Socio-Political Transformations and Ethno-Historical Dynamics in Zangazur during the Second Half of the 19th and Early 20th Century (until 1918): Ethno-Political Identity, Historical Geography, and Imperial Strategies in a Contested Borderland of Azerbaijan
Kamran Asadov · Science Education and Innovations in the Context of Modern Problems, 2025
Collection summary
A scholarly article on the ethno-political transformation of Zangazur and Russian imperial policies from the mid-19th century to 1918.
Kamran Asadov's article traces the demographic, administrative and ethno-political transformation of Zangazur from the mid-19th century to the founding of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, using archival, census and cartographic-toponymic sources. The author argues that Russian imperial resettlement policies displaced Turkic-Muslim populations while settling Armenian migrants from Iran and the Ottoman Empire. Its relevance lies in illuminating the ethno-political background of 1918 Azerbaijan; it does not directly address the Caucasus Army of Islam.
The source's own abstract
Zangazur (Zəngəzur), historically situated in the south-western part of Azerbaijan and today divided between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, has represented one of the most politically disputed and ethnographically sensitive regions of the South Caucasus.This article examines the ethno-political evolution, demographic shifts, and imperial administrative interventions in Zangazur from antiquity to the establishment of the First Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918.Drawing on archival diplomatic correspondence, imperial census records, cartographic-toponymic data, and modern historiography, the study demonstrates that Zangazur historically formed an integral component of Azerbaijani political space and Turkic ethnocultural continuity.Special attention is paid to the demographic engineering and colonial policies of the Russian Empire in the 19th-early 20th centuries, which facilitated forced displacement of Turkic-Muslim populations and organized Armenian resettlement from Iran and the Ottoman Empire.Findings establish that the demographic and political transformation of the region prior to 1918 did not emerge organically but was the result of targeted imperial securitization and territorial reconfiguration.This research contributes to contemporary historiographical debates concerning Azerbaijani territorial identity, historical statehood, and contested border dynamics in the South Caucasus.
Index
- People
- Kamran Asadov
- Units and institutions
- Rus İmparatorluğuOsmanlı İmparatorluğuAzerbaycan Halk Cumhuriyeti
The source's keywords
Context (archaeology) · Dynamics (music) · Field (mathematics) · Government (linguistics) · Period (music) · Perspective (graphical)