Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

and eastern

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, extending from the

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

s of the

Lesser Caucasus The Lesser Caucasus or Lesser Caucasus Mountains, also called Caucasus Minor, is the second of the two main ranges of the Caucasus Mountains, of length about . The western portion of the Lesser Caucasus overlaps and converges with east Turkey an ...

down to the

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

s between the rivers

Kura Kura may refer to: Places * Kura, Iran (disambiguation) * Kura Island, Azerbaijan * Kura, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Kano State * Kura (South Caucasus river), a river in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan * Kura (Russia), a river in Ru ...

and Aras. It is divided into three regions:

Highland Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik. Its terrain mostly cons ...

, Lowland Karabakh (the steppes between the

and Aras rivers), and the eastern slopes of the

Zangezur Mountains The Zangezur Mountains (, ) are a mountain range that defines the border between Armenia's southern provinces of Syunik, Vayots Dzor, and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The Zangezur region has the second-largest tract of forests ...

(roughly Syunik and Kalbajar–Lachin). Hewsen, Robert H. "The Meliks of Eastern Armenia: A Preliminary Study," ''

Revue des Études Arméniennes ''Revue des Études Arméniennes'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles relating to Classical and medieval Armenian history, art history, philology, linguistics, and literature.transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

from the

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 ...

version of the word , derives from the Azerbaijani , which is generally believed to be a compound of the Turkic word ''kara'' (black) and the

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

word ''bagh'' (garden), literally meaning "black garden."Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

''. Retrieved August 29, 2009. However, there are some other hypotheses. Russian Orientalist

Vladimir Minorsky Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (; – 25 March 1966) was a White Russian academic, historian, and scholar of Oriental studies, best known for his contributions to the study of history of Iran and the Iranian peoples such as Persians, Lurs, and ...

believed that the name possibly connected to an extinct Turkic tribe of the same name. By comparison, there are similar toponyms in Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. According to Iranian linguist Abdolali Karang, ''kara'' could have derived from ''kaleh'' or ''kala'', which means "large" in the Harzani dialect of the extinct Iranian

Old Azeri language Old Azeri (آذری, ''Āzāri''; also spelled Adhari, Azeri or Azari) is the extinct Iranian languages, Iranian language that was once spoken in the northwestern Iranian historic region of Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) bef ...

."Azari, the Old Iranian Language of Azerbaijan", ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

'', op. cit., Vol. III/2, 1987 by

Ehsan Yarshater Ehsan Yarshater (; April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of the Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Stud ...

. External link

/ref> The Iranian Azerbaijanis, Iranian-Azerbaijani historian

Ahmad Kasravi Ahmad Hokmabadi Tabrizi (; 29 September 1890 – 11 March 1946), later known as Ahmad Kasravi, was a pre-eminent Iranian historian, jurist, linguist, theologian, a staunch secularist and intellectual. He was a professor of law at the University ...

also speaks of the translation of ''kara'' as "large" and not "black." The ''kara'' prefix has also been used for other nearby regions and landmarks, such as Karadagh (''dagh'' "mountain") referring to a mountain range, and ''Karakilise'' (''kilise'' "church") referring to the largest church complex in its area, built mainly with white stone, the

Monastery of Saint Thaddeus The Monastery of Saint Thaddeus (, ''Surb Tadeosi vank''; , ''Kelisā-ye Tādeus moghadas'') The "Holy Tadeosi Cathedral" is an ancient Armenian monastery in a mountainous area of West Azerbaijan province, Iran. It is believed to be one of the ...

. In the sense of "large," ''Karakilise'' would translate to "large church," and ''Karabakh'' would translate to "large garden." Another theory, proposed by

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

historian

Bagrat Ulubabyan Bagrat Arshaki Ulubabyan (; December 9, 1925 – November 19, 2001) was an Armenian writer and historian, known most prominently for his work on the histories of Nagorno-Karabakh and Artsakh. Biography Early life and education Ulubabyan wa ...

