Surmalu uezd

The Turkic name {{Transliteration|az|ALA-LC|Sürmalī}} ({{Lang|az-Arab|سورمه‌لی}}) and Persian name {{Transliteration|fa|Surmalū}} ({{Lang|fa|سرمه‌لو}}), whencefrom the Russian form {{Transliteration|ru|Surmalu}} ({{Lang|ru|Сурмалу}}) descended, are Turkified forms of the old Armenian city of Surmari's name, which itself evolved from Surb Mari ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Մարի|lit=Saint Mary}}).{{cite book|last=De Clavijo|first=Ruy González|authorlink=Ruy González de Clavijo|title=Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403-1406|year=2004|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|location=London|isbn=9780415344890|page=186|quote=Surmari, Sulmari, or Sulmari, the Armenian Surb Mari, that is Saint Mary...}}{{in lang|hy}} {{cite journal|last1=Danielyan|first1=E. L.|title=Հայոց պատմական և քաղաքակրթական արժեհամակարգի պաշտպանության անհրաժեշտությունը [On the Necessity of Protecting Armenian Historical and Civilizational System of Values]|journal=Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri|date=2010|issue=3|page=68|url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/43647/edition/39126/content|language=hy|issn=0320-8117|quote=...Սուրմալուի (Սուրբ Մարի) գավառը...}} The castle of Surmari still stands today in the village of {{Ill|Sürmeli, Tuzluca|lt=Sürmeli|tr|Sürmeli, Tuzluca}} near the Armenia–Turkey border within the Tuzluca district of Turkey's Iğdır Province.{{cite book|last=Parrot|first=Friedrich|translator=William Desborough Cooley|others=Introduction by Pietro A. Shakarian|title =Journey to Ararat|publisher=Gomidas Institute|place=London|date=2016|orig-year=1846|isbn=9781909382244|page=ix}}

A part of Persia's Erivan Khanate, Surmalu was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Turkmenchay in the aftermath of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–28. The district was first administered as part of the Armenian Oblast and then the Erivan Governorate.{{sfn|Tsutsiev|2014|pp=16, 19, 21}} In 1829, Baltic German explorer Friedrich Parrot of the University of Dorpat (Tartu) traveled to Surmalu as part of his expedition to climb Mount Ararat. Accompanied by Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian and four others, Parrot made the first ascent of Ararat in recorded history from the Armenian monastery of St. Hakob in Akhuri (modern Yenidoğan).Parrot, p. 139.

After the Russian Revolution, Surmalu was briefly governed by the First Republic of Armenia from 1918 to 1920,{{sfn|Tsutsiev|2014|p=75}} until it was occupied in 1920 and formally ceded to Turkey by the treaties of Moscow and Kars, following Armenia's defeat in the Turkish-Armenian War and subsequent Sovietization.{{sfn|Tsutsiev|2014|p=81}}

The subcounties (uchastoks) of the Surmalu uezd in 1913 were as follows:{{sfn|Кавказский календарь на 1913 год|pp=172–179}}

According to the Russian family lists accounts from 1886, of the total 71,066 inhabitants of the district, 34,351 were Tatars{{Caucasian Tatars}} (48.3%), 22,096 Armenians (31.1%), and 14,619 Kurds (20.6%).{{in lang|ru}} Свод статистических данных о населении Закавказского края, извлечённых из посемейных списков 1886 года, г. Тифлис, 1893 [http://www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru/rnturkey.html]

According to the Russian Empire Census, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 89,055 on {{OldStyleDate|28 January|1897|15 January}}, including 47,269 men and 41,786 women. The plurality of the population indicated Tatar{{efn|name=Caucasian Tatars}} to be their mother tongue, with significant Armenian and Kurdish speaking minorities.{{Cite web |title=Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/emp_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=582 |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=www.demoscope.ru}}

According to the 1910 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 91,535 on {{OldStyleDate|14 January|1909|1 January}}, of which 41,990 were Shia Muslims (45.87%), 29,734 Armenians (32.48%), and 19,811 Kurds (21.64%).{{Cite book |last=Саратанов |first=В. В. |url=https://www.prlib.ru/item/417314 |title=Кавказский календарь на 1910 год |publisher=Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom |year=1910 |edition=65th |publication-place=Tiflis |pages=518 |language=Russian |trans-title=Caucasian calendar for 1910 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315211448/https://www.prlib.ru/item/417314 |archive-date=15 March 2022}}

According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 104,791 on {{OldStyleDate|14 January|1916|1 January}}, including 55,364 men and 49,427 women, 98,212 of whom were the permanent population, and 6,579 were temporary residents. The statistics indicated Shia Muslims to be the plurality of the population of the uezd, followed closely by Armenians, Kurds and Yazidis:{{sfn|Кавказский календарь на 1917 год|pp=214–221}}

According to the 1897 census, there were 51 settlements in the Surmalu uezd with a population over 500 inhabitants. The religious composition of the settlements was as follows:{{Cite book |last=Troinitsky |first=N. A. |url=https://www.prlib.ru/item/428670 |title=Населенные места Российской империи в 500 и более жителей с указанием всего наличного в них населения и числа жителей преобладающих вероисповеданий, по данным первой всеобщей переписи населения 1897 г. |publisher=Tipografiya Obshchestvennaya polza |year=1905 |location=Saint Petersburg |pages=52–56 |language=ru |trans-title=Populated areas of the Russian Empire with 500 or more inhabitants, indicating the total population in them and the number of inhabitants of the predominant religions, according to the first general population census of 1897 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810153601/https://www.prlib.ru/item/428670 |archive-date=10 August 2022}}

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{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite Armenia and Imperial Decline}}
• {{Cite The Republic of Armenia Volume 1}}
• {{Cite Kavkazskiy Kalendar 1913}}
• {{Cite Kavkazskiy Kalendar 1917}}
• {{Cite Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus}}

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{{Administrative divisions of the Erivan Governorate}}

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Category:History of Iğdır Province

Category:Uezds of Erivan Governorate

Category:Mount Ararat