Sharur-Daralagezsky Uyezd

The geography of the uyezd resembled a crater surrounded from the south, north and east by tall mountain ranges of the Lesser Caucasus. The plain, which made up a small part of the uyezd, was close to the Aras River, into which the only river irrigating the plains, the Arpa-chay, discharged. The mountainous part of the territory was called Daralagyoz and the lowland part was called Sharur. Daralagyoz constituted approximately 70% of the whole uyezd area and Sharur constituted approximately 30%, even though it included about half of the uyezd's population. The Arpa-chay started at the southeastern tip of Lake Sevan (Gokcha) and flowed 107 versts before discharging into the Aras. It had many tributaries, the Alagyoz-chay being the longest. Approximately 12,150 desyatins of the mountainous part of uyezd was forested. The temperature in the winter reached -27 °C.[2]

The territory of the uyezd was part of Persia's Erivan and Nakhichevan Khanates until 1828, when according to the Treaty of Turkmenchay, they were annexed to the Russian Empire. It was administered as part of the Armenian Oblast from 1828 to 1840.[3] In 1844, the Caucasus Viceroyalty was re-established, in which the territory of the Sharur-Daralagezsky Uyezd formed part of the Tiflis Governorate. In 1849, the Erivan Governorate was established, separate from the Tiflis Governorate. It was made up of the Erivansky, Nakhchivansky, Aleksandropolsky, Novobayazetsky, and Ordubadsky Uyezds. Following administrative reforms, the northern part of the Nakhchivansky Uyezd (Daralagyoz) was separated to form part of the new Sharur-Daralagezsky Uyezd in 1870.[4] In 1918-1920, the uyezd was disputed between the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.[5] After the establishment of Soviet rule in 1920, the territory of the uyezd was divided. Daralagyoz became part of the Armenian SSR and Sharur became part of the Nakhichevan ASSR of the Azerbaijan SSR in accordance with the treaties of Moscow and Kars.[5][6]

According to the 1897 Russian Empire Census, the population of the uyezd was 76,538, of which 51,560 were Tatars (modern Azerbaijanis; 67.4%), 20,726 were Armenians (27.1%), and 3,761 Kurds (4.9%).[7] The largest town in the district was Keshishkend (Yeghegnadzor) in Daralagyoz, which had a total population of 1,307. The administrative center of the district, the village of Bash-Norashen in Sharur, had a total population of 867, of which 597 (68.8%) were Tatars, 132 (15.2%) Armenians, 90 (10.3%) Kurds, and 31 (3.5%) East Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians).[8] Armenians were mostly concentrated in mountainous Daralagyoz, while lowland Sharur was overwhelmingly Tatar. The population in Daralagyoz was engaged primarily in cattlebreeding while the residents of Sharur were engaged in agricultural farming and gardening. Manufacturing was not developed in this part of the governorate. Only 47 winemaking enterprises, 299 mills, 89 cotton-cleaning, 4 rice-cleaning factories existed in the Sharur-Daralagezsky Uyezd.[2]