Caucasus Viceroyalty Кавказское наместничество (Russian) Кавказское намѣстничество Kavkazskoye namestnichestvo النيابة الملكية على القوقاز (Arabic) al-Niyābah al-Malakīyah ʻalá al-Qawqāz
Viceroyalty
Administrative map of the Caucasus Viceroyalty
Country	Russian Empire
Established	1801
Abolished	1917
Capital	Tiflis (present-dayTbilisi)
Area
• Viceroyalty	410,423.66 km2 (158,465.46 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Mount Elbrus)	5,642 m (18,510 ft)
Population  (1916)
• Viceroyalty	12,266,282
• Density	29.886878/km2 (77.406660/sq mi)
• Urban	15.97%
• Rural	84.03%

TheCaucasus Viceroyalty^[a] was a special administrative unit of theRussian Empire located in theCaucasus region, existing from 1801 to 1917 under the governance of various administrative offices.^[b] It included the present-day countries ofArmenia,Azerbaijan andGeorgia, as well as theRussian republics ofAdygea,Chechnya,Dagestan,Ingushetia,Kabardino-Balkaria,Karachay-Cherkessia andNorth Ossetia–Alania and portions ofSouthern Russia^[c] and Turkey.

Russiaconquered the Caucasus in the early 19th century, beginning with the annexation of the GeorgianKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and continuing with theCaucasian War and a series of conflicts against theOttoman andPersian empires.

The first time Russian authority was established over thepeoples of the Caucasus was after the Russian annexation of theKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (easternGeorgia) in 1801. GeneralKarl Knorring was the first person to be assigned to govern the Caucasus territory, being officially titled as the Commander-in-Chief in Georgia and Governor-General of Tiflis (present-dayTbilisi). Under his successors, notably PrincePavel Tsitsianov, GeneralAleksey Yermolov, CountIvan Paskevich, and PrinceMikhail Vorontsov, Russian Transcaucasia expanded to encompass territories acquired in a series of wars with theOttoman Empire, thePersian Empire, andlocal North Caucasian peoples. The scope of its jurisdiction eventually came to include what is now Georgia,Armenia,Azerbaijan, and theNorth Caucasus, as well as parts of NortheasternTurkey (today the provinces ofArtvin,Ardahan,Kars, andIğdır).^[1]

Russia utilised adivide and rule strategy in the Caucasus, favouring local Christian groups (or, in the case of theOssetians, converting them to Christianity) over Muslims.Georgians andArmenians were uniquely recognised as "culturally advanced" due to their Christian faith and often collaborated with colonial administration in theSouth Caucasus, while MuslimAzerbaijanis were designated as "culturally backward" and did so less frequently.^[2] The Ossetians, who adhered to a melange of beliefs including Christian, Islam andpagan traditions prior to Russian colonisation, were conscripted into theImperial Russian Army, separating them from other ethnic groups in theNorth Caucasus.^[3] The Russian government also usedArabic as the official language of colonial administration in the North Caucasus following the defeat ofImam Shamil'sCaucasian Imamate; at the time, Arabic was thelingua franca of the region's Muslim population.^[4]

Headquartered at Tiflis, the viceroys acted asde facto ambassadors to neighboring countries, commanders in chief of the armed forces, and the supreme civil authority, mostly responsible only to theTsar. From 3 February 1845 to 23 January 1882, the viceregal authority was supervised by the Caucasus Committee as theCaucasus Krai, which consisted of representatives of theState Council and the ministries of Finances,State Domains, Justice, and Interior, as well as of members of special committees. After the 1917February Revolution, which dispossessed TsarNicholas II of the Russian crown, the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus was abolished by theRussian Provisional Government on 18 March 1917, and all authority, except in the zone of the active army, was entrusted to the civil administrative body called theSpecial Transcaucasian Committee orOzakom (short forOsobyy Zakavkazskiy Komitet, Особый Закавказский Комитет).

Over more than a century of the Russian rule of the Caucasus, the structure of the viceroyalty underwent a number of changes, with the addition or removal of administrative positions and redrawing of provincial divisions.^[5] In 1917, there were sixguberniyas ("governorates"), fiveoblasts ("regions"), two special administrativeokrugs ("districts"), and agradonachalstvo ("municipal district") within the Caucasus Viceroyalty:^[6][7]

