Batum oblast
| ბათუმის რეგიონი Батумская область Batum Oblast | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oblast of Russian Empire | |||||||||
| 1878–1918 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms
| |||||||||
 Administrative Map of the Batum Oblast | |||||||||
| Capital | Batum | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| • Coordinates | 41°38′45″N 41°38′30″E / 41.6458°N 41.6417°E | ||||||||
• 1916 | 61,092 km2 (23,588 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1916 | 122,811 | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Treaty of San Stefano | 20 September 1878 | ||||||||
| 12 June 1883 | |||||||||
| 17 March 1903 | |||||||||
• Proclamation of PNGSC | 1918 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Georgia Turkey | ||||||||
The Batum Oblast was an oblast (province) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with the maritime city of Batum as its center. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day southwestern Georgia.
History
The Batum Oblast was created out of the territories of the Ottoman Empire's Sanjak of Batum, following its annexation into the Russian Empire in the aftermath of the 1878 Russo-Turkish War.
Established in 1878, the Batum Oblast was later incorporated into the larger Kutais Governorate in 1883. The district was detached and re-formed into a separate province in 1903, until its dissolution in 1918.
According to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Russian SFSR ceded the Batum Oblast to the Ottoman Empire, however, the Transcaucasian Seim, the authority in Transcaucasia by 1918, rejected the treaty, opting to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire on its own terms. Such action led to the former's dissolution and the subsequent Treaty of Batum, which resulted in the inevitable reannexation of Batum to the Ottoman Empire.
After the Mudros Armistice, in which the Ottoman Empire was forced to withdraw its troops from the territories of the former Russian Transcaucasus including Batum, British troops under the 27th Division occupied the district to support the British military presence in the Transcaucasus, and to serve as a terminal for supplying Denikin's Volunteer Army.
The Batum Oblast was finally evacuated by the British in the summer of 1919, and handed over to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, whom administered the district until it was occupied by Turkish revolutionaries, leading to the Treaty of Kars which resulted in the partition of the district. The north including the port of Batum was retained by Georgia as an autonomy, and the southern Artvin district was incorporated into the fledgling Republic of Turkey as the Artvin Province.
Demographics
Russian Imperial Census of 1897
As of 1897, the total population of the Batum and Artvin Okrugs, which would later form the Batum Oblast, was 144,584. Kartvelians, including primarily the Adjars, Muslim Georgian-speakers, constituted 43.5% of the population. Turks, most likely Turkified Georgians, constituted the second largest group at 30.8% and were mostly concentrated in the Artvin area (today the Artvin Province of Turkey due to the Treaty of Kars). Significant minorities included Armenians, Russians, and Caucasus Greeks.[1]
| TOTAL | 144,584 | 100% |
|---|---|---|
| Kartvelians | 63,012 | 43,5% |
| Turks | 44,667 | 30,8% |
| Armenians | 14,939 | 10,3% |
| Russians | 7,532 | 5,2% |
| Greeks | 4,717 | 3,2% |
Caucasian Calendar of 1917
The 1917 Caucasian Calendar which produced statistics of 1916 indicates 122,811 residents in the Batum Oblast, including 66,808 men and 56,003 women, 95,292 of whom were the permanent population, and 27,519 were temporary residents.[2]
| Okrug (district) | Russians | Other Europeans | Georgians | Armenians | North Caucasians | Kurds | Other Asian Nationalities | Gypsies | Jews | TOTAL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orthodox | Sectarian | Orthodox | Muslim | Christian | Shia Muslim | Sunni Muslim | ||||||||
| Artvin | 320 | 6 | 24 | 1,187 | 25,544 | 9,428 | 304 | 0 | 69 | 283 | 104 | 145 | 0 | 37,414 |
| 0.9% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 3.2% | 68.3% | 25.2% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 100.0% | |
| Batum | 7,925 | 294 | 951 | 7,411 | 44,697 | 5,764 | 352 | 552 | 2,175 | 411 | 14,238 | 20 | 607 | 85,397 |
| 9.3% | 0.3% | 1.1% | 8.7% | 52.3% | 6.7% | 0.4% | 0.6% | 2.5% | 0.5% | 16.7% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 100.0% | |
| TOTAL | 8,245 | 300 | 975 | 8,598 | 70,241 | 15,192 | 656 | 552 | 2,244 | 694 | 14,342 | 165 | 607 | 122,811 |
| 6.7% | 0.2% | 0.8% | 7.0% | 57.2% | 12.4% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 1.8% | 0.6% | 11.7% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 100.0% | |
See also
References
- ^ Includes population figures for the Batum and Artvin Okrugs, which would form the Batum Oblast by 1917. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". Demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2017-04-18. and "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". Demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
- ^ a b Кавказский календарь .... на 1917 год (in Russian). pp. 351–352.
- States and territories established in 1878
- States and territories disestablished in 1918
- Batum Oblast
- Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)
- Oblasts of the Russian Empire
- Modern history of Georgia (country)
- History of Adjara
- 19th century in Georgia (country)
- 1900s in Georgia (country)
- 1910s in Georgia (country)
- States and territories disestablished in 1883
- States and territories established in 1903
- States and territories disestablished in 1917
- 1870s establishments in Georgia (country)
- 1917 disestablishments in Georgia (country)
- 1878 establishments in the Russian Empire
- 1880s disestablishments in the Russian Empire
- 1903 establishments in the Russian Empire
- 1917 disestablishments in Russia