Baku Governorate

Baku Governorate
Бакинская губерния (Russian)
Administrative map of the Baku Governorate (1905–1917)
CountryRussian Empire
ViceroyaltyCaucasus
Established1846
Abolished1920
CapitalBaku
Area
  Total
37,948.97 km2 (14,652.18 sq mi)
Highest elevation4,466 m (14,652 ft)
Population
 (1916)
  Total
875,746
  Density23/km2 (60/sq mi)
  Urban
8.28%
  Rural
91.72%

The Baku Governorate, known before 1859 as the Shemakha Governorate, was a province (guberniya) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its center in the booming metropolis and Caspian Sea port of Baku. Area (1897): 34,400 sq. versts, population (1897): 789,659. The Baku Governorate bordered Persia to the south, the Elizavetpol Governorate (the Tiflis and Erivan governorates before 1868) to the west, the Dagestan Oblast to the north, and the Baku gradonachalstvo to the east on the Absheron Peninsula.