The Lenkoran uezd or Talysh uezd was a county (''

uezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the ...

'') within the

Baku Governorate The Baku Governorate, known before 1859 as the Shemakha Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its center in the booming metropolis and Caspian Sea p ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, and then of the

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds. *Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...

and the

Azerbaijan SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

until its formal abolishment in 1929. The county was located on the southern part of the governorate, bordering

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

to the east, Javad uezd to the north, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

to the southwest. The administrative centre of the county was the city of Lenkoran (present-day

Lankaran Lankaran (, ) or Lánkon () is a city in Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, near the southern border with Iran. As of 2021, the city had a population of 89,300. It is next to, but independent of, Lankaran District. The city forms a disti ...

Administrative divisions

The prefectures () of the Lenkoran ''uezd'' in 1917 were as follows:

History

The county was established on 10 April 1840 on the basis of

Talysh Khanate The Talysh Khanate or Talish Khanate (, ) was an Iranian khanate of Talysh origin that was established in Afsharid Persia and existed from the middle of the 18th century till the beginning of the 19th century, located in the south-west coast of ...

. It was initially made a part of the

Caspian oblast Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea *The Caspian languages spoken in northern Iran and southeastern Azerbaija ...

on 1840, and later renamed Lenkoran uezd in 1845 and made part of the Shamakhi Governorate in 1846. Due to an earthquake in Shamakhi in 1859, the centre of the Shamakhi Governorate was moved from

Shamakhi Shamakhi (, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Shamakhi District. The city's estimated population was 31,704. It is famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers, and also for perhaps giving its name to th ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and the governorate was renamed

. In 1918, after the collapse of the Russian Empire, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic gained brief independence. Bolshevik Baku Commune was controlling Baku at the time, and they were trying to spread their control over other places in Azerbaijan, such as Lenkoran ''uezd''. This led to the creation of the

Mughan Soviet Republic The Mughan Soviet Republic was a short-lived pro-Bolshevik state that existed in present-day southeastern Azerbaijan from March to June 1919. It was founded in opposition to the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Cap ...

in the territories of the Lenkoran ''uezd'' on 25 April 1919, but the republic was short-lived and it collapsed 3 months later, on 27 July 1919. Subsequently, the county was integrated into Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. After the

Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan The Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan, also known as the Sovietization or Soviet invasion of Azerbaijan, took place in April 1920. It was a military campaign conducted by the 11th Army of Soviet Russia with the aim of installing a new Soviet govern ...

in 1920, Azerbaijan was integrated into the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the county was abolished by Soviet authorities in 1929.

Demographics

According to the "Code of statistical data on the population of the Transcaucasian region" from 1886, the population of the county was 109,340 people, of which 50,887 (46.5%)

Talysh Talysh may refer to: *Talysh people, an ethnic group of Iran and Azerbaijan **Talysh language, the West Iranian language of these people ** Talysh, a historical region on the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea, inhabited by the Talysh people *T ...

, 50,510 (46.2%) were

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

, 7,634 were

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

and 273 (0.2%) were

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

.Закавказский статистический комитет. Свод статистических данных о населении Закавказскаго края, извлеченных из посемейных списков 1886 г. / Главноначальствующий гражданскою частию на Кавказе. — Тифлис: Тип. И. Мартиросиянца, 1893, 1893. — С. 337. — 487 с.

Russian Empire Census

According to the Russian Empire Census, the Lenkoran ''uezd'' had a population of 130,987 on , including 72,492 men and 58,495 women. The majority of the population indicated Tatar to be their mother tongue, with significant

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

speaking minorities.

''Kavkazskiy kalendar''

According to the 1917 publication of ''

Kavkazskiy kalendar ''Kavkazskiy kalendar'' (, ) was an annual almanac published in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) in the Russian Empire by the office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus from 1846 to 1917. History ''Kavkazskiy kalendar'' contained a large number of ethno ...

'', the Lenkoran ''uezd'' had a population of 203,319 on , including 106,891 men and 96,428 women, 195,247 of whom were the permanent population, and 8,072 were temporary residents:

Soviet census (1926)

In 1926, the population of the county rose to 208,479.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Historical geography of Azerbaijan States and territories established in 1840 1840 establishments in the Russian Empire 1929 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Uezds of Baku Governorate Uezds of the Soviet Union States and territories disestablished in 1929 History of Talysh {{coord, 38, 45, 13, N, 48, 51, 04, E, display=title