Zangezursky Uyezd

The Zangezur uezd was a county (uezd) of the Elizavetpol Governorate of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Gerusy (present-day Goris) from 1868 until its formal abolition and partition between the Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1921. The area of the Zangezur uezd corresponded to most of the contemporary Syunik province of Armenia, and Lachin, Gubadly, Zangilan, and Shusha districts of Azerbaijan. Geography Almost the entirety of the area is mountainous with many gorges and valleys of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. The altitude ranges from 10,000–12,855 feet at Mount Kaputjugh, a mountain range which forms the natural boundary between the governorates of Elizavetpol and Erivan. The rivers of the Zangezur uezd are located within the Aras River basin—The Bargushad, Chaundurchay, , and Megrichay rivers played important roles in the irrigation system of the uezd. History Historically, the Zangezur region was part of the Syunik province of Armenian kingdoms and polities. In 1748, Zangezur was joined to the Karabakh Khanate which stretched into the lowland steppes of Karabakh and before that, it was part of numerous Turkic states and polities. Following the Russian Empire's annexation of the region from Qajar Iran, the Karabakh Khanate was dissolved and divided into uezds—Elizavetpol, Ordubad, and Shusha. Between the 1770s and 1813, the Zangezur uezd was mostly a part of the Shemakha Governorate (later known as the Baku Governorate). With the establishment of the Elizavetpol Governorate on 25 February 1868, the Zangezur uezd was also formed. 1918 The 1918 independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan birthed an era of ethnic-conflict that spread over the highland districts of the Elizavetpol Governorate, including Zangezur. Thus, both states included these lands in memorandums of their claimed national borders to the Paris Peace Conference. In the central subdistricts (Goris, Kapan, Meghri, and Sisian), Armenians formed the majority of the population, whereas Tatars and Kurds were mainly concentrated in the "peripheral southeastern slopes". Without the predominantly Muslim-inhabited southeastern slopes, Zangezur consisted of 88,000 Armenians, 2,000 other Christians, and 46,000 Muslims.