RUSSIA AND THE ARMENIANS OF TRANSCAUCASIA, 1797-1889

By George Bournoutian

This study focuses on only one of the ethnic groups in Transcaucasia, the Armenians. It covers the period from the end of the eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century—that is, from the removal of the Russian forces from Transcaucasia by Emperor Paul to the formation of the first Armenian political party in the region. The documents concentrate on Russia's contacts and relations with the Armenian Church leaders, the Meliks of Karabagh, and the Russian administrative divisions and demographic surveys of Transcaucasia. The Russian views of the Armenians and the Armenian perception of Russia and the Russian, as well as the role of the Armenians in the Russian conquest and the economic development of Transcaucasia is also examined.
The work makes available, for the first time, an annotated translation of published and unpublished documents collected from the Russian, Georgian, Armenian, and Iranian archives. Four hundred and fifty documents are translated (entirely or partially), and hundreds of others are analyzed in the more than a thousand notes and the commentary. The appendix, glossaries, biographical data, and special maps will enable students of Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Kurdish, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian history to have access to primary sources which are not readily available and which require the knowledge of several languages and familiarity with the political and socioeconomic history of the region.

Mazda Publishing (1998)