Transcaspian Oblast

Coordinates: 37°57′00″N 58°23′00″E / 37.9500°N 58.3833°E / 37.9500; 58.3833
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Transcaspian Oblast
Закаспійская область
Oblast
Coat of arms of Transcaspian Oblast
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Location in the Russian Empire
CountryRussian Empire
Governorate-GeneralTurkestan
Established1881
Abolished1921
CapitalAskhabad
Area
 • Total605,150.93 km2 (233,650.08 sq mi)
Population
 (1897)
 • Total382,487
 • Density0.63/km2 (1.6/sq mi)

The Transcaspian Oblast,

Soviet Russia to the east of the Caspian Sea
during the second half of the 19th century until 1924.

It was bounded to the south by

Khorasan Province and Afghanistan, to the north by the former Russian province of Uralsk, and to the northeast by the former Russian protectorates of Khiva and Bukhara. Part of Russian Turkestan, it corresponded roughly to the territory of present-day Turkmenistan and southwestern Kazakhstan
.

The name of the oblast (literally, 'Beyond [the] Caspian') is explained by the fact that until the construction of the

Transcaucasia) was across the Caspian Sea, by boat from Astrakhan or Baku
.

Transcaspian Oblast in 1900 (in pink)

History

Part of a series on the
History of Turkmenistan
"Turkmens at the gates of the ancient city of Merv, 1914"
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Early modern history
Modern history
Related historical regions
flag Turkmenistan portal

Transcaspia was

Ashkhabad was probably General Kuropatkin, whose authoritarian methods and personal style of governance made the province very difficult for his successors to control. Consequently, the administration of Transcaspia became a byword for corruption and brutality within Russian Turkestan, as Russian administrators turned their districts into petty fiefdoms and extorted money from the local population.[3] These abuses were fully exposed by the Pahlen
Report of 1908–1910.

During the revolutionary period of 1917 to 1919, parts of Transcaspia were

Turkmen
fleeing across the border to Afghanistan and Iran in 1922 and 1923.

Demographics

As of 1897, 382,487 people populated the oblast. Turkmens constituted the majority of the population, and significant minorities were Kazakhs and Russians. The total Turkic-speaking population was 328,059 (85.8%).

Ethnicity

Overall

According to the

1897 Russian census, the ethnic groups by population were:[4]

Ethnic group Population Percentage
Turkmens 248,651 65%
Kazakhs 74,225 19.4%
Russians 27,942 7.3%
Persians 8,015 2.1%
Total 382,487 100%

By okrug

Ethnic groups by percentage of the Transcaspian population according to the 1897 census:[4]

Okrug (district) Turkmens Kazakhs Russians Persians
Ashgabat 73.1% - 12.8% 3.3%
Krasnovodsk
 62.4% 19.3% 9.7% 3.4%
Mangyshlak (centred on Fort-Aleksandrovsk
) 		4% 93% 2.6% -
Merv 88% - 4.5% 0.8%
Tedjen
 82% - 7.9% 4.1%
Total 65% 19.4% 7.3% 2.1%

Ethnic groups by population in Transcaspia according to the 1897 census:[4]

Okrug Turkmens Kazakhs Russians Persians
Ashgabat 67,443 22 11,763 3,206
Krasnovodsk 33,529 10,394 5,222 1,822
Mangyshlak 2,767 63,795 1,795 6
Merv 104,980 11 5,321 964
Tedjen 39,932 3 3,841 2,017
Total 248,651 74,225 27,942 8,015

Notes

  1. ^ Russian: Закаспі́йская о́бласть, romanized: Zakaspíyskaya óblastʼ
  2. ^ Russian: Зака́спія, romanized: Zakáspiya

References

  1. G.N. Curzon
    Russia in Central Asia (London: Longmans) 1889 pp1-15
  2. ISBN 978-0-19-954737-1
    .
  3. ^ Richard A. Pierce Russian Central Asia 1867-1917 (Berkeley: University of California Press) 1960 pp88-9
  4. ^ a b c "Справочник статистических показателей" [Handbook of statistical indicators]. Demoscope Weekly – Application (in Russian).

37°57′00″N 58°23′00″E / 37.9500°N 58.3833°E / 37.9500; 58.3833

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