Shemakha Governorate[a] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its administrative center in Shemakha (Shamakhi). Following the earthquake of 1859, the capital was transferred and the province became known as the Baku Governorate.
Following the catastrophic 1859 Shamakhi earthquake, the capital of the governorate was transferred from Shemakha to the fast-growing city of Baku, for-which the governorate's name was changed accordingly.[1][2]
Shemakha Governorate consisted of five counties (uezds). According to the IX Census of Russia in 1851, the population of the governorate consisted of 319,923 men and 283,083 women, in total 603,006 people.[3] Data on the total population were provided by the Transcaucasian Office of the Imperial Ministry of Finance. It was not possible to determine the exact number of women in each uezd:[citation needed]
^Keppen, Peter (1857).『Шемахинская губернiя』[Shemakha Governorate]. Изслѣдованiе о числѣ жителей въ Россiи въ 1851 году [Study on the number of inhabitants in Russia in 1851] (in Russian). Vol. 62. Saint Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences. p. 154.
¹ Italics indicates renamed or abolished governorates, oblasts, etc on 1 January 1914. ² An asterisk (*) indicates governorates formed or created with renaming after 1 January 1914. ³ Ostsee or Baltic general-governorship was abolished in 1876.