, is that, along with the "large" translation of ''kara'', the ''bagh'' component was derived from the nearby canton called ''Baghk'', which at some point was part of

Melikdoms of Karabakh The Five Melikdoms of Karabakh, also known as Khamsa Melikdoms (), were Armenians, Armenian feudal entities on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring lands, from the dissolution of the Principality of Khachen in the 15th centu ...

within modern-day Karabakh –

Dizak Dizak (), also known as Ktish after its main stronghold, was a medieval Armenian principality in the historical province of Artsakh and later one of the five melikdoms of Karabakh, which included the southern third of Khachen (present-day N ...

and the

Kingdom of Syunik Kingdom of Syunik (), also known as the Kingdom of Baghk and sometimes as the Kingdom of Kapan, was a medieval dependent Armenian kingdom-k'' suffix is a plural nominative case marker also used to form names of countries and regions in

Classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, , ; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and most Armenian literature fro ...

). In this sense, ''Karabakh'' would translate to "Greater Baghk." The placename is first mentioned in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in '' The Georgian Chronicles'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება "Life of Kartli"), and in Persian sources. Ulubabyan, Bagrat. ''«Ղարաբաղ»'' harabagh

Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia (also rendered ''Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia''; , ''Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran''; ASE) is the first general encyclopedia in the Armenian language. It was published in 1974-1987 by the main editorial office of th ...

. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1981, vol. 7, p. 26. The name became common after the 1230s when the region was conquered by the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

. The first time the name was mentioned in an Armenian source was in the fifteenth century, in Thomas of Metsoph's ''History of Tamerlane and His Successors''.

Geography

Karabakh is a landlocked region located in the south of

and the west of

. There is currently no official designation for what constitutes the whole of Karabakh. Historically, the maximum extent of what could be considered ''Karabakh'' was during the existence of the

Karabakh Khanate The Karabakh Khanate (also spelled Qarabagh; ; ) was a Khanates of the Caucasus, khanate under History of Iran, Iranian and later Russian Empire, Russian suzerainty, which controlled the historical region of Karabakh, now divided between modern ...

in the 18th century, which extended from the

in the west, following eastwards along the

Aras river The Aras is a transboundary river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, fin ...

to the point where it meets with the Kura river in the Kur-Araz Lowland. Following the Kura river north, it stretched as far as what is today the

Mingachevir reservoir The Mingachevir reservoir () (also known as the Mingachevir sea ()) is a large reservoir on the Kura river in northwestern Azerbaijan. It supplies water to the Upper Karabakh and Upper Shirvan channels, and is used for electricity generation, i ...

before turning back to the Zangezur Mountains through the Murov Mountains. However, when not referring to the territory covered by the Karabakh Khanate, the northern regions are often excluded (modern-day Goranboy and

Yevlakh Yevlakh (, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, 265 km west of the capital of Baku. It is surrounded by but administratively separate from the Yevlakh District. Etymology The settlement is mentioned by the 13th century Armenian historian Stephen O ...

). During 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 ...

, the eastern lowlands where the Kura and Aras rivers meet (mostly modern-day Imishli) were also excluded, but most pre- Elisabethpol maps include that region in Karabakh.

History

Antiquity

The region today referred to as Karabakh, which was populated with various

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...

tribes, is believed to have been conquered by the Kingdom of Armenia in the 2nd century BC and organized as parts of the Artsakh,

Utik Utik (), also known as Uti, was a historical province and principality within the Kingdom of Armenia. It was ceded to Caucasian Albania following the partition of Armenia between Sassanid Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire in 387 AD. Most o ...

and the southern regions of Syunik provinces. However, it is possible that the region had earlier been part of the

Satrapy of Armenia The Satrapy of Armenia ( Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴 or 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴𐎹 ), a region controlled by the Orontid dynasty (570–201 BC), was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC that later became an ...

under the

Orontid dynasty The Orontid dynasty, also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis, ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of t ...

from as early as the 4th century BC. After the partition of Armenia by

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Persia 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 ...

in 387 AD, Artsakh and Utik became a part of the Caucasian Albanian satrapy of

Sassanian Persia The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

, while Syunik remained in Armenia.

