The Surmalu uezd[a] was a county (uezd) of the Erivan Governorate of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It bordered the governorate's Etchmiadzin and Erivan uezds to the north, the Kars Oblast to the west, Persia to the east, and the Ottoman Empire to the south. The district made up most of the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey. As part of the Russian Transcaucasus, the Surmalu uezd possessed economical importance for its abundantly rich salt mines in Kulp (Tuzluca), and spiritual importance to Armenians as the location of the culturally significant Mount Ararat. The administrative centre of the county was Igdyr (present-day Iğdır).[3]
Etymology
The Turkic name Sürmalī (سورمهلی) and Persian name Surmalū (سرمهلو), whencefrom the Russian form Surmalu (Сурмалу) descended, are Turkified forms of the old Armenian city of Surmari's name, which itself evolved from Surb Mari (Armenian: Սուրբ Մարի, lit. 'Saint Mary').[1][4][5] The castle of Surmari still stands today in the village of Sürmeli [tr] near the Armenia–Turkey border within the Tuzluca district of Turkey's Iğdır Province.[6]
According to the Russian family lists accounts from 1886, of the total 71,066 inhabitants of the district, 34,351 were Tatars[b] (48.3%), 22,096 Armenians (31.1%), and 14,619 Kurds (20.6%).[14]
Russian Empire Census
According to the Russian Empire Census, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 89,055 on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 47,269 men and 41,786 women. The plurality of the population indicated Tatar[b] to be their mother tongue, with significant Armenian and Kurdish speaking minorities.[15]
Linguistic composition of the Surmalu uezd in 1897[15]
According to the 1910 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 91,535 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1909, of which 41,990 were Shia Muslims (45.87%), 29,734 Armenians (32.48%), and 19,811 Kurds (21.64%).[16]
1917
According to the 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar, the Surmalu uezd had a population of 104,791 on 14 January [O.S. 1 January] 1916, 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:[17]
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:[19]
^ abJavadi, Abbas (2016). ایران و آذربایجان: در بستر تاریخ و زبان [Iran and Azerbaijan: in the background of history and language] (in Persian). H&S Media. ISBN978-1-78083-536-5. در سال ۷۷۹ ه.ق. هم (۱۳۷۷-۱۳۷۸) ناحیه «سورماری» (سورب ماری) در جنوب دریاچه «گوکچه گول» این نام را داشت. همچنانکه نام «تریپولی» در آناتولی غربی تبدیل به «توربالی» (توبرهلو) ترکی شده، «سور ماری» هم بزودی تبدیل به «سورمهلی» (سرمهلو) شد. منابع دوره تیمور نام این قلعه را معمولاً بصورت ترکی آن قید کردهاند.
^De Clavijo, Ruy González (2004). Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403-1406. London: RoutledgeCurzon. p. 186. ISBN9780415344890. Surmari, Sulmari, or Sulmari, the Armenian Surb Mari, that is Saint Mary...
^Саратанов, В. В. (1910). Кавказский календарь на 1910 год [Caucasian calendar for 1910] (in Russian) (65th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. p. 518. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022.
Кавказский календарь на 1913 год [Caucasian calendar for 1913] (in Russian) (68th ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1913. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022.
Кавказский календарь на 1917 год [Caucasian calendar for 1917] (in Russian) (72nd ed.). Tiflis: Tipografiya kantselyarii Ye.I.V. na Kavkaze, kazenny dom. 1917. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021.