Batum oblast

The Batum oblast[lower-alpha 1] was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with the Black Sea port of Batum (present-day Batumi) as its administrative center. The Batum oblast roughly corresponded to most of present-day southwestern Georgia, and part of the Artvin Province of Turkey.[1]

Batum oblast
Батумская область
Oblast
Coat of arms of Batum oblast
Coat of arms
Administrative map of the Batum Oblast
Administrative map of the Batum Oblast
CountryRussian Empire
ViceroyaltyCaucasus
Established1873
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk3 March 1918
CapitalBatum
(present-day Batumi)
Area
 • Total6,975.65 km2 (2,693.31 sq mi)
Population
 (1916)
 • Total122,811
 • Density18/km2 (46/sq mi)
 • Urban
22.02%
 • Rural
87.98%

History

The Batum oblast was created out of the territories of the Ottoman Empire's sanjak of Batum following the region's annexation into the Russian Empire in the aftermath of the 1878 Russo-Turkish War. Established in 1878, the Batum Oblast was later downgraded to an okrug in 1883 and incorporated into the Kutais Governorate (until 1903).

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 1920, 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 Turkey as the Artvin Province.

Administrative divisions

The districts (okrugs) of the Batum oblast in 1917 were as follows:[2][3]

Name Capital Population Area
1897 1916
Artvin okrug (Артвинскій округъ) Artvin 56,140 37,414 2,875.06 square versts (3,272.00 km2; 1,263.33 sq mi)
Batumi okrug (Батумскій округъ) Batum (Batumi) 88,444 85,397 3,254.05 square versts (3,703.31 km2; 1,429.86 sq mi)

Demographics

Russian Empire Census

According to the Russian Empire Census, the Batum oblast (at the time part of the Kutaisi Governorate) had a population of 144,584 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 82,213 men and 62,371 women. The plurality of the population indicated Georgian to be their mother tongue, with significant Turkish, Armenian and Russian speaking minorities.[2]

Linguistic composition of the Batum oblast in 1897[2]
Language Native speakers %
Georgian 62,004 42.88
Turkish 44,667 30.89
Armenian 14,939 10.33
Russian 7,525 5.20
Greek 4,717 3.26
Ukrainian 2,351 1.63
Kurdish 1,811 1.25
Jewish 1,076 0.74
Polish 911 0.63
Persian 767 0.53
Abkhazian 693 0.48
Mingrelian 635 0.44
German 369 0.26
Imeretian 356 0.25
Tatar[lower-alpha 2] 355 0.25
Lithuanian 157 0.11
Sartic 156 0.11
Belarusian 80 0.06
Avar-Andean 56 0.04
Kazi-Kumukh 47 0.03
English 38 0.03
Ossetian 29 0.02
Romanian 27 0.02
Svan 17 0.01
Estonian 11 0.01
Other 790 0.55
ТОТАL 144,584 100.00

Kavkazskiy kalendar

According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Batum oblast had a population of 122,811 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 66,808 men and 56,003 women, 95,292 of whom were the permanent population, and 27,519 were temporary residents:[3]

Nationality Urban Rural TOTAL
Number % Number % Number %
Georgians 7,363 27.25 71,476 74.61 78,839 64.20
Armenians 10,975 40.62 4,217 4.40 15,192 12.37
Sunni Muslims[lower-alpha 3] 75 0.28 14,267 14.89 14,342 11.68
Russians 5,042 18.66 3,503 3.66 8,545 6.96
Asiatic Christians 1,097 4.06 1,147 1.20 2,244 1.83
Other Europeans 855 3.16 120 0.13 975 0.79
Shia Muslims[lower-alpha 4] 529 1.96 165 0.17 694 0.57
North Caucasians 476 1.76 180 0.19 656 0.53
Jews 597 2.21 10 0.01 607 0.49
Kurds 8 0.03 544 0.57 552 0.45
Roma 0 0.00 165 0.17 165 0.13
TOTAL 27,017 100.00 95,794 100.00 122,811 100.00

See also

Notes
  2. Before 1918, Azerbaijanis were generally known as "Tatars". This term, employed by the Russians, referred to Turkic-speaking Muslims of the South Caucasus. After 1918, with the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and "especially during the Soviet era", the Tatar group identified itself as "Azerbaijani".[4][5]
  3. Primarily Turco-Tatars.[6]
  4. Primarily Tatars.[6]

References
  1. Tsutsiev 2014.
  2. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  3. Кавказский календарь на 1917 год, pp. 182–185.
  4. Bournoutian 2018, p. 35 (note 25).
  5. Tsutsiev 2014, p. 50.
  6. Hovannisian 1971, p. 67.

Bibliography

41°38′45″N 41°38′30″E

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