Middle Ages

The Arab invasions later led to the rise of several Armenian princes who came to establish their dominance in the region.Hewsen. ''Armenia'', pp. 119, 155, 163, 264–265. Centuries of constant warfare on the Armenian Plateau forced many Armenians, including those in the Karabakh region, to emigrate and settle elsewhere. During the period of Mongol domination, a great number of Armenians left Lowland Karabakh and sought refuge in the mountainous (Highland) heights of the region. From the 11th century onwards, Karabakh became home to numerous Oghuz Turkic tribes, the ancestors of the modern

Azeris Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predominantly Shia Muslims. They comprise the largest ...

, who stuck to the nomadic way of life, circulating between the winter pastures in Karabakh lowlands and the summer pastures in Karabakh highlands. These tribes dominated the region, and were key allies of the Safavid Empire, which ruled over Karabakh from the 16th to early 18th century. In the fifteenth century, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

traveler

Johann Schiltberger Johann (Hans) Schiltberger (1380) was a German traveller and writer. He was born of a noble family, probably at Hollern near Lohhof halfway between Munich and Freising. Travels Schiltberger joined the suite of Lienhart Richartinger in 1394, ...

visited Lowland Karabakh and described it as a large and beautiful plain in Armenia, ruled by Muslims. Highland Karabakh from 821 until the early 19th century passed under the hands of a number of states, including the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

Bagratid Armenia Bagratid Armenia was an independent Armenian state established by Ashot I of the Bagratuni dynasty in the early 880s following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and Abbasid rule. With each of t ...

, the Mongol

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

and

Jalayirid Sultanate The Jalayirid Sultanate () was a dynasty of Mongol Jalayir origin, which ruled over modern-day Iraq and western Iran after the breakup of the Ilkhanate in the 1330s.Bayne Fisher, William. ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', p. 3: "From then until ...

s, the Turkic

Kara Koyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu (, ; ), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, English Black Sheep, Turkmen tribal federation th ...

Ak Koyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (, ; ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: ...

, and

Safavid Iran The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

(the province of Karabakh). Armenian princes of the times ruled as vassal territories by the Armenian House of

Khachen The Principality of Khachen ( Modern Armenian: ) was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh (present-day Karabakh).''Abū-Dulaf Misʻar Ibn Muhalhil's Travels in Iran (circa A.D. 950)'', ed. and trans. Vladim ...

and its several lines, the latter

. The Safavid

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

("King")

Tahmasp I Tahmasp I ( or ; 22 February 1514 – 14 May 1576) was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 until his death in 1576. He was the eldest son of Shah Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum. Tahmasp ascended the throne after the ...

(1524–1576) appointed the family of Shahverdi Sultan, who hailed from the Ziad-oglu branch of the

Qajar tribe The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic origin,Cyrus Ghani. ''Iran an ...

, as governors of Karabakh. It was also invaded and ruled by

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

between 1578–1605 and again between 1723 and 1736, as they briefly conquered it during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578-1590 and during the disintegration of Safavid Iran, respectively. In 1747,

Panah Ali Khan Panah Ali Khan Javanshir (; ; 1693 – 1759 or 1763) was the founder and first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate under Persian suzerainty. Ancestry Panah Ali Khan was from the Sarijali branch of the Javanshir clan, who with their associate clan of ...

, a local Turkic chieftain from the

Javanshir clan The Javanshirs (; – ''Javānširān'') are a Turkic clan from Karabakh, who are a branch of the Oghuz Turks. Between 1748 and 1822, members of the Javanshir clan functioned as the head of the Karabakh Khanate. History Early years The great ...

