenidoğan).

After the Russian Revolution, Surmalu was briefly governed by the First Republic of Armenia from 1918 to 1920, until it was occupied in 1920 and formally ceded to Turkey by the treaties of Moscow and Kars, following Armenia's defeat in the Turkish-Armenian War and subsequent Sovietization.

Administrative divisions

The subcounties (''uchastoks'') of the Surmalu uezd in 1912 were as follows:

Demographics

Russian Empire estimate (1886)

According to the Russian family lists accounts from 1886, of the total 71,066 inhabitants of the district, 34,351 were Tatars (later known as Azerbaijanis) (48.3%), 22,096 Armenians (31.1%), and 14,619 Kurds (20.6%).

Russian Empire census (1897)

According to the Russian Empire census of 1897, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 89,055, including 47,269 men and 41,786 women. The plurality of the population indicated Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani) to be their mother tongue, with significant Armenian and Kurdish speaking minorities.

Caucasian Calendar

1910

According to the 1910 publication of the ''Caucasian Calendar'', the Surmalu uezd had 91,535 residents, of which 41,990 were Shia Muslims (45.87%), 29,734 Armenians (32.48%), and 19,811 Kurds (21.64%).

1917

According to the 1917 publication of the ''Caucasian Calendar'', the Surmalu uezd had 104,791 residents in 1916, including 55,364 men and 49,427 women, 98,212 of whom were the permanent population, and 6,579 were temporary residents. The statistics indicated Shia Muslims to be the plurality of the population of the uezd, followed closely by Armenians, Kurds and Yazidis:

Settlements

According to the 1897 census, there were 51 settlements in the Surmalu uezd with a population over 500 inhabitants. The religious composition of the settlements was as follows:

Notes

References

Bibliography

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History of Iğdır Province
Uezds of Erivan Governorate
Mount Ararat