Province	Type	Russian name	Capital	Population		Size (km2)	Location
				1897	1916
Baku	Governorate	Бакинская губернія	Baku	826,716	875,746	37,948.97
Baku	Gradonachalstvo	Бакинское градоначальство	Baku	[d]	405,829	1,059.76
Batum	Oblast	Батумская область	Batum (Batumi)	[e]	122,811	6,975.65
Dagestan	Oblast	Дагестанская область	Temir-Khan-Shura (Buynaksk)	571,154	713,342	29,709.63
Elizavetpol	Governorate	Елисаветпольская губернія	Yelisavetpol (Ganja)	878,415	1,275,131	44,296.15
Zakatal	Okrug	Закатальскій округъ	Zakataly (Zaqatala)	[f]	92,608	3,985.77
Kars	Oblast	Карсская область	Kars	290,654	364,214	18,739.50
Kuban	Oblast	Кубанская область	Yekaterinodar (Krasnodar)	1,918,881	3,022,683	94,783.07
Kutaisi	Governorate	Кутаисская губернія	Kutais (Kutaisi)	1,058,241	1,034,468	19,956.06
Sukhumi	Okrug	Сухумскій отдѣльный округъ	Sukhum (Sukhumi)	[g]	209,671	6,591.42
Terek	Oblast	Терская область	Vladikavkaz	933,936	1,377,923	72,443.86
Tiflis	Governorate	Тифлисская губернія	Tiflis (Tbilisi)	1,051,032	1,473,308	40,861.03
Black Sea	Governorate	Черноморская губернія	Novorossiysk	57,478	178,306	6,675.68
Erivan	Governorate	Эриванская губернія	Erivan (Yerevan)	829,556	1,120,242	26,397.11
Caucasus Viceroyalty				8,416,063	12,266,282	410,423.66

According to the 1917 publication ofKavkazskiy kalendar, the Caucasus Viceroyalty had a population of 12,266,282 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 6,442,684 men and 5,823,598 women, 9,728,750 of whom were the permanent population, and 2,537,532 were temporary residents:^[7]

	Name	Population in 1897		Governorate	Country
		1897[9]	1916[10]
1	Tiflis (Tbilisi)	159,600	346,766	Tiflis Governorate	Georgia
2	Baku	111,900	262,422	Baku gradonachalstvo	Azerbaijan
3	Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar)	65,600	103,624	Kuban Oblast	Russia
4	Vladikavkaz	48,843	73,243	Terek Oblast	Russia,North Ossetia
5	Yeysk	35,446	44,765	Kuban Oblast	Russia
6	Maykop	33,276	54,762	Kuban Oblast	Russia,Circassia
7	Yelisavetpol (Ganja)	33,022	57,731	Yelisavetpol Governorate	Azerbaijan
8	Kutais (Kutaisi)	32,492	58,151	Kutais Governorate	Georgia
9	Alexandropol (Gyumri)	30,735	51,874	Erivan Governorate	Armenia
10	Erivan (Yerevan)	28,910	51,286	Erivan Governorate	Armenia
11	Batum (Batumi)	26,417	20,020	Kutais Governorate	Georgia
12	Shusha	25,656	43,869	Yelizavetpol Governorate	Azerbaijan
13	Kars	20,891	30,514	Kars Governorate	Turkey
14	Nukha (Shaki)	24,734	52,243	Yelizavetpol Governorate	Azerbaijan
15	Shemakha (Shamakhi)	20,007	27,732	Baku Governorate	Azerbaijan

• Atkin, Muriel (1980).Russia and Iran, 1780–1828. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.ISBN 978-0816609246.
• Baddeley, John F. (1908).The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
• Breyfogle, Nicholas (2005).Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia's Empire in the South Caucasus. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.ISBN 978-0801442421.
• Haxthausen, Baron August von (2016) [1854-55].Transcaucasia and the Tribes of the Caucasus. Translated by John Edward Taylor. Introduction by Pietro A. Shakarian. Foreword byDominic Lieven. London:Gomidas Institute.ISBN 978-1909382312.
• Jersild, Austin (2003).Orientalism and Empire: North Caucasus Mountain Peoples and the Georgian Frontier, 1845-1917. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.ISBN 978-0773523296.
• King, Charles (2008).The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0195177756.
• Layton, Susan (1995).Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0521444439.
• Tsutsiev, Arthur (2014).Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus. Translated by Nora Seligman Favorov. New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0300153088.

• Caucasus Viceroyalty (1785–1796)
• Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917) topics
• Viceroyalties of the Russian Empire

41°43′21″N44°47′33″E / 41.72250°N 44.79250°E /41.72250; 44.79250

• Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917)
• 1801 establishments in Asia
• 1801 establishments in Europe
• 1800s establishments in Georgia (country)
• 1801 establishments in the Russian Empire
• 1917 disestablishments in Asia
• 1917 disestablishments in Europe
• 1917 disestablishments in Georgia (country)
• 1917 disestablishments in Russia
• 19th century in Armenia
• 19th century in Azerbaijan
• 19th century in Georgia (country)
• 20th century in Armenia
• 20th century in Azerbaijan
• 20th century in Georgia (country)
• Former Russian colonies
• Governorates-General of the Russian Empire
• History of the Caucasus under the Russian Empire
• History of Transcaucasia
• Modern history of Armenia
• Modern history of Azerbaijan
• Modern history of Georgia (country)
• Viceroyalties of the Russian Empire

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