, seized control of the region after the death of the Persian ruler

Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...

, and both Lower Karabakh and Highland Karabakh comprised the new

Qajar Iran The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic peoples, Turkic origin,Cyrus G ...

reestablished rule over the region several years later.

Early Modern Age

In 1813, under the terms of the

Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (also spelled Golestan: ; ) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gülüstan, Goranboy, Gulistan (now in Goranboy District, the Goranboy District of Azerb ...

, the region of Karabakh was lost by

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

. Under Russian rule, Karabakh (both Lowland and Highland) was a region with an area of 13,600 km² (5,250 sq mi), with

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

(Shushi) as its most prominent city. Its population consisted of

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 ...

and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

(mainly of Tatars, later known as

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 ...

, but also

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

). The Russians conducted a census in 1823 and had tallied the number of villages (though not the number of people) and assessed the tax basis of the entire Karabakh khanate, which also included Lowland Karabakh. It is probable that the Armenians formed the majority of the population of Eastern Armenia at the turn of the seventeenth century, but following

Shah Abbas I Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers ...

's massive relocation of Armenians in 1604–05 their numbers decreased markedly, as they eventually became a minority among their Muslim neighbors. According to the statistics of the initial survey carried out by the Russians in 1823 and an official one published in 1836, Highland Karabakh was found almost overwhelmingly Armenian in population (96.7%).Bournoutian, George.
The Politics of Demography: Misuse of Sources on the Armenian Population of Mountainous Karabakh
" ''Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies'' 9 (1996–1997), pp. 99–103. In contrast, the population of the Karabakh khanate, taken as a whole, was largely made up of Muslims (91% Muslim versus 9% Armenian).Cornell, Svante.
Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus
'. Richmond, Surrey, England: Curzon, 2001, p. 54. . A decade after the Russian annexation of the region, many Armenians who had fled Karabakh during the reign of

Ibrahim Khalil Khan Ibrahim Khalil Khan Javanshir (, 1732–1806) was the second khan of the Karabakh Khanate from the Javanshir family. He was the son and successor of Panah-Ali khan Javanshir. Early life He was born in c. 1732 in Karabakh. He was among depo ...

(1730–1806) and settled in Yerevan,

Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒa� ...

, and parts of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

were repatriated to their villages, many of which had been left derelict. An additional 279 Armenian families were settled in the villages of

Ghapan Kapan ( ) is a town in southeast Armenia, serving as the administrative centre of the Kapan Municipality and also as the provincial capital of Syunik Province. It is located in the valley of the Voghji (river), Voghji River and is on the norther ...

and

Meghri Meghri ( ; ) is a town and the centre of the Meghri Municipality of the Syunik Province in southern Armenia, near the border with Iran. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town was 4,580. According to the 2020 official estimate, Meghri's ...

in Syunik. Though some of the returning Armenians wished to settle in Karabakh, they were told by Russian authorities that there was no room for them. This took place at the same time as many of the region's Muslims departed for the

and Qajar Iran. The population of Karabakh, according to the official returns of 1832, consisted of 13,965 Muslim and 1,491 Armenian families, besides some

Nestorian Christians Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

and

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

. The limited population was ascribed to the frequent wars and emigration of many Muslim families to Iran since the region's subjection to Russia, although many Armenians were induced by the Russian government, after the

Treaty of Turkmenchay The Treaty of Turkmenchay (; ) was an agreement between Qajar Iran and the Russian Empire, which concluded the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828). It was second of the series of treaties (the first was the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the last, the ...

