Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims

stripped of power and the khanates transformed into provinces. This

is exactly what happened to the Khanate of Guba, renamed into the

province under the same name with all lands, orchards and fishing

farms owned by the Czarist administration.

The image of that-time Guba was generally typical of the Orien-

tal feudal townships. Located at the right bank of the Gudiyal-Chay

River it was a small but strongly fortified citadel. With the Russian ad-

ministration getting furthermore entrenched, the citadel was gradu-

ally losing its initial importance, and the residential area spread be-

yond it by the late 1830’s.

Turbulent political and military developments of the first quarter

of the 19

century brought about some visible changes into Azerbai-

jan’s ethnic landscape, the Province of Guba included. The indigenous

population of Guba Khanate constituting the area’s overwhelming

majority by the late 18

century was indiscriminately styled as

‘Mus-

lims’

by the new administration. In fact, these were the direct des-

cendants of local tribes of the Turkic, Iranian and Caucasian origin

inhabiting the place from times immemorial. In the early 19

cen-

tury, the Turkic population was dominant among the Muslims in Guba

Province. Historically, the Turkic people of Transcaucasia and Iranian

Azerbaijan were identified by neighboring peoples as

‘Muslims’

‘Turks’

with religious identity prevailing over the ethnic one.

Since the South Caucasus was incorporated into the Russian

Empire, the Russian authorities traditionally used to identify the Turkic

ethnic groups as

‘Tatars’

, coined the names like

‘Azerbaijani (Aderbei-

jani) Tatars’

‘Transcaucasian Tatarts’

with a view to distinguishing

them from other Turkic peoples. The so-called Azerbaijani Tatars were

indigenous residents of both the town of Guba and adjacent villages

named after numerous Kypchak, Oghuz and other Turkic tribes inhabi-

ting the earliest time

(e.g. Guba, Alpan, Shabran, Bayat, Gajar, Samur,

Chul, Khuch, Chalakhar, etc.)

. They were speaking the language of

Turkic origin and professing Islam in both Shiite and Sunni denomina-

tions. (13)

Residents of Guba Province of the Iranian origin were mainly

represented by the

Tats

, descendants of the Iranians apparently set-

tled in Transcaucasia back at the times of the Sassanid Dynasty (3-7

centuries A.D.) with a view to protecting the Empire’s northern bor-

ders. The dominant population of Shirvan by the early 13

century