CAMERAL CENSUS IN BORCHALO DISTANCE IN 1817
Abstract
The last king of Kartli-Kakheti (Eastern Georgia) Giorgi XII died in 1800. The Russian Empire did not allow the new king to ascend the throne. In 1801, the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was abolished and incorporated into the Russian Empire. A new administrative unit was created – the Georgian Governorate (Russ. Грузинская губерния (Gruzinskaya Guberniya) The Guberniya was divided into small parts (Russ. Уезд (Uyezd), Дистанция (Distance).
The Russian Empire began to study the countrys potential from the very beginning. Economic and fiscal interests in newly acquired territories was essential. Under the conditions of the Russian Empire, the first census was conducted in the Georgian Governorate in 1803-1804. The census includes all settlements, population, national composition, etc.
The second census of 1816-1818 is more complete. It includes several Uyezds of Georgian Governorate (Uyezds of Gori, Tiflis, Telavi, Signakhi, also, Borchalo, Kazakhi and Shamshadilo distances).
The second census in Borchalo distance was in 1817. We have 6 manuscripts of Borchalo Discance censuses. The materials of the mentioned census are preserved in the National Archives of Georgia (Fund №254. Rec. 1. Case №479).
The census takes into account: Owners (landowner, State Treasury, Church) and their Peasants.
Borchalo distance – The village is named, then the population is listed. The list includes: the village Officials (in Geo., მამასახლისი (Mамасаклиси/Mamasakhlisi), ნაცვალი (Нацвали/Natsvali), Russ. Старшина/Starschina) etc.), the village Priest or Mullah, then the peasants. Owner in the family, name and surname for the Christian population, name and patronymic for the Muslim population. The number of people in the family is given by gender, nationality and the main occupation of the family.
Census did not refer to privileged society (Geo. თავადაზნაურობა (Tavadaznauroba); Rus. Дворянство (Dvorianstvo); armed forces and subjects of foreign countries. At that time, the main population was Peasantry (in Geo. გლეხობა (Glekhoba); Russ. Крестьянство (Krestyanstvo).
In 1817 census all nationalities living in Borchalo distance are included. Therefore, we see three nationalities (Georgians, Armenians, Tatars) that are included in the census. In the census – Georgians are – 817 (5%); Armenians – 5,486 (1,192 Surnames ended with the suffix shvili (7%), and 4,294 Surnames with the suffix ov (26%)); Tatars – 10172 (62%). Georgians are often written as Armenians and vice versa. Ossetians and Greeks, as they are Orthodox, are named as Georgians. In the population census of 1817, nationality is defined by religious affiliation, but not according to ethnical belonging or other criteria.
Surnames are given everywhere with the Georgian – shvili (or – dze) suffix. In certain parts Armenians have Russian – ov (rus. ов) suffix added to their patronymics. Tatars patronymics are given in the form – ogli (rus. огли), rarely in the form of Georgian – shvili and Russian – ov.
According to the second cameral census of 1817, the population of Borchalo distance was as follows: 3615 households, 16475 Souls. Peasant's Households were divided between landlords (Rus. Помещик (Pomeshchik) and the state. 2458 (68%) – belonged to the treasury; 1078 (30%) – landlords; 78+1 (2%) of the church.
Census of 1817 is important source to study the socio-economic status of the population of Georgia, ethnic composition, statistics etc.
Keywords: Borchalo Distance; Cameral Census; Georgian Governorate;