, to emigrate from Iran to Karabakh. Censuses and surveys, which were conducted in winter, did not count tens of thousands Azeri nomads, who stayed in the lowlands during winter and were migrating en masse to the summer pastures in Mountainous Karabakh during the warmer months. Seasonal demographic changes were significant, as e.g. in 1845 in historic Karabakh the population included 30,000 Armenians and 62,000 Moslems (Azeris), of whom approximately 50,000 were nomads, who circulated between Lowland and Mountainous Karabakh. In 1828 the Karabakh khanate was dissolved and in 1840 it was absorbed into the Kaspijskaya oblast, and subsequently, in 1846, made a part of

Shemakha Governorate Shemakha Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its administrative center in Shemakha (Shamakhi). Following the earthquake of 1859, the capital was transferred a ...

. In 1876 it was made a part of the

Elisabethpol Governorate The Elizavetpol Governorate, also known after 1918 as the Ganja Governorate, was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yelisavetpol (present-day Ganja). The area of the governorate s ...

, an administrative arrangement which remained in place until the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917.

Modern era

Independence and Soviet era

After the dissolution of Russian Empire Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhchivan were disputed between newly established republics of

and

. Fighting between two republics broke out. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, British troops occupied the

South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...

. The British command affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (an appointee of the Azerbaijani government) as provisional governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur, pending a final decision at the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

. The local council representing the Karabakh Armenian community consented to this decision until, in August 1919, the region was made subject to Azerbaijan military jurisdiction in advance of Azerbaijan's prospective annexation of Karabakh. Karabakh Armenians accused Azerbaijan of violating the letter of the 1919 agreement and, with the support of emissaries from Armenia, in March 1920 launched an ill-fated rebellion in Shusha. The Azerbaijani forces quickly suppressed the uprising, massacring and expelling the Armenian population of Shusha and establishing control over the main centers of Karabakh (Shusha, Khankendi, Askeran), although fighting in the countryside of Mountainous Karabakh continued. In April 1920, the Red Army occupied Azerbaijan and in December, Armenia. The issue of Karabakh's status was taken up by the Soviet authorities. In 1921 after the heavy trilateral negotiations, the Bolsheviks decided that Karabakh would remain within the borders of the new Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. In 1923, the Armenian-inhabited parts of Mountainous Karabakh were made a part of the newly established

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was an Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union, autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majori ...

(NKAO), an administrative entity within 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 ...

. According to the first census of this administrative unit the population was 94% Armenian, however, this census did not count a considerable Azeri nomadic population. The NKAO consisted of the Armenian-dominated part of historical Mountainous Karabakh and many Azeri villages of this region were administratively excluded from the former. During the Soviet period, several attempts were made by the authorities of the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

to unite it with the NKAO but these proposals never found any support in Moscow.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

In February 1988, within the context of

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

's ''glasnost'' and ''perestroika'' policies, the Supreme Soviet of the NKAO voted to unite itself with Armenia. By the summer of 1989 the Armenian-populated areas of the NKAO were under blockade by Azerbaijan as a response to Armenia's blockade against Nakhchivan, cutting road and rail links to the outside world. On July 12 the Nagorno-Karabakh AO Supreme Soviet voted to secede from Azerbaijan, which was rejected unanimously by the

Supreme Soviet of USSR The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the S ...

, declaring NKAO had no right to secede from

under Soviet Constitution. Soviet authorities in Moscow then placed the region under its direct rule, installing a special commission to govern the region. In November 1989 the Kremlin returned the oblast to Azerbaijani control. The local government in the region of

Shahumian Shahumyan Province (, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') was a province of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, ''de jure'' part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The capital of the province was Karvachar. Shahumyan Province had 17 comm ...

also declared its independence from the Azerbaijan SSR in 1991. In late 1991, the Armenian representatives in the local government of the NKAO proclaimed the region a republic, independent from Azerbaijan. Most of upper Karabakh and portions of lowland Karabakh came under the control of Armenian forces following the

First Nagorno-Karabakh war The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

. The region's Azerbaijani inhabitants were expelled from the territories that came under Armenian control. While Nagorno-Karabakh remained an internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan, the four UN Security Council resolutions, adopted in 1993 and demanding immediate withdrawal of the Armenian occupying forces from all occupied regions of Azerbaijan, remained unfulfilled until 2020. In 2020, a new war erupted in the region, which saw Azerbaijan retake control of most of southern Karabakh ( Fuzuli,

Jabrayil Jabrayil (, ) is a ghost city in Azerbaijan, nominally the administrative capital of Azerbaijan's Jabrayil District. A town with Azerbaijani majority and Armenians, Armenian plurality at various times during the Russian Empire, Russian imperial ...

