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Sharur-Daralayaz uezd Шаруро-Даралагёзский уезд
Uezd
Coat of arms
Location in the Erivan Governorate
Country	Russian Empire
Viceroyalty	Caucasus
Governorate	Erivan
Established	1849
Abolished	1929
Capital	Bashnorashen (present-day Sharur)
Area
• Total	3,001.64 km (1,158.94 sq mi)
Population
• Total	90,250
• Density	30/km (78/sq mi)
• Rural	100.00%

The Sharur-Daralayaz uezd was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It bordered the governorate's Erivan and Nor Bayazet uezds to the north, the Nakhichevan uezd to the south, the Zangezur and Jevanshir uezds of the Elizavetpol Governorate to the east, and Persia to the southwest. It included most of the Vayots Dzor Province of present-day Armenia and the Sharur District of the Nakhchivan exclave of present-day Azerbaijan. The administrative centre of the county was Bashnorashen (present-day Sharur).

Economy

Armenians were mostly concentrated in mountainous Daralayaz, while lowland Sharur was overwhelmingly Tatar. The population in Daralayaz was engaged primarily in cattlebreeding while the residents of Sharur were engaged in agricultural farming and gardening. Manufacturing was not developed in this part of the governorate. Only 47 winemaking enterprises, 299 mills, 89 cotton-cleaning, 4 rice-cleaning factories existed in the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd.

Geography

The geography of the uezd resembled a crater surrounded from the south, north and east by tall mountain ranges of the Lesser Caucasus. The plain, which made up a small part of the uezd, was close to the Aras River, into which the only river irrigating the plains, the Arpa-chay, discharged. The mountainous part of the territory was called Daralayaz and the lowland part was called Sharur. Daralayaz constituted approximately 70% of the whole uezd area and Sharur constituted approximately 30%, even though it included about half of the uezd's population. The Arpa-chay started at the southeastern tip of Lake Sevan (Gokcha) and flowed 107 versts before discharging into the Aras. It had many tributaries, the Alagyoz-chay being the longest. Approximately 12,150 desyatins of the mountainous part of uezd was forested. The temperature in the winter reached -27 °C.

History

The territory of the uezd was part of Persia's Erivan and Nakhchivan Khanates until 1828, when according to the Treaty of Turkmenchay, they were annexed to the Russian Empire. It was administered as part of the Armenian Oblast from 1828 to 1840. In 1844, the Caucasus Viceroyalty was re-established, in which the territory of the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd formed part of the Tiflis Governorate. In 1849, the Erivan Governorate was established, separate from the Tiflis Governorate. It was made up of the Erivan, Nakhchivan, Alexandropol, Nor Bayazet, and Ordubad uezds. Following administrative reforms, the northern part of the Nakhchivan uezd (Daralayaz) was separated to form part of the new Sharur-Daralayaz uezd in 1870.

Throughout 1918–1920, the uezd was heavily contested between forces of the First Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

After the establishment of Soviet rule in 1920, the territory of the uezd was divided. Daralayaz (modern-day Vayots Dzor) became part of the Armenian SSR and Sharur became part of the Nakhichevan ASSR of the Azerbaijan SSR in accordance with the treaties of Moscow and Kars.

Administrative divisions

The subcounties (uchastoks) of the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd in 1913 were as follows:

Demographics

Russian Empire Census

According to the Russian Empire Census, the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd had a population of 76,538 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 41,055 men and 35,483 women. The plurality of the population indicated Tatar to be their mother tongue, with significant Armenian and Kurdish speaking minorities.

Kavkazskiy kalendar

According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd had a population of 90,25on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 47,399 men and 42,851 women, 88,496 of whom were the permanent population, and 1,754 were temporary residents. The statistics indicated the uezd to be overwhelmingly Shia Muslim with a significant Armenian minority:

Settlements

According to the 1897 census, there were 58 settlements in the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd with a population over 500 inhabitants. The religious composition of the settlements was as follows:

Notes

1. • Russian: Шару́ро-Даралагёзскій уѣ́здъ, romanized: Sharúro-Daralagyózsky uyézd
   • Armenian: Շարուր-Դարալագյազի գավառ, romanized: Šarowr-Daralagyazi gavaṙ
   • Azerbaijani: شرور و درلاگس قضاسی, romanized: Şarūr-ü Daralāges qaz̤āsı, or شرور و دارالاگز قضاسی, Şarūr-ü Dārālāgez qaz̤āsı
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".
3. Primarily Tatars.
4. Primarily Turco-Tatars.

References

1. Кавказский календарь на 1855 годъ [Caucasian calendar for 1855] (in Russian, Armenian, Greek, and Azerbaijani). Tiflis: Office of the Caucasian Viceroy. 1854. p. 376 – via Google books.
2. Sâmî, Şemseddîn (1889). قاموس الاعلام: تاریخ و جغرافیا لغاتنی و تعبیر اصحله كافه اسماء خاصه‌یی جامعدر (in Ottoman Turkish). Mihran Matbaası. pp. 840–841 – via Google Books.
3. "НЭБ - Национальная электронная библиотека". rusneb.ru - Национальная электронная библиотека. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
4. Tsutsiev 2014, p. 59.
5. ^ Большой энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона. Шаруро-Даралагезский уезд [Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia Dictionary. Sharur-Daralagyoz Uyezd] (in Russian).
6. Bournoutian, George A. (1992). The Khanate of Erevan Under Qajar Rule, 1795-1828. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers. p. 26. ISBN 9780939214181.
7. "Административно-территориальные реформы на Кавказе в середине и во второй половине XIX века" [Administrative-territorial reforms in the Caucasus in the middle and second half of the 19th century] (in Russian).
8. Tsutsiev 2014, pp. 71–76.
9. Tsutsiev 2014.
10. Кавказский календарь на 1913 год, pp. 172–179.
11. Bournoutian 2018, p. 35 (note 25).
12. Tsutsiev 2014, p. 50.
13. ^ "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
14. Кавказский календарь на 1917 год, pp. 214–221.
15. ^ Hovannisian 1971, p. 67.
16. Troinitsky, N. A. (1905). Населенные места Российской империи в 500 и более жителей с указанием всего наличного в них населения и числа жителей преобладающих вероисповеданий, по данным первой всеобщей переписи населения 1897 г. [Populated areas of the Russian Empire with 500 or more inhabitants, indicating the total population in them and the number of inhabitants of the predominant religions, according to the first general population census of 1897] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Tipografiya Obshchestvennaya polza. pp. 52–56. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022.

Bibliography

• Bournoutian, George A. (2018). Armenia and Imperial Decline: The Yerevan Province, 1900–1914. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-06260-2. OCLC 1037283914.

• Hovannisian, Richard G. (1971). The Republic of Armenia: The First Year, 1918–1919. Vol. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520019843.
• Кавказский календарь на 1913 год [Caucasian calendar for 1913] (in Russian) (68th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1913. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022.
• Кавказский календарь на 1917 год [Caucasian calendar for 1917] (in Russian) (72nd ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1917. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021.
• Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014). Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus (PDF). Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300153088. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2023.

v t e Administrative divisions of the Erivan Governorate
Alexandropol Etchmiadzin Erivan Nakhichevan Nor Bayazet Ordubad Sharur-Daralayaz Surmalu
Italics indicates uezds abolished before 1917.

39°32′45″N 44°58′20″E / 39.54583°N 44.97222°E / 39.54583; 44.97222

• Historical geography of Azerbaijan
• Vayots Dzor Province
• History of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
• Uezds of Erivan Governorate