Black_Sea_Governorate
Black Sea Governorate
Governorate of the Russian Empire
The Black Sea Governorate[lower-alpha 1] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, established in 1896 on the territory of the Black Sea Okrug [ru] of the Kuban Oblast. The administrative center of the governorate was the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. In 1905, the population of the governorate was approximately 70,000 and its area was 6,455 square versts (7,346 km2; 2,836 sq mi), making it the smallest Russian governorate by both measures.[1] The governorate ceased to exist when the Black Sea Soviet Republic was established on its territory in the spring of 1918—later the governorate was incorporated into the Kuban-Black Sea Oblast of the Russian SFSR in March 1920.
Black Sea Governorate
Черноморская губернія | |
|---|---|
Administrative map of the Black Sea Governorate | |
| Country | Russian Empire |
| Viceroyalty | Caucasus |
| Established | 1849 |
| Abolished | 1917 |
| Capital | Novorossiysk |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6,675.68 km2 (2,577.49 sq mi) |
| Population (1916) | |
| • Total | 178,306 |
| • Density | 27/km2 (69/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 46.39% |
| • Rural | 53.61% |
The districts (okrugs) of the Black Sea Governorate in 1917 were as follows:[2][3]
| Name | Capital | Population | Area | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897 | 1916 | |||
| Novorossiysky okrug (Новороссійскій округъ) | Novorossiysk | 34,908 | 75,021 | 999.13 square versts (1,137.07 km2; 439.03 sq mi) |
| Sochinsky okrug (Сочинскій округъ) | Sochi | 13,519 | 62,920 | 3,304.84 square versts (3,761.11 km2; 1,452.17 sq mi) |
| Tuapsinsky okrug (Туапсинскій округъ) | Tuapse | 9,051 | 40,365 | 1,561.86 square versts (1,777.49 km2; 686.29 sq mi) |
Russian Empire Census
According to the Russian Empire Census, the Black Sea Governorate had a population of 57,478 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 34,776 men and 22,702 women. The plurality of the population indicated Russian to be their mother tongue, with significant Ukrainian, Armenian, and Greek speaking minorities.[2]
| Native language | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Russian | 24,635 | 42.86 |
| Ukrainian | 9,252 | 16.10 |
| Armenian | 6,285 | 10.93 |
| Greek | 5,969 | 10.38 |
| Circassian | 1,939 | 3.37 |
| Czech | 1,290 | 2.24 |
| Jewish | 990 | 1.72 |
| Georgian | 967 | 1.68 |
| Romanian | 923 | 1.61 |
| Estonian | 791 | 1.38 |
| German | 748 | 1.30 |
| Polish | 731 | 1.27 |
| Belarusian | 659 | 1.15 |
| Turkish | 650 | 1.13 |
| Mingrelian | 304 | 0.53 |
| Tatar[lower-alpha 2] | 291 | 0.51 |
| Persian | 210 | 0.37 |
| Imeretian | 158 | 0.27 |
| Other | 686 | 1.19 |
| TOTAL | 57,478 | 100.00 |
| Faith | Male | Female | Both | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | |||
| Eastern Orthodox | 26,085 | 16,980 | 43,065 | 74.92 |
| Armenian Apostolic | 3,506 | 2,635 | 6,141 | 10.68 |
| Muslim | 2,072 | 1,031 | 3,103 | 5.40 |
| Roman Catholic | 1,485 | 944 | 2,429 | 4.23 |
| Lutheran | 835 | 580 | 1,415 | 2.46 |
| Judaism | 567 | 461 | 1,028 | 1.79 |
| Old Believer | 53 | 36 | 89 | 0.15 |
| Armenian Catholic | 58 | 24 | 82 | 0.14 |
| Reformed | 70 | 1 | 71 | 0.12 |
| Karaite | 18 | 6 | 24 | 0.04 |
| Anglican | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0.01 |
| Mennonite | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Baptist | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Other Christian denomination | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0.01 |
| Other non-Christian denomination | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0.03 |
| TOTAL | 34,776 | 22,702 | 57,478 | 100.00 |
| Urban settlement | Russian | Ukrainian | Greek | TOTAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | ||
| Novorossiysk | 10,860 | 64.27 | 2,177 | 12.88 | 931 | 5.51 | 16,897 |
| Tuapse | 827 | 59.41 | 116 | 8.33 | 189 | 13.58 | 1,392 |
| Sochi | 513 | 37.94 | 269 | 19.90 | 26 | 1.92 | 1,352 |
| TOTAL | 12,200 | 62.11 | 2,562 | 13.04 | 1,146 | 5.83 | 19,641 |
Kavkazskiy kalendar
According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Black Sea Governorate had a population of 178,306 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 104,488 men and 73,818 women, 108,893 of whom were the permanent population, and 69,413 were temporary residents:[3]
| Nationality | Urban | Rural | TOTAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| Russians | 65,582 | 79.28 | 54,339 | 56.85 | 119,921 | 67.26 |
| Other Europeans | 6,246 | 7.55 | 15,107 | 15.80 | 21,353 | 11.98 |
| Armenians | 2,347 | 2.84 | 15,712 | 16.44 | 18,059 | 10.13 |
| Georgians | 1,750 | 2.12 | 4,336 | 4.54 | 6,086 | 3.41 |
| Asiatic Christians | 3,407 | 4.12 | 1,932 | 2.02 | 5,339 | 2.99 |
| North Caucasians | 672 | 0.81 | 3,426 | 3.58 | 4,104 | 2.30 |
| Jews | 1,784 | 2.16 | 9 | 0.01 | 1,793 | 1.01 |
| Shia Muslims[lower-alpha 3] | 922 | 1.11 | 649 | 0.68 | 1,571 | 0.88 |
| Sunni Muslims[lower-alpha 4] | 12 | 0.01 | 56 | 0.06 | 68 | 0.04 |
| Roma | 0 | 0.00 | 12 | 0.01 | 12 | 0.01 |
| TOTAL | 82,722 | 100.00 | 95,584 | 100.00 | 178,306 | 100.00 |
- 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]
- Primarily Tatars.[8]
- Primarily Turco-Tatars.[8]
- Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона. Черноморская губерния. Том 4. 1907. (Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, vol. 4. 1907.)
- "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
- Кавказский календарь на 1917 год, pp. 214–217.
- Bournoutian 2018, p. 35 (note 25).
- Tsutsiev 2014, p. 50.
- "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- Hovannisian 1971, p. 67.
- 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 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.