Zangilan Zangilan (, ; ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Zangilan District. It is situated along the Voghji (Okhchuchay) river. Etymology According to the Armenian historian Hovhannes Gharagyozian, the town's historical ...

Qubadli Qubadli (, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Qubadli District. It is situated along the Vorotan (Bargushad) river. History Qubadli was part of the Zangezur uezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate during the Russian E ...

Hadrut Hadrut (, ) is a town in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The town had an ethnic Armenian-majority population prior to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. Numerous Armenian civilians were killed in and around H ...

districts) and parts of north-eastern Karabakh ( Talish, Madagiz). A trilateral ceasefire agreement signed on 10 November 2020 ended the war and forced Armenia to return all of the remaining territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

Demographics

The earliest concrete numbers about the population of Karabakh is from a survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823. According to the census, 91% of the villages were registered as "Muslims", while 9% were "Armenians". Almost all of the Armenians compactly resided in its mountainous parts (on the territory of the five traditional

Armenian principalities Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

) where they constituted an absolute demographic majority, such that 90.8% of recorded villages were Armenians, whilst 9.2% were Tatar (later known as Azerbaijani). During the Russian Empire, the entire Karabakh region (mountainous and flatland) was divided into four counties (''

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 ...

s'') within the

Elizavetpol Governorate The Elizavetpol Governorate, also known after 1918 as the Ganja Governorate, was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yelisavetpol (present-day Ganja). The area of the governorate st ...

: Jevanshir,

Zangezur Zangezur () is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar Iran according to the Treaty of Gulistan ...

Jebrail Jabrayil (, ) is a ghost city in Azerbaijan, nominally the administrative capital of Azerbaijan's Jabrayil District. A town with Azerbaijani majority and Armenian plurality at various times during the Russian imperial era, and Azerbaijani maj ...

, and

. Their ethnic composition in 1897 and 1916 was as follows:

Toponyms

The historian Arsène Saparov explains that due to Karabakh's location as a peripheral borderland within the region in relation to local historical empires, as well the specific economic relations between its peoples, "an extremely complex palimpsest-type toponymic landscape in Karabakh" was formed. There are four main toponymic layers in Karabakh; Turkic,

and

. In addition, there are a large number of mixed toponyms which contain elements from more than one language. Lastly, there has been a complexicity of simultaneous existence of two overlapping toponymic landscapes belonging to different languages. These two toponymic systems overlap, as Saparov explains, in space and time, and cover the same territory, but are used concurrently by two groups. One toponymic landscape was used by the sedentary

of Karabakh, whereas the Turkic (later known as

) and

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

nomads of the area used the other toponymic system for the same territory. Iranian toponyms are attested in places such as

Chldran Chldran () or Childiran () is a village in the Aghdara District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population until the e ...

Charektar Charektar (; ) is a village in the Aghdara District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village had an Azerbaijani-majority population prior to their exodus during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Before 2023, it was controlled ...

, Khojavend and

. Saparov explains that the oldest Russian toponyms in Karabakh date to the 19th century, assigned to hamlets that were originally settlements of Russian colonists or

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

outposts on the border with

. Some examples are

Kuropatkino Kuropatkino () or Kakavadzor (, ) is a village located in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The village had an Azerbaijani majority prior to their exodus during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. History Duri ...

