Elizabethpol County

The county was formed in 1840 as part of the Georgian-Imereti province . Since 1846, the county was part of the Tiflis province , since 1849 - in the Elizabethpol province .

In 1920, under the name Ganja district, it became part of the Azerbaijan SSR , abolished in 1930 .

According to the “Geographical and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire” published in 1865, mainly Armenians , Russians and Germans were engaged in tillage in the county, Tatars, in turn, preferred cattle breeding. Of the cereals, wheat was predominantly sown, the sowing of which amounted to 2/3 of all crops. Crops of barley, millet, corn and rice were also common. In addition, the Russians grew rye and hemp. Viticulture in the county was poorly distributed. Almost all available vineyards were located in the lower reaches of all the main gorges, some gardens were in villages located on the plains along the rivers. The gardening in the county was mainly done by Armenians , but due to the lack of a sales market, mostly for their needs. In the villages lying along the high road and along the Agstafa River, watermelons, melons and cucumbers were bred. In the gorges, the Armenians sowed a lot of beans, in the Delizhan gorge, poor quality tobacco was also bred. Cattle breeding, which served as a source of income for some villages, was widespread in the mountains and gorges of the county. In cattle breeding, of all animals, cattle were preferred. Sheep wool was used for weaving cloth, carpets, felt, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows. Armenians were engaged in cloth weaving. The famous center of cloth weaving was the village of Kotkend of the Kazakh Directorate, from which unclosed cloth was exported to Tiflis . One of the most developed areas of economic activity was beekeeping. There were 5-6 beehives in each yard, but the best apiaries were in the village of Dilijan , where in two apiaries there were up to 350 beehives. Sericulture was not of large scale, it was dealt with in Elizavetopol and the villages located near it. All other crafts in the county were poorly developed. Dukhobors and Molokans were engaged in carriage, and the inhabitants of the Dilijan Gorge, among other things, made boards from linden and sold them in Erivan ^[3] .

According to the 1897 census, 162,778 people lived in the county, including 528 in the town of Agdash . ^[one]

According to the 1926 census, the population of the county was 206,687 people. ^[four]

National composition

The national composition of the 1897 census ^[5] :

• Azerbaijanis (Tatars) - 103 970 people. (63.9%),
• Armenians - 43 040 people (26.4%),
• Russians - 7224 people. (4.4%),
• Germans - 3086 people. (1.9%),
• Belarusians - 2835 people. (1.7%).

In 1913, the county consisted of 52 rural governments ^[6] :

• Elizavetpol // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.