Ninotsminda ნინოწმინდა | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Ninotsminda environs | |
  Ninotsminda Location of Ninotsminda in Georgia Show map of Georgia Ninotsminda Ninotsminda (Samtskhe-Javakheti) Show map of Samtskhe-Javakheti | |
| Coordinates:41°15′52″N43°35′27″E / 41.26444°N 43.59083°E /41.26444; 43.59083 | |
| Country |  Georgia (country) |
| Mkhare | Samtskhe-Javakheti |
| District | Ninotsminda |
| Area | |
• Total | 38 km2 (15 sq mi) |
| • Land | 23 km2 (9 sq mi) |
| • Water | 22 km2 (8 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,940 m (6,360 ft) |
| Population (2024)[1] | |
• Total | 3,955 |
| • Density | 45/km2 (120/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+4 (Georgian Time) |
Ninotsminda (Georgian:ნინოწმინდა[ninotsʼminda];Armenian: Նինոծմինդա) is a town and a center of theNinotsminda Municipality located inGeorgia's southern district ofSamtskhe-Javakheti. According to the 2014 census the town has a population of 5,144.[2] The vast majority of the population areArmenians.
Translation of the current official name of the settlement means "Saint Nino" in English and it was given to the town in honor of the illuminator of GeorgiansSt. Nino, in 1991.[citation needed]
During theOttoman rule, this was asanjak ofÇıldır Eyaleti, calledAltunkale, which means "golden castle" in Turkish.[citation needed]
Before 1991, the town of Ninotsminda was calledBogdanovka (Russian:Богдановка) - a name going back to the history of theDoukhobor settlement in the region in the 1840s.[3][4] After the conquest ofKars in 1878, some Doukhobors from Bogdanovka moved to the newly createdKars Oblast. Twenty years later, some of them (or their descendants) emigrated from Kars Oblast toCanada, where they established a short-lived village named Bogdanovka inLangham district ofSaskatchewan.[5] Another group of emigrants, coming straight from Georgian Bogdanovka, established another Bogdanovka nearPelly, Saskatchewan.[6]
The Georgian census of 2014 counted 24,491 residents inNinotsminda municipality, of which 23,262 (95%) wereArmenians, and 1,029 (4.2%) wereGeorgians.[2]
In Soviet Union, Doukhobor population of the region was in comparatively favorable conditions, isolated from attention of civil officials as population of ethnically mixed borderline region. In the 1990s, following the collapse of Soviet Union and rise of nationalist pressure (both local Armenian and state-imposed Georgian), a significant part of remaining Russian settlers abandoned their homes to settle in Russia.[7][8][9]
41°15′52″N43°35′27″E / 41.26444°N 43.59083°E /41.26444; 43.59083