, Sunzhinka, Lisagorskoe, Skobolevka, and Kotliarovka. Turkic toponyms include Dashbulag, Agbulag, Karabulag and Chailu. Armenian toponyms include Tkhkot, Mokhratakh, Vank and

Kolatak Kolatak (; ) is a village located in the Aghdara District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population until the exodu ...

. Mixed toponyms include Mamedazor (Islamic first name ''Mamed'' combined with the Armenian term for "

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

"), or Meshadishen (combining the Turkic first name ''Meshadi'' with the Armenian term ''shen'', i.e. village), and Sardarashen (combination of the Persian word ''

sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar (, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royal family, royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other Aristocracy (class), aristocrats. It ha ...

'' and the Armenian term for village, ''shen''). Some place names derive from the names of historic figures, including local lords. Most of these lords were Armenian or Turkic in origin. However, as the Armenian notables of Karabakh often borrowed their personal names from their immediate Muslim overlords, these anthroponyms such as Kherkhan, Farukh and Seiti are usually, as Saparov narrates (citing Gaziyan and Mkrtchyan), assigned "to the Turkic toponymic landscape".

Overlapping Armenian and Turkic toponymic landscape

Due to Karabakh's specific economic conditions, with its lowland nomads crossing into the mountains during summer across agricultural settlements, two overlapping toponymic landscapes were created over time; Armenian and Turkic. Until the arrival of the

, these two toponymic landscapes were used concurrently by the Armenian group on one hand and the nomads consisting of Turkics (later known as Azerbaijanis) and Kurds on the other. An example in this regard is the place of ''

Karintak Dashalty () or Karin Tak () is a village in the Shusha District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2020, the village was controlled by the Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenians, Armenian-majority population ...

'' in Armenian, known in Turkic as '' Dashalty'' (both versions translate as "village under the rock"). There are also place names from one language that were linguistically altered by another. For example, the place of Vank, became known in Turkic as Vanklu (by adding the Turkic suffix "-lu"), and the town of Shosh (Armenian) became known in Turkic as Shushikend (by adding the Turkic suffix, ''-kend'', i.e. "village"). Other place names are toponymically unrelated in relation to their respective substitution, such as the town known as Susalykh (in Turkic) with its Armenian equivalent Mokhranes.

Tsarist changes

The two toponymic systems coexisted and served both groups until the arrival of the Russian Empire. The Russians introduced the administrative system of a centralized European Empire, which brought about a standardization of the bureaucracy. Therefore, toponymc started to be recorded in Russian

gazetteers A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a country, region, ...

and maps in the second half of the 19th century. As two toponymic systems were deemed impractical, only one toponymic landscape was recorded by the Tsarist officials, even though the double toponymic landscape remained visible in maps and gazetteers due to the occasional printing of double names. The Tsarist officials preferred the Turkic toponyms over the Armenian ones, as they, in the words of Saparov (citing the historian

George Bournoutian George A. Bournoutian (; ‎; 25September 1943 – 22 August 2021) was an Iranian-American professor, historian, and author of Armenian descent. He was a professor of history and the author of over 30 books, particularly focusing on Armenian ...

), likely relied on the existing

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

tax records kept by the administration of the

Soviet changes

During the existence of 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 ...

, toponyms that were deemed ideologically unacceptable to the Soviet doctrine and leadership, such as those that showed social, monarchic, or religious affiliations, were changed ''en masse'' as in the rest of the Soviet realm. Specifically, in relation to Karabakh, these include names that bore names of local lords, religious holidays or personalities. The Soviets replaced such toponyms with commemorative names from the pantheon of Soviet leaders and figures, often locals of the area in question. For instance,

Stepanakert Stepanakert officially Khankendi is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. It was the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in ...

, named after Armenian Bolshevik leader

Stepan Shaumian Stepan Georgevich Shaumian (; ; 1 October 1878 – 20 September 1918) was an Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary and politician active throughout the Caucasus. His role as a leader of the Russian Revolution in the Caucasus earned him the nicknam ...

, replaced the local Armenian (Vararakn) and Turkic (Khankendi) names as the town's sole official name. The town of

Kolkhozashen Kolkhozashen () or Arpaduzu () is a village located in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority populati ...

reflected the Soviet practise of creating collective farm villages, i.e., a ''

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

'' in Russian. Under the Soviets, a partial reversal of Tsarist policies took place, and Armenian place names therefore reappeared on official Soviet maps. Simultaneously, Turkic place names that violated Bolshevik doctrines (e.g. settlements named after lords, landowners or religious names), were removed. By the early 1920s, the Armenian leaders of the newly established

had succeeded inalthough partiallyrestoring the Armenian toponymic landscape, bringing it to status of legitimacy, and replacing the previously dominant Turkic one that had become favoured under the Russian Empire. This situation remained in place, Saparov narrates, "largely unaffected until the end of the Soviet era".

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict changes

During the ongoing

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbai ...

, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have changed the names of numerous settlements in Karabakh order to support the legitimacy of their respective territorial claims. Azerbaijani authorities have targeted historical Armenian place names in Karabakh, whereas the Armenians have removed Turkic place names. Both sides use the place names that were historically used within the two toponymic landscapes that co-existed before the arrival of the Russians during the

Russo-Persian Wars The Russo-Persian Wars ( ), or the Russo-Iranian Wars ( ), began in 1651 and continued intermittently until 1828. They consisted of five conflicts in total, each rooted in both sides' disputed governance of territories and countries in the Cauca ...

. Most renamings by the Azerbaijani government occurred during the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

, as a way to, as Saparov explains "to reinstate the symbolic authority of Azerbaijan over this disputed secessionist territory and as a result targeted what they perceived as Armenian place-names". Out of 208 toponyms recorded by the Azerbaijani authorities in the territory of Karabakh, 81 were renamed and 127 remained unchanged. The main goal was to remove toponyms that could, in any way, support the territorial claims of the Armenians. Following the

Second Nagorno-Karabakh War The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, surrounding occupied territories. It was a major esca ...

, the Azerbaijani government successfully petitioned Google to remove Armenian place names from maps of Karabakh. The Armenian side has also initiated a renaming campaign, targeting Turkic place names. According to 2009 data from the ''de facto''

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh cont ...

, of a total of 151 place names, 54 were renamed and 97 remained unchanged. The difference in place names between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides is because the Armenians used less detailed maps than the Soviet and Azerbaijani maps and also excluded a number of smaller settlements. Furthermore, the 2009 data also omits a number of Azerbaijani settlements that were destroyed during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and were never rebuilt afterwards. According to Saparov, both sides followed the same logic of "imposing a symbolic toponymic landscape that belonged to one of the ethnic groups on the disputed territory, in the process destroying the ‘enemy’ toponyms and thus denying any legitimacy to the opponent's territorial claim".

Karabakh dialect

The Armenian population of the region speaks the Karabakh dialect of Armenian which has been heavily influenced by the Persian, Russian, and Turkish languages. It was the most extensively spoken of all Armenian dialects until the Soviet period when the dialect of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

became the official tongue of the

Flora

The

Khari-bulbul ''Ophrys sphegodes'' subsp. ''taurica'', with many synonyms, including ''Ophrys caucasica'', is a subspecies of orchid native from southeast Europe through the Caucasus to Iran. As ''Ophrys caucasica'', it has been recorded in numerous areas throu ...

(''Ophrys caucasica'') is a flowering plant that is considered by some to be "official flower" of the Karabakh region. Its flower shape has been interpreted as being similar to a

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

. Populations of ''

Tulipa armena ''Tulipa armena'' is a species of flowering plant in the Liliaceae family. It is referred to by the common name Armenian tulip, and is native to the historical Armenian Highlands as the name implies; current regions of Armenia, modern day Turkey, ...

'' found in the Karabakh mountain range have been called ''T. karabachens.''